App-solutely Clueless: When Sales Tries to School Appraisers
Appraisers, this bit of news about a new bias checking app fluttered across my office floor the other day, causing me to trip.
“…eliminate home appraisal bias, which happens when Black homeowners’ properties or properties in predominately Black neighborhoods are valued less than comparable properties owned by white households or in primarily white neighborhoods.”
This new electronic theoretical bias checker was developed by three women in Philadelphia, who ARE NOT appraisers. Instead, they are employed in real estate (agent/broker?), banking (real estate lending?), and finance (real estate loans?) businesses. Notice that these are ‘sales related’ functions.
Here’s what this app is designed to do:
“The WEALTH Collective created an app that lets people upload their property appraisals and determine whether their properties may be undervalued. The platform flags bias and generates a report people can take to their lender to appeal incorrect appraisals.”
If the ladies are successful in actually implementing their mission, you appraisers in Philly (and perhaps elsewhere) could be subjected to this new requirement:
“The WEALTH Collective also plans to create a certification course for appraisers that it hopes will one day be required for professionals who want to work in the city.”
What these ladies apparently don’t know is ‘anti-bias education’ is already mandated by the AQB, so their new ‘certification course’ is not needed.
The other item that this ‘collective’ does not understand is appraisers doing mortgage lending assignments DO NOT ESTABLISH the actual neighborhood values seen across the residential property landscape. Appraisers are merely the REPORTERS of market data. That market data is determined by dozens of other factors unrelated to the actual mortgage lending appraisal process.
If any Philadelphia appraisers who see this essay would be open to acquiring a copy of the app, I’d really be interested in getting a copy of it… or at least the report it generates.
Dave Towne on e-AppraisersDirectory.com
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Has there been even a single appraisal bias lawsuit that made it through the courts where the complainant actually won?
Why is no one questioning if non white appraisers are completing biased appraisals against white people? No one with a comprehensive appraisal understanding believes this is happening to any race. An awful lot of questions are not being addressed, only one unproven statement is trying to be made.