Others may miss out on financial benefits of ownership, because when a home is appraised for less than the agreed-upon sale price, buyers often back out or try to negotiate a lower price. Research out this week from government-sponsored loan corporation Freddie Mac confirmed that appraisal values are more likely to fall below contracted sale prices in neighborhoods with lots of Black and Latino residents.įreddie Mac's Michael Bradley said in a news release that these low appraisals could cause some families to struggle to get the financing they need. But for buyers and sellers in many communities, a pervasive racial gap in appraisal values is making it harder to achieve the dream of building wealth through homeownership. Homeownership is a key part of the so-called American dream - you know, the steady-job, happy-family, white-picket-fence ideal everyone's supposed to strive for.
