Another "paired" appraisal allegation, Seattle

[George Hatch]

After a low appraisal, Black Seattle family 'whitewashes' home, gets higher price

After removing family photos and getting a neighbor to stand in for them, a Black family got a home appraisal that was $259,000 higher than their original one.

www.king5.com

I found the property: it's located on the 3500 block of S Bennett Street in 98118. Hilarity ensues. Spending 5 minutes on Zillow will reveal that the 2nd appraiser is in a bad spot.


Here's a couple screengrabs from the video in the article:

 

[Dublin ohio]

From Realtor.com

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/M2016526017

 

[Dublin ohio]

Here is the house across the street that sold for 1.1M. 700 sf larger, 3 baths vs 2. Looks like a complete remodel. No doubt a much higher end kitchen remodel than the subject. Subject's kitchen remodel in the video looks pretty half azzed

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/M2750078091

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Here is the house across the street

I am curious how an appraiser can overlook sales that are much closer and better. Is this a deliberate effort? Or really bad selecting say, using a targeted price?

If I have a close sale I need to use or explain it away logically.

 

[George Hatch]

Zillow is currently showing an active of similar size/age for $595k, located 3 blocks to the south. Add $15k in costs to redo the kitchen and bath with the Home Depot materials and adjust for the bedroom and you STILL wouldn't be able to get that listing past $670k in an adjustment grid. Much less $929k.


Then there's this recent closed sale - same block, 400sf and 1bd/1ba bigger AND an obviously nicer kitchen. AND a garage space, which the subject doesn't even have a driveway for offstreet parking.

That $929k is a damn lie.

 

[George Hatch]

...

 

[Dublin ohio]

I am curious how an appraiser can overlook sales that are much closer and better. Is this a deliberate effort? Or really bad selecting say, using a targeted price?

If I have a close sale I need to use or explain it away logically.

Wouldn't be hard to discount the sale across the street. Just start with it is about 60% larger. That in itself would generally disqualify it.

 

[George Hatch]

It's definitely not among the most similar properties. It's a major remodel with finished basement. And a driveway for offstreet parking.

 

[Dublin ohio]

I like the way they say that appraiser's use similar homes that have sold. Then say nobody knows what similar really means. Get a dictionary.

 

[Elliott]

Just a few quotes that seem unfathomable:

1. "Dr. Junia Howell, an urban sociologist and race scholar who studies home appraisal disparities across the country."

2. said Howell....

"Appraisal manuals from the 1930s to the 1970s perpetuated the belief that race was linked to value. One appraisal manual from 1946 ranked, in their words, “Negros and Mexicans" at the bottom of a list of who brings value to a neighborhood. At the top? White Europeans."

3. "According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 96.5% of appraisers are white and 70% of them are men."

4. "According to the Brookings Institute, the net worth of a typical white family is nearly 10 times greater than that of a Black family."


I guess if you take aim with a shotgun your bound to hit something. The white/black thing is being to resemble the Salem witch trials.