The Oscars & The Big Short

It was Oscar night last night. I watched, because I always do. I love the pageantry and pretty dresses.  In other years, I've seen many, if not all the nominated movies. This year was different, however. Of the eight movies nominated for Best Picture, I had seen one: The Big Short. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the movie for a quick lesson in the collapse of the housing market circa 2008. When I saw the movie on Christmas Day, I cried. It cut too close. Yes, I lived through the housing crisis and yes I kept my home, but my husband and I both worked in land development and suffered lay-offs and pay reductions. We survived, but it hurt.

Last night when The Big Short was introduced as a nominee and a clip of the movie played, I cried again. I felt the loss and pain of those people who lost everything, lost the American dream they worked so hard to purchase. Yesterday was especially poignant because I had an Open House first. I visited a home that was being sold as part of a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. I was not greeted at the door by a realtor eager to make a sale, but a representative from the bank. He did not know anything about the house, and encouraged my husband and I to look around.

Most Open Houses I see are trying hard to be sold, with freshly planted flowers, paint, and snacks for the prospective buyers. But this home looked like those Floridian homes depicted in The Big Short. The life of the inhabitants had been stopped midstream. There was lunch half prepared on the counter and the bathroom looked like somebody was still primping themselves before the mirror. In other words, the people who lived there looked like they were home and I was an intruder. 

The man from the bank complained that the owners were not being compliant or cooperative. I felt sorry for the man trying to have the Open House, but I also felt bad for the owners. The house looked loved and also looked like it was working hard to raise a good family. It did not want to be sold. Whose fault is it? The bank for making a bad loan or the homeowners for not meeting the terms of the loan? After seeing The Big Short it seems like the blame could be placed before the lender, perhaps the loan was too easy to acquire. I thought the collapse of the housing market was over, but after my day yesterday, I just don't know. 

I usual enjoy the Oscars because the show takes me away from my day to day. I get to sip a nice drink and watch movie stars in action. Yesterday, however that did not happen. My day at the Open House followed by the scenes from The Big Short were too close together, and an unpleasant reality set in.