Tagged: census tract

Alleged Racial Discrimination Debunked: Security Bars Removal Required by Law 15

Security Bars Removal Law Debunks Alleged Racial Discrimination

Complainant stated appraiser told them they should remove security bars from windows. Complainant stated this is evidence of “racist discrimination”… Security bars on bedroom windows is against code…  This morning I received the results of a California State Information Act Request I made regarding an alleged case of racial bias in Allendale, Oakland, California which was settled May 2024. I requested any and all documents in the case involving the appraiser because I didn’t have the complainant’s name or property address. I only had the appraiser’s name which I won’t post in text. Complainant stated appraiser told them they should...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

Appraisal Bias Mantra is Largely False Reporting 16

Appraisal Bias Mantra is Largely False Reporting

Just How Commonplace Is Appraisal Bias?  Folks, about the only entity examining in depth the details behind all the allegations about appraisers being inherently biased is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Housing Center. They are proving that most of the allegations are mostly a dump truck load of bovine substance. Click here for their latest expose. Report: Just How Commonplace Is Appraisal Bias? – theMReport.com Within this report are these statements from AEI: “When comparing appraisals for people of color to those for non-Hispanic white people within the same geographies, a new study by the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Housing...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News

The Unbiased Reality of Census Tract Data Dump... Open Letter to FHFA 11

The Unbiased Reality of Census Tract Data Dump… Open Letter to FHFA

Folks, the following letter was sent to FHFA by an appraiser I know. It was sent in response to the ‘first’ data dump FHFA made which uses CENSUS TRACT data to try to convince others that appraisers are biased by using ‘people demographics’ contained in Census Bureau info. You can find that ‘dump’ here. The writer of that first FHFA dump was identified by name, and included an email address. So the appraiser wrote a respectful email to Mr. Russell. It turns out, shortly after this FHFA document was released, Mr. Russell left FHFA. So this nice letter sent several...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Automated Valuation Models / AVM / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac

The New & Improved Fannie Mae FRAUDULATOR 2.0 42

The New & Improved Fannie Mae “FRAUDULATOR 2.0”

Originally known as Fannie Mae’s Collateral Underwriter (CU), and subsequently Collateral Underwriter 2.0 (CU-2)i this always dubious product of Fannie Mae is increasingly being referred to by some, if not many American Appraisers as The Fraudulator / Underwriter 2.0 (FU-2). To be clear it is not limited to the Collateral Underwriter (CU & CU-2) software. The new Fraudulator (FU-2) combines the CU products with their numerous improper uses. The end result of which includes OUTRIGHT FRAUD being perpetrated against banks via the repurchase letters Fannie Mae now issues on a quota based system rather than because of legitimate appraisal defects....

AGA / AI / AMC / American Society of Appraisers / Appraisal / Appraisal Institute

Woke 'Bounty' Bill Will Chill Speech of New York Appraisers 8

Woke ‘Bounty’ Bill Will Chill Speech of New York Appraisers

A bill being crafted by the New York state Senate’s Finance Committee would, in effect, place a $2,000 bounty on the head of any heretical real estate appraiser in the Empire State who dares conclude a value that fails to satisfy a seller, serial refinancer or commissioned broker in a deal. Vulnerable buyers, who could be paying off inflated loans based on coerced values, would simply have to live with it. If enacted, the bill would authorize fines to be levied on appraisers for a new category of thoughtcrime – something called “appraisal discrimination.” Half the proceeds from the fines...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Political Action

HUD Hands $54 Million to Nonprofits in Quest to Cow Appraisers 17

HUD’s Private Inquisitors Will Chill Protected Speech of Appraisers

HUD awarded $54 million to 182 nonprofits to serve as posses in a a Spanish Inquisition-style drive. The deep pockets of the federal government will be used to help the nonprofits chill the protected First Amendment rights of appraisers to develop disinterested opinions of value of the properties they appraise.  In the early 1990s, the Texas Legislature established an unusual nonprofit known as the Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation. The times were dire. A near-biblical plague of weevils had descended on the state’s cotton crop. So, state lawmakers granted the private organization the powers of government to combat the malevolent creatures....

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / HUD / The US Department of Housing and Urban Development

Freddie's Study, NPR Story Recall Notable Academic Hoax 10

Freddie’s Study, NPR Story Recall Notable Academic Hoax

NPR topped the online edition of its article with the headline, “Black and Latino Homeowners are About Twice as Likely as Whites To Get Low Appraisals.” The problem? Freddie never called the appraisals “low.” While the Freddie Mac study finds no evidence of undervaluation, the NPR story about the study somehow does. Almost 30 years ago, Alan Sokal, now a professor of mathematics at University College London, perpetrated a memorable hoax. He submitted a pseudoscientific article to a cultural studies journal called Social Text. By design, his paper was strewn with nonsense. Titled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Finance Agency / FHFA

Under-Valuations Unrelated to Racial Bias 11

Under-Valuations Unrelated to Racial Bias

Under-valuations that more accurately reflect the homes’ “true” value as opposed to the contract price will also alert the buyer, not just the lender, that he or she may be over-paying, which often triggers a renegotiation… when the seller and buyer settle on a new price after the appraisal, the new lower price reduces credit risk, costs to the borrower, and ultimately results in greater wealth for the buyer. The AEI Housing Center recently released an analysis revealing that reports by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and by Brookings, attributing the greater prevalence of under-valuations in home purchase appraisals...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Fannie Mae - Freddie Mac / Federal Housing Finance Agency / FHFA

Spear Throwers Using Census Data as Evidence for Bias 31

Census Data Used as Evidence for Bias

I’ve previously written about how the various spear throwers at appraisers have used ‘census tract data’ in their assertions that appraisers are racially biased. It’s been done by Freddie Mac, by Andre Perry in his testimony before Congress, by Ph.D Elizabeth Korver-Glenn in her dissertation paper, not reviewed by anyone with appraisal experience, to obtain that lofty status, the media, and other so called ‘studies’ and ‘reports’ since. That is information foreign to appraisers, because we don’t use or reference anything about Census Tracts in our reports. The only place that shows up is in one field on the GSE...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

Appraisers the Convenient Scapegoats 19

Appraisers the Convenient Scapegoats

The appraisers are the convenient scapegoats every time.  Anytime the real estate market takes a hit, 99% of the time it is because of banking and lending practices. The appraisers are the convenient scapegoats every time. During the 1980s it was the commercial side, yet residential appraisers received both barrels of double-odd buck. Then in 2008 again: stated income, 40 year loans, predatory lending (REFINANCING), NO money down (no skin in the game); people used their homes as a slot machine that paid out every time; that is as long as the market values continued to rise. Predatory lenders had...

Appraisal / Appraisal News / Appraisers News / Trending

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