Black couple’s home appraises for $500K more —when white pal poses as owner: settlement

NY Post ^ | 03/08/2023 | Andrew Court

[ChicagoConservative27]

A black couple has settled a lawsuit with a property appraiser who undervalued their California home by almost half a million dollars.

Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate-Austin’s four-bedroom residence in swanky Sausalito, near San Francisco, was valued at $998,000 by Janette Miller, co-owner of Miller and Perotti Real Estate Appraisers. That figure was $455,000 lower than an appraisal done for a prior mortgage refinance in 2019.

Feeling that their home was worth much more money, the Austins asked one of their white pals to pose as the owner of their residence. They had the home reappraised — and it was suddenly worth $1.48 million.

The Austins decided to sue Miller and her company claiming that her appraisal was “the direct product of racial discrimination.”

The case has now been settled out of court, with Miller agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum of money to the couple. The settlement also includes an unusual twist: The appraiser was also required to watch “Our America: Lowballed,” a documentary about their “white-washed” saga.

[fremont_steve]

I live in the Mission District. My house was built in 1960. However, about 30 percent of the houses in the area were rubbed out and replaced with 4000 sq foot houses on postage stamp lots and go for 2 to 3 million. I bought my first house in Milpitas in 84 for 100K so I would GUESS 35k to 50k would have been the going rate here during mid 80s. 20k for my house 1960 would make sense though. I bought my house which was remodeled in 1990 to 3000 SQ ft for 400k in 96 when the market was still recovering from the 90 crash.