Thanks for the info. Although, I must say, with the price of Bay Area real estate, those folks who did own houses in E Palo Alto should have made out quite well. Had friends in SF who bought a little fixer-upper in a black neighborhood in the early 80's for $135k, sold it a couple of years ago for $850k. Not bad. I haven't actually checked out the area lately. I'd suspect there aren't many poor blacks left there. I could be wrong.
Also, isn't the fact that AV lied on an employment application at a nursing home, or some such thing, part of her history? She lied to get a day job and got fired?
The fixer-upper your friends bought must not have been in the heart of E. Palo Alto. The homes in Palo Alto go for around $800k to $2m, depending on the neighborhood and amenities. Real Estate values in E. palo Alto have no doubt increased because of redevelopment, but they don't bring anything close to $800k - more like half that or less.
Yes, she obviously lied. I'm guessing that nursing homes require employees to go to the NC dept. of justice or at least the local police department to obtain a copy of their criminal history indicating "No record found" or something like that. Since she couldn't furnish that, obviously, she probably kept putting her employer off and eventually they held her check or else told her she couldn't work until she furnished it. She filed a complaint with the sheriff over it. Pretty audacious, if you ask me.