Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Let's Play Doctor


I'm no doctor. I don't even play one in the blogosphere but opinions are like sex everybody has one. The graphic is from one of the best albums nobody's ever heard of; Fig. 15 by Human Sexual Response. I actually saw them in concert. But enough about culture and junk as the Beav would say. Casey could keep a team of abnormal psychologist candidates knee deep in theses for a lomg time. We've heard everything from meth head to latent homsexual homophobic to manic depressive. Me? I waver depending on which of my personalities is dominate at the moment but right now Peter Pan Syndrome mixed with cultural dissonance.
A medical degree from an "accredited" "univerity" will be awarded to anyone who responds and pays a nominal shipping $ handling charge. Make cheks payable to Nouveau Medical Institute. "Nouveau where if you have a dream we have a certificate."

61 comments:

Anonymous said...

Robert,

I submit for the record exhibit A:

#
105. Casey Serin
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:34 pm

Stop getting mad at me for deleting your comments… it was either an accident or you said something overly vulgar and/or there was a personal attack that I thought was over the top (depending on my mood) or you said my wife’s name and I didn’t feel like editing it out. Basically I delete VERY FEW comments. I would say less than 5%. I like to keep things very organic and provide for free speech as long as you keep it reasonable. I’m not trying to hide stuff or spin my story. I only withhold information when it might hurt somebody or somebody asked me not to reveal their identity.



Big D

Anonymous said...

I've had two former housemates infected with the Get Rich Quick disease and Casey fits the pattern I saw in them. They were such losers they never did anything - just got stacks of junk mail and attended seminars down at the Holiday Inn. Unfortunately, Casey acts on these schemes.

Is he Manic/Depressive? I don't think so. There are ups and downs, but they're not extreme.

Casey has no inner life and no self awareness. This isn't uncommon in 20 somethings. They grew up on video games and cheap media - what do we expect?!

yumhuyk said...

1) Get-rich-quick addiction - Analogous to gambling addiction. Casey is in it for the "thrill" of running get rich quick schemes. Its not about the money.

2) Pathological gullibility - Assumes everyone is as goody-goody as him.

3) Lack of critical though - Cannot piece together information from past experience, other people's experience, books, etc into making informed judgments.

4) Panglossianism - baseless optimism.

(looking at the wikipedia for Peter Pan Syndrome, it doesn't really fit Casey at all)

Anonymous said...

I have a friend in his mid-twenties, the same age as me. My god, he is just like Casey. Completely lacking in critical analysis and always harking on about 'passive income' and 'within the next three months'. Mind you, he's been attempting futures markets, day trading, amway, other MLMs, and just last year blew sixty thousand euros on doing a ten day course in becoming a 'life coach'. His exact words were 'you learn the equivalent to three years at university in ten days because they use special NLP techniques'. Oh my fucking god, I scream on the inside everytime I talk to him. That being said, it's a shame because he's very determined and hard working...

I think our generation grew up in the boom years of the 90's self-help era, and some of us took those years as a course of where to go in life. We saw massive wealth generation in short spaces of time, in both the dot com and real estate excesses. You couple cheap self-help and short-term confidence boosting bullshit with tiny attention spans, fast wealth, and you have mr casey serin and my best friend to show for it.

Ahh, when will it end? Sometimes I just wish CS et al would just make their damn million dollars pronto, and shut the hell up.

Anonymous said...

Casey has a major illness all right, it's called terminal stupidity. Seriously, how can anyone try all the crap he has and then post about it. Not only does he post his own words, he often let's post in that call him out for missing, or misleading information. All this with moderation ON!!

Sometimes I would like to pound some sense into his head with a brick, but then I'd probably be charged with cruelty against the brick.

Anonymous said...

Hey y'all,

I think our little dip's main problem is an iq of like 90. I had a whole post about his other problem - that both he and G basically appear to have never learned the value of a dollar or have the common sense god gave a f'ing carrot - that he deleted.

I'm beezer over there btw. Anyways, I don't know if it's just in their makeup that the two of them are pathologically lazy, entitled and clueless, but I think their parents probably helped them get this way.

Who do you know who would spend, without much thought, at the age of 23, $15,000 on three classes? Fifteen thousand dollars that they don't actually have. It's just stunning, honestly. They seem to just have this attitude that sums that the rest of us, even those of us who have some money, consider significant, are nothing much.

Michael Jordan, busted in the media when he lost millions gambling, explained that he gambled $10,000 on a single hole of golf or hand of cards because $10 is nothing to him, as he has so much money. That's NOT the attitude every even extraordinarily wealthy person has about money, I know millionaires who routinely bet $10, or $100 on something, because they learned the value of a dollar. Jordan has/d a gambling issue, but his wealth allowed him to do what he did and move on.

Casey and Galina seem to have never gotten the value of money, they don't understand effort equalling money, at all and they don't have a bottomless bank account to cover their basic stupidity. Her oft-repeated comment about him pulling money out of his ass clearly makes her just as bad as he is in this regard. They both seem to believe that money miraculously replenishes itself like when their parents just gave them cash, but they're both broke, completely unwilling to work and not bright. It's a bad combo.

Anonymous said...

Beezer,

90 is actually a quite average IQ, I think that you would be correct if you divide this by 10. At this range he would be somewhere between a fern and a hamster with ADHD.

I also had a post deleted by him over there - most be a huge 5%. I called him on his BS university courses and challenged him to find one real univesity that would take his courses, and no U of Phoenix isn't among the ones I count, even though I doubt they would accept them.

One thing I really found interesting about the courses was that he didn't mentioned about the two free sales, ala Primerica insurance scam, in his orignal post (at least not when I read it). I guess he forgot that when he posted his reply?

Anonymous said...

1. Raised by indulgent, pampering parents. Casey strikes me as someone with a weak father figure, his dad has obviously never put his foot up his ass and tol him to grow up. Probably spoiled. Filled his head with "you're SO special" and was the wonderboy, who could never fail.

2. Pathalogical liar. He found out early his blue-eyes, blond hair and impish grin could get him out of trouble. He lies about everything, because he thinks he can charm his way out of it.

3. Lazy to the point of being pathalogical about it. He's not a money grubber, or he'd have every penny figured out. He "loses" a $3-400 dollar pda, or he thinks so. No, he's just lazy.

4. Semi-literate. He coasted through school, was never challenged by the lax Sacramento schools, never really learned beyond a basic level in anything, never felt any need to. He's semi-literate, has the attention span of a gnat, and has no real, deep understanding of anything. ADD? I don't put much stock in ADD, it's just more laziness.

5. Ego out of control. Casey fully expects to be treated like the prince his mother and father set him up to be, and any criticism be damned. He can do anything he wants, ecause he's special.

6. Complete lack of self esteem. He has none. Oh, sure, he tints his hair and gets his spiffy circa 1990 Kinko's blue Oxford shirts, but deep down he's scared little boy. He can't face the truth, his wife, his freinds, his parents, or his utter and complete failure so far in life. There may be some alcoholism or drug dependancy floating around his family, as he acts like a codependant. He sets himself up for failure, enables his indulgant, lazy wife, and uses and manipulates everyone around him.

7. Learned the typical California passive aggresive behavior, mixed in with some lazy Cali-speak to make it sound like he's hip. He overuses the word "organic", tries to pretend to be Vegan, goes to the trendiest of trendy places (Jamba Juice), wates money on a beater of a car - but it has rims and thump! - and never really shows any real opinions and character beyond the loopy dreamy idiot or the depressed, snippy child. Casey just floats through life so many in CA, smiling and waving and blabbering the latest catch phrases and fads, but inside he's a raging furnace of bitterness and resentment. Trust me, Casey is PISSED his scam failed, because he got into the game too late - and he takes it out on his readers by trolling them for reactions.

8. Complete and utter attention whore. I have a feeling Casey dreams of the day when he's able to sit on his ass with passive income just tumbling in, and he barely has to lift a finger, and then all teh gurus will clamor to have him at theior conferences as a guest speaker, so he can bask in the glow of the applause and cheers for his brliiance and genius. He's already trying to set himself up like that with his staged photos, and he probably thinks that Kiyoski guy is just waiting to offer him a speaking job. Stroke, stroke, stroke, you can hear Casey beating off to this fantasy every time he posts. He'll show YOU, when HE is a VIP at real estate seminars, and you're NOT.

Casey is nothing special, I've run into his type for decades here in CA, this state attracts the "free money!" types, and grows them as well. He's a lazy, undisciplined dreamer with delusions of grandeur, and at best a child.

Prison will make him grow up - and who knows, maybe he'll learn a thing or two about how to steal and get away with it, not post about it on the Internet.

And maybe he'll learn the one thing he has none of - humility.

yumhuyk said...

No, its has nothing to do with Casey's IQ, which is at least 100 and possibly a little higher. Casey was a self-described "nerd" in HS and his only skill is php programming which requires some intelligence. Casey would score decently on an IQ test because IQ tests are basically a set of self-contained puzzles, same as progamming where you have a given task to accomplish with a set a programming commands. What Casey lacks is a form of intelligence, critical thought, as I described above. So Casey could set up a wrap-around mortgage for his Utah house (the paperwork would be too confusing for an IQ 90 individual) but if you asked him why they are illegal, Casey couldn't give you and answer (pretty damn obvious why banks don't like these things).

Anonymous said...

Casey also has the ability to hear only what he wants to hear and completely ignore everything else (I notice a lot of people do this, most of them subconsciously). I think that he posts all of this stuff about his mortgage fraud because someone told him during the few days he shut down his blog last October that he probably won't get prosecuted. Once he hears that, it's fine to block everything else out, even if there's overwhelming evidence to the contrary. If I saw the all the hits by the FBI, etc. on my sitemeter, I'd immediately shut down the site with no explanation and be in full panic mode. I don't know how he sleeps at night.

yumhuyk said...

@ anon

No, Casey is quite literate, especially for an immigrant. Stupid typos and lose/loose are not the marks of illiteracy. He's also a decent speaker (better than myself). Of course, everything he writes or says is shit, but that's not the point.

Anonymous said...

An IQ of 90 is in the normal range, yeah. I didn't mean I thought he was very far off the centre, I just think he's not particularly bright.

He's able to function, he's able to basically understand standard real estate deals (in the textbook how things work way, obviously he does not understand real estate deals as in how to make decent ones or none of us would be here), but that's about it. I don't think he's above normal, even within an sd really, given ... well, why we're all here.

Just btw, IQ tests (actual ones, like WISC/WAIS and S-B, not like, online game ones) are not a series of puzzles, they consist of a slew of different tasks, including giving definitions of words, solving abstract puzzles, recognizing the story being told by a set of pictures, etc.

As for Casey self-identifying as a nerd, Casey self-identifies as a workaholic. Heh.

Anonymous said...

Isamu's got a good point. Actually, in a way, Casey reminds me of President Bush. Some of the President's detractors like to say that he is dumb, but like Casey, that's a gross oversimplification.

It's a mix of ego, laziness, and lack of curiosity or critical thinking that's put them both into their respective messes. In President Bush's case, he was born into a wealthy, well-connected family, and so he was able to go a lot farther on his limited gifts. Casey, the poor immigrant, doesn't have the support system that Bush does, and so his crash will be faster and harder.

Casey thinks of himself as a dynamic workaholic, but I'll bet you that most of his "work" involves surfing the web, sending IMs, and dreaming.

Anonymous said...

I am in love with Galina Serin!

http://www.zweg.com/dump/thumblist.php?chat=0

Anonymous said...

I agree with much of what others have said and disagree only with those who think he is of 90 IQ.


Casey's doesn't lie in the classic sense. Whatever he says he believes to be true at the moment he says it, even it totally contradicts what he said 5 minutes earlier. And whoever says he couldn't explain why a wrap around is illegal is spot on.

I finally listened to a good part of his "podcast" interview with the ex-con and it was clear that Casey could not understand why saying on hi sloan app. that he was going to occupy the house was illegal. His reply was "But that was the only way I could qualify for the loan and"



He also seems to think that no one would scam him--- Tim from MBA pointed out to Casey how he needs to realize that people are in deals with him to get something out of it--- but that Casey seems to think that his super real estate lady is working hard for him, not for her commission, that the guy who bought his condo and dumped him with the Burdett or Larchmont or whatever property did it for what he brought him--- not to help Casey.


I'm on the road so I can't access my DSM IV but I think Casey has something wrong.

Anonymous said...

Ah, the joys of posts that acctually show up when you post them... not days later. Re. the "is it stupidity or is it mental illness" debate, I honestly think that bipolar/manic depression may be an issue. I've been diagnosed as bipolar (sans hallucinations, darn it), and with meds lead a pretty smooth life, but pre-meds.... during the manic periods I thought I was invincible, made rash decisions (bought homes, sold homes - not cheap decisions and not well thought out),

From DBSalliance.org (edited down to the most relevant):
Symptoms of mania - the "highs" of bipolar disorder

Increased physical and mental activity and energy (WELL, MENTAL, BUT PHYSICAL? I THINK NOT)
Heightened mood, exaggerated optimism and self-confidence (YEP)
Grandiose delusions, inflated sense of self-importance (OH, YEAH - RIGHT ON THE HEAD)
Impulsiveness, poor judgment, distractibility (UHH, THIS TOO)
Reckless behavior (BINGO!)
In the most severe cases, delusions and hallucinations (IS THAT A SPUTNIK CAT OR ARE MY MEDS WEARING OFF?)

Anonymous said...

Oh, and having once attended a Tony Robbins course, those rah rah self help pump you up things play very well amongst the people looking for an easy way out. Think positively, picture your wealth and it will come (well, ti worked for Tony...). I met a few course junkies and Serin sounds jsut liek them - unquestioning and so sorry for those of us who haven't seen the light.

Except... his post today sounds sane, only because he's playing spokesperson for his sponsor. The day he believes in "slow and steady" is the day when the meds kick in.

Anonymous said...

I think Casey is a pronoiac:

Pronoia: The pervasive, irrational belief that everyone loves you and wishes you well.

His realtor? really wants to get the houses sold as a favor to him!

His gurus? Really, REALLY are just trying to share their secrets of eternal wealth!

Rich Dad? Only Casey's best interests at heart! Helping him out!

Chris? Best! Buddy! Ever! Gave him a Sweet Job, after all.

Side note: Why does everyone assume Casey is a "programmer" with the skills to make $70K+ a year. Don't I remember reading that the job he quit precipitously was a 30K a year job? Are there 30K jobs in programming in California? REAL programming? A 30K job sounds more like a "Hey, we need a kid to hook up the computers to the network and set them up by dragging a disk image onto the hard drive."

But what do I know? I'm one of those clueless Job Monkeys.

Rob Dawg said...

I peeked. Casey has a new post introducing his new sponsors. The idjit isn't getting paid until AFTER they see how things go. In response I've upped my Adsense content from a small banner to a small multiple banner. After a week of single banner I can say I am theoretically making enough to cover out of pocket costs. My wife looked at the numbers and said "let's see you bill $108/hr for your time so this is taking what?... 20 seconds per day?" Then she laughed. She understands the recreational value of diversion.

I'm with the IQ 90 crowd. That's "normal." Not for my family where my parents lied to me about my S-B scores for self esteem issues but 90-110 is normal and I disagee that Casey would test well. To distractable and impetuous he'd fall for the first easy answer and take to long wondering if the blue ball belonged with the chair and sofa instead of the barstool.

yumhuyk said...

Holy shit, "Pronoia". Never heard of that and its Casey to a T:

"Pronoia is the positive counterpart of paranoia. It is the delusion that others think well of one. Actions and the products of one's efforts are thought to be well received and praised by others. Mere acquaintances are thought to be close friends; politeness and the exchange of pleasantries are taken as expressions of deep attachment and the promise of future support. Pronoia appears rooted in the social complexity and cultural ambiguity of our lives: we have become increasingly dependent on the opinions of others based on uncertain criteria."

As far as his "programming" skills go, he's had no formal training and obviously isn't a self-taught h4X0r genius. He has a basic knowledge of PHP (a web scripting language) and I doubt he could get a "real" programming job just with that, hence the $30K/year filler jobs. Now if Casey had spent that $45K on a CS degree instead of gurus...

Ogg the Caveman said...

Hobbes, Savloah:

One common thread that ties all of Casey's behavior together is an inability to see things from the other person's viewpoint. I once lived with a roommate who I am almost certain suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and I recognize some of the behavior plans. I'm not saying Casey has NPD -- I am not a shrink, and at any rate he's not as bad as my old roommate -- but the behaviors are there.

Casey can at least recognize on an intellectual level that e.g. keeping his wife in the dark hurts her. My old roommate didn't get that far. However, our little trooper doesn't internalize his wife's viewpoint, or anyone else's, to the point where it influences his behavior.

Whether Casey has a diagnosable disorder or not, an inherently self-centered worldview might explain his gullibility. He cannot conceive of anyone conning him because that would require seeing the situation from their point of view. It would also explain why he can't understand that lying on loan applications is wrong. The lies allowed him to achieve his goals, so what's the problem? He can't see things from the lender's perspective.

Of course we will never know, but it would be very interesting to find out what a psychiatrist has to say about Casey. It sounds like he has a number of problems which are contributing to his current situation.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 6:33:

Yep. I saw that. I am one of the victims of his lie.

I called him on it, let's see if he posts it:

I call b.s. Casey. I KNOW you edited my post and I did NOT mention the wife (I could have) NOR did I cuss (I edit myself in those situations).

YOU edited my post about a certain university you are somehow affiliated with. You know the one promoted by your bud, Chris?

So basically, I caught you in a lie and stop whining when I have every right to call you on it! Okay, so are you gonna post this and allow this to be debated or must I go to another site and post this (which I will anyway).

Sorry, dude YOU deleted something in my posts that had nothing to do with your criteria because I KNEW you'd do it. You are hiding something and I'd like you to focus for once and tell us what the deal is with that scam [...] University?


So basically will he allow this? I didn't cuss, I didn't mention his co-conspir...errr...wife and but I did mention Nouveau Riche. Why is that a problem unless he is afraid of something?

Anonymous said...

CS's new "sponsor" chimes in......



Just an FYI..

I am the President of both HBN and REI.TV. My name is Duane LeGate.

Casey is being compensated at a rate better than he was getting for his Google Ad Sense.

I am trying to work with Casey to do the following:

1) Stop chasing the shiny object.
2) Forget about real estate for a minimum of 6 months (one step at a time folks)
3) Monetize his best asset (technology and blogging skills)
4) Contact ALL debtors and work out a plan
5) Pay back over time everyone he as intentionally or unintentionally screwed.
6) No more seminars
7) Responsibility for his actions

Those are just a few things.

If I think that Casey can walk the straight and narrow, I will work with him. It has less to do with money to me that responsibility.

I cautioned him in the past about the seminars, corporate credit, etc..

I am hoping that Casey can turn the corner. If so, I will help him in any way humanly possible. If not, I will turn into one of those train wreck statistics.

The ball is in Casey’s court. But for 1 week (a start), he has done everything I have asked of him.

Here’s to a new start in 07.



So.... the mighty Casey managed t negotiate another sweeet deal.. ONE WEEK OF A SPONSOR .

woo hoo.. Anyone think it will even last the week?

Anonymous said...

@isamu

I first read the term "pronoia" in a New REpublic article back in the 90s. "Holy Shit," I said, "that's my friend R!"

Well, turned out that the article was satire on the DSMIV. But I think Pronoia is a real disorder anyway. I've met a few too many people who manifest it.

yumhuyk said...

@ Robert

The problem with you and the IQ 90 crowd is that you all probably have never been deeply exposed to people with IQ's of 90, because your friends, family and co-workers will usually be of similar IQ to you. This tends to warp your persepective of how intelligent the "average" person is. Hint: By your or my standards, not at all.

In one of my past jobs I've had to be around "regular people". An IQ 90 can function in society just fine, but they're pretty dumb. An MLM scheme is actually too sophisticated for them, they fall for scams like Blue Hippo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueHippo_Funding)

One thing they really hate (because they suck at it) is reading and writing. They avoid it whenever possible, except in its lowest social chatter form (i.e. text/myspace messages of the "yo dawg wut up!!!" variety). Casey loves to just write and write and write about his pet topics. On his blog and also in his emails. That characteristic alone puts him at 100+ IQ.

Rob Dawg said...

@ isamu

I'm only mildly skeptical of your well reasoned position. You make good points about his writing copiously but his sentence structure and reliance on popular catchphrases is truly simplistic. That isn't just a product of education but inate intellect as well. As you may have noticed. I'm not real strong on the niceties of perfect spelling and/or puncuation. Run on sentences, as well, are a product of the medium not the mediator. But Casey, now he exudes that vaccant grin of optimism seen most often in the kids that ride the short yellow bus. If you aren't in California you may not know but here "everyone" goes to "college." These community colleges do offer some very useful curricula but they also devote an inordinate amount of effort to remedial backfill for the Caseys of the world. That he didn't avail himself of the system tells me he knew he couldn't even cut it there. I've no weird superiority bit going on here, it takes all kinds and I've got people digging my yard at this very moment. Not work I could do anymore. Casey is different, his efforts are not like hedging or arbitrage seeking to exploit inefficiences. Casey is looking for loopholes and finding them even when they don't exist.

Anonymous said...

Thoughts:

The real buzz word here in this discussion of conditions and/or altered states is "co-morbidity."

Ahem:

From Wikipedia:
In medicine and in psychiatry, comorbidity is either

* The presence of one or more disorders (or diseases) in addition to a primary disease or disorder; or
* The effect of such additional disorders or diseases.

There's a lot of stuff going on in that brain, and it is co-mingling, and definitely morbid.

As to Mr. Serin:

Bi-polar-- Thoughtful armchair diagnosis.

Sociopath or related personality disorder-- quite possible. (Dated one.)

ADHD-- Oh yeah.

Addiction (substance or otherwise), OCD...

Lazy Idiot-- yup.

Still, just because someone is being a lazy idiot does not suggest mental illness a priori, just as any "legitimate" condition would not necessarily preclude Casey from also being (concurrently) a lazy idiot.

My money's on a bit of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, a sure thing.

http://tinyurl.com/56cdr

This is long, and not my work, but I find it fascinating so I included it for all.

******************
1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

…Another example is claiming unusual benefits or spectacular results from ordinary effort and investment, giving the impression that somehow the narcissist's time and money are worth more than other people's.

Common conspicuous grandiose behaviors include expecting special treatment or admiration on the basis of claiming (a) to know important, powerful or famous people or (b) to be extraordinarily intelligent or talented.

2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

Translation: Narcissists cultivate solipsistic or "autistic" fantasies, which is to say that they live in their own little worlds (and react with affront when reality dares to intrude).

3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

Translation: Narcissists think that everyone who is not special and superior is worthless. By definition, normal, ordinary, and average aren't special and superior, and so, to narcissists, they are worthless.

4. Requires excessive admiration

5. Has a sense of entitlement

Translation: They expect automatic compliance with their wishes or especially favorable treatment, such as thinking that they should always be able to go first and that other people should stop whatever they're doing to do what the narcissists want, and may react with hurt or rage when these expectations are frustrated.

6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends

7. Lacks empathy

Translation: They are unwilling to recognize or sympathize with other people's feelings and needs. They "tune out" when other people want to talk about their own problems.
In clinical terms, empathy is the ability to recognize and interpret other people's emotions. Lack of empathy may take two different directions: (a) accurate interpretation of others' emotions with no concern for others' distress, which is characteristic of psychopaths; and (b) the inability to recognize and accurately interpret other people's emotions, which is the NPD style. This second form of defective empathy may (rarely) go so far as alexithymia, or no words for emotions, and is found with psychosomatic illnesses, i.e., medical conditions in which emotion is experienced somatically rather than psychically. People with personality disorders don't have the normal body-ego identification and regard their bodies only instrumentally, i.e., as tools to use to get what they want, or, in bad states, as torture chambers that inflict on them meaningless suffering.

8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him

9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes

*****************

I had some other diatribe-worthy Serin descriptions...but when I found myself typing out that he was "a deluded, book-smart-hate'n, pathetic emaciated boy-bitch" I knew it was time to step back.

Anonymous said...

They teach you the phrase "sweeeeet deals" on the short bus, by the way.

Anonymous said...

Alrighty then...please explain why I have an IQ in the 120s yet am still alternately bewildered and bemused by his blog. Even worse...I occasionally post there.

Two comments I'll be curious to see if he lets slip by...(a) how his realtor asked him to remove her links and (b) if he'd care to respond to the accusations I found embedded here somewhere about his wife being in on the scam by originally purchasing these albatrosses. Yes, I'd say most of the readers still think of "poor little wifey, the innocent victim." Yah, right.

Anonymous said...

Because CS will probably delete this post...Anyone know anything about this?

"52. Bemused Guy
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:26 am Hey Casey - there’s another blog that claims to have found the records showing your wife took out mortgages, bought houses & then sold them to you for a mark-up, with your “cash out.”
That implicates her as deeply into the frauds as you. Care to make any coment about that?"

On a side note, if he doesn't censor this out why bother moderating at all?

GameOver

Rob Dawg said...

Alrighty then...please explain why I have an IQ in the 120s yet am still alternately bewildered and bemused by his blog. Even worse...I occasionally post there.

Well, your IQ may have been in the 120s before you posted at IAFF but...
Just kidding. ;-)

We are all bemused and bewildered. Back before Ben's blog got boring (sorry, how many times can you read the same story with the name and place changed) there was a thread that also appeared at partick.net talking about a "bucket of money and a box of stupid" to describe the last fool left owning the chair in the housing game of "musical anti-chairs."

Anonymous said...

I just found a new acronym for you:

SITCOMs:
Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids or start a "home business".

I don't know who created it but I thought you might appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

Here's his answer to my question about his wife's involvement. Anyone care to try & decipher WTF he's talking about? In the real estate business it sounds like he's describing a quit claim deed but that usualy involves stamp duty. thought he didn't have a pot to piss in?
Bemused Guy… those other blog don’t know what they’re talking about. In order for me, a married person to take title in just my own name, I have to have my wife do a special deed where she transfers her share of the ownership to me. That’s pretty standard. And we were selling the properties back-n-forth between us, it happens right at purchase. Some people don’t understand RE and make up all these crazy stories about me. I guess that’s expected when I am a “scammer” in their eyes.

Anonymous said...

Off topic, but comedy gold:

#
35. Casey Serin
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:37 am

Stephanie thanks for caring… even if it’s just a little bit.

#
36. Stephanie J.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:39 am

::Glare::


Usually, I have to worry about spraying my monitor with coffee or beer, but this is the first time I snarfed a sandwich onto my desk.

-jbjbj

Anonymous said...

Put my vote down for bipolar. He certainly seems to have both the highs (unreasonable optimism like the belief that he will ever dig his way out of this) and the lows. (too tired to take out the garbage, thinks opening mail is a major accomplishment) Some of the posts here make me wonder whether the investment guru stuff plays really well with the bipolar crowd. I'm actually sympathetic to the whole paralized into inaction thing that he exhibits. There is simply NO action that he can take now that will make ANY noticable difference. Jim A

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous:

I think the Bi-Polar thing has some weight to it. Perhaps that or inattentive ADD. Or both. Years ago I was going nuts trying to figure out why it was so hard for me to do even simple things like wake up on time or take out the trash when I got my ADD diagnosis. Meds have made all the difference in the world for me. I don't think I was ever as far-gone as Casey is, but I was a little out there... reading all that self-help garbage I could find.

Not that the Adderall is perfect, mind you... but it has made me a normal person, a person who can work and go to school and maintain commitments. I hope (but am not optimistic) that Casey gets himself a mental health evaluation and gets the treatment he needs.

Anonymous said...

I am going to give Casey my usual standby diagnosis:

Cranial rectumitis.

Rob Dawg said...

In my best Homer J. Simpson:

"Adderall XR 30mg? WoooHooo!"

“Alright Brain, you don't like me, and I don't like you. But lets just do this, and I can get back to killing you with beer.”

BigDaddy63 said...

Mr Legate comments on IAFF-

Very Interesting responses thus far…

I had a lady call and leave a message on my voice mail saying she had a house to sell, but there was no way she would use our service because we are sponsoring Casey’s website. She suggested he is a crook and a criminal and she could be right on both counts.

Please, for all of you to understand, there is NO WAY that I am endorsing Casey’s past behavior. I do not condone the seminars he has gone to, the methods in purchasing both in terms of “liar loans” and cash back.

I do not condone him chasing after every quick fix strategy. I am for him contacting every lender and making amends. I am for him owning up to his responsibilities, no matter how painful. I am for him settling down and focusing on first things first and put real estate aside for a while.. the longer the better.

That being said I have had MANY conversations, beginning shortly after this blog went up. I see a young kid who is blinded by the “i want it now” syndrome that so many people his age are affected with.

My goal in supporting this website is two-fold.

One, business. I want people to learn that there is a correct way to build wealth over time using tried and true investing strategies. I believe with the launch of REI.TV, I can offer people true actionable content for pennies compared to what it would cost to buy a book or tape. I think there are investors here that might benefit.

Two, personal. Maybe I have a soft heart. Maybe I am certifiable, but I think that Casey can be shown the light. It may not be soon, but I think I can help. I want to help Casey as much as I can as long as I see him going down the right path. I am not here to control him, but slowly guide him.

I am one of the few that doesn’t want Casey to file bankruptcy. That whole concept reminds me of making life into a monopoly game. Lose it all, then reshuffle the deck and start over. If Casey is ever going to do things right and have accountability… its as good a time as any to start.

I believe that Casey has talent. It is raw and so is he, but I believe that talent can be developed.

I have worked with people in almost as bad of shape and helped them turn their lives around.

If you choose not to do business with me because I am trying to help, that is a personal decision you must make. If I see Casey “veer” off course… you wont have any sponsor to complain to.



Since I refuse to comment on IAFF, I will respond here.

PLEASE.... you are choosing to sponsor a person with the full knowledge of his past potentially felonious activities. END OF STORY. That would preclude 99.9% of people, but not you.

WHY? Because you claim twofold- 1) You smell a quick profit by making money off of Casey, and 2) you are just such a nice, altruistic fellow.

Well, Mr. Legate, you can easily be the nice, altruistic fellow by;

1. Offering to list all of Casey's properties for NO CHARGE by your various companies.

2. Offer free advice, counsel, or some other service to help Casey sell his existing properties and service his existing debt obligations.

3. You could have offered to help the poor shlubs that bought his Utah property.

IMHO, much like Casey chasing after the shiny object which you so pointedly alluded to, you have seriously tarnished the reputation of your companies forever by trying to make a quick buck by associating yourself with a scoundrel.

You have been a "sponsor" for one day and have already been directly informed by a potential customer that you have lost their business. Assume that this person will also dissuade anyone they know from using your services. Now, how much are you losing by your association with IAFF?

If you “have had MANY conversations, beginning shortly after this blog went up. “, and then made the conscious decision to put Casey on your payroll, I have no respect for you or wish to use your services. Like many others that are aware of Casey's lifelong career of shady deals, I will go out of my way to avoid patronizing anyone even remotely associated with him. This includes you.

I highly doubt you last the week, but I wish you luck. The fact that you are already hedging leads me to believe that you are already second guessing the deal. Perhaps you should call Amy, Ramit, Prblinkz, or the Utah buyers to reinforce your decision.


( Rob, feel free to post this on IAFF)

Anonymous said...

There once was a fellow named Casey
His real estate deals were quite spacey
That incomparable scammer
Belongs in the slammer
And should be dispatched like John Gacy!!

Anonymous said...

I think the comments re: banging Casey's sister have softened my stance on Casey and his situation. I just don't feel good about kicking him right now.

Dare I dream that maybe this sponsor guy will be the kick in the ass Casey needs to get a clue? I certainly hope so.

Rob Dawg said...

That Casey is so incautious and sloppy that he leaves his little sister open to those kinds of comments should be reason to harden even more against his entire lifestyle. If you try real hard you can find a few pictures of me on the net. Heck, I've had my picture in NatGeo so what? But try and find out about my teenaged daughter(s?) and hardly anything and that is generic if they exist at all.

Incautious, unthinking, shortsighted, sloppy. I'm not condoning the juvenile over the top stuff but likewise it should never have become an issue. This is but more of Casey putting other people in difficulty.

Likewise all the quit claim and reconveyance deeds sloshing around. No doubt Galina was on them and Casey stupidly thinks that the transfer gets her off the hook. The deed and the loan are two different things as he will soon discover.

Anonymous said...

Well, the fact that he was incautious does not justify what people have been saying about wanting to bang her.

I wonder if Casey will ever have an eye opening moment when he realizes his goose is cooked? Probably not. And I do hope he gets what he deserves, which is prosecution, I just wish he'd take a stab @ redemption before that happens.

Anonymous said...

My IQ is in the 120s but CS's blog makes me feel smarter.

Funny, Einstein was a very smart man, nobody would question that. He couldn't do certain things though. I know people with 100+ IQs and they have ZERO common sense.

Seems to me that you can be extremely smart in many areas and still be lacking in others.

Anonymous said...

Dolph-

Agreed. My mother is a 140 IQ'er, with more degrees than a thermometer. However, she's not allowed to buy a car without me there, after paying $42k for a $25k Jeep...

Rob Dawg said...

T said...
Well, the fact that he was incautious does not justify what people have been saying about wanting to bang her.

Agreed but I'm afraid the cure is worse than the insult. I don't like it but best to ignore it so it goes away. I just caught and deleted a truly nasty bit o blog prose form "chris." Hopefully no one saw it and hopefully it doesn't happen again although some people can't resist ruining a good thing.

Anonymous said...

Robert: unfortunately I saw that piece of ***. and I can testify, it was truly nasty.

anyways. is there anyone here that G. is actually hot? I think the people commenting like that on IAFF are either deluded or trolling. she's average at best.

Anonymous said...

re:Casey's 11th hour modesto deal - Who in their right mind would purchase that property for $270k???

If that deal goes through I will stick a pencil in my eyeball.

Rob Dawg said...

Modesto "deal." New post up.

Anonymous said...

If G can cook, she'd be a non-famous Rachael Ray. And Rachael Ray's been in FHM. FHM only has spreads of people that are above average. Soooo, transitively, G is above average.

Anonymous said...

drama queen, did nothing with the property all these months. That is a bad area, I would not pay 150k for it, I guessed at 175k but casey deleted my post a week ago. Too negative I guess, certainly was not obscene or vulgar. There are lots of greater fools around in Modesto.

Anonymous said...

As to Mr. Legate. Perhaps he's really courting Mr. Tim from MBA to add a professorial voice to REI.TV, that and perhaps a course in spreadsheeting excellence for would-be RE investors. And maybe Casey and Tim could even team up for an Amos 'n Andy-type REI.TV show. Ah, the possiblities, but don't stop with Mr. Tim, Mr. Legate: offer contracts to the whole cast of characters that populate Caseyland. What role would you like, Mr. Cote?

Rob Dawg said...

What role would you like, Mr. Cote?

Huh? I live in Southern California. Of course;

"I WANT TO DIRECT."

Anonymous said...

But with a Hitchcock cameo, of course?

Anonymous said...

Isamu -

I'm well aware of how IQ numbers generally translate. People with an IQ of 90 function fine, people with an IQ of 75 can function fine, hold down jobs, read, write, etc. They're not going to get great jobs that require analysis, following threads, connecting dots, having a lot of base, etc., but they can hold regular jobs.

I think Casey is at about a 90, he functions but he's just... not particularly bright. Let's don't forget how long he seemed to think the trailer park guy was for real. Hell, he didn't understand the Polish joke was a joke - which may be his not paying attention but that's also part of his deal. Which may or may not be part of some larger pathology going on there.

Which, considering his latest post about his "magical" ability to get scam emails and his unerring belief that people will show up to use their actual skills to help HIM make money... well, I'm guessing there's pathology there.

astrid said...

I'm not into girls but I think Galina is definitely above average looking. Pretty decent features, nice curves, not fat (yet) and she obviously spends a lot of time on her outfits.

However, her eyes are too close together and she looks about 12 (and I bet she'll look 12 until she suddenly turns 40, around her 32nd birthday). So she'll never be a beauty. But 100 times cuter than Amy.

On the other hand, Casey's sisters are HOT! They could be models, if they were more anorexic (not dieting or career advice).

astrid said...

90 is below average and as someone else here mentions, the average person is really dumb.

Casey would make a good magic realism character...make it "The Chronicle of Foreclosures Foretold".

Anonymous said...

@anyone who talks about IQ. I was being totally facetious about the IQ. Fact is IQ is a totally meaningless measurement and correlates poorly with success in life. If you want go to your local college library and check up the history of the IQ starting with Binet. It was, quite simply, a way to determine what people would struggle academically. It does this incredibly well, but it doesn't even correlate with academic achievement very well once you hit with in one standard deviation (+/- 15 points) of the mean.

Casey's IQ, or even intellect, is irrelevant. And as someone who worked in the mental health field for a number of years, I find this whole attempt to diagnose him with some disorder to be futile. Diagnosis requires the examination of a number of different axis and a through interview process. Even a qualified psychologist, or psychiatrist wouldn't try to diagnose Casey without meeting with him and performing a thorough interview. What can be said is that our hero exhibits some truly bizarre behaviour. Whether is due to desperation, ignorance, bravado, trolling, or mental defect is impossible to tell.

segfault said...

I think Galina is cute...

As far as Casey's $30k/year job, I live in an area with a lower cost of living than California, and I'd hazard a guess that even here, you can get more than $30k/year for little more than "hooking up computers to a network." And if you know how to remove spyware and viruses, and configure a basic file server, there are quite a few opportunities.

Anonymous said...

@Rick "Not that the Adderall is perfect, mind you... but it has made me a normal person, a person who can work and go to school and maintain commitments."

They tried me on Adderall - it was a funny as sh&t - it's speed and if you are not ADD or ADHD, it's just a drug. Whee. I gritted my jaw, slept <4 hours a night, lost 10lbs, spoke faster than a speeding bullet, and nearly bought a historic movie theater. And that was in 2 weeks. Whee! Kept the rest of the prescription in case I ever need to drop a few pounds...

Anonymous said...

Astrid: G will hit the wall when/if they ever have kids. I can see where her weight and face would gain both fat and age quickly after this.

I agree on her looking 12. It's weird, but men like that (as long as us normal men know the girl really is over 18 of course!).