Black homeowner had a white friend stand in for third appraisal. Her home value doubled.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

INDIANAPOLIS – Carlette Duffy felt both vindicated and excited. Both relieved and angry.

For months, she suspected she had been low-balled on two home appraisals because she's Black. She decided to put that suspicion to the test and asked a white family friend to stand in for her during an appraisal.

Her home's value suddenly shot up. A lot.

During the early months of the coronavirus pandemic last year, the first two appraisers who visited her home just west of downtown Indianapolis, valued it at $125,000 and $110,000, respectively.

But that third appraisal went differently.

To get that one, Duffy, who is African American, communicated with the appraiser strictly via email, stripped her home of all signs of her racial and cultural identity and had the white husband of a friend stand in for her during the appraiser's visit.

The home's new value: $259,000.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/black-homeowner-had-a-white-friend-stand-in-for-third-appraisal-her-home-value-doubled/ar-BB1gHnuW

[4Q2u2]

1. May have also

Gone up because he was a Male. I would not be surprised.

[brush]

2. Damn! Systemic racism is everywhere. POCs have to deal with so much bullshit.

And only the ones with the wherewithal to work around the racism manage to navigate the landmines of racism that are laid in our path.

It's so angering. I just went through a similar situation myself on a re-fi. The appraisal came in 50k lower than online sites that give estimated value from previous comps. I had a good re-fi agent so I still got a good rate. If I was trying to sell I would've had to pay for another appraisal as I know what range the value should fall in.

[MineralMan]

3. Yikes!

My wife and I are house shopping right now. It's a very tough market for buyers, with every home getting multiple offers.

However, the appraisal makes all the difference for those who will be buying a house with a mortgage. If it doesn't appraise high enough, the loan isn't approved. So, there may be something going on with this story, actually, to drive the actual selling price down so a flipper can buy it and do the flipping thing.

We're hoping that a cash offer will land us our next house at a reasonable price. I'm not interested in a bidding war with other buyers. We're going to make our offer, perhaps for a premium over asking, if that makes sense, but we're not going to participate in a bidding war with anyone. Our offer will come with a guaranteed close, since we don't need an appraisal or a mortgage. We hope that will do the trick on a place we like soon.

I smell something amiss in the story that woman tells. Not all appraisers are above reproach.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. SMH. And some claim that the USA is moving on from the past, moving pass bigotry and such.

I don't know where those claiming such things are from, but it sure isn't true (no more bigotry and such).

If I were the appraised homeowner, with such a discrepancy in appraised values, I would gather several more appraisals, compile the multiple estimates, and then go after the banks that had low estimates (for mandating that their own appraisers be used (some banks require this)) and the Appraisers too, for violating their code of ethics among other things (truth in lending perhaps). It would be interesting to also see what they used in these estimates (the higher estimate along w/ the lower estimates) as comparable properties.

Seems like they have some sort of legal case when they pulled a switch-a-roo and got such a difference in value.
--snip--
Are there laws against discriminatory lending practices?

Laws today protect borrowers from discriminatory lending practices, but that wasn’t always the case. For decades U.S. banks denied mortgages to Black families—and those belonging to other minority groups—who lived in certain areas “ redlined ” by a federal government agency called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). Etc. (rest of article not grabbed)...
--snip--

12 U.S. Code § 5562 - Investigations and administrative ...
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/5562
The authority under paragraph (1) includes matters relating to fair lending, and where appropriate, joint investigations with, and requests for information from, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Attorney General of the United States, or both.
--snip-- (there are numerous articles out in goggle land on issues related to home financing issues, including misdeeds by Bank Of America etc.)...