I just had a reviewer ask me to remove the word “appeal”. This is insane

Mike, as always, very well said and I agree 100%. I think this “politically correct” thing is getting totally out of hand. My best friend who passed away was black, she & I were always together at meetings, out to dinner with husbands, our friends used to call us the Orio Cookie and it never bothered us. Probably couldn’t get away with that today.

It’s getting beyond assinine.

I concur there are certain words in the English language which over our history have widely been perceived to disparage or demean, which should never be used.

What we have moved into however is a form of PC speak that is in itself offensive and arguably racist since it presumes that no protected classes can be members of the described groups (wealthy; affluent, resident of a gentrified area, professional or technical employed (from census categories).

Long prohibited has been “Pride of Ownership” which is perhaps the most offensive & insulting prohibition since it also presumes a protected class cannot have pride of ownership & good maintenance levels in the area in which they may choose to live.

We can scrub & sanitize language to the point where it is no longer effective in communicating valid concepts. We are fast approaching that point.

By the way Congress, I will continue to use he, she, his , hers, they, theirs etc.. I spent a considerable part of my public education learning these distinctions and how they are supposed to be used. I’m not changing on your PC whims now.

Additionally, since the language police are getting closer and closer to my personal life the term used to describe a female Mexican (& many other North, Central & South Americans of Spanish and or Spanish/Indian descent) is Latina, NOT LatinX. THAT is offensive to Latinos and Latinas alike. My daughter is 50/50 Latina and Anglo (European Caucasian). I dont describe her as one or the other. That is HER choice to decide which (or both) she is most comfortable with.

Is she ‘white’? Sure. Is she ‘Brown’? OK. Who is the arbiter if not herself?

Karen, “desirable” is exact word which describes a desirable neighborhood. “attractive, sought-after, in demand, popular.” If all houses are well kept and updated, if lawns are manicured and plans are gorgeous, and schools are the best in area…is not this “desirable” neighborhood in comparison to one which does not have well-kept house, no lawns at all or dirt around house with wire fence, and schools far from being good? Why stating so will be considered “subjective.” Does fair housing act states not to use word “desirable?” It’s “considered” by FNMA. It is subjective and unacceptable because FNMA wants so and it is true FNMA watching.

“…is considered subjective and unacceptable by Fannie, a possible violation of “fair housing” laws…”

And THIS is illustrative of yet one more  problem with FNMA. Talk about micro management and activity that should be prohibited! How about telling us WHICH specific proper English language words we may not use?

Here’s one they wont recognize but should look up in their nearest medical dictionary before availing themselves of it:

“headandaasectomy”

Got me too Nana. With all the principles, rules and regulations we have to absorb and apply over so many years without conscious thought anymore, its easy to mis-remember.

Interesting that the State of Oregon and 11 other state appraiser regulatory boards that THEY consulted with ALL claimed failing to complete work on time was a USPAP violation…affecting competency and a host of other alleged “infringements”. So much for AARO and the blind leading the blind on the enforcement level!

I wonder if instead of ‘desirable’ I am still allowed to say “superior” about a feature or characteristic, including location?

hmm, census tract numbers are coded areas for those other people?  i gotta be careful about not putting in any undesirable numbers.  Ahhhh!!!!

…as long as you don’t say its undesirable because of the gang graffiti in the surrounding neighborhood!

Lol! “My house is more desirable than others in my immediate neighborhood because we have only had three shootings in the past three years within one block.” (true btw, & only one was right out  front).

Karen, we understand that. It’s more a case of “don’t like it” because it is one of those policies made back in the 60’s or 70’s that no longer has relevance. It is simply not politically OR socially acceptable for anyone to be a racist anymore.

FYI, do you know what the SINGLE largest source of racial redlining on commercial property is today? It is the United States Census Bureau and the ongoing reporting BY the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT via census tract numbers with residents broken down into racial, ethnic and often national origin! They’ll argue its needed to analyze ECOA and fair housing laws, but if that were true, the data wouldn’t have to show on every single NDC, RealQuest, CoreLogic, Realist property profile every pulled would it? I mean the federal government has eliminated the need for racists to even have to write special area racial composition codes of their own down! Average Americans have (largely) overcome racist attitudes, or at least acts; but banks & business investors? Not so much, I think.

The Feds micro manage how we deal with the minutiae but miss the 600 lb gorilla in the room for every single appraisal report submitted in America today (where census tract numbers are provided).

About six+- mos ago a local loan broker told me the bank had cancelled a commercial appraisal because the manager looked up the census tract number and said “it was a bad area” (Compton, CA)… and no, I could not get him to tell me the name of the bank or banker. Is this prevalent? Who knows? Loan brokers usually don’t quote racist branch managers to others.

Apologies! I don’t usually go into social sermonizing here.

Great insight.  Never thought of it that way.  I suppose that’s not even a concern for me, because I fill so much writing space with detail on the subject, and comparative detail to the market comparisons, ranges of research, etc.  The initial stage of research is defining the area, so I guess I just talk about the neighborhood individually, and only rarely detail multiple neighborhood comparison statements.  It’s always a headache to have to comp out of area.  One presumes it’s still o.k. to label an individual home as desirable or undesirable.

the problem with labeling something “desirable” is, you would also have to eventually label an area as “undesirable”, and thats a label that probably scares the heck out of people.

Can an appraiser prove the area is desirable? Well, let’s see. Here is a seller, here is a buyer. The buyer found the home and neighborhood desirable above other choices, and purchased there instead.

Good ones. PR gone wrong is the rule of the day. How does that go again…. An overdeveloped sense of sensibility. I say get tough, or get out. I’m just the value analyst. If a word is hurting someones feeling, they probably should see a counselor long before trying to control liberties pertaining to my freedom of expression. The underwriter hating on the word; Desirable, is likely an indication he or she presumes the appraiser is being racist. Like a sort of envy created by their own lackluster career choices. More psychiologically based, than based on the reality of those word uses. It’s not my fault, they are feelings hurt that one area is desirable, and their apartment lifestyle is not. Oh wait, presumptions killed the cat. If I got that ‘correction request’, I would tediously copy dictionary definitions for each word in the sentence, reiterate their logical correlations, and demand the underwriter prove the substance of their concern. Of course, with the detail of actual language definition, they won’t be able to do so. The concern is rooted in inference, not fact.

I once (long ago) used ‘pride of ownership’ evidenced by predominantly well maintained, neatly ‘manicured’ lawns; freshly painted house exteriors and swept walks and drives.

THAT is how I had this drivel pounded into me. Coincidently I was using it to describe an area of Compton California (predominantly African American).

Phrases that MAY have been used as code for “white” in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s are not code for anything today. Its time for FNMA & FDIC and ALL regulators to join the 21st Century.

Back around the same time Los Angeles County real estate agents used 3 x 5 index cards for notes on listings (MLS was not available to each agent in an office then) with penciled #7’s in the upper corner to denote an area that was predominantly Black; or a 4 for Asian (specifically a Japanese area that was HIGHLY SOUGHT after).

Are the numbers 4 & 7 banned from appraisals today too?

I am tired of having MY English language banned from use because someone once THOUGHT it might be a code word or phrase for discrimination. “price of ownership; and desirable” are NOT merely subjective. They are abbreviated ways of conveying POSITIVE physical or economic characteristics WITHOUT having to write the Great American Novel. Yes I CAN communicate the exact same sentiment about a neighborhood in purely non subjective statements of fact but one way takes 2 seconds and the other may take ten minutes for each such sentiment expressed.

I think perceived in the market as a “high crime area” is also prohibited, yet this and all the above (positive) factors are EXACTLY why people do or do not move into given areas and why some areas are more expensive than others!

Unfortunately, Use of Common Sense being permitted is NOT one of the fights we are going to win any time soon.