Frank Lettieri poses outside his home in the Staten Island borough of New York
Frank Lettieri, 63, poses outside his home in the Staten Island borough of New York September 20, 2013. Even when Superstorm Sandy killed their neighbors and flooded their house, Frank and Mary Lettieri vowed to stay in the Staten Island, New York, home where they raised five children. But with a popular home buyback program set to close on its first house on October 3, 2013 and nearly the entire neighborhood fleeing, the self-declared holdouts are starting to blink. The voluntary buyback program spearheaded by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo would replace storm-ravaged neighborhoods with open land that could bear the brunt of future storms, and most residents are accepting the state's offer to pay full, pre-storm price and moving on. Picture taken September 20, 2013. To match STORM-SANDY/BUYOUTS REUTERS/Carlo Allegri (UNITED STATES - Tags: REAL ESTATE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT DISASTER SOCIETY)