Johns Hopkins Professors Sue Real Estate Appraisal Company over Low Valuation of Homeland Property

Two Black Johns Hopkins University professors took down family photos and replaced them with pictures of white faces in an effort to increase the value of their home after an initial appraisal fell short of expectation, an outcome they believed was due to race and not the property’s condition. A different appraisal company valued the house at nearly 60% more when the home appeared to be owned by white people.

Hopkins professors Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott are suing for damages citing racial discrimination. They have filed a suit against loanDepot (Foothill Ranch, California), and 20/20 Valuations and Shane Lanham, the owner of 20/20 Valuations who conducted the first appraisal. The complaint alleges that all of the first appraiser's selected comparable homes were of lower quality than their home, and the appraisal wrongly said that their home had not been updated for 15 years. The complaint stated the appraiser “cherry-picked low value homes as comps,” and by doing so, he “ignored legitimately comparable homes with much higher sales prices.”

It is ironic that Connolly, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University, is an expert on redlining and the legacy of white supremacy in cities, with a lot of his research on the role of race in the housing market.

Over 97% of home appraisers are white, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since summer, 2020, after George Floyd's murder, dozens of Black homeowners have alleged discrimination in their home valuations. Some have filed lawsuits. The Biden administration in March, 2022, proposed reforms to overhaul the appraisal industry and try to dismantle systemic bias.

Sources: Read the August 19, 2022 Baltimore Sun article. Read the August 18, 2022, New York Times article. Read the August 19, 2022 CNN article.