Casey Serin's first crime of record has to be his pyramid scheme at the tender age of 14. You know, the send $1 to the name at the top of the list thingy. That was ten years ago and he has admitted to it even going so far as to acknowledge he was dumb and stupid... THEN.
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To the extent anybody cares, the address for Countrywide that was blacked out in the promissory note is:
400 Countrywide Way
Simi Valley, CA 93065
That was not very hard to figure out. I'm not quite sure what the point of blacking it out was.
From the standpoint of Countrywide, having Casey sign a promissory note was smart. Now they can go after Casey without having to worry about litigating over whether a deficiency judgment is possible against him. In general, lenders in California may not seek a deficiency judgment of a residence if (1) the foreclosure is non-judicial (i.e., by way of a year long lawsuit instead of private foreclosure of a trust deed) or if (2) foreclosure is on a purchase money obligation on a residence. A personal judgment would be very easy to come by.
Assuming Casey files bankruptcy, Countrywide can make a good case that Casey signed the promissory note fraudulently without any intent to repay. That will make this debt nondischargeable in the bankruptcy. The fact that Countrywide did not include any interest on the promissory note is no big deal since their goal likely was to accomplish everything I mentioned above. Besides, if they get a judgment against Casey, I think they would get postjudgment interest even if no interest is called for in the note.
Even though he's brought everything that's happened to him on himself, I feel sorry for Casey. I have a couple friends with similar personalities. They're a little naive (especially about money), listen to only what they want to hear, and don't worry about anything that isn't affecting them at the current moment. What makes Casey dangerous is that he mixes this with an unrealistic level of ambition and thinks he can outsmart the world. He should have gone to college. It really knocks your ego down a level or two when you realize you aren't as smart as you thought you were in high school. Spending a week getting a "Masters" degree at Noveau Riche University (that name is hilarious on so many levels) and auditing an Introduction to Linux class don't count.
If only Casey could rewind his life by a year. If he had worked really hard in his programming job for another year or two, he could have used that experience to get a higher-salaried position at a for-profit company. Then he could have bought an affordable house, put in some "sweat equity" during his spare time while he lived there. He would have been way ahead of the game before his 30th birthday. When I look at these pictures, I think about how many people would do anything to have the opportunities he had at the time -- his youth, an attractive and supportive wife, good health, a nice family and even some savings to hit the ground running (from his first condo sale):
http://static.flickr.com/56/125390843_15d75f0116_o.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/47/140166998_8aacba5fc1_o.jpg
It's really a shame. I hope he's able to cut a deal to avoid prison, but then his spending habits are closely controlled for a very long time while he repays his loans at a reasonable interest rate. Unfortunately, I think he's screwed things up too much to hope for an outcome that rosy. That will be especially true if he's dumb enough to try to hide things on his tax return in April (which he will probably do once he sees his actual tax liability). It would be fun to see him post a draft of his 1040 for comments a few weeks before he submits it to the IRS (Tim from Monterey would be burning the midnight oil after that post), but the blog will probably be taken down by then.
So how's this:
Casey buys six houses for 100% LTV, overvalued, taking cash at close. If he nets an average of $15k per house, he's netted 120k cash. He takes that cash and filters it through the "business" account he had at WF, and buries it in the backyard. (My ass sucks swampwater if he actually put any of that cash into the properties. It sure as hell doesn't look it.)
Now he's got to dig his sweet self into major debt. How does he do that? LC's against the properties. But how to get an LC when you're 100% financed? Easy. Papa Serin "apparaises" the properties at a higher value. (Homey T. Clown, didn't you mention that the Serins' were up to some sort of appraisal scam?) Now you cash out that credit, and dig a new hole in the back yard.
Next, don't pay a damn thing on any of the properties. Now, if you time it right, (oops, blew it in Texas...) you short sell the properties. To Dad. Think about it. Casey has done NOTHING to sell these properties. It's as if he's tried to NOT sell them as much as possible.
Homey T. has hinted that there has been something afoot...
-jbjbj
Sorry, that was supposed to be EIGHT houses at 15k each. I haven't been using my Tim from MBA "What are you looking at?!?! DO YOU WANT SOME OF THIS MATH, PUNK?!?! (pat. pend.)" spreadsheet.
-jbjbj
There's another possibility. I was surprised to see the whole promissory note with Countrywide because that company is not the mortgage company on the Larchmont property in the public records. There may have been an assignment. I know that Countrywide also buys subprime loans. Or Countrywide may just be the servicer of the loan. Or it may be that there really is no loan with Countrywide at all and this is a ruse.
Casey has a well documented history of fraud. As early as 14, he has attempted various cons. Some have been stupid,mickey mouse cons such as the ponzi letter. As Casey has 'matured' so have his cons. The ones that we know about include Res-com, the 'Ramit' letter, Nuvuea Riche, and this whole real estate ordeal. It reminds me of the movie "Scarface", where the character starts off as a small time immigrant hustling on the streets, then graduating to more complex and involved crimes.
Young Casey seems almost proud of his infamous notoriety. I see no remorse or sense of shame in his writings.
Regarding the Countrywide note, unless they are trying to get him to go "on paper" affirming the debt in case he goes BK and they want to challenge his discharging the debt, I call it BS.
If I can do a shameless plug, I have started a thread on my blog about Casey. It appears his interest in his blog has waned as fast as his Adsense revenue. Who would have thought?
Just shotup the Phoenix Report and changed the entire thebubblebuster.com website.
Additionally, the NEW thebubblebuster.com contains historical data for another 20+ cities. Check it out...
Excellent observation: Young Casey is just like Zaphod.
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