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Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals

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Ariba said:
Where is the Appraisal Institute with their rebuttal or for that matter any other appraiser organization?
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Because it is a catch 22. If you say nothing. You are a racist. If you say your not a racist. You are a racist. If you try to defend appraisers You are a racist. The only "safe" position is to capitulate.
 
"A true journalist working for an honest and informative paper .... "​
​
"Those days are long gone."​

I think there are probably many in that business who want to do the job to specifications, but I also think they're struggling with the high level of competition for readership and revenues.

'If it bleeds it leads" on permanent overdrive
 
George Hatch said:
"A true journalist working for an honest and informative paper .... "​
​
"Those days are long gone."​

I think there are probably many in that business who want to do the job to specifications, but I also think they're struggling with the high level of competition for readership and revenues.

'If it bleeds it leads" on permanent overdrive
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It's not a journalists job to become part of the story - a journalist reports on things that happen, they are not supposed to change the outcome of what happens. A journalist can not insert themselves into the story by ordering a review of both appraisals. (if they know enough to do so ). They have no legal standing to get access to the appraisals, and even if they could, the fact that "they" got involved in judging quality or hiring the reviewer would create its own firestorm.

I do not think this issue will go anywhere, I think there are economic disparities in communities and some of the more affected communities can be minority communities, but the allegation that bias in appraising is a cause or factor in that is misplaced . If this is a one off event, the allegation will be settled and then fade away- but if a pattern of bias is found in a number of appraisals, then it deserves scrutiny.

The real problem is there is a wide range of competence and experience among appraisers, with some who frankly should not be working getting volume due to the profit incentive from turning appraisals into a cash cow for third parties. We can only wish the NYT would investigate THAT. IT could be that one, or both of the appraisers in this case was not competent enough or experienced enough for the assignment. Even an "ordinary" SFR house is beyond the scope of some. I never thought that would be possible, but after seeing some truly awful reports, it is. Either one of those appraisals values is very off , but it is also possible that both of them are off.
 
Tim Hicks (Texas) said:
Gotta admit, somebody was not off the mark when they started the fake news movement. I sure miss the days of Walter Cronkite reading the news without political bias. I just read a CNN article today blasting the social media article claim that the CDC states only 9,200 of the deaths were COVID only deaths. While the social media article was rather ridiculous, the CDC does state the total number of deaths that are COVID related and not necessarily the cause of death. Then the final sentence of the CNN article stated there were 182,000 deaths from COVID, when it should have stated "COVID related." So slam one for manipulating and making false then make your own false statement? Anyway, one appraisal makes an entire industry racial biased? Shouldn't there be a larger sample size? Honestly, I focus so much on comparable sales data it never occurs to me the race of the owner, seller or buyer. If you are using the most similar sales from the immediate market area, then the demographic might be racial, but then again I really don't know the race of the occupants of most comparable sales I utilize.
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Hypothetical question: Someone is terminally ill from *insert disease here* and is on their way out. They also get infected with the Rona. Time passes, they kick the bucket. Certificate of death: What do they put? or... Someone gets infected and gets caught in a 6 car pileup on the freeway, DOA, they didn't have a chance. Can people not claim they died with the virus?
 
Whatever the answer is to the question of racial bias in appraisals, I know the answer isn't "always" and it's also not "never". I think we should start there and take these complaints seriously.

Scrutinize these appraisals and compare them to that appraiser's other work in other neighborhoods to see if they are doing the same thing all the time or only some of the time and some of the circumstances. If there's an ethical violation then as far as I'm concerned that's incurable.
 
George Hatch said:
Whatever the answer is to the question of racial bias in appraisals, I know the answer isn't "always" and it's also not "never". I think we should start there and take these complaints seriously.

Scrutinize these appraisals and compare them to that appraiser's other work in other neighborhoods to see if they are doing the same thing all the time or only some of the time and some of the circumstances. If there's an ethical violation then as far as I'm concerned that's incurable.
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Therein lies the problem- If it really was outright racism they can claim an oops. Same goes the other way, if there was no foul, foul can be claimed.
 
GH Fair Enough....thats all we can do no matter what the outcome on one appraisal or a thousand...

If there is only one then this is to many ...but that won't make them happy....

Why? Because they are building a Circumstantial Case. Not a Case about Appraisal bias... A circumstantial Case about Systemic Racism.

The evidence is

Biased Appraisal# 1 True "Check" If we disprove it then they will find another and another
Disproportionate # of Black Prisoners versus other prisoners- true
Disproportionate #Blacks Killed by police versus White people - true
Disproportionate # of College Graduates true
Disproportionate # etc true
Disproportionate # etc true

on and on and on....

This sums it up https://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/2017/08/ending-systemic-racism

What that ignores is No matter what Race, Creed or What ever - Each Group has a portion within them who are Jerry Springer Episodes

Here is a Challenge to Ben& Jerry's Step UP - Ben and you to Jerry - Put one of your store fronts in every Predominately Minority Community around the country! or maybe just 10 or 20 store fronts
 
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George Hatch said:
"A true journalist working for an honest and informative paper .... "​
​
"Those days are long gone."​

I think there are probably many in that business who want to do the job to specifications, but I also think they're struggling with the high level of competition for readership and revenues.

'If it bleeds it leads" on permanent overdrive
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The real estate section has to be a backwater of any paper, this one included. The front page is still earning Pulitzers for excellent investigative reporting. Though we are a small industry, a more skilled reporter would have to take a less credulous approach. When the local papers reprinted the NYT article, they edited the most heinous part out. Too bad. Still, the author of the hateful remark at the end of the NY Times piece will have to own it wherever he appears. So, as bad as what he said is, it is good that it was published.
 
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