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.

Showing posts with label california. Show all posts

Friday, June 2, 2023

Joe Biden, Kamala Harris Lie About Appraisal Bias to Get Votes by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

mary cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal, los angeles, california,joe biden, kamala harris, pave task force, real estate, appraiser,appraisal,income gap

The Biden Administration continues to promote the false narrative of the racist and biased appraiser to the American public. Yesterday the White House released an alleged "fact sheet" titled "Biden-⁠Harris Administration Takes Sweeping Action to Address Racial Bias in Home Valuations." This "fact sheet" basically states that Joe Biden has solved the wealth gap among whites, blacks and Latinos by "cracking down" on real estate appraisers. That is a total lie. The wealth gap is caused by the income gap and not appraisers. The wealth gap is wider today than when Biden Harris took office.

Research by American Enterprise Institute ( AEI Housing Center Response to Perry and Rothwell, 2021, https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/aei-housing-center-response-to-perry-and-rothwell-2021/ How Common is Appraiser Racial Bias https://www.aei.org/how-common-is-appraiser-racial-bias/ ) has shown using the government's own data that there is no racism in real estate appraisals. AEI has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the papers cited (Andre Perry) by Harris are fraudulent research with a false conclusion.

The real issue is income inequality and not appraisals. Whites make more money than blacks, Latinos. Because whites make more money they have more money (wealth gap) and buy more expensive homes in more expensive areas than blacks, Latinos. Home value is based on location. Appraisers are not appraising them differently! The data cited in the papers uses robot appraisals and not real live appraisers. This is all politics to garner votes from blacks and Latinos. FTR I'm a female Latino.

The "fact sheet" states the PAVE Task Force was announced on the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre. This news is released on the first day of National Homeownership Month after Biden/Harris announced their run for re-election. Clearly political staging and timing for maximum effect to reach target voters.

Biden stated the Task Force has been successful. In reality nothing has changed. Biden created a non-existent problem then stated he alone could fix it if elected. He was elected and now he claims to have fixed it in order to get more votes. Now he claims he's doing even more to fix the non-existent problem with new programs. Below are these "new" programs which are basically the same programs the PAVE Task Force, government announced months, years ago. He might as well add that he just ended slavery and just allowed women to vote.

1. Preventing algorithmic bias in home valuation.

The Administration has stated that physical living breathing appraisers are biased. They based this false conclusion by looking at valuations, not appraisals, made by robots who have never seen the homeowners or homes. The robots don't know the race, color, gender...of the homeowners. They also don't know the home's condition, true size, true bed/bath count, amenities, specific location in a neighborhood (on a busy road, next door to the dump) or if it even still exists.

Now the Administration states they will find a way to prevent these robots from being biased. The robots are not biased! They're robots. Homes are appraised by appraisers and robots using a math formula. They compare the subject property to be appraised to other very similar homes in the same exact area which have sold recently. That's it! No race is involved ever.

Some today feel that an older home in fair condition owned by a person of color in say South Los Angeles should be comprable in value to a new home in excellent condition in Beverly Hills owned by a white person. They feel that would be more "equitable." They have specifically stated they want to increase the value of lower valued homes owned by blacks by using home sales from different areas farther away in "white areas" which are worth more. This would make every appraisal as worthless as any loan based on that appraisal. The real estate industry, investment industry, stock market and our economy would crash if this were done. Even the Appraisal Institute which generally cozies up to the government said this makes no sense (https://mary--cummins.blogspot.com/2023/02/mary-cummins-comment-to-asc-bias.html ).

The best way to make sure AVMs aren't biased is to not use them for appraisals, loans or specific research. While they aren't biased against people they are biased against market value. The issue is GIGO i.e. garbage in, garbage out. In this case it's not enough data goes into the formula. They don't know or consider condition, view, upgrades, amenities, actual size.... This makes homes in inferior areas in poor condition worth more than market value. Homes with excellent views, upgrades, amenities...end up worth less than market value. All the AVMs today state they are never to be used as an appraisal. Then don't use them for an appraisal. Oddly enough the government is trying to make their own AVM but it's not accurate either.

2. Empowering consumers to take action against appraisal bias.

The PAVE Task Force announced months ago that they developed an appeal process for appraisals. This is false. Reconsideration of Value (ROV) has always existed. If you don't like the value of an appraisal, ask for an ROV. Give the appraiser three sold comparables of very similar homes in the same exact area which have sold recently and they will consider them. Based on my experience the borrower incorrectly thinks their home is worth more because one down the street or farther away sold for more. When they send me the comps they are either twice the size, in a totally different far away neighborhood or they never sold. A lot of this misinformation is caused by AVMs such as Zillow's Zestimate which is extremely inaccurate. Again, AVMs don't see the homes. We all know that Zillow is inaccurate.

Zillow over values homes in lower value areas. The problem is lower value areas have fewer sales. Zillow keeps going wider in their search to find recent home sales. They end up using higher value sales in superior areas farther away which have more sales. This is the cause of most ROV requests. This is also part of the cause of the many media articles about real estate appraiser bias. The borrower says "Well, Zillow said my home is worth x. You said it's worth less so you're clearly a racist who should be cancelled, sued and attacked!"

3. Increasing transparency and leveraging federal data to inform policy and improve enforcement against appraisal bias.

The PAVE Task Force released data on appraisals for government backed loans. The government has always done this and legally must do this. Now they state they're releasing more data. Most importantly this data has been used to show that appraisers are not racist, biased in their appraisals, see linked research above.

4. Breaking down barriers to entry into the appraisal profession.

Biden Administration likes to say there are too many white appraisers and he's solved that. Others like Cy Richardson with the National Urban League have actually said "appraisers are pale, male and stale" which is actually racism, sexism and ageism wrapped up in a pithy phrase. There is almost a similar amount of white appraisers as there are real estate agents yet no one complains about the agents. Biden states it's because it's too difficult to become an appraiser for blacks, Latinos. It's just as difficult for all appraisers who have also been complaining about the difficult appraiser trainee program for many years even before Biden was the President. Appraisers were working on a PAREA type program long before it was announced by the government.

If you want to be a new appraiser you must be a trainee under a licensed appraiser for many hours. While I agree that the experience is great it's difficult to find an appraiser to be your mentor. Appraisers have nothing to gain and everything to lose by doing this. I've written an article about this. PAREA allows new appraisers to use other experience to become appraisers. While I support PAREA this is old news previously released by various appraisal agencies.

Kamala Harris is the go to person on this issue because she's biracial and courted the black vote when she ran for President. Remember when she said she'd give $60,000,000,000 60 billion to Historically Black Colleges HBCs if elected? She was elected VP and could do that but she didn't. She's definitely not a real estate expert. After the fact sheet was released Kamala Harris released her version of the news to the media. “Home appraisals are meant to be fair and objective estimates of the market value of a property. However, far too often, they are not,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday on a press call. “Black homeowners are more likely to have their homes undervalued than other homeowners. And homeowners in majority Black and majority Latino neighborhoods are almost twice as likely to be undervalued.”

What Kamala Harris stated is false per research using the government's own data. One anecdotal article by Fannie Mae stated there were more appraisals under contract value in lower income areas that have more blacks and Latinos. The correlation is not race. It's lower income borrowers buying lower valued homes. Fannie Mae even stated their calculations were not research and there was no conclusion as to cause.

USA Today went on and included more absolute lies in their article. They even cited Junia Howell whose research is as flawed as Andre Perry. Again, homes in predominantly white areas are worth more than predominantly black, Latino areas because whites make more money, have more money and buy more expensive homes in more expensive areas. Based on Joe Biden's, Kamala Harris' logic, a new Rolls Royce with zero miles should sell for the same as a 1980 Ford Escort with 500,000 miles. They both have four wheels. To value them differently is clearly racism and bias. The government should sue Kelly Blue Book and the car industry for valuing them differently. (sarcasm)

While I support an honest and fair appraisal industry I don't support the false narrative of the racist white male appraiser. It's a lie. While racism, racists exist it has not affected appraisal values. I also don't support the promotion of the false narrative for votes or any other agenda. I'm a Democrat and will vote for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris again. They do more good than bad but I'm absolutely against their actions on this made up issue. It's very harmful to appraisers and the industry. Appraisers are getting cancelled, death threats, harassed over the Administration using appraisers as scapegoats for the income gap. It's the income gap, stupid! Fix the income gap and leave appraisers out of it. They won't fix the income gap because it's too expensive. Maybe the politicians don't want to even fix it.

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

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Marina City Club has no Budget for Needed Repairs by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

Marina City Club, deferred maintenance, no reserve funds, Marina del Rey, Los Angeles, California, Mary Cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal, loan, mortgage, can't get a home loan, this is my photo of the project.

Ever since the Surfside condo collapse in Miami, Florida everyone is worried about the condition of older condos. Condos near the ocean deteriorate faster than condos away from the ocean because of the salt air, low lying areas, soil and possible water intrusion. One condo project which is mentioned frequently in regard to this issue in Los Angeles, California is the Marina City Club in Marina del Rey, California.

The Marina City Club Towers were first built around 1976 to 1978. They are composed of three main towers and a few other surrounding units which front the boat docks. There are about 600 units. They were converted to condos in 1986 because of rent control and other factors. These were good quality units with tennis courts, a gym, hair salon, restaurant, pools, rec rooms... They're located on Los Angeles County owned leased land fronting the boat docks. The land is filled land.

The project is now about 50 years old. All condominium home owners associations HOAs must maintain proper reserve funds to repair and replace the components of the building over time. For example, if a water boiler lasts 30 years, the HOA must save 1/30th the cost of a new water boiler every year from HOA fees so they have enough money to replace it at the end of 30 years. The same goes with all major components of the building.

After the Surfrider condo collapse the owners and tenants of the Marina City Club condos became worried that their building could collapse and they could die. They started talking about the deferred maintenance they've noticed in the project. This caused people to revisit many recent articles about the project's lack of reserve funds for needed repairs. Los Angeles County became involved because they own the land on which the project was built. Part of the land lease states the project must be maintained properly and in a safe manner. Condo owners pay a HOA fee and a land lease fee for each unit. The fees are about $1,000/month for HOA fees and $700/month for the land lease. There's an extra fee to use the other club facilities which can run $700/month. This is all before you pay the mortgage.

In order to buy a home you generally put 20% down and finance the rest through the bank. A bank will only finance a property with a 30 year mortgage if they think it will last another 30 years. A bank will only finance a condo if there are no major repairs needed and there are sufficient reserve funds, i.e. 70%+ to pay for all repairs projected. If a project only has about 8% or they need $50,000,000 to fund their reserves, this is where you have a problem with the project. This is especially so when remaining life on the major components is zero years. It's now deferred maintenance. Any sane bank after reviewing facts about the project would reject it. You'd have to pay cash for the property. Property value could go lower based on the needed repairs and reserve issues.

I am not sharing any private information about the property which I obtained through any appraisals I've ever done in the project. All of this is public knowledge or came from friends who live in the building. If you are thinking of buying a condo here, PLEASE, get a copy of the HOA budget which lists needed repairs and reserve amounts. They must give it to you. Read the "Reserve Study Executive Summary" made by the HOA Essex Marina City Club LP.

Currently the condo owners can't and won't agree to a large special assessment. Most of these condo owners are older 75+. They're now on fixed incomes. They probably thought they wouldn't be around by the time the building needed the repairs. That time is unfortunately now.

*Just for clarification I'm not saying I think the building will collapse. I am saying that it appears based on public documents to have deferred maintenance with insufficient reserve funds to make the repairs.

I've been a real estate appraiser since 1983 which is 40 years now. I've appraised the Marina City Club Towers many times since it was built 1970-1978 and later converted to condos. I've visited my friends there many times even when it was first apartments before they converted to condos. I've been in the building a few times within the last year. My friends who own units in the building gave me a copy of a more recent budget. Below are a few public articles and documents.

https://therealdeal.com/la/2022/02/24/marina-city-club-condo-towers-deemed-safe-for-now-due-for-big-repairs/

"Los Angeles County ordered the structural engineering study last summer after residents voiced concern about public safety at the 10-acre complex of 600 condominiums in three, 16-story towers and a three-story, 101-unit apartment building.

The Marina City Club includes swimming pools, tennis courts, boat slips, restaurants, a fitness center and offices on land owned by the county. Deferred maintenance at the aging complex was estimated last year to require between $80 million and $140 million in repairs.

The new engineering study found cracks in walls and cement, signs of water intrusion in parking garages, “spalling” and crumbling concrete, as well as water-damaged rooftop decks.

Cement fastenings to handrails along walkways and on private balconies also were deteriorated, creating a safety hazard, the report said.

But the report by Saiful Bouquet Structural Engineers of Pasadena found no danger of imminent collapse.

“No significant structural damage was observed,” the 14-page engineering report concluded. “It is our opinion that the majority of damages observed were a result of normal wear and tear of the structure and/or moisture/water intrusion in the building envelope.”

It recommended Marina City Club operator Essex Property Trust, a publicly traded apartment firm, make the needed repairs to the three 16-story condo towers, parking structures and apartments."

https://darik.news/florida/marina-del-rey-condo-towers-are-structurally-strong-but-in-need-of-repair-says-engineering-study-press-enterprise/524046.html

https://www.ocregister.com/2021/07/09/decay-and-disrepair-mar-life-at-aging-marina-del-rey-condo-towers/

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-01/after-florida-building-collapse-l-a-county-inspects-marina-del-rey-condo-tow

Public References but not complete list

Marina City Club - Tennis, spa, sauna, gym, restaurant, hair salon

https://www.marinacityclub.net/

Marina City Club condo docs- Ground lease, Bylaws, CC&Rs, Condo sublease,

http://www.marinacityclub.com/httpdocs/DLLinks.htm

Full legal description, APNs, plat maps, building plans, unit layouts. Subject has no specific APN.

http://www.marinacityclub.com/Documents/CondoPlan1987.pdf

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Mary Cummins

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Jennifer Lopez JLo and Ben Affleck just bought Wallingford Estate at 2571Wallingford Dr Beverly Hills, California by Mary Cummins

Jennifer Lopez JLo and Ben Affleck buy Wallingford Estate in Beverly Hills for $60,850,000. The home is located at 2571 Wallingford Dr, Beverly Hills, California 90210. This is the City of Los Angeles aka Beverly Hills Post Office. It's not Beverly Hills.

It was originally listed in 2018 at $135,000,000 then $85,000,000 then .... then $74,995,000. It was also listed for rent for $300,000 and $350,000 per month. The home is approximately 30,000 sf on a 226,513 sf lot per MLS. It could only be 22,163 sf per tax with 8 beds, 12 baths. The actual address is 2543 Hutton Dr. and 2543 1/2 Hutton Dr. Per one of the more recent listings,

"One of the most private and secured estates in Beverly Hills 90210 with stunning mountain views. The newly rebuilt & expanded Wallingford estate is spread over a 5-acre exclusive promontory. A one-of-a-kind indoor sports complex w/ basketball, pickleball, gym, boxing ring, sports lounge & bar all celebrate an active lifestyle & the love of sports. Located just 8 minutes from the BH Hotel & 20 minutes from Van Nuys private airport, both entrances can only be accessed through private/gated streets. Exquisitely designed & built w/ impeccable taste, the sophisticated & stylish estate infuses today's technology w/ magnificently refined rooms. Totaling approx. 46K SF under roof & approx. 38K SF under A/C & boosting 12 bedrooms & 24 bath, approx. 5K SF guest penthouse, caretaker house, 2-bdrm guardhouse, 10 car garage & parking for 80. The biggest zero edge pool in BH perfectly frames the extensive grounds & views. Additional property on private street also available separately."

It's only called the "Wallingford Estate" because it's on Wallingford Dr. The owner builder of the current home was Jeoung Lee. I do see a Jacob Wizman as the owner when it was being built. The architect was Richard Schwartz. It was built by Dover Hills Construction. Engineer was Leon Iancu.

More recent photos from the MLS.

It was originally built in 1997-2000 and listed for sale in 2016 for $29,000,000 as 8 bed, 15 baths, 22,000 sf. The RealAVM value is $2-4 million :-D There was another home built there in the 70's which replaced one built 1947 by A.C. Pillsbury. That was a caretaker's house and a barn. The newer home was in French Provincial style and was built for Ilhie and Jeoung Lee, Paul D. Jeoung . The home was 124' x 106' with an unfinished basement and subterranean garage. I think they illegally added basement size to home size. They call it a basement because it's cheaper, easier to get permits but it's not legally gross living area. There is an ADU which is the caretaker unit which was once a storage barn. Just found a permit where they converted the basement to an ADU or at least tried to.

2019 permit for FULLY SPRINKLERED TWO STORY ACCESSORY LIVING QUARTERS W/ ATTACHED GARAGE. IRREG SHAPED BUILDING 132'-4" X 113'-3". I believe it was built previously and just permitted at this time.

It's in a homeowners association and is accessed off the end of a cul-de-sac. GPS 34.11887000139121, -118.43406722770074 APN 4382-009-005 . Tract is PM 1768 Parcel B.

Below are the basic plans for the home. They added foundation pilings years after the home was built. May have been an issue because property is in an earthquake fault with shale and clay. It's near the Hollywood fault line in a landslide and liquefaction zone. That's probably why it wasn't really built until more recently when finances and engineering made sense. Click to see larger.

This is the previous listing when it was French Provincial. The house looks the same size. I don't see a certificate of occupancy for any new size added to the home. I think it's still a 20,000 or so sf home with a caretaker residence, pool house and basement. That size is never added to the legal main dwelling size. I think the home may have just been remodeled. I'm still looking at permits most of which are under the Hutton address.

Mary Cummins

Friday, May 5, 2023

Los Angeles MLS Releases 2023 Q1 statistics. Sales volume, median prices down. Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

2023 Q1 market report median sales price and volume for single family homes, condos in Los Angeles, California. Leases, CLAW MLS, Mary Cummins, real estate appraiser, real estate appraisal, marycummins.com ,

CLAW MLS just released 2023 Q1 Market Report. Median price and sales volume of single family homes and condos is down. Lease median prices and volume is up a tick. Full report here. CLAW Combined Los Angeles Westside.

https://forms.themls.com/forms/q1-2023-claw-market-stats.pdf

Mary Cummins

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

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

Thursday, March 23, 2023

Biden Claims to Have "Fixed" the Alleged Racial Bias in Home Valuations but Didn't, by Mary Cummins

UPDATE: 03/24/23 Marcia Fudge just said the same thing in a video almost word for word. Notice how different her tone of voice is in this video compared to other videos. Here she is speaking slow, politely, calmly and even has an interesting accent which is very different than her normal speaking voice. She's not as sharp, condescending, abrasive, abusive or calling all appraisers and whites racists like she usually does. She is flat out lying when she says data proves that "appraisal bias is real." There is no data or research which proves that. There is research based on the government's data which proves it does not exist in the reports and valuations.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hud/videos/native/urn:li:ugcPost:7044684730058895360/

ORIGINAL: Today the White House claimed they "fixed" the alleged "racial and ethnic bias in home valuations." They claim the Biden-Harris PAVE task force has "fixed" the "wealth gap" among whites and blacks, browns related to home value. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/03/23/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-tackles-racial-and-ethnic-bias-in-home-valuations/ This is beyond misleading and couldn't be further from the truth.

Let me preface this by stating I'm a Latino Democrat woman who voted for Biden. I support Biden in most of his policies. I do not support his policies related to real estate appraisers and the appraisal industry. Biden, Harris merely created a non-existent problem to get black, brown votes. They stated they alone can fix the problem if elected. They formed the PAVE task force to fix the made up problem. Then they claimed they fixed the problem. Ta da! Pat on back. No easier problem to solve than a nonexistent one.

Nothing has really changed. The main reason is because the problem never existed. The "fixes" also already existed. Black, brown owned homes are worth less than white owned homes because of the income gap. It's a fact that blacks, browns make less money than whites. If you make less money, you have less money in general and less generational wealth. If you have less money, you buy a less expensive home than someone who makes more money. That less expensive home is in a less expensive area. Here is research provided to the PAVE task force which proves this https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/aei-housing-center-response-to-perry-and-rothwell-2021/ . Appraisers are not appraising the homes differently based on race! People who make less money also buy and own less expensive cars. Are car values also the fault of "biased" real estate appraisers?

The release states "In just 12 months, the PAVE Task Force has made critical progress towards fully implementing the Action Plan, including by empowering consumers with new tools and greater awareness of appraisal bias; leveraging data to identify trends and crack down on offenders of appraisal bias; and supporting a well-trained and dynamic appraiser profession." Let's take a look at these three areas of "success."

1. "Empowering consumers to take action against appraisal bias."

They claim borrowers can now file a Reconsideration of Value if they don't like the value. Borrowers have always been able to file a ROV! I've seen ROVs for at least 30 years. HUD stated they're giving $54,000,000 to private non-profits to help them educate the public about ROVs and related items. A huge waste of funds that should have been used to solve the income gap problem and actually help people. This also shows the agenda of the private nonprofits receiving the funds. They will support this flawed idea to get millions of dollars.

2. "Increasing transparency and leveraging federal data to inform policy and improve enforcement against appraisal bias."

They've released similar data for at least 20 years. This is how people have been able to do research on appraisals and home sales, values. This research on this "new" data proved there was no racial bias by appraisers. It also proved that the values are based on location. Remember the three biggest indicators of value are location, location, location. This data proved that the main correlation between home value and borrower is income and not race.

3. "Cultivating an appraiser profession that is well-trained and looks like the communities it serves. The Administration is taking steps to remove unnecessary educational and experience requirements that make it difficult for underrepresented groups to access the profession and to strengthen anti-bias, fair housing, and fair lending training of existing appraisers."

They proposed adding education on bias as part of license requirements and it's not even final yet. This was already a requirement and had been a requirement since at least 1989. Appraisers were talking about using different types of experience i.e. PAREA, to get a license long before Biden was elected or any talk of racial bias. The apprentice experience program is difficult for people of every color and race. They still have not finalized a change in the requirements for experience. While they talked about making appraisers more diverse there has not been an actual change in the diversity of appraisers. Luring black, brown people to become a new appraiser in a market with no business that requires three years minimum experience to get work is actually a cruel thing to do to lower income people.

Most upsetting in this puff release is they mention the Austin lawsuit in Marin, California, "Austins' home was appraised at roughly $500,000 more than its initial appraised value after having a white friend stand in for them. Earlier this month, the Tate-Austins settled a housing discrimination lawsuit." They forget to mention that the Defendant not only didn't admit wrong doing but there was no wrong doing on the part of the first appraiser. They assumed the second appraisal was correct when it wasn't. The first appraiser only settled because of legal fees and harassment which the Federal government encouraged and aided. Having a white friend stand in for them had no effect on value. They requested another appraiser and appraisal from the same AMC. That appraiser knew the borrower's target value and wanted to please the borrower for fear of a lawsuit and AMC, lender to keep getting work.

This entire issue of alleged bias in appraising is beyond frustrating, maddening and sad. It makes me wonder how many other fake problems were created in politics just to get votes. How many other "we fixed the problem!" statements were just fake puff statements like this one. The worst part is the administration hasn't helped the people who are suffering from the income gap among white and black, brown. It's clearly easier to call appraisers "racists" and blame them for the wealth gap than fix the real problem of income disparity.

*I'm using "black," "brown" because that is what the release states to be clear.

Mary Cummins

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Old Victorian Homes on Carroll Avenue in Angeleno Heights, Los Angeles, California by Mary Cummins

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Visited the old homes on Carroll Avenue in Angeleno Heights in Los Angeles, California the other day. Some old the homes were built in the 1880's. Most were built before 1920. The entire 1300 block of Carroll Avenue was listed under the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The styles are Victorian, Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts. I took a few photos.