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 income gap. Show all posts

Friday, August 11, 2023

Real Cause of racial home value gap is the Income Gap by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

The ACLU wrote about the racial wealth gap. They noted the income gap, homeownership rate gap and mortgage gap. They didn't once blame any of this on real estate appraisers. Imagine that. #black #white #IncomeGap #wealthgap #homeownershiprate #race #money

https://www.aclu.org/news/racial-justice/visualizing-the-racial-wealth-gap

I just read an article on the income gap. It said there is almost no white, black income gap for poor and lower income individuals. There is a smaller income gap for the middle class. “What this shows is that 97 percent of the overall racial wealth gap is driven by households above the median of each racial group.” This would mean most of the income, wealth gap is coming from the top earners. It's a class gap. I would bet that most of the income, wealth gap is coming from the super rich who are mainly white. "The richest 10 percent of white households who own 75 percent of all white wealth. Indeed, over two-thirds of racial gap reflects the differences in assets held by the top ten percent of households in each group. Class, not race is the major driver of wealth inequality." https://www.aei.org/op-eds/the-racial-wealth-gap-myths-and-realities/ Most of the wealth gap is caused by difference in the top ten percent in each group! It's probably mainly caused by some very rich white people.

"White average wealth ($929,800), which is more influenced by very rich families and does not characterize the typical experience, is 6.7 times greater than Black average wealth ($138,100)." This means that most white people should be complaining about the income, wealth gap between low to mid income and upper class. That's where the biggest gap exists. 80% of the gap is coming from the top 10%. Instead of wasting time on the wealth gap between white, black we need to look at the wealth gap between everyone under the median compared to the top 10%. I bet most wealth in the country is concentrated in the top 1-3%. And I was correct, "Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q4 2021, the top 1% of households in the United States held 32.3% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.6%."

I will try to see if I can figure out what the income, wealth gap would be if we omitted the super rich with net worths over $5,000000. Multi-millionaires and billionaires could be skewing the data. They are. "Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q4 2021, the top 1% of households in the United States held 32.3% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.6%." https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/

The income gap is directly related to the homeownership rate. The current homeownership rate for Black and Hispanic homeowners now stand 29 and 23 percentage points lower than the 73% white homeownership rate. This again is all related to socioeconomic factors i.e. income.

There would probably still be a gap because of other socioeconomic factors such as married/single but it would probably be less.We really need to figure out the real problem so we can find a real solution. Blaming the income, wealth gap on appraisers, racism is just wasting time and money that could be better help working on issues that could change things.

I wrote about the the real cause of the home value gap earlier which is the income gap. I need to update it based on AEI's updated research and new article on income/wealth gap. Their recent research shows that whites and blacks who make more money have more money and buy more expensive homes in more expensive areas. There is almost no racial income, wealth gap under median income, wealth. Most of it comes from the top 1%. The wealth gap is mainly from stocks, investments of the top 1% who are mainly white. It's not from home values. All whites, blacks, Latinos...should be complaining about having less income, wealth and owning less valuable homes. It feels like people are trying to pit blacks against whites by spreading this false narrative supported by totally fraudulent paper by Andre Perry. Are super wealthy white people using Andre Perry to stoke the flames of a race war so people won't realize the real issue is the wealth gap between the top 1% and everyone else?

https://appraisersblogs.com/the-real-cause-of-the-home-value-gap-is-the-income-gap

It's so frustrating to see HUD get bamboozled by lenders and politicians into thinking the cause is appraisers and appraisals. No one else seems to think so including other government departments. The lenders have just been using the false narrative of the alleged racist appraiser to be able to use AVMs Automated Valuation Methods. AVMs make lenders more money. They can also get the value they want so they can close the deal. AVMs are bad for buyers, government, economy, stock market and investors.

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

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.

DISCLAIMER: https://mary--cummins.blogspot.com/p/disclaimer-privacy-policy-for-blogs-by.html

Mary Cummins

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Wealth gap, income gap, home value gap, race, gender, marital status and Roe v Wade by Mary Cummins

Research has unequivocally shown there is an income and wealth gap between whites and blacks, Latinos. This is why homes owned by white people are worth more than homes owned by blacks, Latinos. People buy the homes they can afford and whites can afford to buy more expensive homes. Appraisers aren't appraising them differently.

We also know there is a wealth, income gap among men and women, married verses single and especially single mothers with children under 18. Research has also shown that poor, black, Latino women were more likely to get abortions than white women. https://abc7.com/abortion-cdc-data-women/11815941/

The reversal of Roe v Wade forcing poor women especially of color to have babies is just going to make the wealth, income gap that much worse. It's also going to cost the states money in welfare, Section 8 housing, Medicare, EBT.... I don't think the GOP really thought about the repercussions of banning abortions. White Supremacists who tow the GOP line including anti-abortion will only have themselves to blame when POC actually do replace them via a higher birth rate. That's already happening but banning abortions will make it happen faster.

Here's a great article to share with lots of pictures for those who don't care to read.

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23182150/abortion-rights-economic-justice

Mary Cummins

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

Friday, August 11, 2023

Real Cause of racial home value gap is the Income Gap by Mary Cummins Real Estate Appraiser

Friday, June 2, 2023

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

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Wealth gap, income gap, home value gap, race, gender, marital status and Roe v Wade by Mary Cummins