A Black couple's home value skyrocketed after a white woman pretended to be the homeowner during an appraisal

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

A Black couple's home value skyrocketed after a white woman pretended to be the homeowner during an appraisal

• A Black couple in California saw their home's value shoot up when a white friend posed as its owner.
• Paul and Tenisha Tate Austin were told their home was worth $989,000.
• When a white friend met with an appraiser, she was told the home was worth $1.4 million. 
•  

https://www.insider.com/black-couple-lowballed-on-home-price-because-of-race-2021-2

 

 

 

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A Black couple's home value skyrocketed after a white woman pretended to be the homeowner during an appraisal

Julie Gerstein 

Feb 16, 2021, 8:39 PM

Snapchat

 

"There are implications to our ability to create generational wealth or passing things on if our houses appraise for 50 percent less than its value," Tenisha Austin told Atlanta Black Star.  ABC7

• A Black couple in California saw their home's value shoot up when a white friend posed as its owner.
• Paul and Tenisha Tate Austin were told their home was worth $989,000.
• When a white friend met with an appraiser, she was told the home was worth $1.4 million. 
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A Black couple living in the Bay Area discovered their house was actually worth hundreds of thousands more than they had been told after a white friend stepped in and posed as the homeowner.

Paul Austin and his wife Tenisha Tate Austin purchased their Marin City home in 2016. After completing around $400,000 worth of renovations and updates to the house, they put it back on the market. 

The Austins added an entirely new floor, a deck, and updated old appliances, according to ABC 7. 

An appraiser who visited the home to assess the value of the property said it was only worth $989,000, just $100,000 more than when they originally purchased it, despite the renovations adding an additional 1,000 square feet to the home.

"I read the appraisal, I looked at the number I was like, 'This is unbelievable'," Tenisha Austin told the Atlantic Black Star. 

So the Austins decided to perform an experiment: A white friend of theirs posed as the owner of the home, adding photos and personal touches to make it seem like she lived there, and called in another appraiser to evaluate the house. The second appraiser said the house was worth $1,482,000 — about 50% more than the initial appraisal.

The Austins say that their experience with the appraiser is symptomatic of a larger pattern of discrimination in the housing market. In August, The New York Times reported on a similar situation in which a mixed-race couple found that their home appraisal went up by 40% when all signs of Black ownership were removed. 

The practice of redlining, in which housing lenders denied loans and homeownership to people from certain demographic backgrounds in order to control the racial makeup of a neighborhood, wasn't outlawed until 1968, but its effects continue to be felt more than 50 years later. 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by CanAm1980

[implife 318]

Plato is reported to have said, "I thank God that I was born Greek and not barbarian, free and not slave, male and not female..."

[Steeleballz 7,550]

 

   I don't want to call this white privilege because that tends to trigger too many defense mechanisms. Then the thread will end up on a tangent. I don't want to see that. So yeah really, I'm not going to say this is white privilege.

[implife 318]

2 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

white privilege

I've come to enjoy this feature of american life.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

Sorry but I call BS. dont know how much you all know about appraisers, but its a lot of information. If the appraiser had already met with them he knew who the owners are even the 2nd appraiser would. They also have all the tax accessors rerecords, owners info, dates of sale etc. An appraisal is nothing more than a guide for a bank to use to determine risk assessment loan value. No appraiser is going to risk losing their certification  and facing a lawsuit just because someone is white. Not saying it didnt happen or there is not systematic racism in the housing market but there is some other explanation. Just because the 2nd appraisal was more does not mean it will sell for that. Comp sales are the biggest factor. Also you do not necessary get back penny for penny for upgrades or many times even close. 

 

Comp sales more than anything determine value. I wonder if it was a real estate agent and not an actual appraiser that gave the much higher value. Usually an appraisal is only done once an offer is made and a loan is needed.

 

I am going to file this in the NASCAR noose file 

[implife 318]

3 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

Sorry but I call BS.

any thoughts on slavery and holocaust? 

[Ban Hammer 13,487]

2 minutes ago, implife said:

any thoughts on slavery and holocaust? 

where those appraised by the same property appraisers?

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

17 minutes ago, implife said:

any thoughts on slavery and holocaust? 

dude really ?

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

14 minutes ago, Ban Hammer said:

where those appraised by the same property appraisers?

Maybe not. Appraisals are based on comp sales for the most part. Upgrades and additions defiantly make the home more marketable but do not translate into a dollar for dollar increase in value by any means. 

 

I am not be any means saying that racial composition of a neighborhood does not affect values, of course it does. An appraiser has to justify the values they put on property. There is no way its going to be.. oh let me add 500K because a white lady lives here.  Any kind of race based approach in the real estate industry is the death blow to your career , but it happens.

 

I was looking at home in what looked like a very nice neighborhood with nice homes priced at value rates.  The agent told me. I always recommend before you submit your offer ride thru the neighborhood on a pretty sunny afternoon and get a feel for the neighborhood. I did and it was obvious what she meant. 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

53 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

Sorry but I call BS. dont know how much you all know about appraisers, but its a lot of information. If the appraiser had already met with them he knew who the owners are even the 2nd appraiser would. They also have all the tax accessors rerecords, owners info, dates of sale etc. An appraisal is nothing more than a guide for a bank to use to determine risk assessment loan value. No appraiser is going to risk losing their certification  and facing a lawsuit just because someone is white. Not saying it didnt happen or there is not systematic racism in the housing market but there is some other explanation. Just because the 2nd appraisal was more does not mean it will sell for that. Comp sales are the biggest factor. Also you do not necessary get back penny for penny for upgrades or many times even close. 

 

Comp sales more than anything determine value. I wonder if it was a real estate agent and not an actual appraiser that gave the much higher value. Usually an appraisal is only done once an offer is made and a loan is needed.

 

I am going to file this in the NASCAR noose file 

 

   Is that a platinum plan acronym?

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

22 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   Is that a platinum plan acronym?

Buy/Sell its an appraisal term for fluffing appraisal. I use to have a room mate that was an appraiser 

[implife 318]

4 hours ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

dude really ?

I agree this topic is silly, but your knee jerk reaction to it is even sillier. 

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

7 minutes ago, implife said:

I agree this topic is silly, but your knee jerk reaction to it is even sillier. 

Not sure why its a knee jerk reaction to be skeptical of this story, knowing that appraisals have some subjectivity but not much.

 

Not to mention more times than not these out of the blue examples of a blatant shockingly racism turn out to be falsified. If anyone dared question these there was outrage. 

My questioning is not based on race its based on common sense 

 

Without Google 

Bubba Wallace

Jesse Smolett

Air Force Academy scandal 

Yasmin Sewad sp?

 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

12 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

Not sure why its a knee jerk reaction to be skeptical of this story, knowing that appraisals have some subjectivity but not much.

 

Not to mention more times than not these out of the blue examples of a blatant shockingly racism turn out to be falsified. If anyone dared question these there was outrage. 

My questioning is not based on race its based on common sense 

 

Without Google 

Bubba Wallace

Jesse Smolett

Air Force Academy scandal 

Yasmin Sewad sp?

 

 

  Then you have officer Darrell Semian, a black police officer who couldn't be buried because the cemetary was for white people only. In the year 2020. Blatant racism still exists. We don't have to imagine it everywhere, but it's not something we can just dismiss as not being possible.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

5 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  Then you have officer Darrell Semian, a black police officer who couldn't be buried because the cemetary was for white people only. In the year 2020. Blatant racism still exists. We don't have to imagine it everywhere, but it's not something we can just dismiss as not being possible.

Not arguing that it doesnt, just saying this one smells, also will add racism knows no color boundry