Alleged discrimination in real estate appraisal 10222 Elmfield, Loveland, Ohio, Aaron and Erica Parker, by Mary Cummins

erica parker, 10222 elmfield, loveland, ohio, aaron parker, mary cummins, discrimination, racism, black, white, real estate appraisal, real estate appraiser, real estate, contract price, false, misleading, amy goodman, 

Here is another case of alleged discrimination in a real estate appraisal. The owners posted their full names, home location, appraisal values, list and sale prices so I will also share it. 

Aaron and Erica Parker owned a home located at 10222 Elmfield Dr, Loveland, Ohio 45140. They purchased it April 9, 2014 for $371,978. Per the MLS it was listed for sale April 13, 2021 for $525,000 by Amy Goodman of the Sibcy Cline real estate office MLS #1696320. Amy Goodman claims she is the "Fair Housing Officer" for Sibcy Cline real estate. She is not an Officer and not a Fair Housing Officer for the FHA or HUD but merely using that title most likely to promote her business. 

Allegedly Aaron and Erica Parker listed the home for $525,000 then instantly agreed to accept about $504,000 for the property. I assume they still paid the commission to Amy Goodman even though she didn't market or show the property. Erica stated after they got the instant offer she was "ecstatic" and “We were high-fiving each other,” “We were texting our Realtor, like, ‘Can you believe it?’”

Allegedly the first appraisal on May 5, 2021 came in at $465,000 which they said was $42,500 below the contract price. We can do math so contract was $507,500. At first their agent asked them if they would reduce the price. Parkers said no. Is this agent working for the Parkers or is she friends with the buyers giving them this pocket listing without any other bidders?

Per the article. "Goodman and the Parkers asked the appraiser and the buyers’ lender to correct the errors in the report. The appraiser refused, they said, saying he stood by his analysis. The lender had a staff member review the appraiser’s work and stood by the total, too." 

Based on my experience if someone submits a reconsideration of value i.e., an appraisal appeal, with similar higher priced comps and it has merit, the appraiser, AMC, lender will adjust the value. That didn't happen. I'm assuming there was no merit.

For no reason the sellers automatically assumed it was racism per the article. They decided to remove all traces of their skin color from the home and request another appraisal. The article states they "erased blackness from their home." Erica called it "white washing." May 20, 2021 the second appraisal came in at $557,000. They were happy. They assumed the higher appraisal was caused by their skin color washing. Then they sold their house June 11, 2021 for $507,500. 

First, some questions. If they thought it was worth $557,000, why the hell did they sell it for $507,500? That means they agreed to sell it for $50,000 less than it was allegedly worth. Was their real estate agent scamming them by listing it low and selling it as a pocket listing? They allowed a few people and two appraisers to view their home. Why not put it on the market and just not do open houses? No one is doing open houses today anyway. They could have sold it within a week in this market with a few private showings all in one day while they're out. There were photos from the last 2014 sale still online. 

As usual there is more to this story than the poorly researched and misleading media article trying to stoke the flames of racism. While I don't usually support robot appraisals I'm going to post some robot appraisal values for this home. This way no one can claim racism as the values are not from live people. They don't see the home, homeowners or anything because they're just a math formula. I am not appraising this property. Robots provided this value estimate. Below are the robot appraisal values for this home as of today, August 19, 2021. The home was appraised in May and sold in June over two months ago in a quickly appreciating market. Values range from $461,000 to $523,000, $497,000 mean/average, $502,000 median. 

Zillow $523,000
Realtor $504,000
Redfn $501,002
Trulia $507,500 
Remax $487,800
USDA Properties $502,800
Spokeo $461,000

Below is a chart from Redfn which tracks their estimates in the past for this home. Based on statistics average home in Ohio appreciated over 11% last year. That's about 1% a month. That means the original appraisal was in line with market value at the time. The second appraisal is clearly too high. At least Aaron and Erica Parker don't have to worry that they sold their home for less than it's real market value. 

erica parker, 10222 elmfield, loveland, ohio, aaron parker, mary cummins, discrimination, racism, black, white, real estate appraisal, real estate appraiser, real estate, contract price, false, misleading, amy goodman

Below is the listing history for the property. Aaron and Erica Parker had been trying to sell their home for a long time with no takers. They clearly listed it too high for the market each time. They even reduced the price twice. 

04/13/2021 $525,000 Pending Cincy MLS #1696320

04/13/2021 $525,000 Listed For Sale Cincy MLS #1696320

03/04/2020 $465,000 ListingRemoved Agent Provided

01/02/2020 $465,000 PriceChange Agent Provided

11/13/2019 $468,500 PriceChange Agent Provided

11/08/2019 $470,000 PriceChange Agent Provided

11/05/2019 $475,000 Listed For Sale Agent Provided

04/09/2014 $371,978 Sold

Here is my take on the situation. Real estate appraisers are limited by the highest recent similar sold home price. Perhaps a nearby similar home sold around $465,000 before May 5, 2021. While the home is on a cul-de-sac it backs up to a major road with a double line. Not good for families with children besides being a nuisance. 

It's possible that another similar home sold after May 5 but before May 27, 2021 for $557,000. Based on the sales I'm seeing that doesn't seem possible. I will bet that a home which was not similar sold for $557,000. The appraiser used a comp outside of the immediate area or it was larger, had more bedrooms, more full baths, more garages, more land and was fully upgraded. Erica Parker claims her home was upgraded. We don't know but the appraisal allegedly said it was not. Maintenance items such as new paint, new same style roof, replacement AC...are not upgrades. Upgrades would be adding a pool, an addition to the home... 

It's possible Erica was talking about "updates." That only has to do with the kitchen and bathrooms. They bought the home new in 2014. It shouldn't really need any updates in just seven years unless it was a poorly made cheap development. In the appraisal it's page one, "Improvement" section near the bottom. These forms are made for appraisers, lenders, underwriters and not lay people to read or understand. What the layperson does not see is the drop down menu which clearly shows it's only about kitchen, bathrooms updates. An "update" would be new or remodeled kitchen or baths. Below is an image which shows the form with the drop down menu exposed. All the viewer sees is the resultant text in the yellow highlighted box which generally says "no updates within the prior 15 years" or maybe "updated" "remodeled" "within 'x' to 'x' years." Complain to the government who made these forms. Click to see larger. 

real estate appraisal, how to read, updates, condition of improvements, upgrades, updated, remodeled, form, no updates, condition, property, mary cummins, real estate appraiser, complaint, 

In another case a  black woman asked for a second appraisal when she didn't like the first one. She didn't remove any evidence of her skin color. The second appraisal still came in higher for other reasons namely the passage of time in a quickly appreciating market. Removing evidence of skin color is not what caused the increase in appraisal value here. I will bet the second appraiser used comps that were not similar but superior to the subject property. 

Another thing to note is that Erica Parker has a history of calling out people and businesses online. She complains on Twitter about businesses. Then she posts the freebies she gets from those businesses in response to her complaints on her Twitter account. The real estate agent Amy Goodman falsely claims she's a "Fair Housing Officer" because she attended a luncheon where someone spoke about housing discrimination. It appears Amy Goodman is promoting this story in order to drum up real estate business acting like she helped her black client deal with discrimination. She clearly didn't because she sold the home for $507,500 when it was "allegedly" worth $557,000. 

My biggest issue with this misleading article is the fake research they cite. Andre Perry, Michael Neal's research does not show that real estate appraisers appraise the homes of black people for less than the homes of white people regardless of all other factors. Andre Perry used Zillow estimates which were made by robots and homeowners guesstimates of value of their own homes. Michael Neal used the same. Neal stated that the robot appraisal values had the same amount of error variance for both white and black areas. No live person or real estate appraiser appraised any of the properties in the research. The only thing the data showed was that people of color generally make and have less money than white people. This is a fact based on real research. For this reason in general they buy and own homes in less expensive areas which they can afford. 

It's extremely reckless for the media to promote these false and misleading narratives and articles. The definition of racism is "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group." Assuming all white real estate appraisers are racist is actually racism. We use the same math formula to appraise homes as the robot appraisers which are clearly not racist because they aren't even people. 

In this quickly appreciating market some appraisals fall below contract price. Agents know this so they have added appraisal clauses. Here is an article about the current change in political climate which is causing people to call real estate appraisers "racist" when their appraisal doesn't match the contract price. It's not about racism but data and numbers. Actual racism is a horrible evil which should be banished from our communities. Making up false claims of racism when there is real racism out there to fight just divides and harms the community. 

Original article.

https://www.wcpo.com/news/our-community/this-black-familys-home-appraisal-grew-by-92-000-after-they-removed-all-signs-of-their-race

*I am not and did not appraise this property. I contacted the original author of the article and she never replied.

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

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