Comments on: Community Forum on Lending – Why do African Americans pay more in Central Virginia? Part 2 of 4 http://www.realcentralva.com/2007/10/06/community-forum-on-lending-why-do-african-americans-pay-more-in-central-virginia-part-2-of-4/ Tracking Charlottesville's Real Estate Market since 2005 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:50:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Matt Hodges http://www.realcentralva.com/2007/10/06/community-forum-on-lending-why-do-african-americans-pay-more-in-central-virginia-part-2-of-4/comment-page-1/#comment-9181 Matt Hodges Sun, 07 Oct 2007 15:21:05 +0000 http://www.realcentralva.com/2007/10/06/community-forum-on-lending-why-do-african-americans-pay-more-in-central-virginia-part-2-of-4/#comment-9181 Dave: Thank you for the clarification and your participation in the panel. Keep reading the final two posts (later today and on Monday) for additional thoughts on how we can all help resolve this problem. Dave:

Thank you for the clarification and your participation in the panel. Keep reading the final two posts (later today and on Monday) for additional thoughts on how we can all help resolve this problem.

]]> By: DaveNorris http://www.realcentralva.com/2007/10/06/community-forum-on-lending-why-do-african-americans-pay-more-in-central-virginia-part-2-of-4/comment-page-1/#comment-9180 DaveNorris Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:38:53 +0000 http://www.realcentralva.com/2007/10/06/community-forum-on-lending-why-do-african-americans-pay-more-in-central-virginia-part-2-of-4/#comment-9180 Matt-thanks for this helpful recap. Just to clarify one point, I did indeed remark that we set some people up for failure by pushing them into homeownership before they're ready, but I don't believe this applies just to African-Americans -- I think it's a pretty color-blind phenomenon. As to why whites are getting better loans than blacks (regardless of income), moreso in the Charlottesville region than EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY, I don't know that I came out of the forum with any clearer answers than I went into it. One of the mortgage lenders in the audience said that savvy homebuyers will shop around for the best loan and I wonder if "shopping around" is easier when you already have a number of people in your professional/social network who are lending professionals, or who are acquainted with lending professionals. Whereas (as one of the forum panelists admitted) there are very few African-American lending professionals in our community, which perhaps makes it more challenging for local African-Americans to "shop around" for the best deal. I don't know if there's any truth to this or not, it's just speculation on my part. I do know that we have a big problem on our hands here, and it's good to see our community working together to find some solutions. Dave Norris Matt-thanks for this helpful recap. Just to clarify one point, I did indeed remark that we set some people up for failure by pushing them into homeownership before they’re ready, but I don’t believe this applies just to African-Americans — I think it’s a pretty color-blind phenomenon.

As to why whites are getting better loans than blacks (regardless of income), moreso in the Charlottesville region than EVERYWHERE ELSE IN THE COUNTRY, I don’t know that I came out of the forum with any clearer answers than I went into it. One of the mortgage lenders in the audience said that savvy homebuyers will shop around for the best loan and I wonder if “shopping around” is easier when you already have a number of people in your professional/social network who are lending professionals, or who are acquainted with lending professionals. Whereas (as one of the forum panelists admitted) there are very few African-American lending professionals in our community, which perhaps makes it more challenging for local African-Americans to “shop around” for the best deal. I don’t know if there’s any truth to this or not, it’s just speculation on my part. I do know that we have a big problem on our hands here, and it’s good to see our community working together to find some solutions.

Dave Norris

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