black couple sues appraisal company for low appraisal on home

[Leo123]

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

They don’t. They get paid a set fee not based on any ccommission.

 

[horselightning]

.


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

.​

so did i

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

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 bitch, 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 bitch.

I know all about housing discrimination and the laws that followed afterwards to stop it.

The only thing that's been shown to me is that this couple got an appraisal they were unsatisfied with, went to another completely different bank, that likely hired a completely different appraisal company, and they got a higher appraisal.

So where is this evidence race had anything to do with it?

It's like if you wanted to buy another car. You go to Toyota and they tell you they'll give you $8,000 trade in for your car. Then you go to Ford, and they say they'll give you $11,000 on your car. Does that make Toyota racist?

 

[Couchpotato]

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.

Im just not taking everything the plaintiffs in this case are saying as gospel. As I've repeatedly said they might be 100% right, that he's a bad guy and a racist. He might just suck at being an appraiser, or there might have been something going on with the timeline. Had they had the same appraisal company come in and they got a different appraisal because they "whitewashed" their house then it would mean more. You believe everything this couple (and their lawyer who's trying to win their court case) have said.

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.

The 2 bad reviews were that he undervalued the customer's home (where have we heard that before). Nothing about racism. And the complaint is likely this one.

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.

I dont know anything about loandepot.com, but I imagine they arent based in MD so did a google search and called this guy? Last summer the market was hot maybe he was the only one with availability. I know there are rules/regs governing how these loan companies contract the appraisals so that they are cherry picking appraisers who give them the value they are looking for. How that translates to the selection of an appraisal company in the real world I cant say. Do you believe that loandepot.com is run by racists as well and there is some racist cabal that's doing it best to keep black people from getting refinance loans? I guess that's possible.

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?

Great. Seems like that part of the story has resolved. Small caveat. Adding a tankless waterheater wouldnt likely raise the value of the home regardless of what they paid for it, unless the house didnt have hot water before that which seems highly unlikely. It might be a selling point but it doesnt raise the actual market value of the house. Same with 35k in renovations. It depends on what they did. Those improvements might not alter the value at all or they might increase it greatly, without knowing what they did that information is relatively useless.

 

[Leo123]

I read the article again and found this...."a White friend pretended to own their home." If I did an appraisal and found out the the occupant was not a renter or owner, I'd have a lot of questions for the lender. I would not complete the assignment until I knew what was going on and why the homeowners misrepresented a non-owner as the occupant. The reason for this is because I have to certify who is the owner and who is the occupant in my report.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

I read the article again and found this...."a White friend pretended to own their home." If I did an appraisal and found out the the occupant was not a renter or owner, I'd have a lot of questions for the lender. I would not complete the assignment until I knew what was going on and why the homeowners misrepresented a non-owner as the occupant. The reason for this is because I have to certify who is the owner and who is the occupant in my report.

It's irrelevant anyway because their white friend was not posing for the same appraisal company. He was posing for a completely different one. Now had they done this with the same appraisal company and got two completely different estimates, then they might have a case.

As it stands now, it seems like they are hoping for a payoff just to make the case go away. After all, if you are trying to get an equity loan, then it means you really need the money. Unfortunately, like in all matters like this, the company will probably settle out of court just to shut them up.

 

[Leo123]

It's irrelevant anyway because their white friend was not posing for the same appraisal company. He was posing for a completely different one. Now had they done this with the same appraisal company and got two completely different estimates, then they might have a case.

As it stands now, it seems like they are hoping for a payoff just to make the case go away. After all, if you are trying to get an equity loan, then it means you really need the money. Unfortunately, like in all matters like this, the company will probably settle out of court just to shut them up.

Still, for the appraiser, this is a misrepresentation of the occupant. I would definitely contact the lender before completion because I may produce a fraudulent report. To clarify, I have no problem with someone showing me the dwelling but I need to know who is actually living there as my due diligence.

 

[JoeB131]

Im just not taking everything the plaintiffs in this case are saying as gospel. As I've repeatedly said they might be 100% right, that he's a bad guy and a racist. He might just suck at being an appraiser, or there might have been something going on with the timeline. Had they had the same appraisal company come in and they got a different appraisal because they "whitewashed" their house then it would mean more. You believe everything this couple (and their lawyer who's trying to win their court case) have said.

Yes, because sadly, the housing and banking industry is one where we have a long history of racism.

he 2 bad reviews were that he undervalued the customer's home (where have we heard that before). Nothing about racism. And the complaint is likely this one.

We also don't know if these two customers were black who complained. Or even if one of them IS the complainant in this case.

I dont know anything about loandepot.com, but I imagine they arent based in MD so did a google search and called this guy? Last summer the market was hot maybe he was the only one with availability. I know there are rules/regs governing how these loan companies contract the appraisals so that they are cherry picking appraisers who give them the value they are looking for. How that translates to the selection of an appraisal company in the real world I cant say. Do you believe that loandepot.com is run by racists as well and there is some racist cabal that's doing it best to keep black people from getting refinance loans? I guess that's possible.

And here's the problem, it doesn't matter. "I had no idea this contractor I hired was a bigot" doesn't matter. It's on you to NOT hire a bigot. It's why most companies fire racists, homophobes, or harassers without so much as a hearing, because they are liable for anything they do.

Great. Seems like that part of the story has resolved. Small caveat. Adding a tankless waterheater wouldnt likely raise the value of the home regardless of what they paid for it, unless the house didnt have hot water before that which seems highly unlikely. It might be a selling point but it doesnt raise the actual market value of the house. Same with 35k in renovations. It depends on what they did. Those improvements might not alter the value at all or they might increase it greatly, without knowing what they did that information is relatively useless.

Actually, renovations do a lot to increase the value of a home. I once bought a fixer-upper for 55K and sold it for 110K 11 years later. (This was back in the 1990's).

Also, even if i thought this was an innocent mistake, I would STILL be for hanging the appraiser and LoanDepot out to dry so this sort of thing NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.

 

[JoeB131]

I read the article again and found this...."a White friend pretended to own their home." If I did an appraisal and found out the the occupant was not a renter or owner, I'd have a lot of questions for the lender. I would not complete the assignment until I knew what was going on and why the homeowners misrepresented a non-owner as the occupant. The reason for this is because I have to certify who is the owner and who is the occupant in my report.

That would only work if they actually tried to get a loan on the basis of that appraisal.

The telling thing was that when you had a white person open the door, and removed all the pictures of black people, and lo and behold, the property gained 300K in value in a few months.

 

[BlackSand]

The telling thing was that when you had a white person open the door, and removed all the pictures of black people, and lo and behold, the property gained 300K in value in a few months.

.

The missing information is what did the state, county or municipality have their property assessed at, and what had they been paying property taxes on.
Anyone can say or think one thing or another, but what had they legally been paying taxes on.

.​

 

[konradv]

Black couple sues after they say home valuation rises nearly $300,000 when shown by White colleague | CNN

A Maryland couple has sued a local real estate appraiser and an online mortgage loan provider, alleging that the housing appraisal they received was unfairly low due to their race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act, after a second appraisal returned a result nearly $300,000 higher.

www.cnn.com

this is in maryland. is it me or are blacks going around suing for everything and anything?

$300K seems to be something to sue over. Wouldn’t you, if you were obviously cheated?

 

[horselightning]

$300K seems to be something to sue over. Wouldn’t you, if you were obviously cheated?

how so ? they didnt have to sell for the lower price. they just did.

 

[konradv]

how so ? they didnt have to sell for the lower price. they just did.

Irrelevant, if there was fraud.

 

[horselightning]

Irrelevant, if there was fraud.

they could have had the house appraised as many time as they like and went with the price they liked,.

 

[konradv]

they could have had the house appraised as many time as they like and went with the price they liked,.

They weren’t buying, they were refinancing. They didn’t sign, they proved their allegation and sued.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Black couple sues after they say home valuation rises nearly $300,000 when shown by White colleague | CNN

A Maryland couple has sued a local real estate appraiser and an online mortgage loan provider, alleging that the housing appraisal they received was unfairly low due to their race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act, after a second appraisal returned a result nearly $300,000 higher.

www.cnn.com

this is in maryland. is it me or are blacks going around suing for everything and anything?

They have a case. Tis is blatant and unforgivable. Though I don't think the loan Company is at fault.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

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.

It doesnt work that way the local Government determines the worth and unless you can prove they are wrong you gotta pay.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

They weren’t buying, they were refinancing. They didn’t sign, they proved their allegation and sued.

How did they prove their allegation?

 

[konradv]

How did they prove their allegation?

By “whitewashing“ the house. It’s in the article.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

By “whitewashing“ the house. It’s in the article.

The people arguing this wasn't a clear case of discrimination are looking foolish.