have another our appraisal came in low. we have a new appraiser coming. can you come and be me. reporter: but that s not all they did. they removed any evidence that black people even lived there, a process called whitewashing. we took down everything that this home belonged to us. or to an african american family. art, pictures. even my hair products, i put them away so that someone wouldn t be tipped off by them. reporter: a different appraiser, also a white woman who visited the house in february of 2020, came back with a valuation of more than $1.4 million, an appraisal 49% higher than the previous one. in dollars, that s a $487,500 difference between two appraisals that came about three weeks apart. in federal court, the austins have sued the a fraser, gennett miller, who gave them the lower
estimate, alleging housing discrimination. miller did not respond to several requests to grant us an interview or put us in contact with her lawyer. devaluing home price is starting to attract more attention in washington. it s not always about million dollar homes. andre perry writes about it. we found homes in black neighborhoods are underpriced by 23%, about 48,000 cumulatively. there s $156 billion in loss equity in black neighborhoods. $156 billion. reporter: at the end of the day, the issue raised by stories like this is about loss of wealth in black and brown communities. if you own property and you want to take cash out to remodel, send a kid to college, pay bills or invest in the stock market, a low appraisal of your property can be a life-changing event.