(CNN)A Maryland couple sued a local real estate appraiser and online mortgage loan provider, which they received He argued that the home appraisal was unfair. After violating the Fair Housing Act and returning low for their race and a second valuation nearly $300,000 higher.
Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott on Monday 20/20 Valuations LLC, its owner Shane Lanham, filed a lawsuit against loanDepot.com, alleging that defendant 20/20 Valuations LLC and its owners "dramatically underestimated and discriminated against plaintiffs." Because of the plaintiffs' race and their home's location adjacent to a black census block, their home is being appraised in an appraisal... in denying their refinancing loan.
According to the complaint, Connolly and Mott are black professors at Johns Hopkins University who refinanced a mortgage on a four-bedroom home in Homeland, Md., inhabited by predominantly white people from Baltimore, through LoanDepot. com applied.
According to the lawsuit, Lanham's company, his 20/20 Valuations, assessed loanDepot and gave him a valuation of more than $75,000 less than the conservative valuation loanDepot gave the couple. returned. According to the complaint, LoanDepot refused to refinance the couple's mortgage on the grounds of a low valuation.
"Plaintiffs were shocked by the valuation and admitted that the low valuation was due to racial discrimination. ,” the lawsuit reads.
Gabriel Diaz, the couple's attorney, told CNN that the case represents his client's perspective.
Connolly and Mott later reapplied to another lender and "whitewashed" the home, according to the lawsuit. This included removing photos of black families from their homes and having white colleagues present the property to an appraiser. The lawsuit claims this valuation set her back at $750,000, which is more than $250,000 higher than her 20/20 Valuations valuation of $472,000.
According to the lawsuit, Lanham allegedly used a valuation method that compared the couple's home to properties in a black-majority area rather than the rest of the mainland.
"Defendant Lanham's decision to geographically limit the regions from which he chose sales figures for comparison was made by Dr. Connolly and Dr. Mott because of their It was a reflection of his belief that he did not belong in Homeland, a white neighborhood, and that the homes of black homeowners adjoining predominantly black neighborhoods were what he considered Homeland's "centre." "It's worth less than it would be if it were in a whiter neighborhood," the lawsuit argues.
CNN has reached out to Lanham for comment.
Jonathan Fine, vice president of public affairs at Loan Depot, said the company is "strongly" opposed to housing discrimination, he told CNN.
"While valuations are independently conducted by outside professional valuation firms, all participants in the housing finance process must strive to find ways to contribute to eradicating bias." The couple said Lanham's "dramatically lower valuation means that black families do not truly belong to the homeland and are more likely to be homeowners of higher value."
"Lanham devalued plaintiffs' homes because of these racist beliefs." Defendant Loan Depot, despite being informed that it was infected with discrimination, relied on Lanham's assessment and stopped responding or replying when plaintiff challenged the assessment. On that basis,” the lawsuit states.
The couple sought damages and relief from Lanham, 20/20 Valuations LLC, and loanDepot for violations of the Fair Housing Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the Maryland Fair Housing Act. I'm looking for , according to complaints.
The couple's lawsuit is the latest example of the hardships and discrimination they say some black homeowners face.
Last year, a black California couple filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco, claiming racism contributed to their home's low valuation.
41} Tenisha Tate-Austin and her husband became suspicious when the Northern California home they spent years redecorating was valued much lower than they expected. When asked for an opinion, the white friend pretended to own his home and removed all artwork and photos that might indicate he belonged to a black family. One of their homes had a new appraised value of over $1.nearly $4 million, $500,000 more than previous estimates, they told CNN at the time. I submitted it, but this is still pending.Home appraisals fall within the scope of the Fair Housing Act and the Fair Lending Act. More than 50 years after the Fair Housing Act was passed, the racial divide among homeowners is wider than ever. For example, according to the Census Bureau, in 2021 black homeownership was 44%, while white homeownership will reach 74%.
"While the purpose of the lawsuit is to obtain some degree of justice in the form of monetary compensation for [Connolly and Mott] and what they have been through, there are related educational issues.
"I think this is an issue that is not properly understood and not widely understood. Hopefully, this incident will help people understand and appreciate it." And I hope that this will not happen to people by giving them a chance to change their anger," Diaz said.