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mrhedgefund t1_iyswc7c wrote

>But their neighborhood wasn't as attractive as the Ricks might have liked. Most of their neighbors were renters, and many didn't take care of their properties. "Our house stuck out like a sore thumb, because it was maintained," Corey said. The neighborhood was considered low-income, Janine noted. Today, the typical household income in the Ricks' Darby neighborhood is about $33,000, and more than one third of residents live below the poverty line.

Why is this glossed over? It sounds like they have the nicest house on a block full of crappy ones. Was the $130k house purchased by an all cash investor or via mortgage? I don't doubt that there is some racial bias in appraisals, but I think it is easier to point out in neighborhoods where the majority of residents display pride of ownership.

In marginal neighborhoods like this, I don't think you can do "1 mile", comps where values can easily vary block by block. I think the bigger problem is buying a primary residence in a neighborhood where the majority of people can't afford or choose not to maintain their house.

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Civil_Peak t1_iyti3c5 wrote

> Why is this glossed over?

because it easier to blame the mortgage lender for racism then admit they are not pricing their house right. I've been looking at houses for the last 2 years (right before the pandemic) and I've encountered so many who think their house is the best and they are not overpricing it and don't realize the houses has issues or the neighborhood has issues etc. But, in this market problems like that get masked to a point.

What I've learned is that is the buyers really want the house they can tell the mortgage company to reappraise (sounds like only the sellers asked which the mortgage company not going to care), or the buyer can say they will pony up the rest of the cash. If the house was even half decent then the sellers would have said good riddance as there would have been another buyer that was trying to put an offer.

Additionally, I've been told an appraiser has a vested interest in appraising the house for what the buyer wants it for. The mortgage company wants get buyer as a customer and get the house bought. If the mortgage company can't get customers then they are not going to be hiring the appraiser. So the appraiser wants to get rehired by the mortgage company.

Trident can be a company that has issues but in this market the sellers are missing the point that there house is way over priced.

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