Shane Lanham's court case re: a black couple suing him for bias, and him fighting back.

[Terrel L. Shields]

I can’t believe plaintiff doesn’t have an appraiser.

Easy if they couldn't find one to take the assignment that would promise to jack the price up.

 

[George Hatch]

Now lets not lose sight of the possibility that the value conclusion in the 1st appraisal might have been unreasonable to one extent or another. Maybe so and maybe not. Reasonable people might disagree on that. Tie doesn't go to the runner just because they're an appraiser.

But the allegation was that the appraiser acted with racial bias, not that they made garden variety errors as may/may not occur across the entirety of their book of work.

 

[CGinMN]

I don’t see the judge or court citing anything here. It sounds like this is a motion made by Shane’s attorney for a judgement.

Easy if they couldn't find one to take the assignment that would promise to jack the price up.

Appraiser Dodd should to the right thing for everyone involved and just fall on his sword. What a putz.

 

[CGinMN]

According to ChatGPT:
This motion for summary judgment seeks a ruling on all counts brought by the plaintiffs. The defendants are asking the court to dismiss the entire case by arguing that there are no genuine disputes over material facts and that they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on each of the plaintiffs’ claims. Specifically, they address both the Fair Housing Act (FHA) claim and Civil Rights Act claims, aiming to show that there is no direct or indirect evidence of discrimination and that all actions were based on legitimate, nondiscriminatory appraisal practices.

 

[J Grant]

This is a U.S. Federal Court, not some municipal Justice of the Peace who presides in some rural county with a population of 1200 souls.

The court's citation of the "location, location, location" factor in existing legal precedents and rulings directly contradicts Dr Howell's entire presumption that location doesn't matter in an SFR appraisal aimed at MV. That legally-rejected presumption seems to form the basis of this aspect of her career. With this decision now being out in the public, I wonder how it affects her future conduct in any future legal cases and in any testimony she offers in govt hearings?

Exactly how seriously should HUD or any other agency be taking her work?

Not everyone she speaks to is a malleable and/or gullible 18yr old college freshman who doesn't know anything about real estate.

i wish the folks at Fannie and freddie had explained this reality about location to the PAVE committee.

But they stayed silent instead, allowing the trope about racial bias to gain traction.

Of course, there might be extremely rare cases where an appraiser lets bias influence them. But that does not make it a trend that needed correction.

 

[shrubberyvaluation]

Now lets not lose sight of the possibility that the value conclusion in the 1st appraisal might have been unreasonable to one extent or another. Maybe so and maybe not. Reasonable people might disagree on that. Tie doesn't go to the runner just because they're an appraiser.

But the allegation was that the appraiser acted with racial bias, not that they made garden variety errors as may/may not occur across the entirety of their book of work.

Next door that is next to the same busy street that sold very close to the appraised value less than a month later I believe. That is what I would harp on. Its smaller but more updates. The Marin City case didn't have that luxury. Perception matters.

 

[Fernando]

Well, I can have 100s of comps that all adjust to precisely the same value. However, the comps are really there just to estimate the residual for the subject. - Once that is done, putting a dozen or so in the Sales Grid is just to demonstrate how good the model is, that is how low the gross adjustments are, and why the differences in sales prices between the subject and selected comparables.

That is, I use 100+ comparables to create the regression model and score the subject, then select a smaller number for the Sales Grid—for demonstration purposes only.

You mean 100+ sales. They're not comps.

The hardest part of the job is creating the R code to show the model and associated statistics. That job is made much more difficult because of the possible existence of factor (categorical) variables, like MLS Area or design/style name.

Appraisers choosing say 6 more similar comps and reconciliating which are given more value are better in accurate valuation than current computer models.

 

[J Grant]

You mean 100+ sales. They're not comps.

Appraisers choosing say 6 more similar comps and reconciliating which are given more value are better in accurate valuation than current computer models.

Right, and that is because the appraisal uses a similar methodology as the buyer does - focusing on a small group of similar competitive properties as the finalists to purchase from, ( the sales comps )rather than a large number of not similar properties ( data which can include sales so different from the subject it can skew results )

 

[Fernando]

Right, and that is because the appraisal uses a similar methodology as the buyer does - focusing on a small group of similar competitive properties as the finalists to purchase from, ( the sales comps )rather than a large number of not similar properties ( data which can include sales so different from the subject it can skew results )

Good point. Appraiser look at property as with view of buyer in looking at comps. Many times buyer influenced by agents' comps.

 

[Non Sequitur]

I see, I'm not a legal expert, I guess they have to make their case on why they are related to the case. I always thought discovery was for the defense, not the prosecution. Doesn't it go against the 5th amendment? Seems like you could go on a fishing expedition.

There is no prosecution side, this is civil not criminal.