black couple sues appraisal company for low appraisal on home

[Independent thinker]

In the OP it states they applied at a completely different bank for the loan who sent out a completely different appraiser than the first one. So they claim, they removed everything from the home that indicated the owners were black. What that proves, I don't really know.

Cold hard truth is the staging of home can be a big factor in what the home sells for. That's why staging, particularly in more expensive homes, is a big thing. I'm not saying that can't be done in a racist way, but the facts is the facts. However, I would think that an appraisal should not really take staging into account. I'm not going to condemn these people without knowing all the facts. I guess I would say let justice take it's course and you can't judge a case by the headlines.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Cold hard truth is the staging of home can be a big factor in what the home sells for. That's why staging, particularly in more expensive homes, is a big thing. I'm not saying that can't be done in a racist way, but the facts is the facts. However, I would think that an appraisal should not really take staging into account. I'm not going to condemn these people without knowing all the facts. I guess I would say let justice take it's course and you can't judge a case by the headlines.

I might be swayed if somebody could explain to me what advantage it was for the appraiser to put his job and reputation on the line to undervalue the home. Did he live in the area? Is he or she known to hate blacks? What?

If the appraiser had no goal or advantage in mind, I don't know why in the world he'd try to rig it so the black applicant could not get the loan.

 

[Curried Goats]

I might be swayed if somebody could explain to me what advantage it was for the appraiser to put his job and reputation on the line to undervalue the home. Did he live in the area? Is he or she known to hate blacks? What?

If the appraiser had no goal or advantage in mind, I don't know why in the world he'd try to rig it so the black applicant could not get the loan.

Yes, you continue to express confusion over anti- black racism, mark ass *****.

 

[Independent thinker]

I might be swayed if somebody could explain to me what advantage it was for the appraiser to put his job and reputation on the line to undervalue the home. Did he live in the area? Is he or she known to hate blacks? What?

If the appraiser had no goal or advantage in mind, I don't know why in the world he'd try to rig it so the black applicant could not get the loan.

Something about this just seems a little weird to me. The way I understand how it normally works is the owner puts the place up for sale at a pre-determined price, a buyer gives them a contract, the buyer and seller agree on the terms of the contract (particularly the price), and then the buyer applies for or already has a loan lined up, and then the loaner sends an appraiser out just to make sure that the home appraises for the selling price, whatever that was. So, if the home sold for 750K the appraiser would determine if the house is worth that and if the house sells for 450K the appraiser would determine if the house is worth that. It seems like in this particular situation things worked differently.

 

[Couchpotato]

In the OP it states they applied at a completely different bank for the loan who sent out a completely different appraiser than the first one. So they claim, they removed everything from the home that indicated the owners were black. What that proves, I don't really know.

Not be beat a dead horse here but the timeline really is important. It's not unreasonable for this process to have taken over a year. Getting the initial appraisal, filling out the paperwork waiting on the bank to respond with approval/disapproval etc, then getting the disapproval, thinking about it and thinking that maybe the appraiser was off, doing your research and coming to the conclusion that you want to apply again, etc etc. Those things typically don't happen inside a few weeks or months. Show that this happened over a 3-6 month period and maybe they have a case. If it spans much longer than that I don't think they have a leg to stand on.

 

[horselightning]

.

I do think there are times when appraisers manipulate perceptions that shortchange minorities.
They should always use white people when showing the houses to an appraiser if it increases the value of the property.

Let's make sure everyone pays their fair share on the property taxes ... Get you some of that white privilege.

.​

racist

 

[BlackSand]

racist

.

But inclusive with the desire to reach equity ...

.​

 

[JoeB131]

You are basing that completely on what the people who brought the suit against this company are saying. Of course that’s their contention and they may be right but without the timeline we can’t make a judgment on that. You believe this company is a racist company because that's what you want to believe and maybe they are but there's way too many questions surrounding this particular case to say one way or another. I do think it's interesting that they didnt include a timeline as it would have certainly bolstered the claims made in the story if all this happened inside 3-4 months. Something tells me there's a reason it wasnt in there. What's fucked up is that if it turns out that the appraisals were very far apart in time and that ends up being the reason the numbers were off from each other there wont be a story written about it and you certainly wont be on here updating this thread with that info. But if it goes the other way....

There's no timeline that accounts for a $300,000 difference.

We can see why there was a difference.

Appraiser A compared the house cost to black owned homes in NEIGHBORING communities.

Appraiser B compared the house cost to WHITE owned houses in THAT neighborhood.

Appraiser A talked to a black family, and saw black family pictures.

Appraiser B talked to a white friend, and didn't see any family pictures.

 

[JoeB131]

I might be swayed if somebody could explain to me what advantage it was for the appraiser to put his job and reputation on the line to undervalue the home. Did he live in the area? Is he or she known to hate blacks? What?

If the appraiser had no goal or advantage in mind, I don't know why in the world he'd try to rig it so the black applicant could not get the loan.

Welfare Ray - "No racism here".

Also Welfare Ray - "Kenyan Lawn Jockey", "Tamir Rice had it coming", "Jungle Music"

 

[irosie91]

And it isn't like they are wildly different. Not like one will say it's worth 100k and another say it's worth 247k.

But blacks don't care. They don't get what they want and they scream racism.

Unless they want to sell the house I'd want my home value to be as low as possible. If my house was valued at 49 dollars I'd be happy because my taxes would be lower.

oh----ok how does the appraiser benefit by lowering
the appraisal value of a house?

 

[horselightning]

.

But inclusive with the desire to reach equity ...

.​

forever a racist living in the hood.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Not be beat a dead horse here but the timeline really is important. It's not unreasonable for this process to have taken over a year. Getting the initial appraisal, filling out the paperwork waiting on the bank to respond with approval/disapproval etc, then getting the disapproval, thinking about it and thinking that maybe the appraiser was off, doing your research and coming to the conclusion that you want to apply again, etc etc. Those things typically don't happen inside a few weeks or months. Show that this happened over a 3-6 month period and maybe they have a case. If it spans much longer than that I don't think they have a leg to stand on.

As I stated earlier in the thread, I did the exact same thing. The appraiser said my property was worth half of what the county estimated it for taxes. It only takes about a month, perhaps two at most to secure a home equity loan.

It's easy spot race baited stories. They do this intentionally to rile up the blacks which they're usually successful at doing. In meeting their goal they leave a lot of important information out. I understand that the appraisal company can't comment on the story right now. Lawyers usually advise their clients that while a case is pending in court. But I would love to know the outcome of this, which we'll probably never hear if it's ruled in the defendants favor.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Something about this just seems a little weird to me. The way I understand how it normally works is the owner puts the place up for sale at a pre-determined price, a buyer gives them a contract, the buyer and seller agree on the terms of the contract (particularly the price), and then the buyer applies for or already has a loan lined up, and then the loaner sends an appraiser out just to make sure that the home appraises for the selling price, whatever that was. So, if the home sold for 750K the appraiser would determine if the house is worth that and if the house sells for 450K the appraiser would determine if the house is worth that. It seems like in this particular situation things worked differently.

This isn't about a home sale, it's about applying for an equity loan. Why would an appraiser care if the couple got one or not? That's what really doesn't make sense which is why this story as written is very suspect.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Yes, you continue to express confusion over anti- black racism, mark ass *****.

Then show me where race had anything to do with it.

 

[Curried Goats]

Then show me where race had anything to do with it.

It's already been shown to you Ray. There was a 300k discrepancy when nothing other than the race of home owners were changed. Now maybe you, as a noted mark ass *****, are confused about the history of housing discrimination, predatory loan practices and just general fuckery that permeates black home ownership, and are genuinely confused about why black home owners might be getting fucked over but again you are a noted, mark ass *****.

 

[BlackSand]

forever a racist living in the hood.

.


I grew up in a "neighborhood" ... Not the "hood".
The word itself brings negative connotations with it to many people.

.​

 

[Couchpotato]

There's no timeline that accounts for a $300,000 difference.

We can see why there was a difference.

Appraiser A compared the house cost to black owned homes in NEIGHBORING communities.

Appraiser B compared the house cost to WHITE owned houses in THAT neighborhood.

Appraiser A talked to a black family, and saw black family pictures.

Appraiser B talked to a white friend, and didn't see any family pictures.

Actually there is and it's not all that long of one. The housing marking went crazy right around the end of 2019 beginning of 2020. If they started this process at the beginning of 2020 and went through it over that year their house (according to Zillow) increased in value almost 300k. Zillow never had it over 700k, like their second appraiser did so they were probably a little high, which is not surprising given how fast the market was moving. People were routinely getting well over their asking price on their homes. As Ive said all along it's possible they are right and this appraiser is some raging racist who has it out for black people but we certainly dont know that with any confidence.

https://www.homeadvisor.com/rated.2020ValuationsLLC.38849274.html

Im assuming this is them and the complaint is the one we are talking about. They have been in business for 13 years. Seems like they would have more complaints if they were doing this even semi routinely.

 

[Flash]

I wonder if White people could sue the Negroes for that Rap music shit, seeing that it glorifies and encourages violence and sounds like crap?

 

[JOSweetHeart]

If you actually read the article, God will bless you.....

I didn't read the whole thing, but I got the gist of it.

God bless you and the couple always!!!

Holly

 

[JoeB131]

Actually there is and it's not all that long of one. The housing marking went crazy right around the end of 2019 beginning of 2020. If they started this process at the beginning of 2020 and went through it over that year their house (according to Zillow) increased in value almost 300k. Zillow never had it over 700k, like their second appraiser did so they were probably a little high, which is not surprising given how fast the market was moving. People were routinely getting well over their asking price on their homes. As Ive said all along it's possible they are right and this appraiser is some raging racist who has it out for black people but we certainly dont know that with any confidence.

https://www.homeadvisor.com/rated.2020ValuationsLLC.38849274.html

Im assuming this is them and the complaint is the one we are talking about. They have been in business for 13 years. Seems like they would have more complaints if they were doing this even semi routinely.

Again, it seems like you are making a lot of suppositions to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. As you say, we don't know that they waited a whole year to get another appraisal. Frankly, that sounds... kind of unlikely. If you are in need of an appraisal to get a home equity loan, then you would have to assume that need is pretty urgent. It also sounded like they tried to get an appraisal AFTER doing major renovations, which would explain why they needed the money.

You list a website for appraisers, where they only got three reviews- two of which were negative, and say that is proof that he isn't a bad guy? It sound more like, not a lot of people know of that website. The site also says he has open complaints against him.

So let's look at some others.

I started with Google Maps. He only has one review, and it's the exact same as one of the reviews on the Appraisers website.

Yelp has THREE reviews, one of them the same guy, AS, who got his crappy appraisal before thanksgiving (Wow, must have really pissed that guy off) and the other two are people who red the article and are race shaming him.

So it begs the question, why did this big mortgage company use such a shoddy service provider.

Oh, the NYT article gives the property timeline.

Home Appraised With a Black Owner: $472,000. With a White Owner: $750,000. (Published 2022)

Nathan Connolly and his wife, Shani Mott, say an appraisal company undervalued their home based on their race. The couple has filed a lawsuit in Maryland.

www.nytimes.com

Last summer, Nathan Connolly and his wife, Shani Mott, welcomed an appraiser into their house in Baltimore, hoping to take advantage of historically low interest rates and refinance their mortgage.

They believed that their house — improved with a new $5,000 tankless water heater and $35,000 in other renovations — was worth much more than the $450,000 that they paid for it in 2017. Home prices have been on the rise nationwide since the pandemic; in Baltimore, they have gone up 42 percent in the past five years, according to Zillow.com.

But 20/20 Valuations, a Maryland appraisal company, put the home’s value at $472,000, and in turn, loanDepot, a mortgage lender, denied the couple a refinance loan.

Months after that first appraisal, the couple applied for another refinance loan, removed family photos and had a white male colleague — another Johns Hopkins professor — stand in for them. The second appraiser valued the house at $750,000.

So now we know the timeline. "Last summer" - some time between June and August of last year. And "Months later" Let's be generous and say four.

Did the property REALLY change value that much in four months?