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December 27, 2007
It's a Wonderful Housing Bubble
I was screening "It's a Wonderful Life" last night as research for a writing project and because I could not sleep.
If you'll recall, the Bailey Building & Loan Association made subprime loans to working-class folks so they wouldn't have to live in run-down tenements owned by Old Man Potter.
There's a scene in which George and Mary Bailey welcome Mr. Martini and his family to their capacious new home with symbolic gifts of bread, salt and wine. The Martinis were to pay $5,000 back to the Building & Loan for their new abode, but according to Potter's rent collector (the fabulous Charles Lane), the house is "probably worth twice that amount."
The home that appears in the film is a real house in a real neighborhood: 4587 Viro Road, La Canada Flintridge, California. Zillow.com estimates that the house is now worth $1.2 million.
Posted by Your Protagonist at December 27, 2007 12:25 PM