Free workshop by The WEALTH Collective on how home appraisals work, appraisal bias and how to dispute a valuation.
The WEALTH Collective is hosting The Valuation Lab: Behind the Numbers at Esperanza on Saturday, October 24, from 10 AM to 12 PM. It's a workshop built for homebuyers, homeowners, and realtors who want to understand what actually goes into a home's appraisal and how that number translates into wealth. The morning centers on a presentation called Appraisals: How Value is Determined, Your Rights and How to Respond, followed by an interactive panel discussion with industry professionals.
The session doesn't shy away from the numbers behind the gap. The collective points to research from Brookings showing that homes in majority-Black neighborhoods were valued around $48,000 less on average than comparable homes in neighborhoods with few Black residents. Freddie Mac found that purchase appraisals came in below the contract price for 12.5% of homes in majority-Black neighborhoods, compared to 7.4% in predominantly White ones. That's the context the morning works from.
From there, it gets practical. The session walks through how the appraisal process works, what influences property value, and how to read an appraisal report. It covers fair housing protections and appraisal bias, and it shows how to dispute a valuation through a Reconsideration of Value—the actual mechanism for challenging a number you believe is wrong. If you're in the middle of buying or selling, or just want to know where your home's value comes from, that's the part that matters most.
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It's all happening at Esperanza, 4261 North 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19140, on Saturday, October 24, from 10 AM to 12 PM. Admission is free.
