Tagged: discrimination

Preference Falsification - Why Licensees Parrot Notions They Know Are Untrue 20

‘Preference Falsification’ – Why Licensees Parrot Notions They Know Are Untrue

Preference falsification has resulted in some appraisers parroting talking points they know to be untrue.  People who live under authoritarian regimes rarely reveal their true feelings. They get used to lying. Parroting the party line becomes second nature in oppressive societies. It’s not a reflection of one’s moral compass but a survival mechanism. In his book “Private Truths, Public Lies,” Timur Kuran, an economist and political scientist at Duke University, writes about this disconnect, known as “preference falsification.” Preference falsification is dangerous because it lends an air of permanence to structures that are brittle and susceptible to sudden collapse. Kuran...

AVMs The Not So Accurate Magic Bullet 21

AVMs… The Not So Accurate Magic Bullet

That article mentioned three on-line services which claim to provide accurate property values. In alphabetical order, those services were REDFIN, ReMax, and Zillow.  Folks, in all the diatribes against appraisers by people who believe “we” have built-in systemic bias, the topic of AVMs has come up. Some of the diatribers apparently think that using an AVM will magically produce an accurate property valuation, while eliminating bias, and appraisers. Well, not so fast. A while ago I saw a ‘consumer facing’ article telling people how they could get the value on their home. That article mentioned three on-line services which claim...

DEI Bosses at Financial Institutions Have a Problem - Diversity 12

Top DEI Bosses Have a Problem – Diversity

The ranks of the new DEI bosses at the financial institutions are no more diverse than the appraisers their institutions see as the enemy. If the lack of diversity of appraisers is inherently bad, how could the same not be said for the DEI bosses?  A full 93 percent of U.S. birdwatchers are white. Just 4 percent are African-American and a paltry 1 percent are Asian-American. Just 5 percent are Hispanic (which includes both blacks and whites). This was according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as reported in National Geographic a number of years ago. Another study found...

Hit Pieces & Diatribes Against Appraisers Based on Census Tracts 15

Diatribes Against Appraisers

What’s even more frustrating to me is none of the well-known appraiser organizations have offered any public rebuttal to any of these hit pieces, or explained how the appraisal process works as a way to defend appraisers… Census Tract data delineating RACE of the population is the only ammunition the people doing these hit pieces can use to attack appraisers. Appraisers, this is a long article but it’s important, as it reveals how you are being discredited in the work you do. Yet, ‘we’ must begin doing some introspection of what we are or have been doing, and make necessary...

NAR Appraisal Survey... Impact of Appraisals on the Current Market 6

NAR Appraisal Survey

The results of the NAR appraisal survey show more than half of appraisers reported AMCs to be the greatest challenge in their business with 40% reporting not being compensated fairly. Only 3% of members witnessed or experienced discrimination in an appraisal… NAR Research conducted a survey of all 9,700 appraiser members and 50,000 randomly-selected non-appraiser members to determine the level of impact of appraisals on the current market and member business in terms of cost, turn-around times, and other challenges and to measure member experiences with bias and discrimination in the appraisal process. Highlights of the NAR Appraisal Survey The...

HUD Secretary's Comments Evoke Folly of 1919 Sex Scandal 16

HUD Secretary’s Comments Evoke Folly of 1919 Sex Scandal

Secretary Fudge launched into what sounded remarkably like discriminatory rhetoric: “The problem is who is in the appraisal industry. When you look at an industry that is 95% white … Because [the white appraisers] collect the data, the data is not good data.” Sometimes when government investigates a perceived problem, it creates a genuine one. Assistant Secretary of the Navy (and future president) Franklin D. Roosevelt sent two investigators in 1919 to Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island to look into reports of immoral behavior – code at the time for “homosexual activity.” Their report found no such activity. But...

Appraisers... Restoration Value Magicians? 44

Restoration Value Magicians!

And just like that, real estate appraisers from across the country have now added a new line item to their résumés, websites and marketing material: RESTORATION VALUE MAGICIAN. Oh wait, haven’t some AMCs and others already claimed to be such magicians when it comes to this topic? The pandering and save face attitudes of some of these organizations is concerning. Instead of looking at the big picture of infrastructures, the neighborhoods, the cities and more, to determine what sort of things can help areas identified as “Black neighborhoods”, they want to blame the appraisers. Here is a thought. How about...

Appraiser Bias Allegations Unmask Nonbank Lenders Debt Traps 10

Appraiser Bias Allegations Unmask Debt Traps

Claims of tainted appraisal unmask something else… the renewed “churning” of mortgages by nonbank lenders. Convinced racism torpedoed valuations in their home refinancings, the owners of three properties in the San Francisco Bay Area told their stories to Julian Glover, a reporter who covers the race, culture and social justice beat for ABC’s San Francisco affiliate. Similar claims of tainted appraisals have surfaced in Philadelphia, Chicago and, more recently, Maryland. A civil lawsuit was filed in one of the cases in a federal district court. A claim was dismissed Wednesday based on a flaw unrelated to the case’s core allegation...

Baltimore Racial Bias Lawsuit 12

Baltimore Racial Bias Lawsuit

When reading over the Baltimore document, it appears painfully clear (to me) that there is a competency issue exposed. Folks, below is the Baltimore court paperwork for the latest appraiser bias suit that recently ‘hit the fan.’ This document is fairly specific, in that it reveals quite a lot about the two appraisals performed, including the home locations for the ‘comps’ used. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs are from the same Washington, D.C. firm that The Appraisal Foundation hired to examine USPAP. That firm was the one which has provided new ‘discrimination avoidance’ verbiage being considered in the USPAP Third...

Appraiser Miller Wins Claim in Racial Discrimination Lawsuit 27

Appraiser Miller Wins

Appraiser Miller wins important claim in racial discrimination lawsuit. Judge ruled Plaintiffs did not rely on Miller’s appraisal. The other claims continue but this was an important claim. It also shows the Plaintiffs lied to the Court. ORDER GRANTING MILLER DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT; DISMISSING PLAINTIFFS’ SEVENTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF AS ASSERTED AGAINST MILLER DEFENDANTS; VACATING HEARING. In their Seventh Claim for Relief, 2 plaintiffs allege the Miller Defendants negligently misrepresented “that they were providing an unbiased appraisal of [the Austins’ house],” and that the Austins “reasonably relied” on such representations “in attempting to secure a mortgage...

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