Black Woman’s House Value Rises By $100K After She Removed African Artwork, Photos, & Invited A White Friend

An Indianapolis woman managed to increase her house value by $100,000 by changing the house’s interior. But it wasn’t to improve the house’s presentation – Carlette Duffy had to remove the ‘black identifiers’ inside to whitewash the house during the appraisal.

Carlette Duffy experienced in person how appraisers gave her a low price despite the renovations.

Carlette bought her house in 2017 for $100,000. As she was trying to gain traction from the last housing boom and buy the house her grandparents owned, she got appraisers to value her home. Despite getting two appraisers, the value only ranged from around $110,000 to $125,000.

The homeowner had given the home a complete makeover post-fire, but that didn’t change much of the value.

Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI) Executive Director Amy Nelson spoke to the community on how racial valuing on housing could affect appraisal values, whether the appraisers realize it or not. The discrimination talks made Carlette try it herself.

Carlette Duffy proceeded to test a theory: could her low house appraisal have something to do with systemic racism?

“I decided to do exactly what was done in the article. I took down every photo of my family from my house. I took every piece of ethnic artwork out,” Carlette explained. What happens next was that her house appraisal went up by $100,000 when she got rid of the ‘black identifiers.’

She watched as appraisers valued her house differently on her third try. They used different houses to compare hers between the first two and her third attempt. The first two appraisers compared the estate to houses from other black owners in different neighborhoods.

But on the third attempt, it was compared to another from the same neighborhood. With that $100,000 equity, she’s procured her grandparents’ house, but the fight isn’t over.

“I was so angry that I had to go through all of that just to be treated fairly,” visibly upset Carlette said.

The news went viral on social media, igniting rage on how systemic oppression is happening in all kinds of shapes.

Explaining her reason to fight, she said, “I’m doing this for my daughter, and I’m doing this for my granddaughter so that when they come against obstacles, they will know that you can stand up, you can say that this is not right.”

Carlette has filed complaints to Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in regards to discrimination towards her house appraisal.

Many who’ve experienced the same thing shared their thoughts.