Casey Serin

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Casey in Australia, 2007
Casey in Australia, 2007
Casey and Galina Serin in Hawaii, 2006
Casey and Galina Serin in Hawaii, 2006

Casey Konstantin Serin (born September 10, 1982) is, in his own words, a "Would-Be Real Estate Mogul" and the "World's Most Hated Blogger" from Sacramento, California.[1] His critics have described him using far more colorful terms, the more moderate of which include KC, Snowflake, Dandelion, Murseboi and Fliptard; in the wake of his 2007 trip to Australia, he was dubbed Caseyroo and Kangatard.

Serin was born in the former Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan. In 1994, Serin and his family emigrated to America, Home of The Whopper Denny's, Jamba Juice, In-n-Out Burger and Macaroni Grill.

He married Galina Suprun in Stateline, Nevada on April 3, 2004. Following a series of catastrophic real estate investments, Serin gained a great deal of notoriety through his website I Am Facing Foreclosure, around which a thriving community of so-called Haterz™ subsequently emerged.

Contents

[edit] Background

After graduating from Bella Vista High School in Sacramento, (where he listed wrestling as his sport on his defunct Xanga page), Serin found work as a PHP programmer for Pride Industries, a company whose mission is to find jobs for mentally-disabled people. Serin has never revealed the full extent of his job duties. In any case, Serin apparently never made the obvious connection between his having both a job and a positive balance in his bank account simultaneously, and thus quit the job in late 2005. Serin, who fancies himself an entrepreneur, noticed that real estate values had been appreciating at that time at never-before-seen rates for roughly three years. He thought that he could cash in on this trend, and do so without having to lift a finger. Serin described a desire to pursue his dream of becoming financially independent through passive income, secured by a number of allegedly sweet deals.

Unfortunately for Serin, the real estate market was essentially peaking almost exactly when he decided to quit his job. In what would prove to be a recurring theme in his life, Serin arrived to the game proverbially "a day late and a dollar short".

[edit] The House-Buying Spree

Casey demonstrating the flip part of his fix-n-flip method
Casey demonstrating the flip part of his fix-n-flip method

Serin purchased his first residence, a condominium apartment, with the help of his parents. He ultimately sold the apartment, making a profit of $30,000 through no hard work of his own. Encouraged by this "money coming out of his butt", as Galina would later describe it, Serin plunged head-first into the real estate world. Beginning in October 2005 and continuing through the following year, Serin purchased eight houses across four U.S. states with the intention to fix'n'flip them for a sweet profit.

Although Serin was unemployed (with no ostensible income) when he bought most of the houses, he chose to declare on his loan applications that he was gainfully employed and earned a steady income. Serin has repeatedly admitted on his foreclosure blog and on a webcam video that he lied on his loan applications regarding his employment and his intention to reside in the purchased homes. He used several lenders for the various properties, and filled out the loan applications within a short time frame, so that the loans would not have sufficient time to appear during a credit check. In addition, he received cash back at closing on most of the properties -- for his California properties, Serin received more than California's legal maximum rate of 3 percent of the selling price. All of the above actions taken by Serin constitute multiple instances of felony mortgage fraud. Serin claims that the cash-back money was spent largely on daily living costs and mortgage payments for the houses, but he admits to going on a Hawaiian vacation with Galina using the money. Regardless, some conspiracy-minded Haterz™ have alleged that Serin stashed most of the money in either buried coffee cans or offshore bank accounts, a point Serin has strenuously denied.

In a matter of months, the money largely ran out. At one point in late 2006, Serin was approximately 2.2 million dollars in debt, with a net worth of around negative $600,000.[2]. It was estimated at the time that the interest on Serin's debt was growing at approximately $600 per day. By April 2007, all of the houses had been foreclosed upon or otherwise disposed of at a sharp loss, leaving Serin with a large pile of unsecured debt. It's currently unclear exactly what Serin's current net worth or debt obligations are, because some of his lenders may not file Form 1099s against him. However, most people agree that Serin is facing roughly $250,000 in credit card debt and miscellaneous loans, and upwards of $500,000 in additional taxable income due to the aggregate losses incurred by the banks.

[edit] Properties Fraudulently Purchased By Serin

The following table summarizes all of the real estate transactions in which Serin was the buyer:

Purchase Date Property Parcel/Lot Number Purchase Price Status End Price Assessor Price
3-8-2002 8855-D Salmon Falls Drive, Sacramento, CA 078-0300-032-0000 $110,000 Sold 3-13-2003 $157,000 N/A
10-7-2005 8256 Calla Way, Sacramento, CA 115-0710-018-0000 $360,000 Sold 1-4-06 $365,000[3] $360,000
1-3-2006 6842 Burdett Way, Sacramento, CA, 95823 039-0227-001-0000 $295,000 Foreclosed <$247,500[4] $149,745
2-6-2006 6021 Guadalajara Drive, Rio Rancho, NM, 87144 $497,000 Foreclosed <$407,000
2-24-2006 6209 Sonora Ave, Albuquerque, NM 101006348417440403 $345,000 sold Jun 06 $212,386
3-6-2006 1910 Muncy Drive, Modesto, CA, 95350 $323,000 Foreclosed < $287,825.87
3-10-2006 6656 W 10250 N, Highland, UT, 84003 514530008 $360,000 Wrapped? $399,000 $184,195
3-4-2006 6500 Larchmont Drive, North Highlands, CA, 95660 217-0171-009-0000 $330,000 Foreclosed <$216,000[5] $180,167
5-4-2006 9524 Angleridge Road, Dallas, TX, 75238 00000792898000000 $269,600 Foreclosed[6] $211,222 $227,970

(Copied without permission from Wikipedia).

Serin also executed a wholesale real-estate deal on a rather ugly-looking shack in Durham, NC. Ironically, this appears to be one of his few successful deals, earning him roughly $500.

[edit] Other Past Incidents

Serin's blog readers have searched various Internet archives in an effort to reveal more about Serin's background. Serin has been criticized over some perceived unethical incidents that have consequently been unearthed. When he was 14 years old, Serin used his father's Internet account to attempt a Usenet-based Ponzi scheme, although it is presumed that he failed to make any money from this venture. In addition, after all of the houses were purchased and it was clear to Serin that he was in dire straits financially, he tried e-mailing friends to ask them for money. Serin phrased the e-mails as an investment plan secured by his real estate holdings, with a promise of 24% interest, but the next week admitted he failed to mention that his real estate business was actually in deep trouble and that he was facing foreclosure on all of his properties.

[edit] Press and Media

As the "poster child for everything that went wrong in the real estate boom", Serin has received a considerable amount of press as a result of his blog. Initially, articles featuring Serin's story were mostly favorable, casting Serin as a victim who was manipulated by the heartless mortgage industry. Serin's critics frequently complained that the reporters involved were not taking the time to fully delve into Serin's blog to get a more accurate picture. Gradually, however, Serin's media involvement has shifted to a more negative tone -- in particular, he was portrayed as blatantly lying on his loan applications during his appearance on ABC's Nightline, though the interviewer stopped short of referring to his actions as criminal. More recently, an article on CNET entitled "The world's most hated blogger?" painted Serin as an inept fool who accidentally stumbled onto a winning blog formula by purposely enraging his critics.

The following is a list of Serin's known mainstream press coverage in reverse chronological order.

Casey also maintains an infrequently-updated mailing list. Although he promises subscribers regular updates, months can go by between messages.

[edit] Reactions and Speculation

Many Haterz™ have asserted that Casey exhibits symptoms of one or more recognizable personality disorders, specifically NPD, or possible Bipolar disorder.

It has also been widely noted that Casey seems to be incapable of grasping the reason why he would attract so much criticism, and that he appears to lack the ability to make the connection between the creation of his blog (IAFF), the disclosure of his seemingly colossal mistakes, betrayal of people, and morbidly stupid decisions on this blog, and the subsequent general reaction to them. It has been speculated that the extensive, sometimes international press coverage reinforces Casey's delusion that he is currently successful.

Despite the massive consensus from hundreds of readers and even family members that he is deeply misguided or possible even mentally ill, he remains unwilling or unable to make any significant changes in his behavior, even while on the surface admitting that his critics might have some measure of truth to what they say. This pattern is recognized in Japan to the extent that a word exists in Japanese to describe such a behavior: Nagasu.

Instead, he responds pompously and righteously; in some cases, he uses selective comment moderation to cleanse his blog of "vulgar" content. (This is a practice also mimicked by Nigel when Haterz™ brought their ire to SLCRE.)

[edit] Description and Contact Information

As a courtesy for law enforcement and debt collectors, CaseyPedia offers some of Serin's known contact information, as well as a physical description, below:

  • Cellphone: 1-916-595-9632
  • Email: casey@serin.us
  • Social Security Number begins with 606-xx-xxxx
  • Skype:user name "Caseyserin"
  • Linkin profile name: "caseyserin" - see [1]
  • Mr. Serin has used the internet pseudonym "sercasey" for some time.
  • Apparently there was a cellphone in Australia with the number "0424 415 051"

Serin is relatively short, standing 5'8" as documented by CHiPs. His hair is naturally brown, but Serin uses expensive highlights to turn himself into a more metrosexual blond. Serin has not received a haircut since May 2006, making him look exceedingly feminine with every passing month. His complexion is extremely pale, bordering on anemic, with occasional pimples and a greasy face. Serin's weight also gives the impression of malnutrition; a rough estimation of his weight would be 140 pounds. Serin prefers a metrosexual-style wardrobe, generally causing gaydar alerts. No distinguishing marks, scars or tattoos of use for identification by Law Enforcement have been noted by Haterz™.

[edit] References

  1. ↑ iamfacingforeclosure.com Retrieved April 17, 2007
  2. ↑ I am 2.2 million in debt
  3. ↑ Free 8289 Calla Way Home Value. RealEstateABC.com.
  4. ↑ Free 6842 Burdett Way Home Value. RealEstateABC.com.
  5. ↑ Free 6500 Larchmont Dr Home Value. RealEstateABC.com.
  6. ↑ (Type in Serin Casey) Dallas County Record 75K down payment 200600425251 (2006-11-15).
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