Black couple’s home appraises for $500K more when white pal poses as owner

[Ron Brady]

https://nypost.com/2023/03/08/...

Black family sued appraiser in Marin, CA matter. From the article, "The case has now been settled out of court, with appraiser agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum of money to the couple. The settlement also includes an unusual twist: The appraiser was also required to watch“Our America: Lowballed,” a documentary about their “white-washed” saga."

Glad to see accountability here. Progress.

[Bill B.]

Of course it was incompetence. 

I love their argument…”The ongoing undervaluation of homes in black neighborhoods perpetuates the wealth gap between black and white families. We hope by bringing attention to our case and this lawsuit settlement, we can help change the way the appraisal industry operates, and we can start to see a different trend.”

This for a city that is 82.5% democrat, has a median home price of $1.4million, is less than 1% black and is in California. They’re sure fighting the good fight, proving who the racists are. I’m sure this will trickle down to help the poor POC in $100k homes. 

Ps. If you keep googling the story you come across this article. 

https://www.workingre.com/mill...

Their complaints are 100% about the methods she used, not enough comps, not the right comps, dated comps. They never used her appraisal and refinanced two weeks later at an even lower interest rate saving money. 

TLDR: hopefully it was another example of a bad appraisal that many of us have experience by someone who gets paid the same regardless of the quality of their work.