Mary Cummins, Real Estate Appraiser, Real Estate Appraisal, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins.

Mary Cummins is a real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California with 38+ years of experience. Cummins provides real estate appraisals for banks, lenders, mortgage brokers, Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs), lawyers, Courts, factors and private parties for lending, lawsuits, probate, estate planning, divorce and all types of litigation. Cummins provides 1004, 1073, 1025 and other form reports, narrative reports and historical appraisals besides real estate research and appraisal advice.

Friday, August 23, 2024

RealPage YieldStar Sued by Justice Department for Alleged "Price Fixing" - Doesn't Really Make Sense, by Mary Cummins

RealPage was sued by the Department of Justice for alleged "price fixing" of apartment rents. DOJ stated RealPage was "attempting to illegally decrease pricing competition between landlords and deprive renters the benefits of that competition." I find it hard to believe that a rental database is "price fixing." What about Zillow, MLS, stock market, Kelly Blue Book...? They all show list and sales prices which people use to set prices for similar goods. An an appraiser I do sales and rental analysis all the time with MLS, CoreLogic, Realty, Google... data. Is that price fixing? People hire me to find out what the market rate sales price or rent is for their home or apartment. Am I a "price fixer?"

RealPage offers a host of software and services to help property managers. One of those services is a software called YieldStar. YieldStar uses rental data from software users and more to suggest list rent prices for apartment building owners. Apartment owners have been using rental data to set prices since the beginning of time. Sometimes the rental prices are public and sometimes you have to do some research to find out the list and sales rent. Back in the day we had to get on the phone and call people. Some do the research and sell the reports. In this case property owners were submitting their own rents anonymously into the database. They don't want to do it publicly because then tenants could see their bottom rent, max rent concessions and only offer to pay rock bottom rent. Car dealerships do the same. Do we even know if they were inputting real rental rates? Doubt it was verified. RealPage said managers only used the data half of the time. Only 10% of some markets use their software. You would need 70% of apartment managers using the data and recommendations to affect the market. Here at most you had 5% considering market rate rent based on the data. They were given market rent data and not an inflated agreed upon value by all apartment building owners. That's the big difference here.

The real issue is rents have risen and it's an election year. Rents correlate directly with home prices which have risen at the same exact rate. The underlying cause is people aren't making enough money to pay the rent because wages are stagnant and there are not enough housing units. They need to help people make more money and build more units. Because it's an election year one party has to instead blame the government's problem on private individuals and businesses. "Vote for me and I'll lower your rent by suing a data company!" Getting rid of RealPage won't lower the rent. They never want to fix the real problem because it's too big and complex.

The last election cycle Joe Biden said blacks and Latinos were being lowballed by "old white racist male" appraisers devaluing their homes. We appraisers were the scapegoat for blacks, Latinos not having as much money as whites and owning less valuable homes. Biden said if elected he'd make sweeping changes with appraisers to increase property values. He didn't change anything but increase government meetings and paperwork. Again the real problem is income. In this situation whites make more than blacks, Latinos. If you make more money you have more money and can afford to buy a more expensive home in a more expensive area. Appraisers report values. We don't set them. Guess what? Whites also own more expensive cars than blacks, Latinos. Are real estate appraisers to blame for that also?

I will try to find the lawsuits and read them closely to see if there was any real "price fixing." The timing right before the election with Kamala Harris talking about high rents and "price gougers" makes me think this is just an election year issue. I'm just glad it's not another made up problem with appraisers. We've been through enough with the false lowball narrative smeared all over the media and internet.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/justice-department-suing-realpage-over-163534773.html

This article goes more into the specifics of the lawsuit. It still doesn't make sense. What about Kelly Blue Book algorithm for car values? They suggest market rate values for cars. It's based on car sales and listings. This is feeling like election year politics. It reminds me of the DOJ, HUD getting involved in a private alleged real estate bias lawsuit in Marin, California. DOJ filed a Statement of Interest in a fake racial discrimination case in appraisal values. It was 100% political so the government can say "see, we're doing something. Vote for us!"

https://natlawreview.com/article/justice-department-sues-software-maker-realpage-enabling-rent-collusion

Below are CoreLogic and Zillow rent reports on a property. Will they and MLS be sued next? I assume the value is being pulled from MLS and Zillow rental database. Apartments.com also shows rental prices for various areas. There are so many rental databases offering suggested rents. Maybe RealPage should have made the rental database non anonymous. It could just be based on general area and not specific building addresses.

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.

Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary, Cummins, #marycummins #animaladvocates #losangeles #california #wildlife #wildliferehabilitation #wildliferehabilitator #realestate #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #lawsuit real estate, appraiser, appraisal, instructor, teacher, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Brentwood, Bel Air, California, licensed, permitted, certified, single family, condo, condominium, pud, hud, fannie mae, freddie mac, fha, uspap, certified, residential, certified resident, apartment building, multi-family, commercial, industrial, expert witness, civil, criminal, orea, dre, brea insurance, bonded, experienced, bilingual, spanish, english, form, 1004, 2055, 1073, land, raw, acreage, vacant, insurance, cost, income approach, market analysis, comparative, theory, appraisal theory, cost approach, sales, matched pairs, plot, plat, map, diagram, photo, photographs, photography, rear, front, street, subject, comparable, sold, listed, active, pending, expired, cancelled, listing, mls, multiple listing service, claw, themls, historical appraisal, facebook, linkedin

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Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins of Cummins Real Estate Services has been in real estate since 1983, over 35 years. She is licensed by the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. Mary Cummins was an agent and broker licensed with the California Department of Real Estate selling residential income, commercial buildings, raw land and homes for Merrill Lynch Realty in Beverly Hills and Westside Properties in Los Angeles before concentrating on appraisals. Mary Cummins currently provides real estate appraisals, expert witness testimony, historical research, legal real estate research for mortgage brokers, banks, lawyers, factors, insurance companies, financial consultants and private individuals. Mary Cummins was born and raised in Southern California. Cummins attended Beverly Hills Good Shepherd Catholic School and Beverly Hills High School. Besides being on the Dean's list, Mary Cummins was a top ten national swimmer and competed on the men's water polo team. Mary Cummins began college at the age of 15 attending the University of Southern California on scholarship, majoring in Psychology/Sociology. http://www.animaladvocates.us http://www.facebook.com/AnimalAdvocatesUSA

Monday, August 5, 2024

National Fair Housing Alliance NFHA and HUD Promote False Racist Narrative About Real Estate Appraisers, Lenders For Money by Mary Cummins

mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal, aei, hud, nfha, national fair housing alliance, race, discrimination, bias, settlements,

National Fair Housing Alliance NFHA Promotes False Racist Narrative about Real Estate Appraisers for MONEY, mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal, aei, hud, nfha, national fair housing alliance, race, discrimination, bias, settlements,

The private nonprofit group National Fair Housing Alliance NFHA promotes the false narrative about alleged racist, biased real estate appraisers, lenders, AMCs to get donations, grants and millions in legal settlements per year. They falsely promote fake debunked papers about race and home values. Currently they're running advertisements falsely stating that real estate appraisers lowball blacks and Latinos. Private NFHA brings in $30,000,000 a year in donations and has $23,000,000 in assets in 2021. They're probably bringing in double that today in 2024 because of a recent 2022 $53,000,000 settlement from Fannie Mae and 2022 $4,000,000 settlement from Redfin. EIN 521676364 Phone (202) 898 1661

Here is their main profile in Guidestar. https://www.guidestar.org/profile/52-1676364

Here is their most recent IRS form 990 for 2021.
https://pdf.guidestar.org/PDF_Images/2022/521/676/2022-521676364-202322239349301757-9.pdf

2023 audit shows $28M assets.
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_audit/2023-09-GSAFAC-0000045422

They became a nonprofit in 1990. Lisa Rice is the CEO. They're headquarters are in Washington, D.C. but they're not part of the government. HUD refers people to NFHA to do their work filing complaints but they aren't a contractor. HUD runs ad campaigns about fair housing with NFHA. HUD did award over $30,000,000 in Fair Housing grants in 2024 alone to NFHA type programs. In 2021 they got a huge increase in litigation settlements i.e. $17,000,000 with legal costs of about $500,000. I wonder if they get pro bono lawyers to help them for free so they make more profit. In 2022 they got $53,000,000 from Fannie Mae racial discrimination settlement. They are clearly motivated to shake down appraisers, lenders and AMCs for money. It's been a huge financial boon to sue people to get them to cough up a settlement to end litigation, harassment, defamation and bad press caused by NFHA and their national press releases, conferences and misleading articles and videos. NFHA gets donations and press just from the press releases about their frivolous meritless lawsuits. They include a donation link in the press releases.

Nonprofit doesn't mean there are no profits or they aren't motivated by money. The main employees and sometimes board members generally get generous salaries, bonuses and perks. They are motivated by the money, power and prestige. The nonprofit sometimes donates to other groups which are generally friends of the main employees. They sometimes hire friends of the CEO, husbands, wives, children. Many nonprofits are actually just for profit businesses in disguise who don't pay taxes. A prime example is Shedd aquarium vs Sea World. They're both aquarium business with sea animals doing tricks which bring in about a billion per year. Shedd is a nonprofit and Sea World is a business doing the exact same thing. Here's an article I wrote about that.

Lisa Rice CEO makes almost $300,000 a year. Catherine Cloud the COO makes almost the same. They spend $3,000,000 in wages. They spend $500,000 on conferences and $250,000 just at the Hyatt Hotel. They receive grants from the government after paying $500,000 to lobby the government.

Have you seen these ads which NFHA, HUD run in major magazines, websites and on TV? They are very deceptive. American Enterprise Institute AEI proved that appraisers don't lowball anyone let alone blacks and Latinos. First time buyers in lower income areas buying lower priced homes are more likely to be black and Latino because of the income gap. The real estate purchases are more likely to have concessions for repairs and closing costs in these areas. This is why some appraisal values are sometimes 3% lower than contract value. The contracts include the concessions for repairs and closing costs which pads the sales price by about 3%. Appraisers have to adjust for concessions which lowers appraisal value by the concession amount for repairs and such.

I just realized that NFHA has done advertisement campaigns in the past with HUD. I just saw a full ad with HUD disclaimer on the bottom of one ad.

https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/NFHAHUDWHEELCHAIR_EN.PDF

https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/FHEO/documents/HUD_NFHA_Discrimination_ENG_508.pdf

https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FATHER_SON_ENG.PDF

I couldn't read the fine print in the ad I originally posted above. HUD is working with NFHA on these misleading ads. The block of text after "Everyone has a right to fair housing" could say "A public service message from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with

the National Fair Housing Alliance. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. For more information, visit www.hud.gov/fairhousing." It still makes it seem that private NFHA is part of the government when it's not.

Here is their income from settlements, shakedowns.

NFHA stated that appraisers lowball blacks and Latinos in the US. This is false. AEI proved with the government's own data that appraisers aren't lowballing anyone, see links below. The data NFHA used for this false statement was based on robot appraisals. No appraisers were involved. AEI debunked Andre Perry's false and misleading paper. It was not peer reviewed research. This is again correlation and not causation. Blacks, Latinos make less money than white people. If you make less money, you have less money and you will buy/own a lower priced home in a lower priced area. It's the income gap. Same thing happens to lower income whites, Asians ... everyone. Blacks, Latinos own lower priced cars for the same reason. Will they also blame that on real estate appraisers? If they really care about the issue, they should fix the income gap which has nothing to do with housing.

NFHA and HUD are lying to the public about appraisal bias. FTR anyone can use the HUD logo. HUD clearly states this in their website. I could use the HUD logo in my website and falsely state all non Latino appraisers lowball Latinos so Latinos should only use me, a Latina, for their appraisal. I could probably make money lying like that but I'd never do that because it's dishonest. NFHA makes money being dishonest. They know they are promoting a fake racist narrative for their own agenda which is money.

I just noticed that NFHA has different ads for different publications based on most likely race of viewer based on subscriber statistics. Some are Latinos, blacks, Asians and whites. Is this racist? Should they be sued for racism, targeted racism, colorism like they are suing lenders? They're doing the same exact thing they are accusing others for money. The ad in Sports Illustrated showed white people. The one in a mainly a black magazine showed black people. Who is the racist here?

Just found one of the ads blown up so I can see the text. It is from NFHA and HUD. Click to view larger to read the text.

Great article by Jeremy Bagott on this same issue. He shows the bigger picture which is the use of the false narrative of the racist biased appraiser to get rid of appraisers to make lenders, AMCs more money. Lenders have lobbied the government to use AVMs, appraisal waivers, value acceptance, hybrid appraisals, desktop appraisals to get rid of appraisers in favor of free robots. These robots are more biased than any appraiser because they don't know or consider all factors in appraisal. Robots don't know condition, view, lot type, actual size, actual bed/bath count, permitted size, upgrades, amenities, specific location...which are main factors in valuation. https://mailchi.mp/c5f09f56ce7f/regulatory-capture-hud-and-a-crony-nonprofit-9382139

References

How Common is Appraiser Bias?
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/How-Common-is-Appraiser-Racial-Bias-An-Update-May-2022-FINAL-corrected-1.pdf?x91208

Exploring Alternative Explanations for Appraisal Under-Valuation
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/exploring-alternative-explanations-for-appraisal-under-valuation/

The Impact of Race and Socio-Economic Status on the Value of Homes by Neighborhood A Critique of the Brookings Institution’s “The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods”
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Impact-of-Race-and-Socio-Economic-Status-on-the-Value-of-Homes-by-Neighborhood-Presentation-8.5.21-FINAL-v4.pdf?x85095

Racial Bias in Appraisals: New Research
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Racial-Bias-in-Appraisals-New-Research-FINAL_revised.pdf?x91208

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Mary Cummins

Thursday, August 1, 2024

Appraisal Institute AI, National Association of Realtors NAR Zoom Webinar on NAR Settlement

amy frink, mary cummins, woody fincham, jared preisler, beth graham,national association of realtors,appraisal institute,ai, nar, nar settlement, commission, concession

"The NAR Settlement: What appraisers need to know and watch for

On August 17, 2024, REALTOR® MLSs (multiple listing services) will be required to make practice changes in accordance with the National Association of Realtor (NAR) settlement, including (1): prohibiting offers of compensation on the MLS (though such offers “could [be] pursue[d] off-MLS through negotiation”).

MLS participants working with buyers must enter into written agreements with their buyers before the buyer tours a home.

What does all this mean for appraisers, the data they collect from MLSs, and the verification and reporting of that data? The unfortunate answer is that all the implications of these changes are not completely clear yet. However, our panelists are here to help make sense of what is known now and what you might be able to expect.

Panelists will discuss:

What are concessions and why they are not commissions

How are MLS Forms and policies changing in local markets and how to understand these changes

Obtaining data to verify sales in light of MLS changes

How to reflect changes in data collection in your report

What to look for in and what to ask your MLS going forward"

My notes which are super brief as I was a little busy.

Buyers and buyers agents should have been using existing buyer commission and representation contracts before the settlement. Now they are mandatory.

Sales concession vs repair cost. Sales concessions are rate buy downs, closing costs payments, anything related to finance, escrow. They are not repair costs to the property.

Homes prices and commissions will not be going down because of NAR settlement. It basically just makes things more confusing with more paperwork.

Commissions have not been 6% in many, many years. They are 1-3% since homes prices have doubled in value. The idea that the NAR Settlement will reduce commissions and home prices is false. It won't.

A few slides. Presentation was recorded. I'll post the link if it's public. I suggest watching the one hour Zoom presentation.