Andre Perry falsely states grocery stores are racist. More bad "research," by Mary Cummins

Andre Perry just released more false and misleading "research." Andre Perry believes that premium grocery stores are racist against black people. He "proves" his point by showing there aren't many premium grocery stores in predominantly black areas. Again, his "research" is bad science and misinterpreted results. People on the internet are using his "data" to attack grocery stores and rile up black people against whites. This is not peer reviewed or published research. Below is his linked article. 

https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-the-lack-of-premium-grocery-stores-says-about-disinvestment-in-black-neighborhoods/

Andre Perry states there are few premium grocery stores in mainly black areas. This is correlation and not causation. There are also few Louis Vuitton stores and Rolls Royce dealerships in predominantly black areas for the same reason. The reason is financial. There is research which proves whites make more money than blacks and Latinos in general. If a store chooses its location based on higher income, that area will more likely be more white than black, Latino. It's correlation and the income gap, stupid.

Premium grocery stores are in the business of making money. They want to make as much net profits as possible. They do this by locating their stores in an area which has the highest concentration of their most likely customers with the least amount of risk. They don't consider race. Below is an article about how Whole Foods chooses store locations to prove this. https://www.washingtonian.com/2015/07/14/how-whole-foods-decides-if-your-neighborhood-is-worthy/#:~:text=Whole%20Foods%20doesn't%20divulge,estate%2C%20population%20density%2C%20education%2C

From the article, "Whole Foods doesn’t divulge specifics about its real-estate decision-making, which it considers “proprietary.” Mid-Atlantic regional president Scott Allshouse at least offers this via e-mail:“We take a variety of factors into consideration, including availability and cost of real estate, population density, education, demographics, and the community’s interest in natural and organic foods. No one factor is most important.” Later in the article it states main factor is "education then commuter patterns, checking out competing grocery stores, and calculating their likely earnings."

Here's info on Trader Joe's locations. They tend to choose locations "located in cheaper parts of expensive areas." "The company is selective about new markets, taking a gander at median household income, education, population density, distribution efficiencies and labor force." " Stern and David Livingston, an expert in supermarket location research, said Trader Joe’s typically looks for median household income in excess of $100,000. The perfect storm, Livingston said, is high incomes and expensive homes within the first 2 miles of the potential site, with maybe a major university or large medical complex sprinkled on top." “They are not going to open a store based on a petition because everyone wants a Trader Joe’s,” Livingston said. “But only people who are educated and have high disposable incomes will actually support one.”

Grocery stores are not a government service or a nonprofit. They don't have to invest in poorer areas. They are a business. They don't care about race. They do care about safely making net profits. If an area has lots of potential clients but has high crime, theft, vandalism, they probably wouldn't choose it because net profits would be reduced by crime. Some shoppers might not even want to shop in a high crime area because they don't want to get mugged, robbed, car broken into, raped or killed. A good example of this is Whole Foods markets closing in a prime area of San Francisco. https://kesq.com/money/cnn-business-consumer/2023/04/11/whole-foods-closes-san-francisco-flagship-store-after-one-year-citing-crime-2/#:~:text=An%20enormous%20Whole%20Foods%20in,over%20the%20past%20six%20years. 

Instead of calling Whole Foods a racist piece of shit the County Supervisor said this about the closure. "San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Matt Dorsey said on Twitter that he was “incredibly disappointed” by the closure. “Our neighborhood waited a long time for this supermarket, but we’re also well aware of problems they’ve experienced with drug-related retail theft, adjacent drug markets, and the many safety issues related to them,” Dorsey wrote. Appearing on “CNN This Morning” Wednesday, Dorsey said he’s “seen a lot of issues of people acting out and shoplifting” at the store. “Fingers crossed we can turn things around here and I do have some optimism, but hopefully we can get this supermarket back open,” he said." Reducing crime in the area is the solution here not calling people racists. If you call Whole Foods racists, they may never want to open a store in that market area.

Per research there is a correlation between income, age, class, gender, race and increased street crime, see link below. Lower income, 15-24 age group, lower class, males, black then Latino commit most street crime per research. Lower income areas tend to have more 15-24 year olds, lower class, males, blacks and Latinos which commit more crime. More correlation. Increased crime levels is another reason why Trader Joe's would not want a store in a lower income area. Crime reduces sales, adds costs and eats into profits. https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/8-3-who-commits-crime/

Andre Perry's article looks at premium markets. Premium markets like Trader Joe's sell specialty items, organic food and higher priced items. It makes sense to be located in an area where people make more money. If you don't have a lot of money and went to Trader Joe's, you wouldn't be able to afford to buy as much food. You'd rather shop at the 99 cent store where I shop or Dollar General. There is plenty of good, healthy, affordable food at the 99 cent store. I buy beans, rice, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables at the 99 cent store at a better price than Ralphs, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I'd be pissed if I didn't have a 99 cent store not a Trader Joe's. Only uppity people like Andre Perry would demand a Trader Joe's. If you want to shop at Trader Joe's to buy $11 lavender flavored organic nuts, just go to one. If you can't travel, the 99 cent store is fine to buy regular nuts. People don't need specialty grocery stores. They just need to buy good affordable food. Next Perry will be whining that there's no Gucci store in low income areas.

I'm Latino and live in a predominantly Latino area because it's a poorer area in Los Angeles. We have a 99 cent store and a Ralphs. I eat good, healthy, cheap food and am happy. I don't want or need an expensive Whole Foods or Trader Joe's store. Maybe I should be like Andre Perry and yell that markets are racist against Latinos because I personally don't get what I want. Perry seems to always forget that his predominantly black areas (10% or more black) also have 90% poor Latinos, whites and others. He only cares about black people because he has a personal agenda. I read most of his book "Know your price" and he basically admits that he's racist against white people. He blames every problem on white people.

Maybe I should lie and state that all companies that don't cater to poor Latino me are racists against Latinos. I'd probably get a good following of poor angry Latinos who think all their problems are caused by others. I bet I could write a book about Latino hate and make money writing hate books, giving hate speeches and spewing racist lies to further divide our country just like Andre Perry. I would never do that because that would be dishonest and racist. Andre Perry is doing it because of his racism and he likes the money and false accolades. He needs to make more money so he can shop at more expensive Trader Joe's.

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

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AEI Reply to Pave Report, Andre Perry's misleading research and Freddie Mac's paper

Joe Biden, HUD, Marcia Fudge repeatedly cite Andre Perry's misleading paper on race and home values. Perry's paper is not published or peer reviewed research. It's deeply flawed in its execution and analysis. Race is not related to home valuation. Socio-economic status is related to income which is related to race which is related to the value of a home bought by a POC. Blacks make less money than whites. People with less money buy less expensive homes. The value of those homes are not being reduced by appraisers, appraisals or AVMs. 

This is a very well researched and written reply to Andre Perry's misleading paper. Perry conflates race with socio-economic status. SES is income, marital status, % single mothers with children under 18...) If you adjust for SES, the differences disappear. If you compare whites with low and high SES, the gap appears. This proves it's not a race issue but an income, SES issue. 

It's vitally important to know the real cause of the wealth gap between black and white so a proper solution can be applied. I've been stating that we need to fix the income gap to fix the wealth gap. Helping people with lower SES pay for a down payment won't help them down the line if they don't have enough income to easily make the mortgage payments. You just set them up for failure and bigger financial losses. This research is from Edward Pinto and Tobias Peter of from American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Impact-of-Race-and-Socio-Economic-Status-on-the-Valuation-of-Homes-by-Neighborhood-3.18.21-final-revised-1.pdf

https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/aei-housing-center-response-to-perry-and-rothwell-2021/

This research brings up more flaws in Andre Perry's paper than I stated in my article about the research. Most importantly Perry intentionally did not include income stating it wouldn't affect the results. When income is included the value gap shrinks by half. Perry didn't include other important SES factors such as % single mother with children under 18. Everyone knows how expensive and difficult it is to work and raise young children as a single mother of any color. Perry also didn't include lot size, condition of neighborhood, condition of home, location next to natural amenities... I would bet Perry did this intentionally in order to show the results he desired. This is why his research was not published or peer reviewed. Perry's paper is advocacy for his own agenda masquerading as science and facts. Thankfully AEI took it upon themselves to independently review the research. 

Other interesting findings from their report.

"We find that with higher incomes, Black borrowers increasingly chose neighborhoods, in which the Black share of residents is lower." "If Black and White neighborhoods are identical in every aspect except for price and their racial makeup (as Perry et al. claim), then why are Black buyers not taking advantage of lower priced homes in Black neighborhoods? It must be that Black buyers understand that White neighborhoods do have more amenities and those who can do so are willing to forego the “cheaper” homes in Black neighborhoods in order to get those amenities."

Income and marital status matter. "The Black homeownership (HO) rate is much lower than the White HO rate, but the difference gets smaller as income grows. The HO rate for White or Black married households (HH) is much higher than for unmarried White or Black HH."

"There is a big disparity by marital status between Blacks and Whites. Unmarried Black HH comprise 70% of Black HH, and the vast majority are below area median income." Their research has also shown more integration and increased income among blacks over time.

"Diagnosing the causes of the home value gap, along with a recognition of decreasing racial and ethnic segregation and increasing Socio-Economic Status (SES) stratification, helps in the consideration of appropriate policy solutions that will increase financial security and shrink the SES gap."

They offer some sound solutions at the end of the report.This is the type of real scientific fact based data that Joe Biden and HUD needs to see and use. Using Perry's report harms POC and will not help them. Perry is harming black people with his dishonest paper. I only posted the first part. Click the link to see the full article with data, charts and statistics. 

"On March 23rd, the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity and, which is composed of thirteen federal agencies and offices, released its report entitled “Action Plan to Advance Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap by Addressing Mis-valuations for Families and Communities of Color.”

Commentary on PAVE’s conclusion:

PAVE concluded that “Homeownership is often hindered by inequities within current home lending and appraisal processes, which research shows disproportionately impact people in communities of color.”

As noted in the Executive Summary, the report largely rests on three studies for its conclusion: (i) a report by the Brookings Institution, (ii) a note by Freddie Mac, and (iii) a blog post by FHFA.[1] In our work, we have issued lengthy critiques that discredit the first two studies (see our rebuttal to Brookings and to Freddie Mac) and now take the opportunity to respond to the FHFA study.[2] Here is a summary of our findings:

The Brookings and Freddie Mac studies are not based on rigorous data analysis. Most importantly, they conflate race with socio-economic status (SES), i.e. income, buying power, marriage rates, credit scores, etc. Race-based gaps found in the Brookings and Freddie Mac studies either entirely or substantially disappear when adjusting for differences in SES. Furthermore, our analyses show that similar gaps are present in majority White or White-only tracts across different SES levels, raising serious questions regarding a race-based explanation.[3] We also addressed a rebuttal from the Brookings authors to our critique. We found that Perry and Rothwell’s (2021) rebuttal to our critique supported our claim of omitted variable bias, failed to rebuke our methodology, and never addressed our case studies. We also presented solutions based on our findings. The Freddie Mac study took pains to state that its research was both “exploratory” and “preliminary”. Yet PAVE accepted Freddie Mac’s findings at face value, even though research by Fannie Mae provides a likely, non-race based explanation for the valuation discrepancy found by Freddie Mac. It is worth noting that Fannie Mae’s explanation casts a favorable light on the appraisal industry.

This conflation by both Brookings and Freddie Mac is of critical importance. While there is agreement regarding the symptoms observed by PAVE–racial and ethnic differences in the homeownership rate, the financial returns of owning a home, and median wealth levels–ascertaining the causes and workable solutions requires a competition of ideas.[4] PAVE excluded research that was inconvenient or inconsistent with the desired narrative and conclusion.[5]"

Read the rest here. 

https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/comments-on-the-pave-report

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

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Sellers, Buyers set home values NOT Appraisers - by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

Sellers, Buyers set Property Values NOT Real Estate Appraisers, Mary Cummins, Los Angeles, California, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal

UPDATE: I tweeted my article to Andre Perry. After he made a few ridiculous replies which only showed how much he doesn't know about appraisers and appraising he blocked me. Thank god I just swallowed my sip of iced tea or I would have spit it all over my computer monitor laughing :-D This guy can dish out bad statistics, bullshit and racism but can't take simple facts. 

FTR Andre Perry has stated many times that Appraisers are racist and biased. Here are some quotes. He stated this as a fact when it's not. From written testimony from U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services. "And we’ve witnessed viral news stories revealing how appraisers value Black and white homeowners differently." He's one of the main people spreading those false media articles about alleged bias which I researched and about which I wrote articles. 

"We don't want to lay the complete blame on the loss of home values on appraisers," said Perry. "They are certainly an important trigger but the same attitudes that appraisers have, so do [some] lenders, real estate agents and other people in various markets." Many more citations below.

Andre Perry, Brookings Institute, Know your price, valuing black lives and property in america's black cities, andrew m perry, andre montel perry, @andreperryedu #andreperry, brookings, book, racism, bias, real estate, appraisal, avms, research, paper, black, white, race

Andre Perry, Brookings Institute, Know your price, valuing black lives and property in america's black cities, andrew m perry, andre montel perry, @andreperryedu #andreperry, brookings, book, racism, bias, real estate, appraisal, avms, research, paper, black, white, race

Andre Perry, Brookings Institute, Know your price, valuing black lives and property in america's black cities, andrew m perry, andre montel perry, @andreperryedu #andreperry, brookings, book, racism, bias, real estate, appraisal, avms, research, paper, black, white, race

In the intro of his book Andre admits to having anger management issues with people with whom he disagrees. He said he "verbally assaults" people. He stated "My life "which has been beleaguered with unpredictable outbreaks of rage, largely stemming from reminders of past feelings of vulnerability and worthlessness. Minor disagreements with lovers, friends, colleagues, and strangers often turned into blowout arguments, for reasons unknown to them." The intro of his book also shows that his main focus in life seems to be that white people have done him and black people very wrong basically destroying everyone's lives, family and specifically their money. He stated his father died in prison and his mother abandoned him and his brothers with the local baby sitter. It does sound like a tough life that has affected his view of life and others. He stated his goal in life is to show that the main problem in this world is white people. Read the intro to his book and come to his own conclusion. The intro is online and free. 

ORIGINAL: Everyone knows the "fair market value (of a house) is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts." This is the basis of our world economy and free market society. Everyone agrees with this except hate monger Andre Perry who blames lower property values on "racist white appraisers." 

Andre Perry just wrote another crazy article about racism and real estate. Someone needs to contact the editor at the Brookings Institute about allowing flawed statistics, misleading research and the promotion of racist hate mongering in their name. 

Andre Perry has never let facts and data stand in the way between reality and the racist narrative he's created and actively promotes. He believes everyone in the US is responsible for home values in areas which are mainly "black," i.e. over 50% black per his own criteria, being lower than areas that are mainly "white," i.e. 1% or less "black." He actually only compared a few extremely different areas. This article proves that Perry's paper is based on extremely misleading data selection and biased comparisons which were then used to invent a false and misleading racist narrative. Note that his paper has never been peer reviewed or published in a journal article. It would never pass peer review. A "refereed (peer-reviewed) journal is reviewed by expert reviewers as a quality-control measure." I just checked Perry's resume and he has no peer reviewed articles or papers on his false racism in appraising theory.

In the article Andre Perry wrote "Lower home prices in Black neighborhoods reflect how much we value their residents." Nope. Home prices reflect the price agreed upon by a willing seller and buyer. It has nothing to do with the value of residents. The Appraiser also has nothing to do with the home price or value. A seller could sell his home for $100,000. If the buyer pays cash, there's no appraiser or appraisal. Seller and buyer set the price which is later publicly shared by Zillow, RedFn and MLS. Those sales set the market price for similar homes. Seller and buyer alone control that price and value

Now if the buyer wants a home loan, he'll probably need a real estate appraisal. The purpose of the appraisal is so the bank knows there's enough equity in the home to pay off the loan in case the borrower defaults on the loan. I could appraise that home for $10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 and the sale price stays the exact same at $100,000. The home still sells for $100,000. THE APPRAISER AND APPRAISAL DON'T AFFECT THE PRICE OR VALUE! This proves that Andre Perry does not understand the concepts of value, price, real estate, economic principles, basic math...or common sense. His "paper" includes almost every single major statistical error possible. Why does anyone believe this guy or that meaningless paper? It has less merit than an op-ed.

If Perry wants to blame someone for lower home values in some black areas he needs to blame the buyers of those homes which are mainly black per his "research." He should tell those greedy (sarcasm) buyers to pay $1,000,000 for that $100,000 home if they "value their residents." "Don't be a cheap bastard! Pay the seller more than what that home is worth! Do it for the good of the community!" (sarcasm) You sell a few homes for $1,000,000, they're all worth $1,000,000, right? Sadly, no.

FTR I attended the 2019 meeting Perry mentioned in his article. That was the first time I encountered Andre Perry and his lack of real estate, economics or statistics knowledge. 

From Perry's article. Notice he speaks about himself in the third person. Who does that? He doesn't even know that the Appraisal Institute is just a private org that doesn't certify or regulate the appraisal profession. I added what is in parenthesis.

"In 2019, one of this blog’s authors (Andre Perry) testified in Congress along with representatives from the Appraisal Institute and the Appraisal Foundation, two organizations that help certify and regulate appraisal professionals. When Rep. Al Green of Texas asked the panel to raise our hand if we believe “discrimination plays a role in the devaluation of property in neighborhoods that are predominated with minorities,” I was the only one who raised a hand."

I decided to go find this video to refresh my memory as I was working while listening, watching the original hearing. Andre Perry is a liar. See the video below. The guy directly behind him also raised his hand so 2/26 people. He was not the only one. Perry also lied about the question. This is the real question, "Do you believe that invidious discrimination, invidious is harmful, (full definition: Treating a class of persons unequally in a manner that is malicious, hostile, or damaging; unfairly, unjustly discriminating) plays a role in the devaluation of property in neighborhoods that are predominated with minorities but more specifically black people? If you do believe this, raise your hand. If you think black people are being discriminated when their property is being appraised, would you kindly raise your hand." Andre Perry raised his hand. This shows he is specifically talking about appraisers appraising properties and not AVMs here. AVMs are not appraisals. This is why Appraisers are upset. He accused us of invidious discrimination besides bringing up and widely sharing anecdotal media articles about alleged discrimination by appraisers. 

All the real estate experts with many years of experience and multiple degrees in real estate did not and do not agree with Andre Perry. This shows that Perry does not know what he's talking about. I also would not have raised my hand. The property in question is not, was not devalued. There is no discrimination in property valuation because it's based on a math formula. Most Appraisers never see the buyer, seller or know their race. It's just an address to us. The robot appraisals don't see anyone or anything, not even the property. Andre Perry's paper is based on robot appraisals and prices agreed upon by sellers and buyers. Appraisers had nothing to do with the data he used. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist. It does. It's just not an influence in real estate appraisal especially robot real estate valuations like Zillow.

Perry states that homes in black areas are worth $48,000 less than in "similar" white areas. Then what explains the differences among the values in white areas? It can't be discrimination against black people because they're white. Same thing happens in brown areas. What explains the lower value of a white owned home in a black area? Again, the owner is white and not black. Will all the white and brown people with lower home valued be compensated by any new government initiatives or reparations for low valued homes? Perry has been talking about using his $48,000 figure as a measure of reparations for black people. What about the rest of us suffering from low priced homes? I don't even own a home. Will all people who don't own homes, even homeless people also be getting a check? 

In the article Perry talks about the Indiana and Florida media articles about alleged racism in real estate appraisals. Recently he said those were just media articles and we don't know if it was racism or not. He even said recently he's never said appraisers were racist and he doesn't feel they are. Now he's back to promoting the idea of racist appraisers again! This guy will say whatever the audience in front of him wants to hear. He doesn't even know his own truth. He's that insecure.

His recent article is about the "Brookings and Ashoka Collaborative Innovation Challenge." They're offering money which he will most likely reward to a like minded friend who promotes his racism. Stuart Yasgur the VP & Global Leadership Group Member represents Ashoka #stuartyasgur . The prize is supposed to go to the person who solves the problem of homes in specific black areas being worth less than homes in specific white areas. I may send in a solution to the problem. My solution is that the problem as defined by Andre Perry doesn't exist. He created it. I solved it. Poof, it's gone. Where's my check?

#andreperryedu #stuartyasgur #brookingsinstitute #ashoka #racism #hatemonger #marycummins #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #brookings #race #bias #appraisal

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate is a certified residential licensed appraiser in Los Angeles, California. Mary Cummins is licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate appraisers and has over 35 years of experience.

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Letter in reply to Andre Perry of the Brookings Institute presentation to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services

I watched the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services meeting today. All the experts were great except one that didn't belong there, namely Andre Perry. He was not in the real estate or finance industry. He works with the Brookings Institute in the Metropolitan Policy Program. He is clueless about real estate, value and finance.

Andre Perry thinks homes owned by black people are under valued by $48,000 by appraisers. He compared similar sized homes in predominantly white and black areas using computer made valuation models. He determined that real estate appraisers are intentionally reducing the value of the homes owned by black people by $48,000. The valuations were made by computer software and not appraisers. They were based on location, size, bed/bath count, age... 

Did Perry even stop and consider when these people buy these homes in different areas they are paying different prices because they are worth different amounts because they're in different locations? How did the Brookings Institute let this paper get out? I no longer respect the Brookings Institute if they can release this garbage report. The valuations were not made by people, by real estate appraisers but software programs. The software is not biased against people of color, women, elderly, LGBTQ... because it doesn't see the people. It doesn't even see the home. That is not a real valuation. This does not prove bias by real estate appraisers. 

(Turns out Andre Perry has a book coming out about blacks and value. He's hitting up all the shows and meetings gearing up for his book release.)

In the meeting only one person agreed with Mr. Perry. That person was POC Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (MI-13). She is a new politician elected in 2019. She needs some education. Why was she put on this Committee when she knows nothing about the subject matter? They should know the basics of an issue before they are put on a Committee.

She said, "Homes look identical but homes in white areas are worth more? Doesn't make sense. You are working in a broken system. You should be able to change the value based on other things. It's not right that someone with no money can't buy a home. I want to take you home to my district (to Mr. Perry because what he said agrees with her thinking)."

How is Rashida Tlaib on this committee when she knows nothing about property value, buying homes and owning a home? A similar size home in Detroit, Michigan is worth less than a similar size home in California because people would prefer to live in California. That does make sense. 

If you were to give a poor person money for a down payment and put them in a home they can't afford, they will lose the home when they can't afford to make mortgage payments. They would be worse off. I've seen it happen. Not everyone in the US needs to own a home especially now that the real estate recession started Q4 2018.

Mary Cummins
645 W 9th St #110-140
Los Angeles, CA 90015

June 20, 2019

Amy Liu, Mark Muro, Alan Berube
Brookings Institute
Metropolitan Policy Program
Via email: MetroMediaRelations@brookings.edu
Members of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services
Via email: FSCDems@mail.house.gov
RE: "Know Your Price: The Devaluation of Residential Property in Black Neighborhoods," authors Andre Perry and David Rubenstein

June 20, 2019 Andre Perry sat before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. He presented the above paper to the Committee linked here https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/hhrg-116-ba04-wstate-perrya-20190620.pdf.

Andre Perry stated in his paper, "We sought to understand how much money majority-black  communities are losing in the housing market stemming from racial bias, finding that owner-occupied homes in black neighborhoods are undervalued by $48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses."

Andre Perry does not understand the basics of home valuation or even value. He inferred in the meeting that real estate appraisers intentionally reduce the value of a home owned by a black family. Mr. Perry said he could see no other reason why the similar homes in different locations were valued differently. Everyone knows real estate is valued by location, location, location. When the audience was asked by a Committee member if they thought appraisers discriminate against black people in arriving at the value Mr. Perry was the only person who raised his hand in a room of real estate valuation experts.

I've been a real estate appraiser, broker, expert witness over 35 years in Los Angeles, California. I will give a brief explanation of the concept of value and how appraisers arrive at the value of a home. There is no adjustment for skin color.

The value of a home is what a willing buyer is willing to pay to a willing seller in an open market. Most of a home's value is location. A 1,500 sf 50 year old home in Detroit will be valued differently than a 1,500 sf 50 year old home in Beverly Hills. Facts are facts. Numbers are numbers. The value is what it is.

All real estate appraisers must comply with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). To appraise an average home the appraiser searches for other similar homes which have sold recently, are currently listed or under contract in the same area. The mathematical formula is to search +/- 15% difference in gross living area, within the last six months and within a half a mile radius of the subject property.  The appraiser then selects the comparables which are most similar to the subject property in terms of age, amenities, modifications... We widen or tighten the search parameters as needed to find proper comps. We must bracket for size, bed/bath count and age. We then generally use the three most similar sold comps, one comp under contract and one current listing.

After we have our comps we make adjustments for the differences among the comps and the subject property. One might be slightly larger, have an extra bedroom, bath, garage, be fully remodeled or a fixer. We adjust for all factors which are different. In a perfect world we will find comps exactly like the subject and never have to adjust.

We don't and can't search for the color of skin of the owner of the comp properties. We don't even know the color of skin of the owner of the subject property unless we see them at the property. We generally meet the agent or the home is vacant and we meet no one. If a person or a portrait of a person is in our photos, we must Photoshop the people out of the photos.

Homes in areas that are predominantly black, Latino are generally though not always valued less than homes in primarily white neighborhoods. There are a few areas in Los Angeles where it's reversed. The correlation is between what the buyers can afford to buy and the price at which the homes are selling. No one is steering certain races to certain areas. People buy homes which they like and can afford.

Racism most certainly exists. Blacks, Latinos make less than whites. Women make less than men. That said real estate appraisers do not value homes owned by black people less than homes owned by whites. We value homes based on size, age, amenities and location.

Sincerely,

Mary Cummins
Se habla Español!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15g-0CdRhvY9WA0-5p2KQoi7dzbMMjK0P/view?usp=sharing

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the
Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.

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