Black Couple Sues loanDepot & Appraisal Firm For Discrimination
Summary
The couple, both of whom are professors at John Hopkins University, bought a four-bedroom, 2,600-square-foot, single-family detached house in Homeland in 2017. According to the lawsuit, his work was inconsistent with professional appraisal standards, including limiting his search for comparable, recently sold properties to a very small portion of Homeland. Lanham appraised the Black couple’s home for $472,000, over $75,000 below the loan officer’s “conservative” estimate of value, the lawsuit states. After the couple complained to loanDepot that the appraisal was unfair and discriminatory, Jorgensen began to ignore their phone calls, the lawsuit states. The couple decided to apply to a different lender in 2022 to refinance their mortgage debt, but this time "whitewashed" their home for a more accurate valuation, the lawsuit states.