Homeowning while Black: Couple alleges bias in appraisal
CBSN
How much does it pay to hide the photos of your family at your home, or anything else that shows your race? If you're Black and trying to find out how much your house is worth, one family suggests it could be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A couple in Baltimore is suing an appraiser and a mortgage lender, alleging their home was severely undervalued because they are Black, blocking them from refinancing their mortgage. The couple says a separate appraisal, done after "whitewashing" the place by removing family photos and having a white colleague stand in for them, pegged the home's value higher by $278,000.
The two "were shocked at the appraisal and recognized that the low valuation was because of racial discrimination," according to the suit filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court in Maryland.