A Black couple who claimed an appraisal company undervalued their Baltimore home based on their race have settled their lawsuit against their mortgage lender, loanDepot, which has agreed to a number of sweeping policy changes that could offer significant relief to homeowners who allege racially biased appraisals in the future.
Dr. Connolly and Dr. Mott, both faculty members at Johns Hopkins University, sued loanDepot, a mortgage lender, as well as Shane Lanham, an appraiser hired by a contractor for the company, in August 2022.
A year earlier, the couple had opened their home to Mr. Lanham, who is white, for an appraisal, and he put the value of their four-bedroom house in Baltimore’s Homeland neighborhood at $472,000.
After the couple stripped their home of family photographs and had a white colleague pose as the homeowner, an action known as “whitewashing,” a second appraiser offered a value of $750,000.
The couple said that the difference in value — nearly $300,000 higher — came because the second appraiser believed that the home’s owners were white.
Persons:
Nathan Connolly, Shani Mott, . Connolly, Mott, loanDepot, Shane Lanham, Lanham, ”
Organizations:
Johns Hopkins University
Locations:
Baltimore