A Black homeowner says the value of her home soared by more than $100,000 when she had a white male friend sit in on an appraisal.
Per Fox59, Carlette Duffy of Indianapolis has filed a complaint with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development after failing to attain adequate appraisals - until a white friend came to her aid.
She told the news outlet: "I get choked up even thinking about it now because I was so excited and so happy, and then I was so angry that I had to go through all of that just to be treated fairly."
Last year, Duffy made plans to refinance her home located in a predominantly Black neighborhood near downtown Indianapolis. She wanted to use any equity to buy her grandparents' property in order to renovate it and keep it as a family home.
Learn more about the story in the news report below:Unfortunately, her first two appraisals left her with virtually no equity as they were valued at almost the same as the amount she purchased the home for in 2017.
"When I challenged it, it came back that the appraiser said they’re not changing it," Duffy told Fox59.
The two appraisals valued the home at $125,000 and $110,000 respectively, despite Duffy having bought the property for $100,000 some years before. What's more, the home had also been renovated to a substantial degree following a fire.
So, with no help from the appraiser, the homeowner decided to take matters into her own hands.
Duffy got in touch with another lender for an appraisal and this time chose not to disclose her race or gender during the application process.
"I took down every photo of my family from my house," Duffy added. "I took every piece of ethnic artwork out, so any African artwork, I took it out. I displayed my degrees, I removed certain books."
She then concocted a story, saying that she would be away during the appraisal and that her "brother" - a white male friend - would be present instead. This time, the appraisal resulted in a much higher value of $259,000.
"Only when I removed myself did I increase the value," Duffy continued. "So I’m being seen as the object of devaluation in my home, and that part hurts. That’s the part that’s hard to get over."
With the help of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana, she decided to file complaints with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, citing racial discrimination.
Ultimately, Duffy was able to buy her grandparents' home - but was forced to go to rather extreme lengths in order to so.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently investigating the matter.
