A pair of Black college professors are suing a real estate appraiser and mortgage lender after their home value rose by nearly $300,000 after having a White friend show it instead of them.
Nathan Connolly and his wife Shani Mott, both professors at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, had their home appraised in advance of a refinance of their mortgage. The home was appraised at $472,000.
But when they had their White friend stand in for them, they got a huge surprise. Their home was valued at $750,000.
So Connolly and Mott are suing the home appraiser and mortgage lender for discriminatory violations of the Fair Housing Act.
The couple's lawsuit targets loanDepot.com, Maryland-based 20/20 Valuations and its owner Shane Lanham, who conducted their first appraisal.
The couple were immediately suspicious of the home valuation they received from Lanham.
It was just $22,000 more than the $450,000 price for which they purchased the home five years ago, despite having put more than $30,000 of renovations into it and the real estate market having skyrocketed to astonishing levels since 2020.
The couple's lender loanDepot.com then denied their mortgage application based on Lanham's skewed assessment.
Court documents detailed the home was full of family photos, books by Black authors and other Black cultural signifiers like a poster for the film Black Panther.
In addition to having a White colleague of Connolly's lead the second appraisal, the couple went to the effort to "whitewash" their home, removing and replacing Black-authored books, borrowing family photos from White friends and purchasing artwork depicting White people from IKEA.
It worked like a $300,000 charm.
Connolly is a lecturer on Literature and African studies at Johns Hopkins and an expert on the history of housing discrimination against Black people.
According to court documents, he and Mott wrote a detailed letter to loanDeport.com objecting to Lanham's appraisal, but the mortgage lender simply "stopped responding to Plaintiff's phone calls."
The couple believe Lanham targeted them because their community, the town of Homeland north of Baltimore, is 78% White.
Speaking to The New York Times, Connolly called the experience a "gut punch."
"We were clearly aware of appraisal discrimination. But to be told in so many words that our presence and the life we’ve built in our home brings the property value down? It’s an absolute gut punch."
On Twitter, many were outraged by what Connolly and Mott experienced.
\u201cThis is just outright discrimination. Whoever did the appraisal should lose their license. \n\nhttps://t.co/2txOeOgbcE\u201d— Joe Madison (@Joe Madison) 1661177100
\u201cThis is an incredible article detailing a horrendous, but not atypical, case of racism in today's housing market. Dr. Connolly and Dr. Mott are both amazing \n\nHome Appraised With a Black Owner: $472,000. With a White Owner: $750,000. https://t.co/3AKjt8M7U6\u201d— Ben (@Ben) 1660874402
\u201cTell me again housing discrimination no longer exists: A Black professor who studies housing discrimination had his home estimated to be worth $472K.\n\nAfter they removed indications that Black people lived there, another appraiser valued the home at $750K.\nhttps://t.co/jZeFLNc9fb\u201d— Kat Stafford (@Kat Stafford) 1660833037
\u201cI saw this story elsewhere \u2014 absolutely outrageous. Even accounting for a small gap in time between the two appraisals while prices were skyrocketing, the difference was close to a 75% whiteness bonus or a 40-45% blackness penalty.\n\nhttps://t.co/ukM4HUvz2f\u201d— Floss Obama\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffe (@Floss Obama\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffe) 1661141812
\u201cWe played a small role in helping to expose this racism perpetrated against our dear friends, and still reading the story again is infuriating. https://t.co/0gTubEu4rC\u201d— Christy Thornton (@Christy Thornton) 1660822359
\u201cTHIS IS WHAT BLACK PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAYING: Black Couple Sues After Home Valuation Rises Nearly $300,000 When Shown By White Friend | HuffPost Latest News #BLM. If you\u2019re not an outspoken #AntiRacist, then YOU are part of the PROBLEM!!! https://t.co/L5ZiOXfnCw\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Michael J. Golub \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 #PresidentBiden! (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Michael J. Golub \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 #PresidentBiden!) 1661028068
\u201cThis is a prime example of Red Lining. This has plagued the black Community over a century. Nank loans. Insurance. Costs of goods. And the list goes on. \nHome Appraised With a Black Owner: $472,000. With a White Owner: $750,000. https://t.co/vvZCUtL939\u201d— Papa KG \ud83d\udc99 (@Papa KG \ud83d\udc99) 1660892683
\u201cOut in @nytimes, an appalling story of racism across the real estate enterprise. Kudos to Drs. Connolly & Mott for having the courage to exercise their rights & fight for justice.\n\u201cHome Appraised With a Black Owner: $472,000. With a White Owner: $750,000.\u201d https://t.co/d41FBOZ64B\u201d— Andrea Boggild, MD (@Andrea Boggild, MD) 1660995046
\u201cThis shocking undervaluation of a black family's house (62%) in a white neighborhood shows systemic bias at work by appraisers, who are 97% white.\nHome Appraised With a Black Owner: $472,000. With a White Owner: $750,000. https://t.co/VC8GkQcO8W\u201d— heidi hamm (@heidi hamm) 1661179933
\u201cJim Crow Lives! Demand #ReparationsNow! \u201cA Professor Who Studies Housing Discrimination Says It Happened to Him\u201d #abolitionists unite!! e. https://t.co/kQp0lD6Oy8\u201d— Erika Alexander (@Erika Alexander) 1660829398
Housing discrimination against BIPOC is still shockingly common.
Connolly and Mott's lawsuit comes on the heels of a similar suit filed by a Black couple in California, Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate-Austin.
After "whitewashing" their home in a similar manner to Connolly and Mott, Austin and Tate-Austin's home value shot up from $995,000 to $1.48 million.
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