NORWICH – It’s been a busy year for NBT Bank, with the announcement of its acquisition of Alliance Bank in Syracuse, and other endeavors. Despite NBT’s recent expansions, and possibly because of it, its management wishes to display their tenet of continually investing in the communities they serve and have formed a program geared to help first-time home buyers interested in purchasing a home in the City of Norwich.

During a press conference Thursday announcing the bank’s $1 million commitment to the creation of the program, Senior Vice President and Residential Mortgage Manager and Bank CRA Officer Joseph D. Culver said Norwich is number one on their list communities they want to invest in.

The reduced interest rate program is part of an effort to induce economic growth in the City of Norwich. “We reached out to the mayor and to Opportunities for Chenango to make this program a reality,” said Culver.

Working alongside the city and OFC’s Quaranta Housing Services, NBT is trying to engender a chain-reaction of home buying. “It all starts with first-time home buyers,” said Culver. “Homeowners that first-time buyers purchase from, in turn upgrade, buying nicer and more expensive homes, and so on and so forth.”

“This wont just help first-time home owners,” said Peggy Parker Real Estate LLC Managing Broker Kevin D. Walsh. “Everyone else involved in the new home ownership process also stands to benefit, such as realtors, home improvement workers, and home improvement businesses.” The money first-time buyers save with the low interest rate on their mortgages will help make it more affordable to improve their new homes.

“This program works well with what the city is trying to do,” said Mayor Joseph P. Maiurano. “We are trying to rehabilitate properties, getting them back on the market, making the neighborhoods nicer, and bringing in more working homeowners.”