Megan Stevens
An African American couple are outraged over the discrimination they experienced over an appraisal of their San Francisco home.
After the appraiser lowballed their appraisal, they took matters into their own hands and “whitewashed” the home which increased the value upon the next appraisal.
The couple is outraged and is suing the appraiser for the time and money lost based off the undervalued appraisal.
Paul and Tenisha Tate-Austin purchased their home in the year 2016 and the couple had been making major improvements on it since their purchase. They had the home appraised in 2019 and the home appraised for 1.3 million dollars.
When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit a year later, and interest rates were low the couple decided they wanted to refinance to borrow some capital from the equity of the home. However, they were shocked in dismay when the white appraiser gave their appraisal back at a mere $998,000.
The couple immediately decided to get a second opinion. They removed all their ethnic artwork, pictures of their family, and their hair care products from the home in an attempt to “whitewash” the home to get a higher appraisal.
Mrs. Tate-Austin also decided to call up her white friend “Jan” to come over and pose as her at the time of the appraisal.
Their next appraisal took place roughly a month later from the last one and the home was valued at $1.482 million dollars. This difference in the appraisals valued at over a $500,000.
According to CBS News a recent study determined that homes in black neighborhoods are often undervalued by $48,000.
The Austins are hopeful that bringing about this suit will bring attention to the Whitehouse for the discrimination that is taking place across the US.
“America hasn’t gotten as far as we think it has when it relates to race,” Paul told CBS.
Paul
The Austins took immediate action and are suing the appraiser claiming that by the time they had gotten the new appraisal the interest rates had gone up and they could no longer borrow the money that they anticipated for capital.
Their suit notates: “Appraiser used unsuitable racially-biased “comps” to determine a low market value” on the home.
Mrs. Tate told CBS in a recent interview, “We really want people to understand the practices of the appraisal system perpetuates people of color from being able to build wealth in their communities and that has to stop.”
Mrs. Tate
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