As reports continue to surface covering the troubling saga of low home appraisals for Black families, a real estate broker conducted a test to see how his spacious New York home would be appraised both with and without any indication that the house was occupied by a Black family.
Jude Jean Paul Bernard, a financial coach on Instagram, posted a video to his 38,000 followers showing the comparison.
His house was valuated at $4.4 million in January 2022 when he kept Black identifiers like artwork and family photos on display, even when a smaller home on his block was appraised at $4.8 million.
Bernard decided to call in a real estate appraiser last month to assess his home again after “de-Blackifying” his home, as he stated in the video. He removed Black artwork, albums that were featured around his home by Black artists, and even pictures of his child. Bernard also brought in a friend who isn’t Black to act as a representative and show the appraiser his home while he was away.
The results of this most recent appraisal revealed that his home is now worth $4.9 million — $500,000 more in value than it was last year.
“Did my house appreciate $500,000 or did I get $500,000 for deBlackifying?” Bernard asks in the video.
Bernard said he wanted his home re-evaluated because he wondered if he’d been shorted.
Many of his followers and other users who saw Bernard’s video were unsurprised by the difference in appraisal results, noting how often this happens to Black families trying to sell their homes.
“On average Black homes are under appraised by $40k. That equates to over a BILLION dollars of Black wealth lost. Low Home ownership and the biased appraisal process are the largest contributors to the Racial Wealth Gap,” wrote Tiffany Aliche better known as “The Budgetnista,” an award-winning financial educator.
“This is a thing. My realtor is white, ” wrote YouTube comedian DeStorm Power. “When I was ready…
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