5/14/2007

Timing Isn't Everything...

But it can absolutely break your ass if your timing is off.

Just as Casey Serin misread the marketplace and managed to fraudulently purchase eight properties in four states at the top of their respective markets, so too was his razor-sharp timing with today's none too flattering c|net article.

Casey's free hosting relationship with Heekee has been on the skids for a while now, as the host had asked Sercasey to remove some comments in order to preserve bandwith on the server. Casey could not bring himself to comply (shocking!) and instead pulled a classic Serin move of "better no server than a free server!"

That'll learn 'em, Casey.

As Schnapps pointed out in an earlier email, Heekee told his forums that Casey Serin managed to screw up another free lunch, forcing Heekee to both pull the plug on "I Am Facing Foreclosure" and eat the $180/month hosting bill.

Again, who would do business with this guy? We've seen what he's willing to do to his own family...why would he show any more courtesy or consideration in a business environment?

In another ironic twist of fate, as c|net provided news readers with a wealth of links to read the jackassery of Casey Serin with their own eyes, there was no IAFF to be found. Depending on your browser, some attempts to access IAFF were met with this list of alternatives, which led people straight to some haterz sites.

Ouch. Missed it by that much just again, Casey.

I received another email today asking if Casey Serin is trying to, in effect, do some sort of "suicide by cop." Many folks are incredulous that Casey would submit to such extensive press coverage, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, he might be a small fish but that repeated media exposure regarding his crimes can only lead to an inevitable prison sentence.

Who knows? I've delved as deeply into the mind of Casey Serin as I want to, and personally what I found is a dark, spider-infested place. There may actually be a part of him that has just shut down and so completely refuses to accept any adult responsibility that he'd take a prison stint just for the three hots and a cot.

Or maybe Casey Serin is just a fucking idiot.

Another email, from a friend who has been following Casey for several months, pointed out that the drama is making even some hardened haterz do a 180, asking again if this isn't some elaborate hoax. "After all," the note says, "the drama, the betrayals, it's movie-of-the-week type stuff. I know you can't fake the property and corporate records, but I find that I'm double-checking my own senses today to be sure there's not something I've missed that will reveal this as an elaborate ruse."

Yep. I know the feeling.

Then there was the one guy today who felt like I should explain myself for judging Casey Serin when he's done nothing to me personally. To him I say, you just haven't been paying any attention to the real world. Let's think about how Casey Serin's actions affect others:

First, there are the banks and various unsecured lenders who have eaten shit on Casey Serin's accounts. You're assuming that I don't work for any of them, so my job isn't threatened by the actions of people like Casey. You're also assuming that I don't hold any financial instruments based in those companies, or any accounts that use mortgage securities as an element of the portfolio.

You're assuming that I haven't taken into account that Casey Serin is just one of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of specuvestors who have driven up prices throughout the country. You're assuming this hasn't priced me out of buying a home. Or if I own a home that I haven't seen significant increases in tax bills from these artificially inflated purchases where the Casey Serins of the world pay for a high appraisal in order to juice the false equity out of a house at the closing table.

You're assuming that I don't live on a street with multiple foreclosures, purchased and then abandoned by Casey Serin and his ilk. You're assuming that I don't have children who are playing outside next to Casey Serin's "seen from space" nuclear green mosquito breeding pool. And that living on such a street hasn't demolished the real value of my own property, while causing me to still pay inflated tax bills.

You're assuming that a family emergency or work relocation hasn't necessitated that I sell my home on a block where banks are offloading properties for seventy cents on the dollar and that, because I cannot ride this out, I'm not going to take a huge loss on my own home.

That's a lot of assuming.

So am I harsh in judging Casey and Galina Serin? Hell no. They've stolen money in order to live a work-free life for the past year and a half. And the ripple effect of this hits all of our back yards. Any further questions on that topic can and should be posited to Rob Dawg, who will explain further just how "victimless" Casey and Galina Serin's crimes really are.


Oh, and one personal truth was revealed to me today...I want to work for Uncle Bill in Redmond. I tell you...you Microsoft people sure have a lot of free time to hang out with the Twelve Years crowd. It speaks volumes about those Mac ad error messages I so frequently see ;-)

22 comments:

Schnapps said...

Fourth first! and murst!

:>

Schnapps said...

Now some substance:

Don't insult the spiders, Aspeth. They're nice. They eat nasty things like wasps (but not WASPs). :)

Yes, I have a bit of a wasp infestation at the moment. Nasty wee bastards.

And I'd have to agree with you, for the large part. While Casey may be the "poster boy" of what's wrong with the US housing market, but his actions have an effect on people who have never heard of him. Forest for the trees, people, forest for the trees.

And as I've mentioned before, I'm Canadian. So you might wonder why I care.

I live in one of the most expensive areas in Canada. I cannot afford to live in the city I work in, despite the fact that it is (apparently) an example of sustanibility and the success of new urbanism. There are 400 sq ft apartments downtown starting at $1.5M or so.

And whichever way the US market goes, generally so goes Canada.

And the housing market here is the same - the last several years have been fix 'n flip. There was a point where a friend of mine bought a house with her mother for around $420K. It was listed at $350K. There was a bidding war on it and they were "lucky" to get it.

So, I care. And its Casey and his ilk that ruin it for the rest of us.

Aspeth said...

Oh, and to clarify my Microsoft comment, I have to say that, at one point today I checked the logs and for every twenty people on, fifteen of them were in Redmond.

Plus, you know, I hear you guys have valet parking...heeheehee! Sorry, I just find that terribly amusing.

Aspeth said...

Schnapps...yikes on the wasps. I didn't realize spiders at them. Good to know.

Jaysus...I had no idea the region had gotten that out of control. If I remember correctly, you're in the BC area?

Akubi said...

Still catching up and probably in need of Cliff Notes, but the fact that RCS is still up with offensive posts makes me really, really pissed.

Aspeth said...

Hey Akubi, we missed you today :)

Aspeth said...

I read something about RCS over at EN, but since I think that site is best ignored, didn't really catch what's going on. Care to fill in the blanks?

Akubi said...

Aspeth,
I've missed so much, I don't know where to begin...However, Project SCOBY Doo™ has followed up on the cow connection. More details to follow.

Schnapps said...

Yes, I'm in BC - the Vancouver area. And that is the housing situation in Vancouver proper. The further out you go, the cheaper housing gets.

In order to avoid a bridge, we looked at some places in a smaller suburb of Vancouver that advertised 3 beds, 2 baths for $300K (not too bad, manageable).

What they didn't say was that they're 900 square feet. And shared laundry facilities.

For that same $300K (slightly less, actually), a bridge and 10 miles, we got 2000 square feet, central heat, central air, two car garage, and our very own laundry room (complete with all appliances - we only had to buy a new oven because it looked like the previous owners had a bonfire in there).

As for the RCS stuff, I'll do a post a bit later about it if you like and summarize what's going on.

Gypsy Pete said...

RCS:

Poster posted alleged pics of Dawg's daughter with allegations of incest and further sexual content and phone numbers of Dawg (inc home and cell). Various iterations later (I believe) face was fuzzed over and some of the sexual content toned down.

EN crowd (inc. me) go ape-shit trying to get blogspot to pull it all off.

Blogspot pull off the phone numbers but not much else.

Schnapps said...

Ok, I'll forget the post. I have work to do tonight anyways.

And yes, I jumped on that bandwagon, too. Its appalling.

Aspeth said...

Schnapps...I had no idea you guys were fighting for space like that within the city. I mean, I can get by on 900 sf just fine. But I could never share that kind of space with someone. I'd go mad. Plus, while I'm a huge fan of 'services' like the housekeeper, etc. I can never wrap my head around sharing a washing machine with strangers. Kind of skeeves me out.

Sprezzatura said...

can never wrap my head around sharing a washing machine with strangers. Kind of skeeves me out.

Heh. I have never in my entire adult life had my own washer/dryer. But then, I'm a city girl at heart.

Our 2BR/2BA apartment is about 1200 sq ft. The living room is a little smaller than I'd ideally like, but we do have a nice terrace where we can sit out, watch the sun set, and grill up yummy foods. We only need one car, because The Spouse bikes to the train to get to work. If it weren't in Da Burbs it would be ideal.

Aspeth said...

Hey, Sprezz, those are some good 'burbs if you can efficiently bike, walk, and use public transport to get about.

I'm with you on that kind of lifestyle. I tend to live and work out of the parts of cities where I can easily run around the corner to get to restaurants, bars, grocery, etc. Enormous quality of life issue there.

I know...the washing machine thing is kind of silly. And it's only something that would bother me when it comes to, 'the whites' as my grandmother used to say. I don't dig the idea of my undies splashing around where someone else's have just been doing the same. I know...I need help.

flailing forward said...

Just curious, but what kind of traffic spike did you get today? EN was up around 20%. IAFF took a -65% dump.

What can I say, good things keep on coming for Casey. He's really rather whimsical.

Aspeth said...

Flailing...roughly the same. It certainly helped that several servers (aol, I noticed, and the other one linked above) referred the IAFF 404 traffic my way.

Just makes me think about the post over the weekend about Negativity and PMSPMS's comments about "being prepared."

Great blurb at EN earlier today. I was howling with laughter. You do really great 'visual' writing and I definitely enjoy your wit!

flailing forward said...

Thanks, I get a little carried away sometimes. I enjoy your writing too. You're the queen of the verbal smackdown. OMG, I just figured it out... you used to work in DC, you write well, and you kick ass. Aspeth, are you an ass-kicking forensic author whose weaponry skills are highly utilized by the government?

Aspeth said...

Flailing...hmmm...could be. Then again, I could just be pulling all or some of this out of my arse to spin a colorful yarn. That's the beauty of it, right? Believe what want, trust what you will, stay aware of the fact that the firecrackers have short fuses. :)

Sprezzatura said...

Aspeth -- you'd don't need help, you just need some good bleach. It's seriously awesome for killing the buglets.

You can even use a diluted bleach solution to get salmonella off the cutting board after cutting raw chicken. It's that effective. Mix 1.5 tablespoons bleach per pint of water and you're good to go.

Aspeth said...

Sprezz, you're right about that. I'm a major bleach girl. My newest fascination comes courtesy of an email a friend sent a few months ago that said to soak your toothbrush in a small cup of peroxide rather than the toothbrush holder to kill the remaining germs in the bristles.

Man, this is one of those "oh my gawd, I'm an adult" conversations. (sigh)

Schnapps said...

I still prefer having my own washer and dryer.

I'm an oxyclean girl, personally :>

Sprezzatura said...

@schnapps -- yes, well, in an ideal world, so would I, but of all the trade-offs you have to make when choosing a place to live, that one is an easy one for me to give up.