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.

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Appraisers did not Cause Racial Wealth Gap by Jeremy Bagott, Mary Cummins

I'm so glad Jeremy Baggott wrote an article about this case. He's such a wonderful writer who can so eloquently and effectively put this insane false narrative into words. In this case the black plaintiffs were the racists discriminating against the white appraiser. They defamed the appraiser with false claims of discrimination and racism. Baggot talks about how the lending industry has used this false narrative to subvert mortgage safeguards and make more money. Below are just first few paragraphs.

"FEDERAL BENCH: NO, APPRAISERS DIDN’T CAUSE AMERICA’S RACIAL WEALTH GAP

VENTURA, Calif. (July 25, 2025) – After years of feckless payouts by insurance companies and corporations, the era of using the courts to harass appraisers for their value opinions has ended.

Last week, a U.S. District Court judge in Maryland threw out a discrimination lawsuit on summary judgment. It was brought against an appraiser by a militant professor at Johns Hopkins University and his wife, who passed away since the filing of the suit. She, too, was a professor at Hopkins.

The Maryland appraiser, Shane Lanham, relied partly on crowdfunding to stitch together a successful defense against the spurious allegations. He received an assist by a key ruling in April in which a U.S. District Court judge in Ohio dismissed a similar meritless discrimination lawsuit against an appraiser. Both lawsuits were based on hunches and disparate-impact quackery. The lawsuits were so flawed as to be shocking.

The two dismissals were a blow to the deep-pocketed housing lobby – the Realtors, homebuilders and lenders – and their captured patrons in government. The housing lobby has sought to delegitimize and sideline third-party appraisers for decades. Cheerleading these lawsuits seemed like a new low, even for this bunch. It was a scorched-earth campaign that inflicted severe harm on random individuals for simply doing their jobs. For a subset of academics and agitators, the lawsuits were about providing justification for radical mortgage-lending policies grounded in the tenets of DEI and critical-race theory."

@jbagott Link to full article

https://mailchi.mp/541adc35f58a/federal-bench-no-appraisers-didnt-cause-americas-racial-wealth-gap

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 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

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Caution with Google Maps. Main Streets Updated More Often than Side Streets by Mary Cummins

Use caution when using Google maps street view. They rephotograph and update the main streets but not the side streets as often. This property was two units and they just added two more units to the front. I see the two units in one street view but not the other. Had I not decided to move around the street view I wouldn't have seen the new units in front. Check map dates. Main street photo with four units is May 2025. Side street photo with two units is June 2011. 14 years is a big span of time especially in areas that are quickly revitalizing. I like to look at properties on street view before I visit them so I don't have any surprises in terms of additions, size, condition... #GoogleStreetView #marycummins #realestateappraiser #losangeles #california

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Mary Cummins

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Tour of Intuit Dome with Appraisal Institute Southern California by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

I took a tour of the Intuit Dome the home of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball today with the Appraisal Institute Southern California chapter. It's a very well designed sports arena, headquarters and training facility. The Intuit Dome opened in August 2024 at a cost of $2 billion. It holds 18,300 people. Architect was AECOM, Engineer was Walter P Moore and contractor was AECOM Hunt Turner NBA JV. The Clippers are owned by Steve Ballmer who built and owns the arena. Ballmer had to buy the Forum in order to buy the land to build the Intuit Dome. Well worth it and a great investment. With Ernesto "Ernie" Lopez, Jason Borras, Monica Alvarez and Ryan Hargrove.

I thought ASA had a tour at the same time. Turns out someone from ASA forwarded the tour info to me from AI.

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Mary Cummins

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Why HUD Was Right to Roll Back PAVE Task Force Policies by Mary Cummins

Great article by Tobias Peter and Edward Pinto of American Enterprise Institute about HUD's rollback of PAVE Task Force policies. Summarized there was and is no racial discrimination and lowballing of blacks, Latinos by real estate appraisers. The polices were unnecessary red tape added to the mortgage process and the government is removing it.

Let me just say this quickly, WE TOLD YA SO! WE TOLD YA SO! WE TOLD YA SO! After six years of screaming about this from the mountaintops it's nice to see the government finally realize this huge mistake and false narrative. I realize it's mainly just Trump unwinding all things Biden. Permit me to savor the moment anyway. I've spent countless hours doing research, historical appraisals and writing articles to prove this point.

Tobias Peter wrote this ARTICLE published in Mortgage News July 18, 2025. It summarizes American Enterprise Institute's many independent research papers on the subject. The article's conclusions are as follows:

1. PAVE Task Force, Andre Perry and the Brookings Institute disregarded socioeconomic factors and falsely stated real estate appraisers lowballed blacks, Latinos in home appraisals. Research has shown the differences in values was because of location, location, location.

2. Freddie Mac and FHFA falsely stated that appraisers lowballed blacks, Latinos in lower income, value areas. Research has shown the cause of differences in value was location, location, location, first time buyers and concessions.

3. PAVE, Freddie Mac, FHFA, media, entire world falsely stated appraisers are racist and lowballed blacks, Latinos. Research has shown there was no statistical difference in appraisal values based solely on race.

4. Everyone said blacks, Latinos were denied credit, mortgages based on their race. Research has shown that banks were actually more likely to give high risk loans to blacks, Latinos. My comments. Banks probably felt pressured and had a fear of being sued. The banks will probably be sued over this when those people default.

5. References to possibly race related words in appraisals were statistically insignificant. We weren't allowed to state a kitchen had "white" cabinets because of these silly rules. We couldn't say "master bedroom," subject located next door to a "church," subject is a "senior living project," or "student housing." Some of these words were actually important though most appraisers got rid of "master" bedroom years ago. It's just "main" bedroom now.

The end suggestion to close the wealth gap between upper and lower income groups of all races is to encourage and help lower income people make more money on their own. I've said since the beginning that the cause of the wealth gap, home value gap is the income gap. It's not caused by appraisers or discrimination. People who make more money have more money and buy more expensive homes in more expensive areas regardless of their color or race.

Of course the media will never correct any of their false and misleading articles. Those articles caused appraisers to receive death threats, harassment, negative business reviews and frivolous lawsuits. I'm sure the false narrative will continue just because of the past media articles. People will continue to refer to and cite the false articles as if they were research, settled law or the bible.

Cummins Real Estate Services #AEI #pavetaskforce #HUD #marycummins #realestateappraiser

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Mary Cummins

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Official End of Pave Task Force by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

As soon as Trump became President the PAVE Task Force pages disappeared from HUD website. I wrote about that here. I stated it won't change much because the PAVE Task Force never really did anything except smear and defame appraisers. July 11, 2025 HUD officially terminated the PAVE Task Force and all its "programs." This also won't change much for the same reasons. All the programs PAVE stated they initiated already existed. From the article and HUD press release.

"In a statement announcing the task force’s demise, HUD said this endeavor “exemplified government overreach by increasing bureaucracy using various tools aimed at addressing so-called systemic biases in the home appraisal process.” The agencies questioned the task force’s concerns regarding the systematic undervaluation of properties in nonwhite communities, citing American Enterprise Institute data that determined similar disparities occurred in white communities that shared a similar socioeconomic status."

From HUD press release, "Established in 2021, the PAVE task force exemplified government overreach by increasing bureaucracy using various tools aimed at addressing so-called systemic biases in the home appraisal process. It asserted that, in part, appraisals often result in systematic undervaluation of properties in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. However, data from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) concludes that other characteristics unrelated to race – including educational attainment, average credit score, and family formation – are more likely significant drivers in differences between home values and appraisal outcomes.

“We’re encouraged that HUD and other agencies are beginning to roll back certain PAVE-inspired policies adopted by the Biden administration. These actions were driven by claims of race-based disparities in home values, mortgage denial rates, and appraisal under-valuations. These claims ignored AEI Housing Center research that found similar disparities in white communities with similar socioeconomic status, thereby invalidating the argument that the disparities were race based,” said Tobias Peter and Ed Pinto, Co-Directors at the AEI Housing Center."

Press release from HUD https://www.hud.gov/news/hud-no-25-092

HUD cited the AEI data which proves the underlying premise of the PAVE Task Force was 100% false! This is so huge! This shows that Andre Perry is a total fraud who helped push the false narrative to promote a political agenda and make money for himself selling his book and speaking engagements. I've been stating this since I first saw Perry speak at the Finance Committee and read his ridiculous book. I was so glad to see the AEI research factually and eloquently put into words and charts everything I was seeing and thinking. Summarized, people with less money buy less expensive homes in less expensive areas. Whites make more thank blacks, Latinos so they have more money. This is why black, Latino owned homes are worth less than white owned homes. Same goes with automobiles. The cause is underlying socioeconomic factors and not race. Whites with same socioeconomic factors as blacks, Latinos also own homes that are worth less than wealthier whites.

HUD added that current laws that address housing discrimination, including The Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act, will continue to be enforced. These laws existed before PAVE. I support these actions. There will still be Reconsiderations of Values because they existed before PAVE. All of the fair housing regulations still exist. Appraisers are still not allowed to "low ball" anyone. There are still appraiser regulations, licensing and enforcement. HUD just ended the nonsense smear campaign about the alleged "old white racist male" appraiser "lowballing blacks and Latinos." As I stated before appraising is a math formula. We don't know the races, colors, religions... of the parties involved. We look at properties only. It's a math formula.

I do realize this is just Trump getting rid of all things Biden. I'll still take it. For the record I voted for Biden. This is one of only two real issues where I disagreed with Biden.

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Mary Cummins

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Cause of Camp Mystic Flooding is Poor Texas Zoning Building Regulations by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

UPDATE: A day and a half after I wrote my article CNN wrote an almost identical article using my exact same quotes. https://www.yahoo.com/news/children-camps-texas-were-located-060024551.html

ORIGINAL: July 5, 2025 intense rain and flooding at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas caused loss of life and missing campers. Everyone is blaming someone else but there is one main cause of this tragedy. The main reason is the camp was built in a high risk flood zone on the banks of the Guadalupe river in a floodplain.

The camp is built in high risk flood zone A, see map above and below. Here is the address, Camp Mystic 186 Felix Fisher Rd S, Hunt, TX 78024 GPS 30.00485531885247, -99.37327619243185. Camp Mystic itself states on their website they're built on the banks of Guadalupe river, "Established in 1926, Mystic is nestled among cypress, live oak, and pecan trees in the hill country of west-central Texas on the banks of the beautiful Guadalupe River." https://www.campmystic.com/ It looks like the cabins are built right next to Cypress Creek which is an offshoot of the South Fork of Guadalupe river. The major flooding took place as campers were asleep in bed. There actually were rain and flood warnings. Linked below is the flood map for the area. The red star is the cabins. The younger girls who died were staying in the cabins closest to the water. I believe the camp owner should have evacuated the campers after the initial flood warnings the day before knowing they're in a high risk flood zone. Link to the actual FEMA map https://hazards-fema.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8b0adb51996444d4879338b5529aa9cd

Better view of the cabins in Flood zone A. You see the cabins inside the flood zone. The flood map is 48265C0450F date 03/03/2011. One should never build cabins on the banks of a river in a high risk flood zone and floodplain. They probably built the camp there because the land was cheap because it was in a flood zone. While we didn't have FEMA flood maps back in 1926 people knew which areas flooded. You could tell based on proximity to body of water, terrain and soil.

Some of the cabins are right on the creek. They even built a dam like structure on the creek. Were those built with permits? Texas is pretty lax with permits so rhetorical question.

This is the definition of high risk flood zone A, "high risk of flooding, specifically a 1% annual chance of experiencing a flood event, also known as the 100-year floodplain. These areas are designated as Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) due to their proximity to bodies of water like rivers, lakes, and ponds." Generally you would not build a living quarter in this area. If you do, it must be mitigated which generally means raising it off the ground on a strong foundation above the BFE. "Structures in Zone A must adhere to specific building standards, such as elevating the lowest floor to or above the BFE and ensuring enclosed areas below the BFE are not used as living spaces, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers." This is a 1926 camp. I doubt it was up to flood code. The water level went six feet up inside the cabins based on the photos. They were clearly not built above the BFE. Generally you would have pier or stilt foundations so the water can flow under the buildings. I don't see any of these types of foundations in the camp.

This is the building code for flood zones in Kerr County. "A floodplain determination or permit is required for any work in the floodplain." "In Kerr County, Texas, building in Flood Zone A requires adhering to specific regulations outlined in the Kerr County Flood Damage Prevention Order. These regulations, administered by the Kerr County Engineer, aim to minimize flood damage. Generally, new construction and substantial improvements in Zone A must elevate the lowest floor (including basements) to or above the base flood elevation plus one foot, or the highest adjacent grade plus two feet if no specific depth is provided." Based on this the cabins weren't built to current code. I doubt they were 1926 original because the area had previously flooded.

Texas is known to be very lax with zoning especially when it comes to flood zones. They allow building in aqueducts, flood plains and high risk flood zones. This is a Christian religious camps so Texas probably made even more exceptions because of religion. I've previously written articles about this especially after Hurricane Harvey. This is why people are flooded over and over again and FEMA keeps paying them over and over again to rebuild. FEMA will be gone by next year so Texas needs to make some changes. Texas is lucky it has a good relationship with Trump and he agreed to declare it a disaster zone and offer assistance.

In 1987 and 1998 the Guadalupe river flooded. In the 1987 Guadalupe River flood ten teenagers drowned when trying to leave a church camp. Camp Mystic is a religious Christian camp. Perhaps the girls were swept away while fleeing the cabins. Some of the cabins are still standing though they were flooded inside with up to six feet of water. I just saw a photo of girls in pajamas walking through flood water in the middle of the night toward a building on higher ground away from the creek and river. It only takes a few inches of flood water to knock someone off their feet into the water. Maybe that is what happened to those fleeing through higher water.

Below is a chart of the water quickly rising. The water allegedly rose 20 feet in 37 minutes in the middle of the night. This happens in this area because of steep terrain, dry soil which can't soak up water and rivers and creeks flowing into each other. Texas Hill Country is also known as flash flood alley for this reason. Great article with quotes from a hydrologist. This is the last place you'd want to camp over night. https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-texas-hill-country-where-160717909.html

Below are photos of the cabins and cabin locations. Clearly not elevated enough. They are literally built on the bank of the river. They are built on the S part of the river and creek which is not a good idea. This area looks like a floodplain. The river banks are formed by the power of the water in the river. That means that area has most likely flooded in the past. The cabins were indeed flooded and buildings were damaged. Such a sad tragedy. In California areas that tend to flood may be used for recreation. They still don't allow overnight lodging for this reason. You can hike and have a picnic but you can't put up a tent or stay over night for this reason. Meanwhile Texas allows overnight lodging in flood zones.

This image which is from a Texas flood website illustrates floodplains and river banks. The entire floodplain area can flood. All buildings should be built above the BFE.

Below is a Google map of Camp Mystic

In case their website is still down https://web.archive.org/web/20250124220815/https://www.campmystic.com/

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Mary Cummins

Mary Cummins, Real Estate Appraiser, Animal Advocates, Los Angeles, California

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Appraisers did not Cause Racial Wealth Gap by Jeremy Bagott, Mary Cummins

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Caution with Google Maps. Main Streets Updated More Often than Side Streets by Mary Cummins

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Tour of Intuit Dome with Appraisal Institute Southern California by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

Saturday, July 19, 2025

Why HUD Was Right to Roll Back PAVE Task Force Policies by Mary Cummins

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Official End of Pave Task Force by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

Saturday, July 5, 2025

Cause of Camp Mystic Flooding is Poor Texas Zoning Building Regulations by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser