Media Guide

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A number of articles on Casey Serin have contained several half-truths or outright lies, which can likely be traced back to misinformation and misdirection during interviews.

This guide aims to serve as a balancing resource to help reporters and journalists publish a fair, well-balanced news article.

Contents


[edit] Background

Following a profitable sale of his condo some years previously, in 2006 Serin, buoyed by attendance at a number of real-estate seminars, launched into a series of real-estate purchases that would see him buying eight houses in four states in eight months. Using fraudulent mortgage loans, he drew cash back at closing out of the deals to fund rehabs, float his interest payments, and pay his living expenses.

Trapped by the real-estate slump, and in many cases having overpaid for mediocre properties, he found himself unable to service his mortgage debt. Facing imminent foreclosure, and drawn to tell his story, he started the blog IamFacingForeclosure.com which quickly drew media coverage of his situation.

Serin sold three of his houses, but lost the remaining five to foreclosure. He still faces substantial unsecured debt, and his mortgage fraud leaves the possibility of criminal prosecution and acts as a barrier to his filing bankrupcy.

[edit] Personality

Serin is articulate, personable, and often perceived as highly intelligent. He is driven by a strong entrepreneurial spirit and is dismissive of formal education and of paid employment, an attitude mirrored by his favorite guru, Robert Kiyosaki.

He identifies "focus" as a problem area and is easily distracted by new "opportunities". He has an extremely high risk tolerance and is generally highly optimistic in the face of adversity, with occasional episodes of intense self-pity.

He has a very strong belief in his own abilities and is very rarely shaken from a plan or opinion. While he glibly acknowledges criticism, he very rarely accepts or acts upon it.

Serin can exhibit an almost child-like naiveté when presented with opportunities which appear to further his goals; this may have led to him being taken advantage of in many of his deals.

Many of Serin's critics believe there may be a pathological component to Serin's behavior: speculation has included narcissistic personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and/or psychopathy. Many people have also picked up on Serin's blunted emotional affect. Serin has dismissed these theories, stating these are characteristics that most entrepreneurs exhibit.

[edit] Mortgage Fraud

By his own admissions, Serin committed multiple counts of mortgage fraud during the purchase of his eight properties. These frauds include:

  • Taking cash back at closing from sellers without informing the lenders (not reported on HUD-1 forms)[1]
  • Exaggerating or inventing his income[1]
  • Falsely claiming that properties would be owner-occupied[1]
  • Making loan applications in rapid succession, likely in order to avoid lenders seeing any pre-existing loans on his credit report.[2]

Waiting confirmation:

  • Intending to keep cash back at close and not make mortgage payments

[edit] Extent of Fraud

Serin often employs the trick of admitting to one fraudulent tactic -- either the unreported cashback or the exaggerated income -- as a means of focusing attention on only one aspect of the story.

FACT: Serin repeatedly took cash back at closing and exaggerated his income and falsely claimed owner-occupancy.

[edit] "Gray Areas"

Serin often uses the phrases "gray area" and "shady loans" to describe his activities. He has also described his property deals as "creative" and that he used "tips and tricks".

FACT: These are all euphemisms for "mortgage fraud".

[edit] "Everybody does it"

Serin justifies his fraud by stating that "everybody does it" and that "it's no worse than speeding on the freeway".[3]

FACT: Not everybody commits mortgage fraud. Very few commit it at the level that Serin did.

[edit] "Mistakes"

Serin refers to his deals as "mistakes", evoking sympathy for his actions.

FACT: Serin's house shopping spree and fraudulent loans were no mistake. They were highly organized and calculated to obtain the maximum amount of cash back available.

[edit] Relationships

Serin's reckless behavior has been damaging to his relationships, both with his immediate family and with potential business partners who have attempted to reach out to him with help.

[edit] Marriage

Serin's relationship with Galina, his ex-wife, appeared to be complex and conflicted. Serin claimed to love his wife, but he has also stated that he "sometimes feel held back by marriage"[4] in that it keeps him from pursuing his business opportunities.

His ex-wife's knowledge of, and involvement in, Serin's activities is unclear. She is known to have accompanied Serin to seminars and on roadtrips to purchase and rehab properties. However, her name is on only one of Serin's mortgages (a hard money loan); and the properties were held in Serin's name alone.

Serin's high level of indebtedness, some of it in her name, and for which she is jointly liable under California's community property laws, put a huge amount of strain on their marriage. This strain was increased by Serin's apparent unwillingness to generate any income, refusing to take paid employment and, until recently, choosing not to monetize his blog through advertisements.

In May 2007, Serin's wife appeared to lose patience with his unproductive activities. Serin and his wife signed a pair of agreements under which Serin agreed to obtain income of $1000/week without incurring further debt, or shut down his blog and seek paid employment. After one week of success, Serin's blog abruptly went dark with a message "IamFacingForeclosure is over. It will never return." only to return a week later, reportedly at the requirement of Serin's publisher.

Galina successfully divorced Serin in early 2008.

[edit] Business Partners

Serin's abortive relationships with potential business partners have been marked mostly by Serin's inability to commit and focus on one opportunity, and his failure to maintain required confidentiality. His list of former partners is numerous, with many now vocally critical of Casey's actions, including Duane LeGate, Mark Villaseñor, Nigel Swaby, and Marty Stewart.

[edit] Australia

In June 2006, short on funds and with his marriage under increasing pressure, Serin abruptly fled to Australia.

Serin claims that a Canadian fan of his blog paid for his flight to Australia, and that he was offered free accommodation by another fan in Australia.

FACT: A fan paid Serin CAD$1000 to reopen his blog. Serin converted the funds to USD and spent an additional $150 to pay for his flight to Australia.

UNKNOWN: It is unknown whether the donor was aware that the donation would be used to enable Serin to flee the country.

[edit] Haterz/Critics/Realists

There are two main different view points as to why Haterz 'hate' so much.

[edit] Casey's Explanation

Why so Negative?
 I think people were negative because:
  1. Many (not all) people reading “Bubble Blogs” are negative to begin with.
  2. My calling the loan “liar loan” made it seem REALLY bad.
  3. Some people DO NOT realize that these loans are pretty typical in the industry.
  4. It is controversial to be this honest about my situation.
  5. Many people think “flippers” and “speculators” are responsible for the real estate bubble - that’s debatable.
  6. Many think I am a bad person for investing because I am just greedy and want quick riches.
  7. People are bitter about sky-rocketing housing prices and need to blame somebody![5]

[edit] Haterz' Explanation

  • Committed Mortgage Fraud
  • Misstated Income on loans (Overstated and, at times, blatantly lied about nonexistent income)
  • Quit job to flip homes
  • Takes habitual mid-day naps
  • His treatment of his wife
    • Talks about her even though she wants to remain private
    • Ruined her credit
    • Gave her 1 hr notice over the phone before going to Australia
    • Left her on the hook with a CashCall loan he took out
      • Large loan is due (CashCall states that $40,000 is due)
      • CashCall states it will come after her
      • Threatening to seek judgment to garnish her wages
    • Openly spoke about her 'holding him back'
      • From living in van
      • From making money
      • From starting successful business
    • 2 Contracts to wife were written and broken
    • Appears to be trying to force her to fill for divorce
  • His treatment of his family
    • Talks about them even though they want to remain private
    • Has damaged the family name
    • Has opened the family up to criticism
    • Has his mother as his co-signer on his corporate credit
      • Does not appear he intends to pay it back
      • Mother can and may be liable for debt
    • Put his brother on hold during a 'Foreclosure Friday Talkcast'
      • Promised to return to him after speaking to other callers
      • Ended talkcast without returning to him, effectively hanging up on him

[edit] Common misperceptions about Casey

[edit] Poster Boy

Serin has been called "the poster child for everything that went wrong in the real estate boom."

FACT: Serin's story is an individual one. Although he was swept up in the boom, he alone bears responsibility for his actions.

If anything, Serin is a product not of the housing boom, but of the real estate seminar industry. He received education from seminar "gurus" and went on to make contacts and learn "tips and tricks" from local real-estate investment clubs. However, Serin's earliest scams long pre-date the current real estate bubble; he has readily admitted running chain mail scams on Usenet as a teenager. Therefore, it seems probable that the recent bubble and seminars merely provided a 'target rich environment' for someone already long-predisposed to scam.

[edit] Most Hated Blogger

Serin has many critics, drawn to his story through his public recounting of it on his blog IamFacingForeclosure.com. Serin identifies these "haterz" as the cause of his continuing lack of success and familial problems. Serin's "supporterz" often claim that haterz are "jealous" of Serin's entrepreneurial bent.

FACT: very few haterz hate Serin indiscriminately. Most criticism of Serin stems from his fraudulent activity and his mistreatment of those close to him.

FACT: Serin's lack of success is largely due to his poor judgment and his rejection of both critical advice and of concrete offers of help.

FACT: Serin's strained familial situation is largely due to his lack of responsibility -- taking on crippling levels of debt, failing to generate income, and incessant chasing of illusory "gold nuggets" -- and to his continued determination to tell his story in full public view.

[edit] Entrepreneur

Serin labels himself an entrepreneur, having started a number of unsuccessful businesses since leaving high school and before embarking on his real-estate investment activities. His goal is to achieve passive income.

FACT: Serin possesses the ambitions of an entrepreneur, but not necessarily the qualities of an entrepreneur. By his own assessment, he is easily distracted, unfocused, and unwilling to perform the hard work necessary to reach his goals.[6] Serin has never expressed exactly what skill, attribute, or value his participation adds to warrant his receiving remuneration; in fact, his particular appropriation of the term 'passive' appears to stand in for 'without any interaction whatsoever', rather than a more common understanding that 'passive' income is drawn off following some thoughtful prior well-selected investment or effort.

[edit] "Failing Forward"

Serin is extremely optimistic, and sees failure as a stepping stone on the way to success. He uses examples of successful entrepreneurs who experienced early failures -- Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosaki -- to justify his failures as learning experiences: "failing forward".

FACT: Most failed entrepreneurs do not go on to later success. Those that do learn from their failures. Far from learning from his array of blunders, Serin's defining hallmark is repeating activities that previously did not work, without adjustment for learning, or reassessing risk. Many have likened him to a gambler who "doubles down" in his nearly autonomous repetition of unsuccessful strategies; i.e. he only was prevented from taking out a NINTH concurrent mortgage by an alert broker who Googled Serin and discovered his ongoing serial frauds.

[edit] Previous Articles

Also see List of Casey Serin media coverage.

[edit] Persons to Interview

Below is a list of individual who have given permission to be interviewed about Casey's story

[edit] Business Partners (Former and Current)

[edit] Haterz

[edit] Supporterz

[edit] References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Will I Go to Jail for Mortgage Fraud?, IAFF, September 24 2006
  2. ↑ Casey Serin Facing Foreclosure on Wikipedia - a Defense, IAFF, March 14th 2007
  3. ↑ Real Estate Leaves One Investor High and Dry, abcnews.com April 13th 2007
  4. ↑ After Foreclosure: Living in a Car like Anya Peters?, IAFF, April 30th 2007
  5. ↑ No Judging! Just Surviving and Helpin’, September 29th 2006
  6. ↑ Avoiding Stress = More Stress, IAFF, December 20th 2006
  7. ↑ 10 mistakes that made flipping a flop, USA Today, October 22nd 2006
  8. ↑ Many investors feel like running away from homes, USA Today, June 6th 2007
  9. ↑ Casey Serin: The world's most hated blogger?, CNET News.com, May 14th 2007
  10. ↑ Notorious debtor Casey Serin shuts down blog, CNET News.com, June 1st 2007
  11. ↑ Hated blogger leaves U.S., threatens lawsuits, CNET News.com, June 12 2007
  12. ↑ An diesem Haus hängt unser Wohlstand, Stern, April 12th 2007

[edit] About CaseyPedia

CaseyPedia is "a semi-satirical wiki" covering the Casey Serin story. It is written and edited in a collaborative effort by volunteers. CaseyPedia takes a largely critical stance on Serin. CaseyPedia articles are based in known facts about Serin, using sourced statements from Serin and other players wherever possible, but may contain exaggerations, extrapolations, or inventions for comedic effect.

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