Casey Serin's little media spree this week has had some funny consequences all around. On Monday, for example, his technical (in)abilities were on full display, as C|net readers found, alternately, a "File Not Found" page or even better, a search engine list of related "hater" sites.
I got my own taste of it this morning, when I was woken up by a phone call from an ex, suspiciously chipper considering the ungodly time of day.
"I just read a quote of yours on MSN!" the ex giggled. At any other time, this would not be cause for hilarity. After all, I've given plenty of interviews and been quoted countless times. I could smell the ex had an agenda...I waited through the interminable pause before the one-two punch was delivered.
"Nice fucking mouth on you!"
Aaaargh!!! I knew instantly.... "So I'm reading this article about the world's most hated blogger, on some level fully expecting the article to have something to do with you. After all, you're so precious!" The ex stops to gasp for air through the laughter.
"Then I read this: '"Casey and Galina Serin's story isn't one of 'Young couple tries to make it in the cold, cruel world,' one critic wrote. 'These two are f****g Bonnie and Clyde. What they're doing is bank robbery, without the gun.'" Before I even clicked on the link, I knew it was you who had said that! I shot coffee through my nose!"
So before the ex (who is still a close friend, although skating on thin ice after this morning's call) can crow to our mutual friends that I'm now the girl being shot around the internet for saying "fuck" in international media outlets, I'm going to put the opening shot out there.
I will say that, for as humorous as I find Twelve Years' inclusion in the Casey Serin, World's Most Hated Blogger story, I do cringe a bit about the quote. I say a lot of things in these pages that I wouldn't utter in a more, say, professional environment. And now I'm the chick screaming "fuck" in the media.
I said some semblance of that through the phone this morning, as my coffee-deprived brain waited for the drip to brew and fog to lift. Sensing that a nerve had been struck, the antagonistic ex dialed it down a notch. "Hey, that's cool...you're like Erica Jong this way. She got a lot of attention for taking that word and shining a spotlight on other things. Plus, she was dirty!" the ex leered.
Yeah, I'm the Erica Jong of the blogosphere. Hardly.
Erica Jong's mastery of the English language produced lines and phrases so buttery that readers chewed over her words, letting them melt in their mouths like caramel. As readers rode that happy high, she punctuated her creamy prose with the hard consonants of the word "fuck."
Her writing is as sensual as the topics she covers, as you can see from her poem "We Learned". Jong's writing in the groundbreaking book Fear of Flying produced the indomitable phrase Zipless Fuck, which changed the way American women thought and spoke of sex.
The woman even turned cooking into a food fetish that has never quite been duplicated...although Nigella might come close.
I'm absolutely certain that nothing produced within these pages achieves a similar excitement. Nor as lofty a circumstance. In other words, I don't know that my fuck had a purpose (making it "zipless" in its own right, I suppose.) Certainly, had I known that it would be reprinted for thousands to consume, I would have found more apt language.
I fully expect, over the course of the coming weeks, that as I speak to and go out with friends that, just as I am comfortable, someone will slide a one-liner into the conversation. No one will ask about a recent major coup on the professional front, or the unexpected holiday on powdery white sand beaches and turquoise waters.
No. What they'll say is "So you're the one who basically shouted FUCK in a crowded theatre, huh?"
Yep. (sighs) That's me.
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
5/16/2007
5/13/2007
"The Power of Negative Thinking"
Learned sources say that "I Am Facing Foreclosure" has been down since the early a.m. today. Knowing Casey Serin's sleep schedule, that means it will be late afternoon before he even knows the plug has been pulled on his website.
Casey Serin's overwhelming optimism has frustrated readers since last Fall. And, it turns out, there may be scientific data to support the idea that an all-encompassing optimism can actually be very bad for us.
Surgeon Atul Gawande recently published an article in the New York Times that points out that anticipating failure can be an exceptional tool in our arsenals. I thought that since Casey Serin is an avid reader of such psychological profiles, he might learn something here.
Gawande studied the well-publicized failures at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He wanted to know how a hospital with one of the highest rates of saving lives in triage maintained outpatient facilities where "the brain-injured were denied aid because they couldn't fill out forms."
What he quickly learned was that the hospital staff on the front end--those who provided immediate life-saving medical attention--typically thought in worst-case scenario terms.
"During a visit with colleagues at Walter Reed early in the Iraq war, I was struck, for example, by their attention to eye-injury statistics. Instead of being proud of saving some soldiers from blindness, the doctors asked a harder, more unnerving question: why had so many injuries occurred? They discovered that the young soldiers weren't wearing their protective goggles. Too ugly, the soldiers said. So the military switched to cooler-looking Wiley X ballistic eyewear. The soldiers wore their eyegear more consistently, and the eye-injury rate dropped immediately."
But Walter Reed's high marks caused people in aftercare to buy into their own publicity. They adopted a sense of "We're the best," and failed to ask themselves any of the hard questions that the triage staff were addressing.
The business community has been preaching, and simultaneously running from, the same truth for years. In early contact with clients, we often posit a simple scenario: "Where do you get (x component)?" When they answer, we ask who they use as a back-up if that vendor is unable to deliver a critical component in a rush scenario.
Fortunately, a good number of potential clients have that answer. A shocking percentage do not. For the ones that do have a back-up in place, the follow-up question brings things to a screeching halt. "What if their building burns to the ground just as you need this component? Who do you use then?"
Inevitably, this results in a conference room of, first, uncomfortable laughs, followed by folks quickly looking at one another for answers, then complete silence.
It's hard to get people to change, even when they've paid hefty fees to bring you in to provide such a service for them. So a little shock value has to be thrown into the mix to get people to adapt to a new way of thinking. And that thinking has to be fairly negative.
It was reported that the Pentagon's child care center efficiently evacuated on 9/11 by following the same evac drill they perform once a month. ""Even though confusion was all around them, they remained "pretty calm, as far as what to do," says Shirley Allen, the day-care center's director. "It helped a lot in a real emergency.""
Optimism is a great asset in the midst of a crisis. Certainly, no one is helped when key players fall into panic. But it's the negativity--anticipating future failures that may or may not happen--to get to the point where one can be effective in a crisis.
"For some people, a little pessimism may be a good thing. According to Julie K. Norem and psychologist Nancy Cantor, these people are able to use "defensive pessimism" to prevent the prospect of failure from immobilizing them."
Extensive travel was always a great teacher for me in crisis planning. Before leaving home on extended journeys, I planned for every contingency I could imagine. After a couple of trips, I learned that the things you plan for rarely happen...but elements of those plans become invaluable when faced with the worst.
The eternal optimists who become so entrenched in positive thinking are the ones who get crushed when the chips inevitably fall. They ignore the early warning signs of disaster and allow the problem to snowball. In Casey Serin's scenario, the mantra "it's all good" has no doubt held him back repeatedly from acknowledging, accepting, and adapting to his environment.
Something for you to remember the next time someone tells you to "lighten up."
Casey Serin's overwhelming optimism has frustrated readers since last Fall. And, it turns out, there may be scientific data to support the idea that an all-encompassing optimism can actually be very bad for us.
Surgeon Atul Gawande recently published an article in the New York Times that points out that anticipating failure can be an exceptional tool in our arsenals. I thought that since Casey Serin is an avid reader of such psychological profiles, he might learn something here.
Gawande studied the well-publicized failures at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He wanted to know how a hospital with one of the highest rates of saving lives in triage maintained outpatient facilities where "the brain-injured were denied aid because they couldn't fill out forms."
What he quickly learned was that the hospital staff on the front end--those who provided immediate life-saving medical attention--typically thought in worst-case scenario terms.
"During a visit with colleagues at Walter Reed early in the Iraq war, I was struck, for example, by their attention to eye-injury statistics. Instead of being proud of saving some soldiers from blindness, the doctors asked a harder, more unnerving question: why had so many injuries occurred? They discovered that the young soldiers weren't wearing their protective goggles. Too ugly, the soldiers said. So the military switched to cooler-looking Wiley X ballistic eyewear. The soldiers wore their eyegear more consistently, and the eye-injury rate dropped immediately."
But Walter Reed's high marks caused people in aftercare to buy into their own publicity. They adopted a sense of "We're the best," and failed to ask themselves any of the hard questions that the triage staff were addressing.
The business community has been preaching, and simultaneously running from, the same truth for years. In early contact with clients, we often posit a simple scenario: "Where do you get (x component)?" When they answer, we ask who they use as a back-up if that vendor is unable to deliver a critical component in a rush scenario.
Fortunately, a good number of potential clients have that answer. A shocking percentage do not. For the ones that do have a back-up in place, the follow-up question brings things to a screeching halt. "What if their building burns to the ground just as you need this component? Who do you use then?"
Inevitably, this results in a conference room of, first, uncomfortable laughs, followed by folks quickly looking at one another for answers, then complete silence.
It's hard to get people to change, even when they've paid hefty fees to bring you in to provide such a service for them. So a little shock value has to be thrown into the mix to get people to adapt to a new way of thinking. And that thinking has to be fairly negative.
It was reported that the Pentagon's child care center efficiently evacuated on 9/11 by following the same evac drill they perform once a month. ""Even though confusion was all around them, they remained "pretty calm, as far as what to do," says Shirley Allen, the day-care center's director. "It helped a lot in a real emergency.""
Optimism is a great asset in the midst of a crisis. Certainly, no one is helped when key players fall into panic. But it's the negativity--anticipating future failures that may or may not happen--to get to the point where one can be effective in a crisis.
"For some people, a little pessimism may be a good thing. According to Julie K. Norem and psychologist Nancy Cantor, these people are able to use "defensive pessimism" to prevent the prospect of failure from immobilizing them."
Extensive travel was always a great teacher for me in crisis planning. Before leaving home on extended journeys, I planned for every contingency I could imagine. After a couple of trips, I learned that the things you plan for rarely happen...but elements of those plans become invaluable when faced with the worst.
The eternal optimists who become so entrenched in positive thinking are the ones who get crushed when the chips inevitably fall. They ignore the early warning signs of disaster and allow the problem to snowball. In Casey Serin's scenario, the mantra "it's all good" has no doubt held him back repeatedly from acknowledging, accepting, and adapting to his environment.
Something for you to remember the next time someone tells you to "lighten up."
4/28/2007
Standards and Practices
A few weekends ago on the Chris Matthews Show, panelist Cynthia Tucker made such a shocking statement, I thought my neck would snap as I jerked my head from the kitchen to the living room to look at the television.
As part of the usual routine, I was making some early morning coffee while the Sunday morning commentary shows blared in the background. While I tend to disagree with a lot of the opinions put forth, I have a deep respect for those who can back up their arguments with sound reason and judgement. In my world, this passes for entertainment.
In this case, the commentators were engaged in the neverending discussion of Presidential candidates. Because I'm apathetic to a "campaign season" that lasts two years, the discussion sounded like this, "Blahblahblahblahblah." My brain interpreted it as white noise during that segment.
Until Cynthia Tucker, editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Opinion section. She remarked that John McCain is unique to the Republican side.....because of his strong Libertarian tendencies.
Oh. My. God.
As someone who has logged several years on the Hill, I have had the chance to work with and alongside pretty much every Member of note. John McCain has never, once, demonstrated the "small government" and "personal freedom" ideals of a Libertarian. Not once. In fact, John McCain's tendencies toward spending sprees made me frequently question how he could even call himself a Republican.
My time on the Hill has led me to equally disdain political parties, particularly the two biggies. There are very few Members who are able to spend any amount of time on the Hill and not get swept into the undercurrent of greed and power that is palpable in the hallways. Those who do have my undying respect.
But this isn't meant to be a political diatribe.
The reason Cynthia Tucker's comment still sticks in my mind these weeks later is because the following week, Chris Matthews announced that Cynthia Tucker would not be on the show. I actually held my breath for a moment, thinking that her completely ignorant John McCain comment had gotten her banished into the abyss.
But no. Cynthia Tucker couldn't make the show because she was celebrating winning the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
Wh...wh...Wha.....WHAT?!?!?
To be fair, Tucker's prize was awarded based on her submission of ten hand-picked articles that were a part of her Pulitzer bid. But this causes me to ask, shouldn't her body of work be considered in a larger context?
I mean, the Pulitzer is a prize of unparalleled weight. I'm disappointed that there is not more of an organic process in choosing to laud honorees. Frankly, I'll never be able to read one of Tucker's articles without the shadow of her completely idiotic "McCain is more Libertarian than Republican" comment hovering over the words. The comment is so factually flawed at its core, she has lost all credibility.
It just feels odd that a writer can cherry-pick ten articles of their choosing, collect some glowing recommendations from their publisher, and package that into a submission for one of the most prestigious awards on the planet.
I'm sure that Tucker's submission articles were well-written. But considering that Tucker has been penning articles for some twenty years, it represents the smallest fraction of her overall body of work. I would think that members of the Pulitzer Prize Board would spot-read other published pieces.
As part of the usual routine, I was making some early morning coffee while the Sunday morning commentary shows blared in the background. While I tend to disagree with a lot of the opinions put forth, I have a deep respect for those who can back up their arguments with sound reason and judgement. In my world, this passes for entertainment.
In this case, the commentators were engaged in the neverending discussion of Presidential candidates. Because I'm apathetic to a "campaign season" that lasts two years, the discussion sounded like this, "Blahblahblahblahblah." My brain interpreted it as white noise during that segment.
Until Cynthia Tucker, editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Opinion section. She remarked that John McCain is unique to the Republican side.....because of his strong Libertarian tendencies.
Oh. My. God.
As someone who has logged several years on the Hill, I have had the chance to work with and alongside pretty much every Member of note. John McCain has never, once, demonstrated the "small government" and "personal freedom" ideals of a Libertarian. Not once. In fact, John McCain's tendencies toward spending sprees made me frequently question how he could even call himself a Republican.
My time on the Hill has led me to equally disdain political parties, particularly the two biggies. There are very few Members who are able to spend any amount of time on the Hill and not get swept into the undercurrent of greed and power that is palpable in the hallways. Those who do have my undying respect.
But this isn't meant to be a political diatribe.
The reason Cynthia Tucker's comment still sticks in my mind these weeks later is because the following week, Chris Matthews announced that Cynthia Tucker would not be on the show. I actually held my breath for a moment, thinking that her completely ignorant John McCain comment had gotten her banished into the abyss.
But no. Cynthia Tucker couldn't make the show because she was celebrating winning the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
Wh...wh...Wha.....WHAT?!?!?
To be fair, Tucker's prize was awarded based on her submission of ten hand-picked articles that were a part of her Pulitzer bid. But this causes me to ask, shouldn't her body of work be considered in a larger context?
I mean, the Pulitzer is a prize of unparalleled weight. I'm disappointed that there is not more of an organic process in choosing to laud honorees. Frankly, I'll never be able to read one of Tucker's articles without the shadow of her completely idiotic "McCain is more Libertarian than Republican" comment hovering over the words. The comment is so factually flawed at its core, she has lost all credibility.
It just feels odd that a writer can cherry-pick ten articles of their choosing, collect some glowing recommendations from their publisher, and package that into a submission for one of the most prestigious awards on the planet.
I'm sure that Tucker's submission articles were well-written. But considering that Tucker has been penning articles for some twenty years, it represents the smallest fraction of her overall body of work. I would think that members of the Pulitzer Prize Board would spot-read other published pieces.
4/25/2007
A Casey Serin Primer, April 2007
APRIL, 2007
Not 48 hours after begging his haterz and dancing like a little monkey for $220 to keep the CashCall wolves at bay, Casey Serin shows his appreciation by posting “I bought 1.3 million shares of GSPG on Friday via my corporation. Why not?” His idea of an April Fool’s joke shows just how thankful he is for the intervention that prevented CashCall from showing up at Yulia’s house to repossess his tech toys and Yulia’s furniture.
The Friday night beg-a-thon was not without its consequences, though. Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby, who had been just hours away from creating a business partnership with Casey and the IAFF blog backed out.
According to Casey Serin, Nigel Swaby was to partner with him to turn IAFF into some sort of foreclosure avoidance site. Nigel Swaby had previously taken the curious route of defending Casey Serin and his multiple felonies. But the circus atmosphere of the beg-a-thon proved that, while Nigel Swaby would defend Casey Serin’s crimes, he couldn’t stomach Casey taking money from the Haterz. Perhaps Nigel Swaby wanted Casey indebted to him and him alone?
Nigel Swaby’s own bizarre “don’t hate Casey” blog shifts its tone as well. While Nigel Swaby had billed it as a point of defense for Casey, where Casey’s supposed myriad supporters could have a forum (goodness...I couldn’t even type that without laughing), Nigel Swaby himself starts taking cracks at Casey. Nigel Swaby also tries to backtrack from his creepy hater ‘outings’ and tries to play nice with the ExUrb community.
As Nigel Swaby has shown in the past, he’s no master of predicting outcomes. The so-called haterz despise him even more for his smarmy attempts to garner their support. Nigel Swaby reveals himself to be an “any port in a storm” kind of guy, as his queer “don’t hate Casey” blog becomes an “alternate (sic) take” on Casey Serin.
Casey Serin comes back to tell us that he and wifey Galina are celebrating their third wedding anniversary. No doubt a part of their celebration was paid for by the haterz donations from the previous week’s beg-a-thon, which flipped even ardent supporters into critics. Casey points out that he and Galina Serin have taken a three-year roller coaster ride, together. I posit that they ain’t seen nuthin yet.
While he had been ignoring the critical pieces written about him in The Economist and the Scotsman Guide, Casey Serin’s inner attention-whore wins out, and he can’t help pointing out that two more press pieces had been written about him.
There is some cursory attention paid to keeping lines of communication open with his many, many lenders. But, typical Casey Serin, this fades out pretty quickly. In a saga that resembles an episode of Flipper Nation, Casey Serin drones on about “Will I Stop the Last Foreclosure Via Short Sale?”
To anyone with any functioning brain cells left, the answer is a resounding “No.” At this stage of the game, Casey Serin has lost four homes to foreclosure, largely due to inattention and lack of follow-through. Besides, what’s to be gained from a short-sale at this point?
These posts make the reader wonder, does Casey Serin post these types of things because he really believes this, or is this just a distraction to keep readers off of his personal life?
Casey Serin shifts into happy talk, noting that he’s going to be on the Suze Orman show. He wants his readers to comment on the advice that Suze Orman has given him, leaving out the information that the show was taped in January, and that he hasn’t followed a lick of her advice.
But readers are more frustrated with Suze Orman than Casey Serin. After all, we know Casey’s a lazy fuck with a complete lack of organization, skills, intellect, or follow-through. But Suze Orman bills herself as a tough-talking, real world financial advisor. People tuned in to the show to see if she would produce yet another fluff piece, or if she would reel in shock at horror at Casey Serin’s antics.
Proving that the staff of the Suze Orman show hasn’t really done their research on Casey Serin’s repeated criminality, the show falls short with yet another surface-level interview, this one peppered with disgustingly syrupy-sweet references to Casey Serin as “boyfriend.”
As if readers weren’t already inflamed enough, Casey Serin announces that he has indeed formed a new corporation. Knowing Casey Serin’s penchant for taking shortcuts, readers speculate that the new shell corp will serve one of the following purposes: shuffle his existing debt, provide him new lines of credit, work to acquire even more real estate.
But this is far from Casey Serin’s first registered enterprise. Simple searches turn up even more Casey Serin companies, and from there, readers find that Casey Serin is the registered agent forHammar Investments, Inc. and is using the old 3636 Auburn Blvd. address. If you remember, this is the property that traces back to Secure Tomorrow Asset Protection.
So yet another finger points toward Casey Serin--con artist, fraud, felon, “speculator”--and a senior citizen financial planning firm. Wonder who Casey Serin is promising 24% returns to these days?
Ironically, Casey’s next blog post points readers to Wired Magazine, and their cover story on business transparency, “Get Naked and Rule the World.” Delusional as always, Casey Serin actually compares himself to the trendy industry leaders discussed within the article. This in and of itself answers Casey’s question, “Why do you hate?”
Casey Serin then decides that “It’s time to write a foreclosure book!” Readers laugh openly, asking him what he could possibly contribute to the foreclosure resource world. The next day he takes a step back and says, basically, I see your point about how this book won’t have a point without a comeback. By the third day, he’s ditched the book idea, saying “I’m being too impulsive again!”
As I read this comment, I imagine Casey doing a modern-day version of “Of Mice and Men,” with Casey looking down at his housing/life bunny, muttering “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
But Casey Serin is buoyed with yet another media appearance, this time on Nightline. While at first glance, the story seems like another fluff piece, Vicki Mabrey looks at Casey like he’s just dropped in from Mars as he dodges questions and offers his pat half-assed answers. As a fun aside, Alex’s website is shown in a lengthy screenshot during the segment.
Casey Serin’s next nugget of wisdom brings up yet another lazy “passive income” stream of consciousness. He wants to impress upon his readers the vast extent of his knowledge and history of success in wholesaling properties and assigning contracts. As he defines how a buyer can tie up a property under contract while he searches for a better offer, Casey Serin notes “Now that’s a TRUE no-money-down technique. (Well maybe $100 for an earnest money deposit or something, but what’s $100 nowadays?)”
Well, guy, considering you’re the same fucktard who hosted an online beg-a-thon for $220 bucks just two weeks previously, I don’t think you’re in any position to say such things.
Casey Serin’s “vast” experience in wholesaling comes from the fact that he has done this before...exactly once. He found a major POS property in North Carolina. Long, rambling story short, the woman wanted $10K, Casey got her down to $4k and sold the contract for $500. Scarily, Casey Serin notes, “As I formulate my comeback plan I may have to do some wholesaling but at a much bigger level. Wholesaling apartment complexes, commercial deals, luxury homes, mortgages/paper, etc.”
Casey goes back to whining about his critics, which he still insists on calling “haters.” (Hey Casey, remember the money that some soft-hearted “haters” gave you to keep CashCall away from Yulia’s door?)
He then remarks that he and Galina had some “urgent business” to attend to, namely, a shopping trip to IKEA. But all of the cymbal-banging to get CashCall and grocery money out of the haterz was all for naught. True to form, our lazy Casey Serin fucked up a free lunch yet again:
“Well, CashCall then sent me a contract that I was supposed to sign and return within 48 hours or the deal is off. I didn’t remember hearing anything about the 48 hour time frame. I did get the contract but I delayed sending it because we went out of town that Sunday for a week. After I come back I kind of forgot about the contract. Then I get a call from CashCall a couple of days again and they want their money. I was surprised so I told them I have a deal....They check the notes and they said the deal is off since I never returned the paperwork...It’s probably mostly my fault because I should have read that contract right away to see if there are any timeframes. My weakness in the area of logistics is getting me in trouble again.”
Since Tax Day is right around the corner, Casey Serin has his accountant file an extension. He’s convinced that he has less of a chance being audited if he files near the end of the year. As readers hold their sides laughing, Casey takes a turn for the introspective and petulant.
On the scary side, Casey Serin says “I’m very curious to see exactly where all the money went that we borrowed. Interesting, Casey…we’re all very curious about that. The petulant side comes out with “Also I can show everybody how little we spent on “frivolous” stuff, dining out, etc. That should silence the critics.” Yeah, Casey, that’ll learn ‘em.
Casey’s next reality check comes courtesy of the Sacramento County Vector Control, who are quite pissed that Casey Serin’s pool at his final remaining property has become a vibrant green sludge pond that is producing mosquitoes at an alarming rate. He whines that the property is 75 miles away and he doesn’t want to put any money into it, since it’s going into foreclosure anyway.
And this, my friends, is why people hate Casey Serin. Because his neighbors have to live next to that. Everyday, they have to drive past an overgrown front lawn and every night, they have to live with the incessant buzzing of potentially West Nile carrying mozzies. The pool at Casey Serin’s Muncy Drive property is, in fact, so green that it looks like a nuclear disposal site from space. They can’t sell their properties, because who’s going to pay market price for a house on that block, when the bank is offering one for a fraction of the price?
The disgusting condition of the house isn’t the only thing dragging down their property values. While people like Nigel Swaby spew utter crap about foreclosures having virtually no impact on their neighbors’ properties, hedonic price regression models show differently. In fact, each foreclosure up to a half-mile radius of a home will negatively impact from 0.9% to 1.44% of that home’s value.
In much the same fashion that Casey Serin has previously gone into “lender avoidance mode” and “reality avoidance mode,” he now goes into “haterz avoidance mode.” On 4-20, Casey Serin does us all a favor and takes a break from the internet. No doubt he’ll be back soon...the attention whore in him always wins out. And where else is Casey Serin going to find the sweet passive fame and fortune that he so desires?
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Not 48 hours after begging his haterz and dancing like a little monkey for $220 to keep the CashCall wolves at bay, Casey Serin shows his appreciation by posting “I bought 1.3 million shares of GSPG on Friday via my corporation. Why not?” His idea of an April Fool’s joke shows just how thankful he is for the intervention that prevented CashCall from showing up at Yulia’s house to repossess his tech toys and Yulia’s furniture.
The Friday night beg-a-thon was not without its consequences, though. Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby, who had been just hours away from creating a business partnership with Casey and the IAFF blog backed out.
According to Casey Serin, Nigel Swaby was to partner with him to turn IAFF into some sort of foreclosure avoidance site. Nigel Swaby had previously taken the curious route of defending Casey Serin and his multiple felonies. But the circus atmosphere of the beg-a-thon proved that, while Nigel Swaby would defend Casey Serin’s crimes, he couldn’t stomach Casey taking money from the Haterz. Perhaps Nigel Swaby wanted Casey indebted to him and him alone?
Nigel Swaby’s own bizarre “don’t hate Casey” blog shifts its tone as well. While Nigel Swaby had billed it as a point of defense for Casey, where Casey’s supposed myriad supporters could have a forum (goodness...I couldn’t even type that without laughing), Nigel Swaby himself starts taking cracks at Casey. Nigel Swaby also tries to backtrack from his creepy hater ‘outings’ and tries to play nice with the ExUrb community.
As Nigel Swaby has shown in the past, he’s no master of predicting outcomes. The so-called haterz despise him even more for his smarmy attempts to garner their support. Nigel Swaby reveals himself to be an “any port in a storm” kind of guy, as his queer “don’t hate Casey” blog becomes an “alternate (sic) take” on Casey Serin.
Casey Serin comes back to tell us that he and wifey Galina are celebrating their third wedding anniversary. No doubt a part of their celebration was paid for by the haterz donations from the previous week’s beg-a-thon, which flipped even ardent supporters into critics. Casey points out that he and Galina Serin have taken a three-year roller coaster ride, together. I posit that they ain’t seen nuthin yet.
While he had been ignoring the critical pieces written about him in The Economist and the Scotsman Guide, Casey Serin’s inner attention-whore wins out, and he can’t help pointing out that two more press pieces had been written about him.
There is some cursory attention paid to keeping lines of communication open with his many, many lenders. But, typical Casey Serin, this fades out pretty quickly. In a saga that resembles an episode of Flipper Nation, Casey Serin drones on about “Will I Stop the Last Foreclosure Via Short Sale?”
To anyone with any functioning brain cells left, the answer is a resounding “No.” At this stage of the game, Casey Serin has lost four homes to foreclosure, largely due to inattention and lack of follow-through. Besides, what’s to be gained from a short-sale at this point?
These posts make the reader wonder, does Casey Serin post these types of things because he really believes this, or is this just a distraction to keep readers off of his personal life?
Casey Serin shifts into happy talk, noting that he’s going to be on the Suze Orman show. He wants his readers to comment on the advice that Suze Orman has given him, leaving out the information that the show was taped in January, and that he hasn’t followed a lick of her advice.
But readers are more frustrated with Suze Orman than Casey Serin. After all, we know Casey’s a lazy fuck with a complete lack of organization, skills, intellect, or follow-through. But Suze Orman bills herself as a tough-talking, real world financial advisor. People tuned in to the show to see if she would produce yet another fluff piece, or if she would reel in shock at horror at Casey Serin’s antics.
Proving that the staff of the Suze Orman show hasn’t really done their research on Casey Serin’s repeated criminality, the show falls short with yet another surface-level interview, this one peppered with disgustingly syrupy-sweet references to Casey Serin as “boyfriend.”
As if readers weren’t already inflamed enough, Casey Serin announces that he has indeed formed a new corporation. Knowing Casey Serin’s penchant for taking shortcuts, readers speculate that the new shell corp will serve one of the following purposes: shuffle his existing debt, provide him new lines of credit, work to acquire even more real estate.
But this is far from Casey Serin’s first registered enterprise. Simple searches turn up even more Casey Serin companies, and from there, readers find that Casey Serin is the registered agent forHammar Investments, Inc. and is using the old 3636 Auburn Blvd. address. If you remember, this is the property that traces back to Secure Tomorrow Asset Protection.
So yet another finger points toward Casey Serin--con artist, fraud, felon, “speculator”--and a senior citizen financial planning firm. Wonder who Casey Serin is promising 24% returns to these days?
Ironically, Casey’s next blog post points readers to Wired Magazine, and their cover story on business transparency, “Get Naked and Rule the World.” Delusional as always, Casey Serin actually compares himself to the trendy industry leaders discussed within the article. This in and of itself answers Casey’s question, “Why do you hate?”
Casey Serin then decides that “It’s time to write a foreclosure book!” Readers laugh openly, asking him what he could possibly contribute to the foreclosure resource world. The next day he takes a step back and says, basically, I see your point about how this book won’t have a point without a comeback. By the third day, he’s ditched the book idea, saying “I’m being too impulsive again!”
As I read this comment, I imagine Casey doing a modern-day version of “Of Mice and Men,” with Casey looking down at his housing/life bunny, muttering “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
But Casey Serin is buoyed with yet another media appearance, this time on Nightline. While at first glance, the story seems like another fluff piece, Vicki Mabrey looks at Casey like he’s just dropped in from Mars as he dodges questions and offers his pat half-assed answers. As a fun aside, Alex’s website is shown in a lengthy screenshot during the segment.
Casey Serin’s next nugget of wisdom brings up yet another lazy “passive income” stream of consciousness. He wants to impress upon his readers the vast extent of his knowledge and history of success in wholesaling properties and assigning contracts. As he defines how a buyer can tie up a property under contract while he searches for a better offer, Casey Serin notes “Now that’s a TRUE no-money-down technique. (Well maybe $100 for an earnest money deposit or something, but what’s $100 nowadays?)”
Well, guy, considering you’re the same fucktard who hosted an online beg-a-thon for $220 bucks just two weeks previously, I don’t think you’re in any position to say such things.
Casey Serin’s “vast” experience in wholesaling comes from the fact that he has done this before...exactly once. He found a major POS property in North Carolina. Long, rambling story short, the woman wanted $10K, Casey got her down to $4k and sold the contract for $500. Scarily, Casey Serin notes, “As I formulate my comeback plan I may have to do some wholesaling but at a much bigger level. Wholesaling apartment complexes, commercial deals, luxury homes, mortgages/paper, etc.”
Casey goes back to whining about his critics, which he still insists on calling “haters.” (Hey Casey, remember the money that some soft-hearted “haters” gave you to keep CashCall away from Yulia’s door?)
He then remarks that he and Galina had some “urgent business” to attend to, namely, a shopping trip to IKEA. But all of the cymbal-banging to get CashCall and grocery money out of the haterz was all for naught. True to form, our lazy Casey Serin fucked up a free lunch yet again:
“Well, CashCall then sent me a contract that I was supposed to sign and return within 48 hours or the deal is off. I didn’t remember hearing anything about the 48 hour time frame. I did get the contract but I delayed sending it because we went out of town that Sunday for a week. After I come back I kind of forgot about the contract. Then I get a call from CashCall a couple of days again and they want their money. I was surprised so I told them I have a deal....They check the notes and they said the deal is off since I never returned the paperwork...It’s probably mostly my fault because I should have read that contract right away to see if there are any timeframes. My weakness in the area of logistics is getting me in trouble again.”
Since Tax Day is right around the corner, Casey Serin has his accountant file an extension. He’s convinced that he has less of a chance being audited if he files near the end of the year. As readers hold their sides laughing, Casey takes a turn for the introspective and petulant.
On the scary side, Casey Serin says “I’m very curious to see exactly where all the money went that we borrowed. Interesting, Casey…we’re all very curious about that. The petulant side comes out with “Also I can show everybody how little we spent on “frivolous” stuff, dining out, etc. That should silence the critics.” Yeah, Casey, that’ll learn ‘em.
Casey’s next reality check comes courtesy of the Sacramento County Vector Control, who are quite pissed that Casey Serin’s pool at his final remaining property has become a vibrant green sludge pond that is producing mosquitoes at an alarming rate. He whines that the property is 75 miles away and he doesn’t want to put any money into it, since it’s going into foreclosure anyway.
And this, my friends, is why people hate Casey Serin. Because his neighbors have to live next to that. Everyday, they have to drive past an overgrown front lawn and every night, they have to live with the incessant buzzing of potentially West Nile carrying mozzies. The pool at Casey Serin’s Muncy Drive property is, in fact, so green that it looks like a nuclear disposal site from space. They can’t sell their properties, because who’s going to pay market price for a house on that block, when the bank is offering one for a fraction of the price?
The disgusting condition of the house isn’t the only thing dragging down their property values. While people like Nigel Swaby spew utter crap about foreclosures having virtually no impact on their neighbors’ properties, hedonic price regression models show differently. In fact, each foreclosure up to a half-mile radius of a home will negatively impact from 0.9% to 1.44% of that home’s value.
In much the same fashion that Casey Serin has previously gone into “lender avoidance mode” and “reality avoidance mode,” he now goes into “haterz avoidance mode.” On 4-20, Casey Serin does us all a favor and takes a break from the internet. No doubt he’ll be back soon...the attention whore in him always wins out. And where else is Casey Serin going to find the sweet passive fame and fortune that he so desires?
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
4/24/2007
A Casey Serin Primer, March 2007
MARCH, 2007
By March, Casey Serin has gotten even more stupid and petulant. He starts off the month, in debt to friends and family for bad loans they’ve made him, he and wifey Galina Serin are crashing at her sister Yulia’s place, and they’re hitting up both of their parents’ houses for dinners.
On top of that, CashCall is calling the references he had to provide, since he shut down the Wells Fargo account that the CashCall loan was being drawn off of. Casey himself has gone into “lender ignore mode,” not taking calls from anyone he should be communicating with. This, of course, does not include the media.
While Casey Serin has a problem accomplishing even the smallest daily tasks, when a reporter asks him to compile his paperwork as a part of story verification, he has no problem snapping to attention.
Casey grabs attention by saying that he’s headed back to Utah with his “new money partner” to investigate more sweet deals. Casey Serin pouts that the Haterz have run off all of his other potential money partners, so will only refer to this one as “G.” (Recent speculation has it that “G” is Nigel Swaby’s boss at Integrity First Financial, Byron Goates
Suffice to say that Casey Serin talking about somehow acquiring even more properties moved him into the category of “deeply hated.” Gone was any notion that Serin was taking an iota of responsibility for his plight. In this one sad act, he showed the world that he will continue to do shady deals of any stripe until he is forcibly removed from society. A new call for a prison sentence echoed around the blogosphere.
Casey Serin did get a chance to hang out with his little buddy, Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby. It’s always nice when an admitted multi-state mortgage felon and a mortgage lender can enjoy a nice meal and wheatgrass shot together as they cruise the city for opportunity.
By the middle of the month, Casey is whinging that the Wikipedia article on him is “highly skewed” and making him look bad. Casey Serin’s critics point out that Casey’s own words and IAFF blog make him look plenty bad. Casey asks for his supporters (who?!?) to contribute to the Wikipedia page.
(Addition: R-boy, frequent poster at ExUrbanNation and one of the folks "outed" by Nigel Swaby really took the helm to tone down the Wiki article, while keeping the relevant crimes, frauds, and schemes in tact. It's an oversight on my part that this wasn't included in the original post.)
In the meantime, the Wikinazi’s capitulate to Casey’s crying, and post a “debate” about whether or not to keep the Wiki entry on Casey Serin.
Casey earns further criticism by saying, in essence, that college is for loosers (in Caseyspeak.) He says that college is a waste of time and designed to brainwash people into becoming “W2 losers.” As opposed to his extensive guru training, which makes him a foreclosed upon loser with a negative cash flow of nearly $2.5 million.
This jackass comment comes just in time for his next “live chat”, which proves to be great fun for the Haterz when a caller called “Nacho” pins Casey to the carpet like a dog who’s made a puddle. It’s well worth your time to read the transcript of the call.
In the live chat, Casey reveals that wife Galina Serin has quit school in order to go to work. Casey’s critics give a collective cheer that, finally, one of them is working. Some Haterz did the math and determined that Galina had been attending college for six years, and had yet to earn even an associate’s degree. As of March, 2007, she had been attending a community college and refusing to work because she felt that her husband should support her financially.
But the fact that Casey Serin also refused to get a job threw a wrench in the works. (For the record, to date, Galina Serin has yet to get a job.)
Casey Serin creates more Haterz when he tells the world that he went cruising by his Sacramento-area properties that he had recently lost to foreclosure. He laments that the locks had been changed, and is surprised that the banks worked so quickly! For someone who “works” at a geologic pace, this is news.
Haterz go crazy when Casey Serin posts pictures of the properties, and note that he couldn’t manage to get his lazy ass over there to maintain them at all, instead letting them fall into a disgusting state of disrepair that his neighbors had to look at and have their property values drop by his negligence and his foreclosure.
Alert readers were further sickened to note that the broken window on a property meant that the bank had to break a window to get in…Casey couldn’t even get it together enough to mail them the keys. It’s behaviors like this that have us asking Did Casey and Galina Serin Ever Intend to Repay Their Dubious Debts?
By the end of the month, Casey Serin’s little buddy Nigel Swaby decides to make a more public persona of himself. He chooses three people who frequently comment on the ExUrbanNation blog and decides to “out” them, posting photos, real names, occupations and employers, in some cases.
Nigel Swaby defends this action, saying that he was taking a stand against what the so-called Haterz had been doing to his dear friend, admitted multi-state mortgage felon Casey Serin. But the people he chose weren’t blogging about Casey Serin, they were commenting on the ExUrb blog. Further, Nigel Swaby failed to see the inappropriateness in a mortgage lender, with access to financial information, poking around in anyone’s personal data.
The next day, Casey Serin loses the New Mexico home to foreclosure, even though the snowstorm had given him ample time to pursue other options with his lenders. Instead, Casey posts “Who Says We Don’t Work?” which shows he and wife Galina Serin performing the high-level task of burning CD’s.
Casey’s blog post about this is the usual combination of funny and sickening. Boasting that they ‘pulled an all-nighter’ to complete the job, he later affirms that he did very little, delegating the work to Galina. He praises her by saying that “she’s very good at following directions.”
Just as Casey is strutting around with his chest out, proving what a big boy he is, he posts that CashCall has delivered an ultimatum. He must pay them $220 by the following day, “or else.” What ensues is an absolute circus, where Casey Serin affirms his role as the blogosphere’s Dancing Monkey.
Although he’s been touting to everyone how well he’s been doing, he reverses himself and says that he and Galina have no money, have not paid rent to Yulia in two months, and the money from their wacky CD burning has to go to Yulia, “or else.” So Casey Serin decides to hold an online beg-a-thon.
Personally, I thought it was disgusting that anyone would give the little fucktard a dime, after more than a year of unemployment and an absolute refusal to do a thing to help himself. But the folks that Casey Serin had been--and still does refer to as “haters” were the very people who saved his ass from CashCall.
This gave Serin a two-month extension from having to deal with them. Unfortunate, I thought, because this was the first real consequence of his actions that Casey Serin would have faced.
As a part of his monkey dance, Casey Serin agreed to be interviewed by the caller who had previously kicked his arse on the previous podcast. Ironically, the interviewer was one of the folks that Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby had “outed.” While she could have taken the low road with the interview, her approach was more motherly, and she really tried to talk some sense into the little fucktard.
Somebody has to have a link to either a transcript or the podcast itself, but damned if I can find it. Anyone?
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
By March, Casey Serin has gotten even more stupid and petulant. He starts off the month, in debt to friends and family for bad loans they’ve made him, he and wifey Galina Serin are crashing at her sister Yulia’s place, and they’re hitting up both of their parents’ houses for dinners.
On top of that, CashCall is calling the references he had to provide, since he shut down the Wells Fargo account that the CashCall loan was being drawn off of. Casey himself has gone into “lender ignore mode,” not taking calls from anyone he should be communicating with. This, of course, does not include the media.
While Casey Serin has a problem accomplishing even the smallest daily tasks, when a reporter asks him to compile his paperwork as a part of story verification, he has no problem snapping to attention.
Casey grabs attention by saying that he’s headed back to Utah with his “new money partner” to investigate more sweet deals. Casey Serin pouts that the Haterz have run off all of his other potential money partners, so will only refer to this one as “G.” (Recent speculation has it that “G” is Nigel Swaby’s boss at Integrity First Financial, Byron Goates
Suffice to say that Casey Serin talking about somehow acquiring even more properties moved him into the category of “deeply hated.” Gone was any notion that Serin was taking an iota of responsibility for his plight. In this one sad act, he showed the world that he will continue to do shady deals of any stripe until he is forcibly removed from society. A new call for a prison sentence echoed around the blogosphere.
Casey Serin did get a chance to hang out with his little buddy, Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby. It’s always nice when an admitted multi-state mortgage felon and a mortgage lender can enjoy a nice meal and wheatgrass shot together as they cruise the city for opportunity.
By the middle of the month, Casey is whinging that the Wikipedia article on him is “highly skewed” and making him look bad. Casey Serin’s critics point out that Casey’s own words and IAFF blog make him look plenty bad. Casey asks for his supporters (who?!?) to contribute to the Wikipedia page.
(Addition: R-boy, frequent poster at ExUrbanNation and one of the folks "outed" by Nigel Swaby really took the helm to tone down the Wiki article, while keeping the relevant crimes, frauds, and schemes in tact. It's an oversight on my part that this wasn't included in the original post.)
In the meantime, the Wikinazi’s capitulate to Casey’s crying, and post a “debate” about whether or not to keep the Wiki entry on Casey Serin.
Casey earns further criticism by saying, in essence, that college is for loosers (in Caseyspeak.) He says that college is a waste of time and designed to brainwash people into becoming “W2 losers.” As opposed to his extensive guru training, which makes him a foreclosed upon loser with a negative cash flow of nearly $2.5 million.
This jackass comment comes just in time for his next “live chat”, which proves to be great fun for the Haterz when a caller called “Nacho” pins Casey to the carpet like a dog who’s made a puddle. It’s well worth your time to read the transcript of the call.
In the live chat, Casey reveals that wife Galina Serin has quit school in order to go to work. Casey’s critics give a collective cheer that, finally, one of them is working. Some Haterz did the math and determined that Galina had been attending college for six years, and had yet to earn even an associate’s degree. As of March, 2007, she had been attending a community college and refusing to work because she felt that her husband should support her financially.
But the fact that Casey Serin also refused to get a job threw a wrench in the works. (For the record, to date, Galina Serin has yet to get a job.)
Casey Serin creates more Haterz when he tells the world that he went cruising by his Sacramento-area properties that he had recently lost to foreclosure. He laments that the locks had been changed, and is surprised that the banks worked so quickly! For someone who “works” at a geologic pace, this is news.
Haterz go crazy when Casey Serin posts pictures of the properties, and note that he couldn’t manage to get his lazy ass over there to maintain them at all, instead letting them fall into a disgusting state of disrepair that his neighbors had to look at and have their property values drop by his negligence and his foreclosure.
Alert readers were further sickened to note that the broken window on a property meant that the bank had to break a window to get in…Casey couldn’t even get it together enough to mail them the keys. It’s behaviors like this that have us asking Did Casey and Galina Serin Ever Intend to Repay Their Dubious Debts?
By the end of the month, Casey Serin’s little buddy Nigel Swaby decides to make a more public persona of himself. He chooses three people who frequently comment on the ExUrbanNation blog and decides to “out” them, posting photos, real names, occupations and employers, in some cases.
Nigel Swaby defends this action, saying that he was taking a stand against what the so-called Haterz had been doing to his dear friend, admitted multi-state mortgage felon Casey Serin. But the people he chose weren’t blogging about Casey Serin, they were commenting on the ExUrb blog. Further, Nigel Swaby failed to see the inappropriateness in a mortgage lender, with access to financial information, poking around in anyone’s personal data.
The next day, Casey Serin loses the New Mexico home to foreclosure, even though the snowstorm had given him ample time to pursue other options with his lenders. Instead, Casey posts “Who Says We Don’t Work?” which shows he and wife Galina Serin performing the high-level task of burning CD’s.
Casey’s blog post about this is the usual combination of funny and sickening. Boasting that they ‘pulled an all-nighter’ to complete the job, he later affirms that he did very little, delegating the work to Galina. He praises her by saying that “she’s very good at following directions.”
Just as Casey is strutting around with his chest out, proving what a big boy he is, he posts that CashCall has delivered an ultimatum. He must pay them $220 by the following day, “or else.” What ensues is an absolute circus, where Casey Serin affirms his role as the blogosphere’s Dancing Monkey.
Although he’s been touting to everyone how well he’s been doing, he reverses himself and says that he and Galina have no money, have not paid rent to Yulia in two months, and the money from their wacky CD burning has to go to Yulia, “or else.” So Casey Serin decides to hold an online beg-a-thon.
Personally, I thought it was disgusting that anyone would give the little fucktard a dime, after more than a year of unemployment and an absolute refusal to do a thing to help himself. But the folks that Casey Serin had been--and still does refer to as “haters” were the very people who saved his ass from CashCall.
This gave Serin a two-month extension from having to deal with them. Unfortunate, I thought, because this was the first real consequence of his actions that Casey Serin would have faced.
As a part of his monkey dance, Casey Serin agreed to be interviewed by the caller who had previously kicked his arse on the previous podcast. Ironically, the interviewer was one of the folks that Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby had “outed.” While she could have taken the low road with the interview, her approach was more motherly, and she really tried to talk some sense into the little fucktard.
Somebody has to have a link to either a transcript or the podcast itself, but damned if I can find it. Anyone?
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
4/23/2007
A Casey Serin Primer, February 2007
FEBRUARY, 2007
It’s a short month, but it doesn’t start well for Casey Serin when Duane LeGate informs Casey that he will no longer be a “sponsor” after Feb 15. Casey whines and blames the haterz, but a couple of months later, will admit that Duane walked out because Casey himself wasn’t living up to his obligations. Namely, Duane wanted him to have constant contact with his creditors, and Casey Serin just wasn’t willing to stay on top of it.
Since nothing is ever really Casey Serin’s fault (the Haterz are mostly to blame) he informs us of the results of a recent personality test he’s taken. He tells the world that the results confirm that he’s an Idea Man, not a details person. So we’re not supposed to get mad that he can’t finish the most basic task…it’s not in his nature!
Casey also admits that, in addition to being in pre-foreclosure on his properties, he has let the insurance lapse instead. This forces the lenders to, first discover this, then take out insurance themselves to protect their investments, further adding to the monies owed to them by one Casey Serin.
Casey Serin hits the media circuit yet again, this time appearing in the Sacramento Bee and New York Magazine. Both do a shite job of really ‘covering’ Casey’s story, proving that research in Old Media is dead and gone. Casey Serin’s critics can’t believe that nearly everyone who goes near the Casey story seem incapable of doing even rudimentary research before phoning in their fluff pieces.
The universe is not without irony, though, and Casey discovers a homeless guy squatting on his Burdett property. Readers point out that, since he hasn’t paid the mortgage in so long, Burdett is far from “his” property.
Since Casey closed his checking account in order to prevent Wells Fargo or other creditors from auto-drafting from his account (like when poor Casey Serin was the victim when “Wells Fargo Stole” $1,000 from him). This means he is now in arrears to the super-scary CashCall.
Casey manages to eke out some money from yet another real estate entity, who want to buy his redemption rights for the New Mexico property. As that property is scheduled for a foreclosure sale, it snows in NM and delays the sale. Casey Serin, being Casey Serin, celebrates by cashing the cheque for redemption rights, buying a Jamba Juice, and a bunch of white trash Valentine’s Day crap for Galina.
Ironically, the snow gave Casey the opportunity to prevent foreclosure. Again, in typical Casey Serin fashion, he pooch screws any possibility of fixing the problem. According to Casey, he “was too busy making connections and identifying opportunities today and didn’t get a chance to check up on the NM foreclosure or send the short sale packet. Will attempt again tomorrow. I get bogged down by a lot of these small details sometimes.”
Yeah...foreclosure avoidance on multiple properties can easily take second place to fucking off.
By now, the haterz are screaming at Casey to get a job, take some responsibility, do anything. Many are starting to call for his head, including but not limited to doing a stint in federal prison.
In the midst of this cacophony, Salt Lake City mortgage lender again jumps into the situation. According to Nigel Swaby, he has run Casey’s scenario past a friend of his who is a super-secret government agent (Go go Gadget arms!)
Nigel Swaby, a mortgage lender of all things, says that Casey Serin’s admitted crimes are, at $2.2 million in fraudulent loans and close to $200,000 in unsecured debt, too small to prosecute. Readers wonder if any banks out there are happy to be doing business with Nigel Swaby. Casey celebrates this supposed ‘win’ with the petulant post “Why Should I Go to Jail for Mortgage Fraud?”
Asswipe.
Casey Serin, assuming the coast is clear for him (you know, because Nigel said so) continues to explore establishing a shell corp. Mind you, Casey claims to have no money at this point, so see if you can read this without your head exploding:
“I met with two corporate attorneys at a highly respected (and very expensive) law firm today. I ran my idea of borrowing money via my corporation and using the capital for future deals, as well as, borrowing from the corporation to refinance/settle my existing debt.”
Then Casey does some kind of jerky white-boy hip-hop dance because, he says, he’s getting foreclosure fan mail.
By the end of the month, the house on Larchmont goes into a full-blown trustee sale. Casey goes to the courthouse in Sacramento, and bizarrely reports on his own foreclosure: “A cold rainy day at the courthouse steps in downtown Sacramento. The gloominess is a perfect setup for the foreclosure auction of my Larchmont house. At the same time there was a nice freshness in the air and I felt a little bit of excitement/anticipation.”
The excitement and anticipation seem like incredibly misplaced emotions. But Casey Serin believes himself to be bulletproof, remember? But all of this foreclosure talk brings up a very interesting point. Perhaps the Housing Panic blog says it best... Casey Serin loses another one to foreclosure. Where's the cash?
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
It’s a short month, but it doesn’t start well for Casey Serin when Duane LeGate informs Casey that he will no longer be a “sponsor” after Feb 15. Casey whines and blames the haterz, but a couple of months later, will admit that Duane walked out because Casey himself wasn’t living up to his obligations. Namely, Duane wanted him to have constant contact with his creditors, and Casey Serin just wasn’t willing to stay on top of it.
Since nothing is ever really Casey Serin’s fault (the Haterz are mostly to blame) he informs us of the results of a recent personality test he’s taken. He tells the world that the results confirm that he’s an Idea Man, not a details person. So we’re not supposed to get mad that he can’t finish the most basic task…it’s not in his nature!
Casey also admits that, in addition to being in pre-foreclosure on his properties, he has let the insurance lapse instead. This forces the lenders to, first discover this, then take out insurance themselves to protect their investments, further adding to the monies owed to them by one Casey Serin.
Casey Serin hits the media circuit yet again, this time appearing in the Sacramento Bee and New York Magazine. Both do a shite job of really ‘covering’ Casey’s story, proving that research in Old Media is dead and gone. Casey Serin’s critics can’t believe that nearly everyone who goes near the Casey story seem incapable of doing even rudimentary research before phoning in their fluff pieces.
The universe is not without irony, though, and Casey discovers a homeless guy squatting on his Burdett property. Readers point out that, since he hasn’t paid the mortgage in so long, Burdett is far from “his” property.
Since Casey closed his checking account in order to prevent Wells Fargo or other creditors from auto-drafting from his account (like when poor Casey Serin was the victim when “Wells Fargo Stole” $1,000 from him). This means he is now in arrears to the super-scary CashCall.
Casey manages to eke out some money from yet another real estate entity, who want to buy his redemption rights for the New Mexico property. As that property is scheduled for a foreclosure sale, it snows in NM and delays the sale. Casey Serin, being Casey Serin, celebrates by cashing the cheque for redemption rights, buying a Jamba Juice, and a bunch of white trash Valentine’s Day crap for Galina.
Ironically, the snow gave Casey the opportunity to prevent foreclosure. Again, in typical Casey Serin fashion, he pooch screws any possibility of fixing the problem. According to Casey, he “was too busy making connections and identifying opportunities today and didn’t get a chance to check up on the NM foreclosure or send the short sale packet. Will attempt again tomorrow. I get bogged down by a lot of these small details sometimes.”
Yeah...foreclosure avoidance on multiple properties can easily take second place to fucking off.
By now, the haterz are screaming at Casey to get a job, take some responsibility, do anything. Many are starting to call for his head, including but not limited to doing a stint in federal prison.
In the midst of this cacophony, Salt Lake City mortgage lender again jumps into the situation. According to Nigel Swaby, he has run Casey’s scenario past a friend of his who is a super-secret government agent (Go go Gadget arms!)
Nigel Swaby, a mortgage lender of all things, says that Casey Serin’s admitted crimes are, at $2.2 million in fraudulent loans and close to $200,000 in unsecured debt, too small to prosecute. Readers wonder if any banks out there are happy to be doing business with Nigel Swaby. Casey celebrates this supposed ‘win’ with the petulant post “Why Should I Go to Jail for Mortgage Fraud?”
Asswipe.
Casey Serin, assuming the coast is clear for him (you know, because Nigel said so) continues to explore establishing a shell corp. Mind you, Casey claims to have no money at this point, so see if you can read this without your head exploding:
“I met with two corporate attorneys at a highly respected (and very expensive) law firm today. I ran my idea of borrowing money via my corporation and using the capital for future deals, as well as, borrowing from the corporation to refinance/settle my existing debt.”
Then Casey does some kind of jerky white-boy hip-hop dance because, he says, he’s getting foreclosure fan mail.
By the end of the month, the house on Larchmont goes into a full-blown trustee sale. Casey goes to the courthouse in Sacramento, and bizarrely reports on his own foreclosure: “A cold rainy day at the courthouse steps in downtown Sacramento. The gloominess is a perfect setup for the foreclosure auction of my Larchmont house. At the same time there was a nice freshness in the air and I felt a little bit of excitement/anticipation.”
The excitement and anticipation seem like incredibly misplaced emotions. But Casey Serin believes himself to be bulletproof, remember? But all of this foreclosure talk brings up a very interesting point. Perhaps the Housing Panic blog says it best... Casey Serin loses another one to foreclosure. Where's the cash?
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
A Casey Serin Primer, January 2007
JANUARY, 2007
Casey Serin starts the year by reevaluating his 2006 goals.
"Here are the goals that I measured and degree of success:
• Read through the Bible. Progress: 138 of 1189 chapters (12% success)
• Topical Memory System. Progress: 24 of 60 verses (40% success)
• Jog 365 miles. Progress: 48 miles (13% success)
• Drink 365 cups of freshly squeezed juice. Progress: 190 cups (52% success)
• Gain 10 lb of muscle to be 160 lb. Progress: today’s weight is 150 lb (0% success)
• Buy, fix and flip houses then use the profits to buy enough income property to net $3,000/mo passive income. Progress: $0/mo (0% success)
Other goals/intentions:
• Quit my programmer job at Pride Industries with no consumer debt to become a full time real estate investor (strong success, except the debt)
• Keep track of every dollar (very marginal success)
• Start a blog with one post per daily (moderate success)
• Hold to a loosely vegan diet - primarily plants, no dairy, exceptions: fish and occasional organic eggs/meat/honey (moderate success)
• No alcohol, processed sugar or caffeine (marginal success)
• No microwaved foods (strong success)
• A habit of hot/cold shower in the morning (strong success)
• 30 day challenge to build an early riser habit in December (very marginal success)
Of course, readers’ heads nearly exploded knowing that Casey Serin considered himself to be a “strong success” as a “full-time real estate investor.” Hating goes into overload; Serin’s critics must abandon caffeine to balance themselves out."
The property on Larchmont Dr. in Highlands, CA is approved for short-sale, with the condition that Casey sign a $50,000 promissory note to make up the difference. ($50k is becoming a repeated theme.) Casey does so, reluctantly, but many surmise that he will eventually attempt to file for bankruptcy, so what does he have to lose by signing?
Casey posts his financial spreadsheet online. This opens the door to Galina’s complicity. Far from being an ignorant wife in all of this, Galina Serin has over $26,000 in credit card debt, averaging 30.41% interest, spread over 4 Citibank cards, 3 Chase cards, an HSB card, a Macy’s card and something called “SST.”
Readers wonder, since Casey has been running his mouth so much about keeping Galina’s credit clean through the foreclosure process, why are her interest rates so high? Conversely, Casey Serin, who admits his credit was never stellar, shows interest rates from 12-15%. The spreadsheet also shows that Casey Serin is somehow a whopping $148,000 in unsecured debt.
This of course raises the ire of many. After all, Casey has already admitted that he juiced the equity out of his properties by getting sweet cash back at close. Casey is vague with his readers about the exact numbers, but is more frank in an interview with C. Robert Simpson at the Scotsman Guide.
In that article, Simpson reveals a detail no one else had unearthed: “On six of the properties, he received cash back at closing. The largest check he received was for $50,000. The cash was paid to a bogus company, controlled by a third party. It was then funneled back to Serin. In all other escrows, cash was paid to the seller, then back to Serin after closing.”
In the midst of this, Casey Serin continues to infuriate his readers, stating that his goals for 2007 include “no lying (For Sure!) 2) no money down (?) 3) work part-time (?)” He proves to be incompetent at even the most basic tasks, saying that he had to spend an entire evening opening the mail, as he’s let it build up for so long.
Oblivious to the criticism, others are crazy enough to “sponsor” Serin’s site. Casey Serin announces that “House Buyer Network” and “RealEstateInvestors.tv” The person behind these ventures is Duane LeGate, who will quickly realize what a jackass move it is to have your company associated with a multi-state felon and real estate loser like Casey Serin.
Before getting frustrated with Casey and dropping him like a hot piece of poo, Duane does manage to engage in some schoolyard sniping with Serin. PRlinkBiz makes a reappearance when Casey tries to get her to void their contract, and she files a DMCA complaint over his posting the Rich Dad TV segment on his website. Normally passive Casey is feeling gutsier than normal with LeGate behind him, and the two of them trade online barbs with PRlinkBiz and her partner, Joy O’Day.
The mail keeps stacking up, and Casey starts posting the details of the banal minutae that he ‘works’ so hard at everyday. What it really amounts to is nothing more than paper shuffling, as a fraction of one posts shows: “went back up to my office… and sorted hand-written notes, business cards and January receipts for later processing.”
Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby continues to repeatedly and publicly defend Casey Serin. Most people find it curious that a mortgage lender is publicly and vehemently defending someone who has admitted to multiple mortgage frauds. While other so-called real estate professionals quietly slip out the back door after associating with Casey Serin, Nigel Swaby plows ahead.
Rob at ExUrbanNation points out that Nigel Swaby’s comments make it clear that Casey failed to notify his lender of the earlier all-inclusive trust deed on the property at W 10250 N in Highland, UT.
This would be a big no-no, and Rob says what we’re all thinking: “Does everyone have the same bad feeling when a mortgage broker doesn't see anything wrong with wrapping a mortgage and not telling the lienholder? What if he's telling his clients this on wraps he's brokering? What if thousands of brokers are doing the same?”
This raises Nigel Swaby’s hackles, which will become another repeated theme in the Saga of Casey Serin.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
Casey Serin starts the year by reevaluating his 2006 goals.
"Here are the goals that I measured and degree of success:
• Read through the Bible. Progress: 138 of 1189 chapters (12% success)
• Topical Memory System. Progress: 24 of 60 verses (40% success)
• Jog 365 miles. Progress: 48 miles (13% success)
• Drink 365 cups of freshly squeezed juice. Progress: 190 cups (52% success)
• Gain 10 lb of muscle to be 160 lb. Progress: today’s weight is 150 lb (0% success)
• Buy, fix and flip houses then use the profits to buy enough income property to net $3,000/mo passive income. Progress: $0/mo (0% success)
Other goals/intentions:
• Quit my programmer job at Pride Industries with no consumer debt to become a full time real estate investor (strong success, except the debt)
• Keep track of every dollar (very marginal success)
• Start a blog with one post per daily (moderate success)
• Hold to a loosely vegan diet - primarily plants, no dairy, exceptions: fish and occasional organic eggs/meat/honey (moderate success)
• No alcohol, processed sugar or caffeine (marginal success)
• No microwaved foods (strong success)
• A habit of hot/cold shower in the morning (strong success)
• 30 day challenge to build an early riser habit in December (very marginal success)
Of course, readers’ heads nearly exploded knowing that Casey Serin considered himself to be a “strong success” as a “full-time real estate investor.” Hating goes into overload; Serin’s critics must abandon caffeine to balance themselves out."
The property on Larchmont Dr. in Highlands, CA is approved for short-sale, with the condition that Casey sign a $50,000 promissory note to make up the difference. ($50k is becoming a repeated theme.) Casey does so, reluctantly, but many surmise that he will eventually attempt to file for bankruptcy, so what does he have to lose by signing?
Casey posts his financial spreadsheet online. This opens the door to Galina’s complicity. Far from being an ignorant wife in all of this, Galina Serin has over $26,000 in credit card debt, averaging 30.41% interest, spread over 4 Citibank cards, 3 Chase cards, an HSB card, a Macy’s card and something called “SST.”
Readers wonder, since Casey has been running his mouth so much about keeping Galina’s credit clean through the foreclosure process, why are her interest rates so high? Conversely, Casey Serin, who admits his credit was never stellar, shows interest rates from 12-15%. The spreadsheet also shows that Casey Serin is somehow a whopping $148,000 in unsecured debt.
This of course raises the ire of many. After all, Casey has already admitted that he juiced the equity out of his properties by getting sweet cash back at close. Casey is vague with his readers about the exact numbers, but is more frank in an interview with C. Robert Simpson at the Scotsman Guide.
In that article, Simpson reveals a detail no one else had unearthed: “On six of the properties, he received cash back at closing. The largest check he received was for $50,000. The cash was paid to a bogus company, controlled by a third party. It was then funneled back to Serin. In all other escrows, cash was paid to the seller, then back to Serin after closing.”
In the midst of this, Casey Serin continues to infuriate his readers, stating that his goals for 2007 include “no lying (For Sure!) 2) no money down (?) 3) work part-time (?)” He proves to be incompetent at even the most basic tasks, saying that he had to spend an entire evening opening the mail, as he’s let it build up for so long.
Oblivious to the criticism, others are crazy enough to “sponsor” Serin’s site. Casey Serin announces that “House Buyer Network” and “RealEstateInvestors.tv” The person behind these ventures is Duane LeGate, who will quickly realize what a jackass move it is to have your company associated with a multi-state felon and real estate loser like Casey Serin.
Before getting frustrated with Casey and dropping him like a hot piece of poo, Duane does manage to engage in some schoolyard sniping with Serin. PRlinkBiz makes a reappearance when Casey tries to get her to void their contract, and she files a DMCA complaint over his posting the Rich Dad TV segment on his website. Normally passive Casey is feeling gutsier than normal with LeGate behind him, and the two of them trade online barbs with PRlinkBiz and her partner, Joy O’Day.
The mail keeps stacking up, and Casey starts posting the details of the banal minutae that he ‘works’ so hard at everyday. What it really amounts to is nothing more than paper shuffling, as a fraction of one posts shows: “went back up to my office… and sorted hand-written notes, business cards and January receipts for later processing.”
Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby continues to repeatedly and publicly defend Casey Serin. Most people find it curious that a mortgage lender is publicly and vehemently defending someone who has admitted to multiple mortgage frauds. While other so-called real estate professionals quietly slip out the back door after associating with Casey Serin, Nigel Swaby plows ahead.
Rob at ExUrbanNation points out that Nigel Swaby’s comments make it clear that Casey failed to notify his lender of the earlier all-inclusive trust deed on the property at W 10250 N in Highland, UT.
This would be a big no-no, and Rob says what we’re all thinking: “Does everyone have the same bad feeling when a mortgage broker doesn't see anything wrong with wrapping a mortgage and not telling the lienholder? What if he's telling his clients this on wraps he's brokering? What if thousands of brokers are doing the same?”
This raises Nigel Swaby’s hackles, which will become another repeated theme in the Saga of Casey Serin.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
A Casey Serin Primer, December 2006
DECEMBER, 2006
Casey Serin starts the month with the idea that he will stop getting up at noon or later everyday and will start actually rising in the a.m. Trust that this will not happen for long. When he does manage to rise early, he treats himself to some well-deserved (in his mind) Jamba Juice and Starbucks, reminding readers that each drink further bounces his checking account and ultimately costs $37.50.
Casey writes that he and Galina Serin have borrowed an additional $4,000 to cover their slothful asses.
Casey does indeed follow-through on one item this month, and holds a podcast with Jerome Mayne, a convicted mortgage felon. I got the feeling that Casey expected Jerome to hold his hand, but Jerome surprised Sercasey and told him, in no uncertain terms, to collect his paperwork and turn himself in to the FBI in Sacramento.
There is continued talk of houses that can best be summed in this manner: “Waaaah! Banks won’t take a major loss because of my fraud!” “Crap! They were going to let me slide with a (fill in the blank: short sale, deed in lieu, etc.) but I didn’t open the mail until a month later and now they’re not willing to live up to their end of the deal!” Ugh.
At this point, Casey Serin goes back to Phoenix, in a trip that he calls “taking care of some deals.” Readers uncover that this actually means he went off for a week of ultra-pricey real estate “education” through Chris Record’s Nouveau Riche University. Readers jump on the fact that Casey Serin has likely dropped five-figures on yet another guryu seminar, only this one additionally reeks of MLM bullshit.
Casey also starts talk of creating corporate shell companies, in order to secure additional lines of credit ($50,000 is still the goal). Alert readers recall Casey Serin’s history of pyramid schemes, and point out that this will be a shady attempt to hide from, or shuffle, his debt. He mentions Corporation Brokers. This is another red flag to readers, who by now know that Serin only specifically touts a product or service when he believes he’s getting some sweet back-door action.
At this stage, Casey Serin also changes his tune on bankruptcy. While he had been floating some ‘good Christian ideals’ about repaying “every dirty penny,” talk now shifts to “Why Should I NOT File Bankruptcy?” Well, my first thought is because you committed fraud in four states, and BK isn’t designed to protect admitted felons. This is where he starts whining about “I never intended to commit fraud” and the like. Seems he’s read enough google law by now to address the topic of “intent.”
Serin stays in Phoenix for an extra day because, according to him, a local pastor wants him to speak about his financial fuck-ups as a part of his sermon on “God’s love in Hard Times.” The God’s love-in does not prepare Casey Serin to come home to the reality that he and Galina are now “$150,000 in unsecured debt.
To make matters worse, Casey’s blog is dropped from the Google AdSense program, where he says he had been pulling down about $2k a month (knowledge I’m sure his myriad creditors would have liked to have known.)
Casey deserves a break, he tells his readers. He’s off to celebrate the birth of Christ with his and Galina’s families (read: eat free food). He tells the blogosphere that, because he is so deserving of this “break” that “Spreadsheets and updates on properties will have to wait.”
He returns from his Christmas break to infuriate his readers with the headline “Wells Fargo Stole $1,000 From Me.” According to Casey’s spreadsheets, he had opened an extensive line of credit through Wells Fargo. Not receiving payments on their generous loans, Wells Fargo daringly deducted payment from Casey Serin’s checking account. The nerve!
In typical Casey Serin fashion, he will later close the account to keep his multiple lenders from touching any of “his” money.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
Casey Serin starts the month with the idea that he will stop getting up at noon or later everyday and will start actually rising in the a.m. Trust that this will not happen for long. When he does manage to rise early, he treats himself to some well-deserved (in his mind) Jamba Juice and Starbucks, reminding readers that each drink further bounces his checking account and ultimately costs $37.50.
Casey writes that he and Galina Serin have borrowed an additional $4,000 to cover their slothful asses.
Casey does indeed follow-through on one item this month, and holds a podcast with Jerome Mayne, a convicted mortgage felon. I got the feeling that Casey expected Jerome to hold his hand, but Jerome surprised Sercasey and told him, in no uncertain terms, to collect his paperwork and turn himself in to the FBI in Sacramento.
There is continued talk of houses that can best be summed in this manner: “Waaaah! Banks won’t take a major loss because of my fraud!” “Crap! They were going to let me slide with a (fill in the blank: short sale, deed in lieu, etc.) but I didn’t open the mail until a month later and now they’re not willing to live up to their end of the deal!” Ugh.
At this point, Casey Serin goes back to Phoenix, in a trip that he calls “taking care of some deals.” Readers uncover that this actually means he went off for a week of ultra-pricey real estate “education” through Chris Record’s Nouveau Riche University. Readers jump on the fact that Casey Serin has likely dropped five-figures on yet another guryu seminar, only this one additionally reeks of MLM bullshit.
Casey also starts talk of creating corporate shell companies, in order to secure additional lines of credit ($50,000 is still the goal). Alert readers recall Casey Serin’s history of pyramid schemes, and point out that this will be a shady attempt to hide from, or shuffle, his debt. He mentions Corporation Brokers. This is another red flag to readers, who by now know that Serin only specifically touts a product or service when he believes he’s getting some sweet back-door action.
At this stage, Casey Serin also changes his tune on bankruptcy. While he had been floating some ‘good Christian ideals’ about repaying “every dirty penny,” talk now shifts to “Why Should I NOT File Bankruptcy?” Well, my first thought is because you committed fraud in four states, and BK isn’t designed to protect admitted felons. This is where he starts whining about “I never intended to commit fraud” and the like. Seems he’s read enough google law by now to address the topic of “intent.”
Serin stays in Phoenix for an extra day because, according to him, a local pastor wants him to speak about his financial fuck-ups as a part of his sermon on “God’s love in Hard Times.” The God’s love-in does not prepare Casey Serin to come home to the reality that he and Galina are now “$150,000 in unsecured debt.
To make matters worse, Casey’s blog is dropped from the Google AdSense program, where he says he had been pulling down about $2k a month (knowledge I’m sure his myriad creditors would have liked to have known.)
Casey deserves a break, he tells his readers. He’s off to celebrate the birth of Christ with his and Galina’s families (read: eat free food). He tells the blogosphere that, because he is so deserving of this “break” that “Spreadsheets and updates on properties will have to wait.”
He returns from his Christmas break to infuriate his readers with the headline “Wells Fargo Stole $1,000 From Me.” According to Casey’s spreadsheets, he had opened an extensive line of credit through Wells Fargo. Not receiving payments on their generous loans, Wells Fargo daringly deducted payment from Casey Serin’s checking account. The nerve!
In typical Casey Serin fashion, he will later close the account to keep his multiple lenders from touching any of “his” money.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
A Casey Serin Primer, November 2006
NOVEMBER, 2006
Casey Serin returns from Phoenix, where he appeared on Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad TV and annihilated the rare supporter he had, PRLinkBiz. He appears on a couple of net-radio interviews. Readers, growing increasingly frustrated with Casey Serin and his attitude toward work and money, dig up a pyramid scheme that he ran under his father’s name, Aleskey Serin, when he was a mere 14 years old. This speaks volumes about the man-child and solidifies his critics’ view of Casey Serin, established criminal and con artist.
This view of Casey Serin is exacerbated by the fact that a fellow blogger reveals that Casey has been sending out fraudmails to his email list, asking them to become private investors in his real estate “empire” and promising 24% returns on their investments. One of the recipients of this email was Ramit Sethi, of IWillTeachYouToBeRich, who reveals that he went to high school with Casey Serin, and explains how angry he was to receive such scammail from him.
He spends 18 hours crafting a response to PRLinkBiz, describing his side of the story. What comes out is typical Casey Serin--unable to make decisions, unable to stick to anything. He posts that he has formally asked PRLinkBiz to void the contract that he signed, which he expects her to do out of some bizarre sympathy for his dumb ass.
Casey Serin starts whining about money, saying “Man, I Need A Real Job or Something.” This, of course, will not happen. Instead, he and wife Galina Serin buy a used car, sans inspection…a typical Casey Serin move. When they do have it inspected, the V-dubs will turn out to be yet another Serin white elephant, with some serious work that needs to be done.
To assuage his depression and desperation, Casey Serin makes a couple of videos that he posts on YouTube.
A potential short sale on Larchmont Dr. in North Highlands, CA starts to sour. Casey Serin had purchased the house for $330,000 (100% financing, $264,000 first note, $66,000 second). The broker valuation comes in at $260,000. Casey whines that this lender is “playing hardball” by not taking either the $220,000 offer on the table (which is rapidly decreasing to $180,000 as the buyer gets nervous about the neighborhood) or $150,000 from an all-cash ‘investor.’
His realtor suggests that the bank might take one of the offers, if he signs a promissory note to make up the difference. Casey Serin says, “But, I’m not sure if I want to take on any additional debt.” So much for his moral obligations about repaying “every dirty penny,” which has become both a catchphrase and a haterz drinking game.
Zack, the real estate investor from Land Mark Property Solutions of San Francisco Bay Area is trying to help Casey do a short sale on the Burdett property. Frequent readers are alert to the fact that there’s usually something dodgy going on when Casey Serin plugs anyone by name, so don’t take the news seriously.
Casey announces that he got a job in real estate. This is the Chris Record connection. He offered Casey Serin a job that, according to Casey, “meets my criteria!” Readers know this to mean, basically, sitting on his ass doing nothing. Casey Serin introduces Chris as “a fellow real estate investor here in the Sacramento area. He is a young guy too - in his late 20’s - but is kicking butt in real estate.”
Casey goes into a college classroom to speak about his stellar career in real estate. Why this ever happened is beyond me.
There are repeated and continued half-assed efforts to short-sale Larchmont and Burdett properties. As per his usual, Casey Serin conducts the transactions at arms-length, relying on his realtors to handle the details as he himself still cannot even open the mail in a timely manner.
Casey posts a screenshot of his bank account, which Galina quickly freaks out about. He pulls it down, but not before his readers are able to see that he and his wife repeatedly use their debit cards for Jamba Juice and Starbucks purchases that bounce. This infuriates readers further, who note that, with their added overdraft fees, each drink costs the Serin couple $37.50.
Casey starts playing for sympathy, by going the ‘glass half-full’ route, remarking that he is “thankful for facing foreclosure” and citing scripture. Readers dry-heave in response.
He then trys to explain that he’s not such a dick, after all, because the real reason he won’t rent out his properties to stem the cash flow bleeding is because he finds a moral problem with the fact that the renters might have to move quickly in light of foreclosures. He then reveals his real reason, which is that he’s afraid potential tenants won’t pay their rent. I guess if you’re Casey Serin and you have the approach to money and contracts that he does, that seems like a very real possibility.
There is further crazy talk about somehow borrowing $50k to bring the loans current, which Casey Serin estimates is about $15,000 per house. He is delusional enough to think that, even though no one will buy the houses at this stage, he can somehow pad the sale price to reflect the borrowed monies as well, thus putting the responsibility for the borrowed $50k on potential home buyers.
Casey Serin is a total fruitcake at this point, talking about “I should borrow a little bit of extra money so that I can invest into additional marketing.” It’s actually funny. Another brilliant scheme is to sell raffle tickets to unload the New Mexico property.
November’s media wrap-up includes Casey Serin on CNBC, and he announces that he will hold a podcast with convicted mortgage felon Jerome Mayne, who served a 21-month prison sentence for mortgage fraud and is now the president of Fraudcon, Inc.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
Casey Serin returns from Phoenix, where he appeared on Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad TV and annihilated the rare supporter he had, PRLinkBiz. He appears on a couple of net-radio interviews. Readers, growing increasingly frustrated with Casey Serin and his attitude toward work and money, dig up a pyramid scheme that he ran under his father’s name, Aleskey Serin, when he was a mere 14 years old. This speaks volumes about the man-child and solidifies his critics’ view of Casey Serin, established criminal and con artist.
This view of Casey Serin is exacerbated by the fact that a fellow blogger reveals that Casey has been sending out fraudmails to his email list, asking them to become private investors in his real estate “empire” and promising 24% returns on their investments. One of the recipients of this email was Ramit Sethi, of IWillTeachYouToBeRich, who reveals that he went to high school with Casey Serin, and explains how angry he was to receive such scammail from him.
He spends 18 hours crafting a response to PRLinkBiz, describing his side of the story. What comes out is typical Casey Serin--unable to make decisions, unable to stick to anything. He posts that he has formally asked PRLinkBiz to void the contract that he signed, which he expects her to do out of some bizarre sympathy for his dumb ass.
Casey Serin starts whining about money, saying “Man, I Need A Real Job or Something.” This, of course, will not happen. Instead, he and wife Galina Serin buy a used car, sans inspection…a typical Casey Serin move. When they do have it inspected, the V-dubs will turn out to be yet another Serin white elephant, with some serious work that needs to be done.
To assuage his depression and desperation, Casey Serin makes a couple of videos that he posts on YouTube.
A potential short sale on Larchmont Dr. in North Highlands, CA starts to sour. Casey Serin had purchased the house for $330,000 (100% financing, $264,000 first note, $66,000 second). The broker valuation comes in at $260,000. Casey whines that this lender is “playing hardball” by not taking either the $220,000 offer on the table (which is rapidly decreasing to $180,000 as the buyer gets nervous about the neighborhood) or $150,000 from an all-cash ‘investor.’
His realtor suggests that the bank might take one of the offers, if he signs a promissory note to make up the difference. Casey Serin says, “But, I’m not sure if I want to take on any additional debt.” So much for his moral obligations about repaying “every dirty penny,” which has become both a catchphrase and a haterz drinking game.
Zack, the real estate investor from Land Mark Property Solutions of San Francisco Bay Area is trying to help Casey do a short sale on the Burdett property. Frequent readers are alert to the fact that there’s usually something dodgy going on when Casey Serin plugs anyone by name, so don’t take the news seriously.
Casey announces that he got a job in real estate. This is the Chris Record connection. He offered Casey Serin a job that, according to Casey, “meets my criteria!” Readers know this to mean, basically, sitting on his ass doing nothing. Casey Serin introduces Chris as “a fellow real estate investor here in the Sacramento area. He is a young guy too - in his late 20’s - but is kicking butt in real estate.”
Casey goes into a college classroom to speak about his stellar career in real estate. Why this ever happened is beyond me.
There are repeated and continued half-assed efforts to short-sale Larchmont and Burdett properties. As per his usual, Casey Serin conducts the transactions at arms-length, relying on his realtors to handle the details as he himself still cannot even open the mail in a timely manner.
Casey posts a screenshot of his bank account, which Galina quickly freaks out about. He pulls it down, but not before his readers are able to see that he and his wife repeatedly use their debit cards for Jamba Juice and Starbucks purchases that bounce. This infuriates readers further, who note that, with their added overdraft fees, each drink costs the Serin couple $37.50.
Casey starts playing for sympathy, by going the ‘glass half-full’ route, remarking that he is “thankful for facing foreclosure” and citing scripture. Readers dry-heave in response.
He then trys to explain that he’s not such a dick, after all, because the real reason he won’t rent out his properties to stem the cash flow bleeding is because he finds a moral problem with the fact that the renters might have to move quickly in light of foreclosures. He then reveals his real reason, which is that he’s afraid potential tenants won’t pay their rent. I guess if you’re Casey Serin and you have the approach to money and contracts that he does, that seems like a very real possibility.
There is further crazy talk about somehow borrowing $50k to bring the loans current, which Casey Serin estimates is about $15,000 per house. He is delusional enough to think that, even though no one will buy the houses at this stage, he can somehow pad the sale price to reflect the borrowed monies as well, thus putting the responsibility for the borrowed $50k on potential home buyers.
Casey Serin is a total fruitcake at this point, talking about “I should borrow a little bit of extra money so that I can invest into additional marketing.” It’s actually funny. Another brilliant scheme is to sell raffle tickets to unload the New Mexico property.
November’s media wrap-up includes Casey Serin on CNBC, and he announces that he will hold a podcast with convicted mortgage felon Jerome Mayne, who served a 21-month prison sentence for mortgage fraud and is now the president of Fraudcon, Inc.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
A Casey Serin Primer, October 2006
OCTOBER, 2006
Casey tells his readers that he is unable to perform even basic tasks, such as opening the mail. Because of this, his chance to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure with the Angleridge Rd. property in Dallas vanishes when he does not stay in contact with the lender and they decide to do a Trustee’s Sale.
Serin appears in USA Today, with another fluff piece that reads like he and wife Galina are victims of the real estate bubble. While the story notes that “At his peak, in April, Serin had $93,000 he'd taken out of the homes as he bought them. By July, he was broke, desperate for one last deal. Now? Serin has $140,000 in credit card and credit-line debt and five houses in foreclosure.” But USA Today author Noelle Knox ignore the obvious criminality of the story and instead dissects Casey Serin’s various “mistakes.”
On his blog, Casey starts to ponder the “Moral Consequences of Bankruptcy,” implying that he has some Christian duty to pay the loans. His readers agree, and he starts calling them haters.
At this stage, Casey picks up a new mentor, who he refers to as his “local Rich Dad.” It’s the father of a high school friend who Casey says is nearly god-like in his ability to make money in down real estate markets. As Casey photographs himself in front of Rich Dad’s building that he’ll be working out of, astute readers find that the building is home to Secure Tomorrow Asset Protection, owned by Paul Prestwich.
Casey is on NPR in a foreclosure segment. NPR has long since pulled the link.
Serin’s Burdett Way property in Sacramento is approved for short sale by the lender. Serin purchased the property in January, 2006 for $295,000 (100% financing and some sweet cash-back at close, thanks to an appraisal of $315,000.) The bank says they will short-sell for $248,000 but the ‘investor’ buyer Casey has lined up will only go to $200,000.
Casey’s readers are urging him to get at job, put tenants into the properties to at least hold back some of the bleeding. He whines incessantly about how none of this will make a difference. Critics shift into becoming haterz.
He then makes the mistake of telling his readers that he lost out on a job that would have paid him $35/hour, temp-to-hire, because he dicked around with the potential employer. Or, in Casey-speak, “So I told them I’m going to take a couple of weeks to wrap up my real estate deals and I would let them know as soon as I can start working full time.” By the time he gets back to them, they’ve already filled the job.
Serin then says that he has borrowed $3,000 from a friend to “launch a comeback.” To date, only a small fraction of this money has been paid back to said friend.
Casey Serin appears in the San Francisco Chronicle, in yet another failed media attempt to get to the meat of the Casey Serin foreclosure story.
Casey Serin posts his “hardship letter” that he is sending out to his creditors. The contents of the letter will become a repeated theme of lies and backtracking--namely that Casey Serin tells his lenders he is insolvent, but in many other posts references various sources of income: consulting and blog monetization from Google AdSense, to name a couple.
Casey Seirn’s sense of entitlement starts to show through, and this is where Serin’s otherwise sympathetic audience starts to turn on him. Blog posts state “Lenders Keep Bugging Me,” and “Yes, I Lied On My Loans!” His tone infuriates the vast majority of readers.
Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby issues a series of paid press releases, saying that “Aspiring Web Journalist Lands Real Estate Story of the Year.” Nigel Swaby is oblivious to the fact that other major news outlets have already covered the Casey Serin story.
By the end of the month, he will have appeared on Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad TV” with the help of blog reader RLinkBiz. This relationship will quickly sour, as PRLinkBiz has her own self-serving reasons for facilitating Casey. Casey signs a contract that basically hands over most of the rights to his “story,” then, like every other contract he signs, whines that he wants to back out of it, then eventually ignores it.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
Casey tells his readers that he is unable to perform even basic tasks, such as opening the mail. Because of this, his chance to do a deed in lieu of foreclosure with the Angleridge Rd. property in Dallas vanishes when he does not stay in contact with the lender and they decide to do a Trustee’s Sale.
Serin appears in USA Today, with another fluff piece that reads like he and wife Galina are victims of the real estate bubble. While the story notes that “At his peak, in April, Serin had $93,000 he'd taken out of the homes as he bought them. By July, he was broke, desperate for one last deal. Now? Serin has $140,000 in credit card and credit-line debt and five houses in foreclosure.” But USA Today author Noelle Knox ignore the obvious criminality of the story and instead dissects Casey Serin’s various “mistakes.”
On his blog, Casey starts to ponder the “Moral Consequences of Bankruptcy,” implying that he has some Christian duty to pay the loans. His readers agree, and he starts calling them haters.
At this stage, Casey picks up a new mentor, who he refers to as his “local Rich Dad.” It’s the father of a high school friend who Casey says is nearly god-like in his ability to make money in down real estate markets. As Casey photographs himself in front of Rich Dad’s building that he’ll be working out of, astute readers find that the building is home to Secure Tomorrow Asset Protection, owned by Paul Prestwich.
Casey is on NPR in a foreclosure segment. NPR has long since pulled the link.
Serin’s Burdett Way property in Sacramento is approved for short sale by the lender. Serin purchased the property in January, 2006 for $295,000 (100% financing and some sweet cash-back at close, thanks to an appraisal of $315,000.) The bank says they will short-sell for $248,000 but the ‘investor’ buyer Casey has lined up will only go to $200,000.
Casey’s readers are urging him to get at job, put tenants into the properties to at least hold back some of the bleeding. He whines incessantly about how none of this will make a difference. Critics shift into becoming haterz.
He then makes the mistake of telling his readers that he lost out on a job that would have paid him $35/hour, temp-to-hire, because he dicked around with the potential employer. Or, in Casey-speak, “So I told them I’m going to take a couple of weeks to wrap up my real estate deals and I would let them know as soon as I can start working full time.” By the time he gets back to them, they’ve already filled the job.
Serin then says that he has borrowed $3,000 from a friend to “launch a comeback.” To date, only a small fraction of this money has been paid back to said friend.
Casey Serin appears in the San Francisco Chronicle, in yet another failed media attempt to get to the meat of the Casey Serin foreclosure story.
Casey Serin posts his “hardship letter” that he is sending out to his creditors. The contents of the letter will become a repeated theme of lies and backtracking--namely that Casey Serin tells his lenders he is insolvent, but in many other posts references various sources of income: consulting and blog monetization from Google AdSense, to name a couple.
Casey Seirn’s sense of entitlement starts to show through, and this is where Serin’s otherwise sympathetic audience starts to turn on him. Blog posts state “Lenders Keep Bugging Me,” and “Yes, I Lied On My Loans!” His tone infuriates the vast majority of readers.
Salt Lake City mortgage lender Nigel Swaby issues a series of paid press releases, saying that “Aspiring Web Journalist Lands Real Estate Story of the Year.” Nigel Swaby is oblivious to the fact that other major news outlets have already covered the Casey Serin story.
By the end of the month, he will have appeared on Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad TV” with the help of blog reader RLinkBiz. This relationship will quickly sour, as PRLinkBiz has her own self-serving reasons for facilitating Casey. Casey signs a contract that basically hands over most of the rights to his “story,” then, like every other contract he signs, whines that he wants to back out of it, then eventually ignores it.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
A Casey Serin Primer
Or, “Why the Haterz Hate Casey Serin”
PART ONE: SEPTEMBER, 2006
IAFF launches. Serin announces he is $2.2 million in debt and facing multiple foreclosures in four states. The property at W 10250 N, Highland UT is “wrapped” in an all-inclusive trust deed with the help of real estate agents Harvey and Robyn and Christoffersen.
Voice of San Diego does a fluff piece on Casey Serin and Facing Foreclosure. (This is also where Nigel Swaby starts to insinuate himself into the story.)
Casey Serin immediately posits the question “Will I go to jail for mortgage fraud?” and begins to explain that he lied about his income on his loan app’s (even though he had quit his job and had NO income) and lied about intending to occupy the property, thus getting lower interest rates. His friends/family tell him how stupid this is, and he briefly takes IAFF down. The attention whore in him wins out, and puts it back online almost immediately.
While Casey Serin won’t immediately publicize it, he is featured in one of the few very good national stories about his plight. In an accurately-worded subtitle that says “Greed Makes You Stupid,” the Motley Fool takes a swing at Casey Serin.
ADDITION: It has been speculated that Casey Serin launched IAFF after his other options ran out. Casey has said in a couple of interviews that, even as the real estate markets took a downward turn and he couldn't make his existing payments, that he was still shopping for another sweet deal.
Unfortunately for Casey Serin, he was stopped in his tracks when an astute mortgage broker who had been trying to qualify Casey for a mortgage googled him and found a blog that Casey was keeping, called his "Earth Mission" blog.
While Serin has since pulled the blog, it still exists in cache, and other bloggers have preserved it. As Casey Serin was applying for mortgages on the condition that the home(s) would be owner-occupied, his Earth Mission blog betrayed him, detailing how he and wife Galina were scrappy little real estate investors who would defy the odds and strike it rich.
What the Earth Mission blog ultimately reveals about Casey Serin is that he was the same Casey then that we see lo these many months later: slothful, arrogant, unable to plan, unable to make decisions, easily overwhelmed.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
IAFF launches. Serin announces he is $2.2 million in debt and facing multiple foreclosures in four states. The property at W 10250 N, Highland UT is “wrapped” in an all-inclusive trust deed with the help of real estate agents Harvey and Robyn and Christoffersen.
Voice of San Diego does a fluff piece on Casey Serin and Facing Foreclosure. (This is also where Nigel Swaby starts to insinuate himself into the story.)
Casey Serin immediately posits the question “Will I go to jail for mortgage fraud?” and begins to explain that he lied about his income on his loan app’s (even though he had quit his job and had NO income) and lied about intending to occupy the property, thus getting lower interest rates. His friends/family tell him how stupid this is, and he briefly takes IAFF down. The attention whore in him wins out, and puts it back online almost immediately.
While Casey Serin won’t immediately publicize it, he is featured in one of the few very good national stories about his plight. In an accurately-worded subtitle that says “Greed Makes You Stupid,” the Motley Fool takes a swing at Casey Serin.
ADDITION: It has been speculated that Casey Serin launched IAFF after his other options ran out. Casey has said in a couple of interviews that, even as the real estate markets took a downward turn and he couldn't make his existing payments, that he was still shopping for another sweet deal.
Unfortunately for Casey Serin, he was stopped in his tracks when an astute mortgage broker who had been trying to qualify Casey for a mortgage googled him and found a blog that Casey was keeping, called his "Earth Mission" blog.
While Serin has since pulled the blog, it still exists in cache, and other bloggers have preserved it. As Casey Serin was applying for mortgages on the condition that the home(s) would be owner-occupied, his Earth Mission blog betrayed him, detailing how he and wife Galina were scrappy little real estate investors who would defy the odds and strike it rich.
What the Earth Mission blog ultimately reveals about Casey Serin is that he was the same Casey then that we see lo these many months later: slothful, arrogant, unable to plan, unable to make decisions, easily overwhelmed.
Casey Serin Primer: September, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: October, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: November, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: December, 2006
Casey Serin Primer: January, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: February, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: March, 2007
Casey Serin Primer: April, 2007
4/21/2007
Whackaloonery or Wave of the Future?
On any given day, there are perhaps two dozen daily and weekly papers that cross my desk. What this ultimately serves to do is reinforce my worldview that people are strange.
The area where this is typically most evident is in different technological developments. Of course, this comes from the fact that, in creating new technologies, shooting the moon can result in either public ridicule or serious jumbo juice.
One such article leaped to the forefront of my consciousness as the nuttiest idea of the week--the result of what two guys can create when they ponder the age-old question, "How to combine scuba diving with death?"
The two had previously developed a new artificial reef technology. By designing cast-concrete structures that would be sunk to the ocean bed, they found that sea life would inhabit the artificial reefs within months.
Great idea. Terrific technology. But here's where it gets weird. The two started mixing the cremated remains of humans into their concrete structures before sinking them into the sea, thereby creating a company they call "Eternal Reefs".
CEO George Frankel says that this resolves the conflict between the deceased who want their ashes spread at sea, versus families who don't want to dump the loved one into the drink. He says they create a "particular place where thier family can visit." Particular, indeed.
Today, there are about 700 people who have been sunk to the ocean floor to become a playground for the fishies. Should you or a loved one like to be number 701, here's how it works:
The company will send you a map of locations for its reef ball placement and you pick a site. They then take the cremated remains and mix them with marine-grade concrete. If you like, friends and family can impress handprints into the concrete as it cures.
Brass rubbings can be attached to the reef ball if you like. Then, the ball is available for a memorial viewing. Next step is out to the boat, where CEO Frankel reads JFK's speech "To the Sea" as the reef ball is dropped into the ocean.
The interesting technology involved is that the reef is designed to last for over 500 years, and withstand pressure up to 10,000 pounds per square inch. I'm not entirely sure why that's important, particularly after someone has been cremated, but it's a nifty stat, nonetheless.
Prices for Eternal Reefs range from $995 to the deluxe package at $6,495. Services range from the casting itself to transporting it to the site, bronze plaque(s) and inscription(s), final placement and dedication, a GPS survey that records the exact latitude and longitude of the reef, and two memorial certificates.
Right now, Eternal Reefs is only licensed to imbed reefs on the east coast of the United States, and they report that the most frequently requested final resting places are off the coasts of Sarasota, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida. If all progresses according to plans, they will expand to the west coast in the future.
Just to cover every possible scenario, the duo reports that they offer military honors, as well as pet burials. If you like, they will withhold a bit of your ashes (if you die first) to later mix with your partner's ashes in their reef ball.
I don't know...it all sounds pretty wacky to me. But I imagine that this is precisely what appeals to folks who want to do something like this. As you can see, Eternal Reefs customers seem to have a sense of humor.
The area where this is typically most evident is in different technological developments. Of course, this comes from the fact that, in creating new technologies, shooting the moon can result in either public ridicule or serious jumbo juice.
One such article leaped to the forefront of my consciousness as the nuttiest idea of the week--the result of what two guys can create when they ponder the age-old question, "How to combine scuba diving with death?"
The two had previously developed a new artificial reef technology. By designing cast-concrete structures that would be sunk to the ocean bed, they found that sea life would inhabit the artificial reefs within months.
Great idea. Terrific technology. But here's where it gets weird. The two started mixing the cremated remains of humans into their concrete structures before sinking them into the sea, thereby creating a company they call "Eternal Reefs".
CEO George Frankel says that this resolves the conflict between the deceased who want their ashes spread at sea, versus families who don't want to dump the loved one into the drink. He says they create a "particular place where thier family can visit." Particular, indeed.
Today, there are about 700 people who have been sunk to the ocean floor to become a playground for the fishies. Should you or a loved one like to be number 701, here's how it works:
The company will send you a map of locations for its reef ball placement and you pick a site. They then take the cremated remains and mix them with marine-grade concrete. If you like, friends and family can impress handprints into the concrete as it cures.
Brass rubbings can be attached to the reef ball if you like. Then, the ball is available for a memorial viewing. Next step is out to the boat, where CEO Frankel reads JFK's speech "To the Sea" as the reef ball is dropped into the ocean.
The interesting technology involved is that the reef is designed to last for over 500 years, and withstand pressure up to 10,000 pounds per square inch. I'm not entirely sure why that's important, particularly after someone has been cremated, but it's a nifty stat, nonetheless.
Prices for Eternal Reefs range from $995 to the deluxe package at $6,495. Services range from the casting itself to transporting it to the site, bronze plaque(s) and inscription(s), final placement and dedication, a GPS survey that records the exact latitude and longitude of the reef, and two memorial certificates.
Right now, Eternal Reefs is only licensed to imbed reefs on the east coast of the United States, and they report that the most frequently requested final resting places are off the coasts of Sarasota, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Florida. If all progresses according to plans, they will expand to the west coast in the future.
Just to cover every possible scenario, the duo reports that they offer military honors, as well as pet burials. If you like, they will withhold a bit of your ashes (if you die first) to later mix with your partner's ashes in their reef ball.
I don't know...it all sounds pretty wacky to me. But I imagine that this is precisely what appeals to folks who want to do something like this. As you can see, Eternal Reefs customers seem to have a sense of humor.
4/20/2007
The World's Most Dangerous Travel Destinations
To travelers, hearing the names of various nations often resonates in the same way as great poetry. Some of us consume travel guides the way that gourmets absorb cookbooks, letting the national monikers fill our minds with the possibility of exploration and adventure. As we pore over lists of nations such as Cape Verde, Tonga, or Vanuatu the dulcet tones resonate in our brains, hinting at the exotic and exciting.
There are other places, though, that even the most hardened traveler won't even consider. And it's these places that Forbes recently named in its list of Most Dangerous Destinations. After interviewing security and risk management firms who specialize in corporate globalization, Forbes has produced an extensive list of places the average traveler won't be heading anytime soon.
I have found that advice to American travelers is often far more cautious than security announcements for, say, Aussies or Brits. So I cross-referenced Forbes' list with Lonely Planet and the Australian government's smart travel site. With few exceptions, the Forbes list does indeed appear to consolidate some of the globe's most dangerous nations.
The Forbes article points out that "'The risks are changing. Civilians and business travelers are more in the firing line.' For one thing, we go to more places we didn’t used to, thanks to globalization, easier and cheaper travel and, according to Smither, some very specific market forces."
So unless you are a professional mercenary, here is a list of nations you should avoid, and why:
Democratic Republic of Congo
As news stories about the Congo's bloody civil war have grown in frequency, this area tops most nation's list of deadliest places. Lonely Planet notes that "Instability Rules", stating that the Ituri district is especially dangerous and that absolutely no attempts should be made to cross the border from Uganda or Rwanda.
Government travel alerts state that the capital city of Kinshasa is the only part of the Congo considered even remotely safe. In the same breath, these advisories urge extreme caution and all but prohibit travel after dark. As recently as last month, heavy fighting broke out in the streets of Kinshasa.
Forbes notes that more international firms want to do business in the mineral-rich lands of the Congo. Because of this, western professionals are sometimes required to travel to the Congo for business. (Personally, I would quit, effectively immediately.) What these people find upon landing in the Congo is a contingent of U.N. troops. But their role is that of "observer forces," meaning that they are unable to prevent or intervene in any pillaging, carjacking, rape, kidnapping, or murder.
IRAQ
Again, this one comes as no surprise. Lonely Planet refers to Iraq as "Not a place for a holiday." Even if you did want to travel in the midst of an active war zone, LP notes that commercial flights are few and far between, and visas are currently only given to journalists, business people, and aid workers.
The Australian government is very specific in its warnings: risk of westerners being kidnapped is high; avoid all unnecessary movement and remain indoors; risk of avian influenza; and my personal favorite, "Due to the risk of surface-to-air attacks against aircraft, we advise you not to travel over Iraq on aircraft without self-protection capabilities"
BURUNDI
Sharing a border with a highly unstable country will take its toll, and this is certainly the case with Burundi. As one of the Congo's neighbors, Burundi has experienced cross-border attacks and banditry. As if that weren't bad enough, Burundi has maintained a dozen years of its own civil unrest.
At the moment, the capital city of Bujumbura is incredibly volatile, where senior officials linked to an alleged coup plot are being detained. Within the capital, curfews are enforced, but sporadic fighting between the government and rebel forces continues.
PAKISTAN
The Forbes article cites Pakistan as one of the world's deadliest travel destinations. But the rest of the world doesn't necessarily agree. Certainly, the border region near India has been extremely dangerous for over a decade, with residents and visitors alike avoiding the region in both countries.
Lonely Planet includes a number of warnings, but does not specifically advise travelers against traveling to Pakistan. Specific threats include a series of suicide bombs in Karachi, sectarian violence and the massive 7.6 earthquake in 2005.
The Australians are a bit more specific, with numerous citings of suicide bombings in Quetta, Islamabad, and Peshawar. The circular also urges travelers to avoid Baluchistan, the federally-administered tribal areas, and all Pakistani borders.
SOMALIA
Lonely Planet minces no words when it comes to Somalia, calling it "one of the world's most dangerous destinations." As Forbes points out, the federal government recently wrested control of the country away from the Union of Islamic Courts, but fighting between clans remains the norm.
Government warnings point out that travel by land and sea are equally dangerous. Piracy is common around the coastal areas, while kidnapping and terrorist attacks are frequent on land. In the most chillingly poetic warning I've ever seen on Lonely Planet, the guide warns that "A traveller to Somalia is spoilt for choice in the number of things that can go wrong."
AFGHANISTAN
Yet another destination that most Americans aren't considering traveling to anytime soon. LP says that Afghanistan was once a place of unparalleled hospitality, fantastic food, great hiking but has devolved into a land where kidnapping, assault and murder are common, particularly in Kabul.
What you might not know about Afghanistan is that it is one of the most heavily land-mined areas on the planet, providing an extra element of danger to an already unstable environment.
COTE D'IVOIRE
Commonly called the Ivory Coast, the northen part of the nation is being held under the control of armed rebels. Forbes warns that the capital city of Abidjan is the site of repeated violent conflicts after a years of civil unrest, despite the presence of U.N. troops in the southern part of the nation.
Sharing a border with Liberia certainly doesn't help Cote d'Ivoire's situation, nor has the presence of toxic waste, which was dumped in the capital in September of 2006. Several surrounding neighborhoods are affected, and even more have experienced toxic fumes traveling through the air.
SRI LANKA
The country had experienced a resurgence in tourism, after decades of being known as
one of the worst human rights violators on the planet. But a breakdown in the ceasefire between the government and the separatist group the Tamil Tigers has made the nation unstable. Government warnings report that intense fighting can break out at any time, and Lonely Planet notes that parts of the north and east are rich with landmines.
CHAD
This African nation is experiencing a spillover from the conflict in neighboring Darfur in Sudan. To add to its troubles, Chad has its own ethnic fighting in the east and civil unrest between the government and rebel factions. All travel outside the capital city of N'Djamena requires a permit from the Ministry of Interior.
But at the same time, Lonely Planet says that "A state of emergency has been declared in the capital N'Djamena." According to LP, Chad is a nation built on conflict. Its remote location, lack of natural resources and infrastructure, combined with its weak economy make an ideal climate for political upheaval.
NIGERIA
With the world's increased demand for oil, more companies are tryng to do business in Nigeria. In 2006, this resulted in 120 foreign oil workers being kidnapped. The nation's 250 different peoples, languages and religions create an already volitile backdrop. Government warnings point to potential terrorist attacks or mass civil unrest around April 21, 2007 (tomorrow) when the country holds Presidential elections.
HAITI
There are currently 8,000 peacekeeping forces in Haiti, according to Forbes. This is in response to the fact that Haiti has no effective police force. Lonely Planet says that this has created an opportunity for kidnappers and heavily-armed street gangs to run the capital city of Port-au-Prince with impugnity.
The country exists mostly in poverty, is overpopulated and has a long history of civil unrest. In recent years, this has culminated in a proliferation of firearms as well as corrupt police officials and judges.
LEBANON
When most Americans hear the word "Beirut," we imagine fighting in the streets. This is not entirely untrue, as there have been clashes between rival factions in the capital city. Throughout the country, car bombs, grenade attacks and bus bombings occur. In July of last year, the country was bombed by Israeli warplanes, in response to the presence of Hezbollah.
When Lebanon is not one of the world's most dangerous travel destinations, it has a reputation of being an incredibly interesting place to visit. Beirut claims to be the nightlife capital of the middle east, while the rest of the country boasts ski resorts, amazing food and architecture.
LIBERIA
There are currently 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Liberia, following the ousting and exile of former President Charles Taylor. After fourteen years of civil war, the nation hopes to rise from the ashes, but is left with very little infrastructure.
Lingering political unrest and social tensions have resulted in mass crime throughout the country, including theft, rape, and murder. In the capital city of Monrovia, governmnet warnings discourage traveling anywhere after dark.
SUDAN
The active warzone in Darfur has captured public attention throughout the world. Militia attacks in this area have killed and displaced tens of thousands of residents. As government-backed militias, local insurgents and government troops engage in active combat with one another, kidnapping, sexual assault and murder are common.
The capital city of Khartoum is also extremely dangerous, with civil unrest breaking out suddenly and curfews being imposed with little or no warning. Threats of terrorist attacks are common, particularly against Westerners, many of whom are unfortunately aid workers. In outlying areas of the country, unexploded landmines are buried in rural areas.
While it is highly unlikely that the average traveler will be headed to these hot zones, it is difficult to not think of the citizens who are caught in the cross-fire of these greusome conflicts.
I'll spare the pontificating here, other than to say that many of us have really won some sort of geographic lottery, thanks to the region of the world that we were lucky enough to be born in.
There are other places, though, that even the most hardened traveler won't even consider. And it's these places that Forbes recently named in its list of Most Dangerous Destinations. After interviewing security and risk management firms who specialize in corporate globalization, Forbes has produced an extensive list of places the average traveler won't be heading anytime soon.
I have found that advice to American travelers is often far more cautious than security announcements for, say, Aussies or Brits. So I cross-referenced Forbes' list with Lonely Planet and the Australian government's smart travel site. With few exceptions, the Forbes list does indeed appear to consolidate some of the globe's most dangerous nations.
The Forbes article points out that "'The risks are changing. Civilians and business travelers are more in the firing line.' For one thing, we go to more places we didn’t used to, thanks to globalization, easier and cheaper travel and, according to Smither, some very specific market forces."
So unless you are a professional mercenary, here is a list of nations you should avoid, and why:
Democratic Republic of Congo
As news stories about the Congo's bloody civil war have grown in frequency, this area tops most nation's list of deadliest places. Lonely Planet notes that "Instability Rules", stating that the Ituri district is especially dangerous and that absolutely no attempts should be made to cross the border from Uganda or Rwanda.
Government travel alerts state that the capital city of Kinshasa is the only part of the Congo considered even remotely safe. In the same breath, these advisories urge extreme caution and all but prohibit travel after dark. As recently as last month, heavy fighting broke out in the streets of Kinshasa.
Forbes notes that more international firms want to do business in the mineral-rich lands of the Congo. Because of this, western professionals are sometimes required to travel to the Congo for business. (Personally, I would quit, effectively immediately.) What these people find upon landing in the Congo is a contingent of U.N. troops. But their role is that of "observer forces," meaning that they are unable to prevent or intervene in any pillaging, carjacking, rape, kidnapping, or murder.
IRAQ
Again, this one comes as no surprise. Lonely Planet refers to Iraq as "Not a place for a holiday." Even if you did want to travel in the midst of an active war zone, LP notes that commercial flights are few and far between, and visas are currently only given to journalists, business people, and aid workers.
The Australian government is very specific in its warnings: risk of westerners being kidnapped is high; avoid all unnecessary movement and remain indoors; risk of avian influenza; and my personal favorite, "Due to the risk of surface-to-air attacks against aircraft, we advise you not to travel over Iraq on aircraft without self-protection capabilities"
BURUNDI
Sharing a border with a highly unstable country will take its toll, and this is certainly the case with Burundi. As one of the Congo's neighbors, Burundi has experienced cross-border attacks and banditry. As if that weren't bad enough, Burundi has maintained a dozen years of its own civil unrest.
At the moment, the capital city of Bujumbura is incredibly volatile, where senior officials linked to an alleged coup plot are being detained. Within the capital, curfews are enforced, but sporadic fighting between the government and rebel forces continues.
PAKISTAN
The Forbes article cites Pakistan as one of the world's deadliest travel destinations. But the rest of the world doesn't necessarily agree. Certainly, the border region near India has been extremely dangerous for over a decade, with residents and visitors alike avoiding the region in both countries.
Lonely Planet includes a number of warnings, but does not specifically advise travelers against traveling to Pakistan. Specific threats include a series of suicide bombs in Karachi, sectarian violence and the massive 7.6 earthquake in 2005.
The Australians are a bit more specific, with numerous citings of suicide bombings in Quetta, Islamabad, and Peshawar. The circular also urges travelers to avoid Baluchistan, the federally-administered tribal areas, and all Pakistani borders.
SOMALIA
Lonely Planet minces no words when it comes to Somalia, calling it "one of the world's most dangerous destinations." As Forbes points out, the federal government recently wrested control of the country away from the Union of Islamic Courts, but fighting between clans remains the norm.
Government warnings point out that travel by land and sea are equally dangerous. Piracy is common around the coastal areas, while kidnapping and terrorist attacks are frequent on land. In the most chillingly poetic warning I've ever seen on Lonely Planet, the guide warns that "A traveller to Somalia is spoilt for choice in the number of things that can go wrong."
AFGHANISTAN
Yet another destination that most Americans aren't considering traveling to anytime soon. LP says that Afghanistan was once a place of unparalleled hospitality, fantastic food, great hiking but has devolved into a land where kidnapping, assault and murder are common, particularly in Kabul.
What you might not know about Afghanistan is that it is one of the most heavily land-mined areas on the planet, providing an extra element of danger to an already unstable environment.
COTE D'IVOIRE
Commonly called the Ivory Coast, the northen part of the nation is being held under the control of armed rebels. Forbes warns that the capital city of Abidjan is the site of repeated violent conflicts after a years of civil unrest, despite the presence of U.N. troops in the southern part of the nation.
Sharing a border with Liberia certainly doesn't help Cote d'Ivoire's situation, nor has the presence of toxic waste, which was dumped in the capital in September of 2006. Several surrounding neighborhoods are affected, and even more have experienced toxic fumes traveling through the air.
SRI LANKA
The country had experienced a resurgence in tourism, after decades of being known as
one of the worst human rights violators on the planet. But a breakdown in the ceasefire between the government and the separatist group the Tamil Tigers has made the nation unstable. Government warnings report that intense fighting can break out at any time, and Lonely Planet notes that parts of the north and east are rich with landmines.
CHAD
This African nation is experiencing a spillover from the conflict in neighboring Darfur in Sudan. To add to its troubles, Chad has its own ethnic fighting in the east and civil unrest between the government and rebel factions. All travel outside the capital city of N'Djamena requires a permit from the Ministry of Interior.
But at the same time, Lonely Planet says that "A state of emergency has been declared in the capital N'Djamena." According to LP, Chad is a nation built on conflict. Its remote location, lack of natural resources and infrastructure, combined with its weak economy make an ideal climate for political upheaval.
NIGERIA
With the world's increased demand for oil, more companies are tryng to do business in Nigeria. In 2006, this resulted in 120 foreign oil workers being kidnapped. The nation's 250 different peoples, languages and religions create an already volitile backdrop. Government warnings point to potential terrorist attacks or mass civil unrest around April 21, 2007 (tomorrow) when the country holds Presidential elections.
HAITI
There are currently 8,000 peacekeeping forces in Haiti, according to Forbes. This is in response to the fact that Haiti has no effective police force. Lonely Planet says that this has created an opportunity for kidnappers and heavily-armed street gangs to run the capital city of Port-au-Prince with impugnity.
The country exists mostly in poverty, is overpopulated and has a long history of civil unrest. In recent years, this has culminated in a proliferation of firearms as well as corrupt police officials and judges.
LEBANON
When most Americans hear the word "Beirut," we imagine fighting in the streets. This is not entirely untrue, as there have been clashes between rival factions in the capital city. Throughout the country, car bombs, grenade attacks and bus bombings occur. In July of last year, the country was bombed by Israeli warplanes, in response to the presence of Hezbollah.
When Lebanon is not one of the world's most dangerous travel destinations, it has a reputation of being an incredibly interesting place to visit. Beirut claims to be the nightlife capital of the middle east, while the rest of the country boasts ski resorts, amazing food and architecture.
LIBERIA
There are currently 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Liberia, following the ousting and exile of former President Charles Taylor. After fourteen years of civil war, the nation hopes to rise from the ashes, but is left with very little infrastructure.
Lingering political unrest and social tensions have resulted in mass crime throughout the country, including theft, rape, and murder. In the capital city of Monrovia, governmnet warnings discourage traveling anywhere after dark.
SUDAN
The active warzone in Darfur has captured public attention throughout the world. Militia attacks in this area have killed and displaced tens of thousands of residents. As government-backed militias, local insurgents and government troops engage in active combat with one another, kidnapping, sexual assault and murder are common.
The capital city of Khartoum is also extremely dangerous, with civil unrest breaking out suddenly and curfews being imposed with little or no warning. Threats of terrorist attacks are common, particularly against Westerners, many of whom are unfortunately aid workers. In outlying areas of the country, unexploded landmines are buried in rural areas.
While it is highly unlikely that the average traveler will be headed to these hot zones, it is difficult to not think of the citizens who are caught in the cross-fire of these greusome conflicts.
I'll spare the pontificating here, other than to say that many of us have really won some sort of geographic lottery, thanks to the region of the world that we were lucky enough to be born in.
4/12/2007
The Casey Serin Project
I was incredibly moved by a posting at ExUrbanNation a couple of days ago. A poster wrote to say that he had called law enforcement to point out Casey Serin's blatent fraud blog.
He was compelled to make this call, he said, because he is a real estate agent. He had recently been working with some clients who worked their asses off and barely qualified for a mortgage. By the time they found a house in their price range, that mortgage was no longer available to them.
In a moment that should give all of us pause, the client looked at the agent and said, "What about that guy in California who bought eight houses with no money down?" Well, what about him, indeed?
Many of us have been speculating that the subprime mortgage 'crisis' will soon be fought in the halls of Congress, where ill-informed legislators will enact regulations akin to Sarbanex-Oxley in the wake of Enron.
The fear is that thousands of mortgage fraudsters like Casey and Galina Serin will fall under this umbrella, granting a form of financial amnesty to willfully fraudulent borrowers, lenders, and brokers.
We've already heard the opening shot from Senators cum Presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton. Now, Chuck Schumer and Jesse Jackson have joined the mix.
Right now, these folks' have louder voices than those of us who have been watching a different sideshow at the same circus. But they're not hearing from us. They're reading biased articles about "predatory lending" and "Casey Serin as Victim" in nationally-syndicated news outlets.
The time has come for rational voices to enter the debate. With that in mind, I'd like to start "The Casey Serin Project" to highlight the frauds, phonies, and felons that the high-profile mouthpieces don't seem to be hearing about.
We'll be using the power of user-generated media to draw attention to this situation like no glossy ads or television commercials ever could. In other words, thank you, YouTube.
If you would like to participate, please make a 30-second to 2-minute long video and upload it to YouTube. In your video, please address issues such as,
"How mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin have affected me/my family/my neighborhood."
"Why mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin need to be held accountable for their actions."
"Why 'small-fry' felons like Casey and Galina Serin need to be prosecuted."
"Why multi-state felons like Casey and Galina Serin do need to be held accountable for 'every dirty penny.'"
"Why a 'subprime mortgage bailout' is a bad idea."
Take a video of yourself, or, if you don't want to show your face, maybe you want to narrate your video as you drive or walk your neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.
The videos will be compiled and forwarded to members of Congress, particularly those in districts where Casey and Galina Serin had properties, and those who like to hold press conferences about subprime mortgage bailouts. The videos will also be forwarded to District Attorneys in the cities and counties where Casey and Galina Serin briefly owned their foreclosed properties.
I hope that you will join "The Casey Serin Project" and spread the word.
He was compelled to make this call, he said, because he is a real estate agent. He had recently been working with some clients who worked their asses off and barely qualified for a mortgage. By the time they found a house in their price range, that mortgage was no longer available to them.
In a moment that should give all of us pause, the client looked at the agent and said, "What about that guy in California who bought eight houses with no money down?" Well, what about him, indeed?
Many of us have been speculating that the subprime mortgage 'crisis' will soon be fought in the halls of Congress, where ill-informed legislators will enact regulations akin to Sarbanex-Oxley in the wake of Enron.
The fear is that thousands of mortgage fraudsters like Casey and Galina Serin will fall under this umbrella, granting a form of financial amnesty to willfully fraudulent borrowers, lenders, and brokers.
We've already heard the opening shot from Senators cum Presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Hillary Clinton. Now, Chuck Schumer and Jesse Jackson have joined the mix.
Right now, these folks' have louder voices than those of us who have been watching a different sideshow at the same circus. But they're not hearing from us. They're reading biased articles about "predatory lending" and "Casey Serin as Victim" in nationally-syndicated news outlets.
The time has come for rational voices to enter the debate. With that in mind, I'd like to start "The Casey Serin Project" to highlight the frauds, phonies, and felons that the high-profile mouthpieces don't seem to be hearing about.
We'll be using the power of user-generated media to draw attention to this situation like no glossy ads or television commercials ever could. In other words, thank you, YouTube.
If you would like to participate, please make a 30-second to 2-minute long video and upload it to YouTube. In your video, please address issues such as,
"How mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin have affected me/my family/my neighborhood."
"Why mortgage fraudsters like Casey Serin need to be held accountable for their actions."
"Why 'small-fry' felons like Casey and Galina Serin need to be prosecuted."
"Why multi-state felons like Casey and Galina Serin do need to be held accountable for 'every dirty penny.'"
"Why a 'subprime mortgage bailout' is a bad idea."
Take a video of yourself, or, if you don't want to show your face, maybe you want to narrate your video as you drive or walk your neighborhood. The possibilities are endless.
The videos will be compiled and forwarded to members of Congress, particularly those in districts where Casey and Galina Serin had properties, and those who like to hold press conferences about subprime mortgage bailouts. The videos will also be forwarded to District Attorneys in the cities and counties where Casey and Galina Serin briefly owned their foreclosed properties.
I hope that you will join "The Casey Serin Project" and spread the word.
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