Friday, May 18, 2007

Duane LeGate Part 2.0 Let's Make A Deal

Ok, I first contacted Casey after learning of him through a guy by the name of John Of ForesakenCraft.com. That site doesn’t exist anymore for whatever reason, but it was a housing bubble type of site. He had interviewed Casey and called our company because we had just released some stats calling for steep housing declines in certain markets. So I go to IAFF, and had an interesting read. Initially, I thought he was a kid that went to a get rich quick seminar, and used their methods, got majorly stuck, and didn’t know what to do. ((( Ok, more background on me – I HATE RE GURUS. That’s why we built the REI site (btw it will be a free site soon) so that people could learn, at there own pace how to build wealth thru real estate slowly. ))) So after looking at his site, I emailed him. He(Casey) called me back fairly quickly. I told him about our main business HBN which is all about helping people in his situation. We had a couple of problems there though, we didn’t have representation in some of the places he had homes, and in some cases the people that were there didn’t have short sale experience. We had a nice chat. He was a really likable guy on the phone. I told him I would help in any way I could but we needed to work together. I wanted to find out what kind of hole the kid was in. If I were to help, or get people to help, I had to know the good, bad and ugly. A lot of times when dealing with distressed individuals, they leave off a couple a pieces of information that just happen to be MAJOR things. He gave me a brief background of his story – you know readers digest type version. After the first phone call, I sat down with Matt, and Randy (really good guys in the office) to discuss Casey. The possibilities were endless. With REI coming out in January, we talked about how we could show CASEY as a how NOT TO do things. We thought about digging into our network further to try and help him. We thought about a million different possibilities. We discussed everything. But we put the ball back in Casey court. He has to show us his hand… and I mean EVERYTHING. In the meantime, he told us he used to program and we have a bunch of sites in development so I wanted to delve in further. I mean the kid needed a job, we needed people. He needed money to pay his debts… it could’ve worked out nicely.

It was pretty clear he was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Follows emails for this period:

----
11/10/2006

I found out about Casey through a guy named John. John used to run Foresakencraft.com a blog about housing. It (the blog) has since disappeared, but he contacted our company to get a follow-up to a story that was run in the central valley business times about us. John and I had a good discussion, and we talked about how the investors (read:speculators) were ruining the market. He had just interviewd Casey and suggested I look at Caseys site…

I looked at his site and with a cursory glance… I saw the same situation I was in 6 years prior…

So 2 hours later I sent this email…

“Casey,

I got your name and contact information from John at Forsakencraft. Call me and I will see if my network can help you. We help people in distress from all over the nation.”


11/14/2006

I sent this email to Casey..

“Please email me all of the gurus you have seen with number of times you have been there and amount of money spent…

11/14/2006

Here are the documents

(he sent over all the documents and legalease from Laverne and Shirley.


--
Casey Serin
916-595-9632

http://IamFacingForeclosure.com <- My story... Unbelievable!
http://casey.serin.us <- Join my Mailing List for Major Announcements
11/14/06

-----Original Message-----
From: Casey Serin [mailto:casey@serin.us]
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 4:12 PM
To: 'Duane LeGate'
Subject: RE: The legal document, more info

Duane, keep in mind that I actually ended up signing the entire "STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICITY.doc" when I met with them in person. The one I'm sent has the COPYRIGHT part crossed out. But I have another one (don't have it on
me) that I signed WITH that part in tact. I also signed the "CASEY SERIN AGREEMENT.doc" just like it appears.

I have both of those signed versions of the documents at home and right now I'm at the office. When I get back home I will send those agreements too.
But there is nothing different, just my signature.

11/14/06

Casey,

I have already spoken to my attorney and forwarded the docs... will chat with you tomorrow. Sleep well.

Duane LeGate
President
House Buyer Network, Inc.
The main person to talk to. She is the one who put the whole deal together.

Erin Morgan
[...]
Let me know how that goes


-----Original Message-----
From: Duane LeGate [mailto:duane@housebuyernetwork.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 9:32 AM
To: 'Casey Serin'
Subject: around??

Casey, Give me a call to discuss options


From: Casey Serin [mailto:casey@serin.us]
Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 4:15 PM
To: 'Duane LeGate'
Subject: RE: REI.TV and HouseBuyerNetwork.com

Seminar Gurus I went to:

Russ Whitney
Kris Kirchner
David Lindahl
Bruce Norris

I did retake some of the Russ Whitney seminars but those were free as part of the package. I also have bought a bunch of study-at-home courses.

I don't have the exact amounts, that's what my wife and I are trying to figure out right now as we go through our receipts.

My guess is somewhere around $30,000 or so.

--
Casey Serin
916-595-9632

11/15/06

Casey, I am not sure what time you wake up on the west coast. I have feedback form the attorney. Call me at the number below when you can.

Duane LeGate


11/15/06

Casey,

Joy thought I was a telemarketer and hung up on me. I called back and left a message. My attorney had his secretary call me to tell me that he will be out until after lunch tomorrow, I want to get you on the horn with him. I am leaving work and will touch base tomorrow. I want to advertise on the site as we discussed, and want to make sure you receive the funds, not the vultures from Phoenix.

Duane LeGate


11/17/06

Casey,
>
>
>
> Congrats on the job.. its one step in the right direction. I am sorry
> I didn't get with you yesterday, I was slammed. Please call me the
> number below when you get up and around so we can continue our discussions.


11/17/06

I am at an all-day event today. Will try to get with you on break but can't promise.

Are you still interested in ads?
any other ideas?

-casey


-----Original Message-----
From: Duane LeGate [mailto:duane@housebuyernetwork.com]
Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 1:55 PM
To: 'Casey Serin'
Subject: RE: Job

Yes still interested in advertising.. but I have a few caveats.... have lots
of ideas... but I am warning you.. you cant let that contract with Joy just
sit... that has the potential to bite you in the ass worse than any
foreclosure..


-----Original Message-----
From: Duane LeGate [mailto:duane@housebuyernetwork.com]
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 10:16 AM
To: 'Casey Serin'
Subject: sent this on friday.. havent heard from you


11/21/06

Duane, here are my properties and how much the lender is likely to lose.
See attached spreadsheet. On top of that I have about 140k in unsecured debt across about 15 credit accounts (credit cards, credit lines, installment loans)

I'm going to call you right now.

--
Casey Serin
916-595-9632


His spreadsheet

CASEY'S PROPERTIES

[...] This is an early form of the spreadsheet -Rob Dawg

11/21/06

Duane,

Here is the contact for corp lines of credit. This guy says I should be able to get you unsecured 50K+ in 2-4 weeks.


Bill Shuttic
bill@corpbrokersinc.com
(310) 413-0514

Tell me what you think...


11/22/06

Duane.. I have been in contact with the investor I work for. There might be a conflict of interest for me to do a mentorship-type thing with you. He doesn't want me to do that if I continue working with him. But like I said, my probation time is going to be over Jan 1st. So I can do whatever I need to do after that time. However, I *did* give him a commitment until then.

I DO want to take a look your offer for mentoring and start to consider it right away without waiting.

I'm just making sure you're aware of the whole picture. It sounds like you're a guy who doesn't like suprises and and a guy who wants to know all the facts.

Casey Serin
916-595-9632

From: Duane LeGate [mailto:duane@housebuyernetwork.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 6:54 AM
To: 'Casey Serin'
Subject: RE: Something to keep in mind...

Casey,

Commitments made are to be commitments kept. You need to keep your commitment to him. I am not looking to "mentor" you as much as I want to help you decide what is best. XXXX XXXX will be the mentor. You can check him out at XXXXXXXXXXXXX.com

You're right, I don't like surprises. Thanks for making me aware. Matt will get back to you soon. I have seen nothing from you so far that would preclude us from working together.

If we don't speak again, have a happy Thanksgiving!

11/22/06

Duane, what do you think of Nouveau Riche again?

The guy I work for actually is a part of that company and is trying to get me to spend another $20K to join that thing.



--
Casey Serin
916-595-9632

From: Duane LeGate [mailto:duane@housebuyernetwork.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2006 12:21 PM
To: 'Casey Serin'
Subject: RE: Nouveau Riche

NONONONO... DO NOT SPEND another DIME! You will not NEED to. Turn down any offer that has you spending one red cent. EVERYOFFER!

Have a good Thanksgiving.

11/28/07
Casey,

I went home sick yesterday morning. I just came in the office to check messages.. etc.. I am getting ready to leave and sleep. Hopefully, I will feel better tomorrow. I will touch base with you when I get back in.

Duane LeGate


12/4/06

Duane, you said I shouldn't do bankruptcy... I would love to know how you were able to pay off 700,000 in unsecured credit.

The weight of my dead is really pressing down on me right now. BK is starting to sound really nice, however, you encourage me to hold on and find a way to pay it back. I agree that it's the right thing to do.

but...

To service my 150K of unsecured debt I will have catchup the late payments (15-20K) and have monthly payments around $5-7,000 per month.

If we can work something out on advertising that would be great, if not I would love to hear your ideas on how I can carry it.

Thanks for your time...

By the way are you feeling better from your sickness? I hope so.

Casey Serin
916-595-9632
----

Next: The "Limits"to a Deal

158 comments:

Miranda Mayer said...

Score!

Anonymous said...

First!

Anonymous said...

You must say first!

The Dude said...

Dammit!

Rob Dawg said...

Dude,
Perfectly understandable. You were distracted by Septanie's feminine charms.

Anonymous said...

duane,

so you told snowflake not to spend 20k on that scammy re university and he did anyways?

why did you continue to work with him after that point?

Zewg said...

8th!

Anonymous said...

Damn! Damn! Damn!

Miranda Mayer said...

Those damned Charms... they are noisy and they get in the way.

The Dude said...

Duane, what do you think of Nouveau Riche again? The guy I work for actually is a part of that company and is trying to get me to spend another $20K to join that thing.

It is beyond my limited mental ability to understand why ANYONE would give money to crap like NR..or Russ W...or any of the other "gurus". Are their sales pitches really THAT good?

Rob Dawg said...

"Noisy?" No, don't answer, I don't want to know.

The Dude said...

Dawg,

Yep, Stephanie can say "Score", "First".....or whatever she wants

Miranda Mayer said...

Duane: "I'm going to give you the tools you'll need to get out of this dire situation."

Casey: "Tools Schmools, you got out of fifty times more debt (dead) than I have in only two years! Just tell me how you did it, otherwise I'm not going to be interested in your advice; but I'll take your cash either way."

Anonymous said...

Baa,

I was just giving hi advise at the time... we eventually agreed on a deal that would have precluded that kind of garbage..

I must say... Dawg is good... the beginning of this story is boring (first part)... then it gets fun...

Needling the crowd Dawg?? (big grin)

Dolph said...

Wow...can we now question the kid's intelligence? 20K for a scam university. Ick.

Anonymous said...

Duane -
This is amazing stuff. I've been following IAFF since October, and your correspondence with Casey helps fill in puzzle pieces. WHY he was so secretive about another biz trip to Phoenix, and WHY he plugged NR University so heavily when he got back.

I'm SURE his 'boss' Chris promised something like: "Don't worry, with your website, fame and connections, you'll sign up enough new students to make double or triple that money back."

You can bet on it.

Rob Dawg said...

NRU is very good at what it does. They create an appearance of value and then use time tested marketing and cult techniques to hetrodyne what is, at the core, a small set of strategies and information.

Any outrage is wasted. To be honest, I'd rather NRU had these peoples' money than these people themselves. There is something of a moral imperative to "help" people and to some extent these people actually learn more when the knowledge comes dear. $295 semiars place in these peoples' minds a value that the information is not actionable. "I can make millions but the package only costs $295?"

NRU fills a vaccuum. Get rid of it and something will fall in to the gap left behind. You cannot legislate against human nature.

Dolph said...

Ok...maybe not question his intelligence (unfair reaction from me, sorry) maybe his ability to reason and use common sense?

Anonymous said...

I will try and type more slowly...

Baa.. insert "

"him advice" instead of " advise"

R-Boy said...

Duane,

Nice story. Keep it coming. Good editing Rob Dawg.

Oh, btw, everyone say hello to
Wells Fargo
Media Temple
And...

Drumroll

Someone in the California Government in Sacramento, who's pinging snowflake's blog today

Anonymous said...

Dolph,

question away... someone asked me for my thoughts on Caseys intelligence... the massive majority disagreed with my assesment. I understand why they did and they all made VERY valid arguments..

ratlab said...

Like 'The Dude', this comment stuckk out:

11/22/06

Duane, what do you think of Nouveau Riche again?

The guy I work for actually is a part of that company and is trying to get me to spend another $20K to join that thing.


Obviously, fliptard can't stay away from the gurus. It's as if he;s hoping one of these seminars will be the magic bean for him to get out of his mess.

Anonymous said...

@ duane,

i have been following this story for awhile, and good lord does casey piss me off. i am a 24 year old (actually 15 days younger than casey, if his post on his birth date is accurate) and i would never have dug myself in such a ridiculous hole. even worse is when someone throws you a life preserver and he just ignores it.

people lump this kind of idiocy with people in my age group - and i have to say, even the dumbest girl in my sorority would not continue on such a hellbent path to self destruction.

Anonymous said...

oh.. not this next segment but the one after that... i actually speak with Nigel. at the time that is how I knew of him.

So do I speak about him in terms of how I knew him then... as"Nigel"... or how he is referred to today. If today... which one of the many names should I insert..

And btw... i feel for historical accuracy, I must mention him... BUT ONLY ONCE..

(I bet he puts out a PR that a major - world changing story was written about "nigel" and Casey was mentioned too...) hee hheeee

Anonymous said...

baa,

I must admit, I am one of the guilty parties that thinks everyone your age is irresponsible. Since your not, you must be the leader of the silent minority. Congrats to YOU!

Anonymous said...

@baa
that's exactly part of the reason why I hate KC so much too! he reflects so badly on our generation!!!

Sprezzatura said...

I thought the discussion on Casey's intelligence was a good, healthy one. We didn't reach consensus, but it was informative and nobody going into a flamefest.

Anonymous said...

@duane
not all of the under-25 generation is irresponsible. I'm 22, most of my friends are 22-24, and ALL of us have been working for 1+ yrs w/ stable jobs, solid steady income, and positive net worths. in fact... KC would probably be jealous of mine... and mine is NOTHING compared to what some of my pals have amassed...

Anonymous said...

@ duane

most of my friends arent that irresponsible either, actually. its probably all the looser w2 jobs (i-banking and such) that have to get done during the day. doesn't leave too much time for riduclousness.

though snowflake is a great way to kill time at work.

oh, and i have a friend or two who have snowflake's ramblings in their notes regarding the implosion of the crappy mortgate tranches their employer's bought.

ratlab said...

@Sprezz

flamefest conjures up images of fliptard and cornflake. ;)

Anonymous said...

Age does play a big difference in perception for KC's situation. I think back to that TV show that KC did with that advice lady... what's her name? Oh well, it was all fluff, but one of her comments still sticks out in my mind:

"Casey, obviously you are a very intelligent young man... you just need to stay away from Real Estate and..."

Suppose the guy she was talking to was like... 55 yrs old? Would she have said "you're obviously a very intelligent..."

'Cause by that age, with that behavior and level of fraud, NOBODY would even jokingly call you intelligent.

Methinks age is a big factor.

Anonymous said...

wow, i need to work on my spelling.

@ NotAnOptimist - THANK YOU! I'm not the only one! That's my situation with my friends, good jobs, accounts for retirement, etc. Even my friends that have less than traditional employment still pay their rent and bills (no small feat in nyc).

Rob Dawg said...

baa,
I too am guilty of generalizing your demographic. Not without some kernel of truth I hope you'll acknowledge. And more to the point; it is far more our fault than yours. We've been so busy building a different future that we ignored passing on the lessons of the past. The mortgage "hot potato" is a huge example. The tranching you speak of didn't eliminate the risk, just sanitized it.

Miranda Mayer said...

Casey:
Not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Not the brightest bulb in the marquis.
A few pepperonis shy of a supreme.
Several apples shy of a bushel.
A few loonies short of an asylum.

I'm not so sure if it's just plain stupidity, or if Casey is slightly insane.

Anonymous said...

@ baa, and NOoptimist...

Maybe its from where i sit.. it seems the only time I here about this age group is when they screw up or pout when the dont get thier way. Maybe its the squeaky wheel gets the grease syndrome.

And maybe I hear about those guys because the rest of you are putting forth great efforts, doing your thing, not committing mortgage fraud, or murdering someone.. AND therefore not newsworthy.

Apologies for the sweeping generalizations.. Heres to YA!

Sprezzatura said...

Certainly age is a factor in that the average 24 year old has less experience to draw on than the average 44 year old. The 24 year old is more likely to make mistakes and more likely to be excused for his failings because there's less expected of him.

Which is NOT to say that all 24 year olds are clueless or stupid; clearly that's not the case.

Anonymous said...

@ dawg

thanks, and no offense taken. perhaps i am lucky that my parents drove home the "nobody will take care of you but you" message at a young age - i have w-2s going back to when i was 15.

re: the mortgage tranches. yes, sanitized, but i have friends whose bonuses are going to be less than stellar due to the whole pile o poo that their employer bought. hell, i know research analysts using snowflake's stories in notes regarding his lenders. i don't see how he can be ignored much longer. too many people are going to lose their shirts.

Miranda Mayer said...

http://www.lauriemcguinness.com/

This is a fun way to look at the 'generational gap'. It's a spoof of the Mac vs PC commercials.

Miranda Mayer said...

@Baa
You're probably more an exception to the rule. You are responsible and well brought up; and therefore excused from being included in our sweeping generalizations.

::hands you a hall pass:::

Anonymous said...

It's unfair to use Casey's age as a representative of the age group. Casey was conning people before he hit 24. The pryamid scheme, the 24% interest game.

The only thing relevant is that wow Casey is already stepping up his con game at the age of 24. Think of how scary he will be at 34 when he figure s out how to get away with this stuff.

Anonymous said...

I just turned 25, graduated from college 2 years ago, have a full time job..and i am starting law school in August. Soon i will know the joys of crushing debt, but at least i come out of school with the opportunity to pay it back in a reasonable ammount of time.

Anonymous said...

@ stephanie j

thanks - i'm going to teepee the teacher's lounge now :)

Lost Cause said...

Doesn't the state of California have labor laws that deal with the kind of situation Casey was in with his Rich Dad? I mean, he was not paid very much by his so-called employer. And then he was put into over 22k in debt? I just boggles the mind that people like that exist in this day and age. This is the stuff of Dickens.

Anonymous said...

Casey's recent comments in his latest post... typically "out of this world". Passing over many good questions and answering one about In-and-Out Burger. Complimenting Timeline Guy and saying maybe they can 'talk about possibilities' (oh, you're big time, alright, Casey), but skipping over the questions about why 'beg-a-thon' is crossed out.

But no surprise: he's already on record that his site is a huge troll.

Anonymous said...

"Obviously, fliptard can't stay away from the gurus. It's as if he;s hoping one of these seminars will be the magic bean for him to get out of his mess."

Not being able to stay away is the gurus plan - their business model is to sell books, not help others make money.

The books and seminars are fascinating from a propaganda/brain washing point of view, their methods are very similar to a lot of the "miracle healers" and Amway and religious cults. Their material is carefully crafted to get their audiences heads zinging with meaningless affirmations, and gets them all fired up with adrenaline - and the bouyant feeling of someone telling you for hours that you can do anything you want.

Casey is a nothing special when it comes to being roped in by these guys, I lost a good, long freindship with someone I care about because of her involvement in Amway, and what they've done to her. She developed the same "always positive" attitude, and ignored the bad to concentrate on the illusionary good.

Deprogramming Casey is the task Galina faces if she hopes to last in their marriage. Good luck with that. One is bad enough, but Snowflake fell for **5** - and still defends them.

Even if he does leave RE, he'll fall into the clutches of another guru/scam, like Amway...in fact, he's ripe for plucking by a religious cult, like the one that got my cousin, who, rudderless after a near fatal car accident that left him partially paralyzed after a coma, fell to the clutches of a "Christian" cult who duped him out of teh lawsuit money and later had him begging our entire family to go panhandle and "spread the word" in Europe, where he'd be living in hostels (free), and eating at soup kitchens and "churches", all for the low, low price of $25,000.

There's some truly evil people out there, these RE scammers are pikers comapred to them, and Casey has a HUGE red target on his back for them.

Anonymous said...

Casey's problems are:

-Lack of maturity and responsibility

-Narcissism

-Delusions of gradeur

-Sociopathic behavior patterns (meaning: he doesn't consider the consequences his actions cause others)

Those are his problems. Nothing really to do with his age demographic because not all in his age range are like that. If he is like this at age 24, then he might be like that at age 34, 44, 54, etc...

Miranda Mayer said...

I work with some twenty-somethings, and there are a couple in my writing group.

There is a fairly universal sense of entitlement that infuriates me sometimes. It's hard not to just identify it as a generational thing, because it's pervasive in their group.

They whine *a lot*. They believe themselves equal to people who've worked hard to get where they are; and wonder why they're not making the same money. They think they shouldn't have to pay the same dues as everyone else. A lot of them live on their own, but mom & pop are assisting them--and they still spend what money they do have completely irresponsibly.

Some of us have had the benefit of parents that fostered the idea that at some point; you're on your own, and you have to be responsible for your actions. And I can't pick on these people.

But the large part of the kids have this support system that makes them feel cocky and entitled.

"I'm broke, waaah (while sitting in a brand-new Acura and texting on the newest model of cellphone with every bell and whistle). I can't pay my reeent; waaaah (but they had money to fly to vegas with friends). Mommy! I neeeeed Moooney."

YEAH, it gets my goat.

It's happening in my family too.

Anonymous said...

@socalwatcher

I completely agree except I still think he is a con man. Always trying to play offers off each other and trying to get something for free.

As for his IQ, I think I read somewhere that most con men are actually very intelligent.

Unknown said...

We had a nice little discussion about my generation here on EN a while back...

I'm 26, married with 3 kids. We bought our house with a reasonable mortgage 4 years ago and do not own any other properties. (no flipping!)

I've been employed with the same company for over 5 years. I have a decent sized 401k, taking full advantage of all company matches.

In addition I've got great promotion opportunities in the near future.

Be nice Duane!

Anonymous said...

@baa
you and your friends keep up the awesome work. it's nice to know that my group of buds isn't the only one to chat about 401k accounts and worry about our credit scores for mortgages, lol. rock on! maybe we should figure out some way to polish our generation's tarnished image? ... too bad my looser w-2 job keeps me so busy. ;-)

@dawg
i don't blame you (and everyone else) for labelling Generation Me... well, you know, all those negative stereotypes. sadly, i see examples of such immaturity too (although KC is by far the worse)

@duane
thanks. =] it's nice to be acknowledged.

Anonymous said...

@ stephanie j

don't get me wrong, i know tons of people who think they deserve all the success in the world. i think to a large extent it depends on how much kids were coddled while growing up. my parents got married very young (21 and 19) and had $121 between them. because of them, i have always known what the value of a dollar is.

i had friends who always got the new cell phone, new car, and once they graduated, their dinner plate was broken. far more of a shock to them than it was to me.

i live in manhattan, and i know my rent is ridiculous. but i don't whine about it, and if i wanted to live somewhere cheaper i would. life is about tradeoffs, and i think some of my parents friends did a piss poor job of teaching their kids that.

sorry if its a rant, but don't get me wrong. i find the entitlement that people have in my generation to be a serious problem. like fight club says - you are not a unique and beautiful snowflake.

Rob Dawg said...

StephanieS said...
As for his IQ, I think I read somewhere that most con men are actually very intelligent.


Except he isn't a very good criminal. That isn't even fair. The only time he made money was the first time (the condo), by accident and he immediately rolled that into the second where he lost it all and then some. Even if he had taken no cash back, he'd still be in the same or worse situation.

Miranda Mayer said...

@baa
I agree entirely about upbringing

Sprezzatura said...

@baa -- nooo yawk for the win, baby! :)

Lost Cause said...

I don't think you should judge people because of their age. I am at an age where I will soon be facing discrimination. Besides, I see young people as gifted compared to my generation, which was a wild one, so anybody looks responsible by comparison.

Anonymous said...

@ stephanie j

except i am worried my sisters about to dig herself into a hole - she just graduated and feels entitled to new, shiny things with her first real job. either its going to be loads o debt or a rude awakening, and i'm not really sure which.

@ notanoptimist

no lie! i was having a debate about the tax benefits of roth iras the other night with my fiancee - we'll be excluded after we get married from contributing, and we were debating the merits of opening standard iras and converting to roths in 2010.

@ duane

thanks for the props!

Anonymous said...

@Rob...

But he was smart enough to get cashback on the mortgages. Who cares that they didn't sell. I think he once said he "took the profit upfront" In a little over a year, he has gone through at least 120K in CC, who know's how much in cashback...
He has another 50k from his corporation and guess what he is not going to pay any of it back and he is not sitting in jail either. Remember the only reason he stopped is because the lender googled his blog. He would have kept rolling and rolling and rolling. He sucks at real estate but he has gotten a lot cash for basically taking naps.

Anonymous said...

I'm with you, Steph, I was raised by parents who forced us to save our allowance, go through a decision making process to spend it, and taught us the perils of credit early on - and lived by what they taught.

My school, in upstate New York, taught us how to use checkbooks in 7th grade - we had to keep a fake one to buy things, balance them, and budget.

I'm 40-ish, and I date as young as 30, and even the 30-somethings are just as bad these days. Hell, I know people in their 40's that are so overleveraged that disaster is certain - the only thing to discuss is how bad it will be. People still think you can BK and walk away! (Or that 20% increases in RE will resume next year...that's another thread altogether...)

I was raised by people who saved their money and spent it wisely, and I do the same. I live well, but I consider purchases and rarely buy anything over $50 on impulse - that's my own personal "allowance" I give myself each week, I can blow $50, but not more than that. I save, I buy on sale, I use coupons, and I opted out of the "gotta have it" consumerism that rules now.

Dolph said...

Duane,

Would you say he has poor reasoning skills? He will ask somebody's opinion HOPING for somebody to validate the answer he has in his head. He asks you if joining NRU is a good idea. You say no. Apparently he goes anyway.

Ok, let's rule out smarts since somebody can be compulsive and still be smart. What about this...he works for somebody and they keep putting it into his head that NRU would be great for him. For whatever reason Casey agrees because his mentor tells him it's all good (haha).

One could argue he isn't very bright because he always comes up with these crazy ideas that don't seem to be original thoughts. They were either placed there or he read them someplace. I agree, his willingness to read is a sign of intelligence, no question there. What doesn't make any sense to me is that he is easily influenced by others, has no concept of reality, he holds onto unrealistic expectations and cannot or will not listen to reason. What is that? I say it's a disconnect and a form of narcissistic behavior (I can become rich because this book says so and I believe in myself!).

What say you? Sorry if I sound like I am rambling today...things are busy and I can't get enough of your juicy revelations!

Tyler said...

good points all around......I've been following fliptards misadventures for awhile now.

I think people in the US nowadays have an unrealistic expectation of comfort. This has been hammered home for me after traveling around rural Mexico and Cuba a few times. Funny thing is the people living in 2 room block houses and grass huts seem happier than the average suburbanite living in a Mcmansion.

Anonymous said...

@baa

re:ira conversion
it should probably depend on what your tax bracket is in 2010 and how you think it'll compare to your tax bracket at retirement. i'm sorta hedging right now, since it looks like my tax bracket will be the same now and whenever i retire, i put 50% into my traditional 401k and 50% into my roth 401k and max out my 401k contribution.

i definitely see a lot of that "sense of entitlement", even in myself (ok, i'll admit it, i had a cushy upbringing). BUT i made the decision to be financially independent ASAP on my own, so i guess i can be proud of that.

Anonymous said...

@baa

should clarify, i feel entitled to a lot, but at the same time, i want to work hard and prove that i deserved it. hm... is that entitlement?

Anonymous said...

"At 11:39 AM, Dolph said...
Duane,

Would you say he has poor reasoning skills? He will ask somebody's opinion HOPING for somebody to validate the answer he has in his head. He asks you if joining NRU is a good idea. You say no. Apparently he goes anyway. "


You will see this as a recurring theme...

He floats a trial balloon.. insane idea followed by.. "whaddya think" when I would scream hell no, I would find out he would do it anyway. I had a long conversation with him 2 weeks ago.. kinda giving it one last shot.. trying to talk some sense into him.. deaf ears.. it fell on deaf ears...

Anonymous said...

@ notanoptimist

yeah... my employer doesn't offer a roth 401k, though i wish it did. me and my fiancee decided that we'll probably retire somewhere with a lower cost of living than nyc, so it doesn't make sense for us. we've decided to just max out the 401ks and index or nyc muni it the rest of the way.

you know, part of me wonders if the rest of the serin clan is such an unmitigated disaster, financially.

Lost Cause said...

So what if Casey is an idiot? Those kids working in factories were naive, and perhaps there is a very astute coal miner here and there...there is a lot more criminality going around than just Casey. We have labor laws, and for your own W2 selves, these should be respected. (Take your 10 minute break now.)

You can't just say "Buyer Beware" or the stupid deserve to get robbed. We have laws in this state. You guys are the same as everyone else who is only in it for themselves, if you do not realize that. Perhaps I am on the verge of declaring Casey as the victim again, but the Rich Dad episode sure qualifies.

Anonymous said...

@Tyler

Happiness is relative. My parents were broke when i was growing up, when my father passed away we found he'd kept records from the year I was born: he had 3 kids,a mortgage of 12K, and a yearly salary of 7K.

I remember we were so poor, my mom had to tape up my sneakers for gym class because we could'nt afford new ones.

Fast food was a rare treat.

But - we were happy - my memories of childhood are warm and happy. Yes, we had strife, but we were happy.

Today, our culture makes hapiness impossible, because no matter what you have or do, the media is screaming at you that it's not good enough. More, better, faster, newer, it's all geared to make you spend, spend, spend. Long term savings and stability are laugh at. The Boomers, who are behind a lot of it, judge you by how much money you have, and sneer at you if you don't spend, spend, spend - and their kids are just as bad. "Saving" is laughed at.

I opted out years ago, and I'm MUCH happier. I know people who nearly drive themselves into anxiety attacks because they don't have the latest iPod, or car, or fashion. I rarely if ever go to malls, or participate in the yearly insanity of Xmas shopping, which to me is the most vulgar, greedy, selfish, disgusting display of over-indulgence and out of control spending going.

My mom and dad made us toys when we were kids. Kids today boggle that it's even possible, and one kid actually asked how my dad made plastic.

sigh.

Anonymous said...

Casey is always going to do whatever he wants

Corp Credit, obtained despite massive protests

NRU, went to despite numerous protests

this part
"To service my 150K of unsecured debt I will have catchup the late payments (15-20K) and have monthly payments around $5-7,000 per month.

If we can work something out on advertising that would be great, if not I would love to hear your ideas on how I can carry it."

Is pretty much asking Duane to bail him out..maybe if you can COVER my expenses with advertising fees? He has done similar requests on his website asking if 'anyone' wants to check on things for him, bring a camera etc etc

Tgheproblem Duane, is that you expected Casey to actually work, something which he is allergic to. He wanted you to just hand over some money, catch him up with his debt, maybe put in a little extra for him and his wife, and then work on rebuilding the real estate empire. The way he strung you along for so long tells me that he is a very very experienced con artist, that knows what to say to his marks.

"The weight of my dead is really pressing down on me right now. BK is starting to sound really nice, however, you encourage me to hold on and find a way to pay it back. I agree that it's the right thing to do."

Playing the vicitm and making you feel responsible if he tries to hold on and fails "Duane you told me not to declare BK and now look how much I owe!!"

"By the way are you feeling better from your sickness? I hope so."

Like CAsey really gives a shit about anybody else but himself.

Tyler said...

I am 31 and grew up in a middle class home and worked hard for anything I had. We were comfortable and happy. My dad grew up on a farm in the river bottoms with 12 brothers and sisters and had nothing. They would hand pick the last rows of corn that the picker couldn't get to have Christmas money. He put himself through engineering school and provided everything we ever needed. That is true dedication and hard work I will never know. After college I started to get I felt got caught up in the entitlement crowd and racked up some debt. That is all gone and I live a much more simple life just enjoying what I do have. Makes life much easier. My wife and I make a very good living for our area but simply choose not to be materialistic or borrow money other than the mortgage, which is shrinking by the day......

Anonymous said...

@anon 11:49

i agree w/ pretty much everything you said, but i would also like to point out that, as much as our culture shapes us, we too shape our culture. change comes from within (society). i guess we'll all do our part to whack ppl like KC upside the head. ;-)

Anonymous said...

@ 10:47 R-Boy

Not to mention

United States Department of Justice
FDA

Guess they're concerned about his health and are wondering if he should get 2 slices of bread or 1

The Dude said...

Question for Duane:

What was your first impression of us Haterz(tm) when you hooked up with Snowflake on IAFF?

R-Boy said...

Mozatta

Hi. I'm the DOJ hit, most likely, though someone else who wasnt me hit yesterday

Anonymous said...

Nigel's retractions, deletions and lack of updates tells me that he realizes the jig is up. He is probably getting really paranoid about any phone calls, strange cars outside his 'mansion' and people looking at him funny (well, more so than usual). He's probably driving to cali as we speak to hide in Casey's pants.

"Must get to Casey's ...rectum...safe there...warm..dark..)

Anonymous said...

@Baa 11:05

Be careful you might have Serinitis. It is a disease that spreads through your keyboard and there is no know cure. (Taking naps helps somewhat)

@Legion 11:58

Very insightful. I had not caught the playing the victim. (And I thought I wasn't going to learn anything from Casey.)

Anonymous said...

P.S. I have Serinitis as well.

Anonymous said...

@ lurker

thanks for the diagnosis. i am planning on setting up a bed under my desk ala george costanza to remedy my affliction.

Anonymous said...

Pff topic but does anyone have the ps3 and is using it for blu-ray movies? I have the xbox 360 and the hd-dvd, but I am noticing that the movies on blu-ray (like Steph's bosom) is more abundant. I was thinking of picking a ps3 up.

ratlab said...

Somewhat OT article, but deals with how the younger generation needs to be reinforced with lots of praise in the workplace...

http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/officelife/20070423-zaslow.html

Anonymous said...

Wow.. you just dropped on of those.. do you still beat your wife questions on me... :-)

"At 12:03 PM, The Dude said...
Question for Duane:

What was your first impression of us Haterz(tm) when you hooked up with Snowflake on IAFF?
"

The first day or so it was fun tp post and play verbal ping pong. I had my own blog that believe it or not was probably more boring than butteflies.. got 1 reply ever.. so on emy blog.. I didnt know what a conversation was like.

HaterZ asked me quesitons.. fair enough.. i tried to answer them.. some people would get snide with me so i tried to cut them off at the kneess.. that was still fun ping pong.. but what got me was the level of intensity it got to. Casey calls me one day and says all of your personal stuff is getting posted online and they are going after you.

There were a few people that went over the line... Heidi being the one I remember most.. I basically begged her to come out from behind her anonimity.. I woulda B**** slapped her.

She accused me of almost everything that is wrong with the world today. I was a con - shyster - equity stripper - preying on the poor and elderly. OHHH that one got to me.

The rest would throw digs here and there... i had no problem with that.. I would just fire back with the same snideness they gave to me..

lawnmower man said...

@Duane: He floats a trial balloon.. insane idea followed by.. "whaddya think"

That's been a running theme in his public statements on IAFF too: grandiose ideas ("I'm gonna buy an apartment building in 2007!") thrown out, overwhelmingly negative comments completely ignored in favor of "just gotta believe!" wishful thinking.


@all: just to tie the loose threads together:

The "investor he works for" in November is Chris Record. Chris was successful in persuading Casey to attend NRU. Casey spent $20K to attend.

Speculation: we know from the C|Net article that Casey needs 3 NRU "sales" to get his 50% commission. Maybe Casey was the vital 3rd sale Chris needed to collect his kickback from NRU?

Soooo: the $22K loan coming due now is the $20K he borrowed to attend NRU? (Plus, as Rob noted a while ago, $2K of fees rolled into the total to juice the APR.)

There was also talk -- here? at IAFF? of the loan he took to atten NRU being from Chris Record? With Casey performing work for Chris instead of payments?

Anonymous said...

Oh and this article from msn
If anyone wants to see what these entitled praised no matter what they do brats end up like, they should look up Casey Serin.

Brattiness
Is heaping praise on mediocre achievement creating a generation of brats? Some think so and backlash could be brewing. Some restaurants are informing customers in advance of their limited tolerance for brats and in North Carolina, a petition circulated last year to establish child-free eateries.

Anonymous said...

For his birthday,
little Patrick asked for a 10-speed bicycle.

His Father said, "Son, we'd give you one, but the mortgage on
this house is $580,000 and,

unfortunately, your mother just lost her job.

There's no way we can afford it."

The next day the father saw little
Patrick heading out the front door with a suitcase.

So he asked, "Son,
where are you going?"

Little Patrick told him;

"I was walking past your
room last night and heard you telling Mom you were pulling out.

Then I
heard mom tell you to wait because she was coming too.

I'll be damned if I'm
staying here by myself with a $580,000 mortgage and no bicycle.

Anonymous said...

Er heh heh
Duane
Mea culpa here (raises hand) sorry about that. I remember some of my snide remarks..something about taking shits bigger than you heh. Woops

"Can't we all just get along"

Anonymous said...

@Lawnmower man
Casey likes to think that his "crazy ideas" is him being creative and thinking out of the box. He doesn't realize that they are just stupid.
Don't forget getting his wife
s debt paid in full, saving enough for her to go to UC Davis, making 5-10K passive income per month by his birthday, going form facing foreclosure to facing success by Sept 10th.

Anonymous said...

@ legion

as an aside, do we have any indication that galina would be qualified for uc davis? i mean, 6 years of community college and nothing to show for it doesn't exactly scream for more college.

Anonymous said...

@Legion

"Its ALL GOOD"

I know what you guys were thinking and WHY.. i actually had fun with it again.. I must admit.. I still hold a grudge.. and just one.. for Heidi..

and yes gang.. I know I should forgive and forget... TRYING... (as hard as Casey works)

lawnmower man said...

Yes, Casey's big on setting goals -- I'm guessing because of the whole creative-visualization guff of "if you believe it, it will happen".

He lacks the ability to set realistic goals, and he lacks the work ethic to achieve them. Because again: he *knows* he's going to make it big, it's inevitable, so why break a sweat getting there?

Lost Cause said...

@lawnmowerman

I recall that there was a $2k loan fee, and $4k cash at closing (if you will) and the remaining $16k borrowed to go to NRU (not quite 'spend'). Why are people saying there is a baloon payment due?

Regarding CNet & 2 sales before commission -- sounds like a way to screw Casey out of money, with that kind of wasted cash being pitched into the fireplace. Probably by Rich Dad.

Anonymous said...

@baa
I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't qualify for uc davis. I think Casey just puts it out there to gain some sympathy (If only I could afford to pay for my wife's college) Remember when he wanted to go to one of his foreclosures, he said "I really wish I could go, it would be so educational..hint hint someone buy me a ticket?)

@Duane
That's good. I don't really remember Heidi, or I haven't seen her around here anyways. It was probably Nigel in drag...

Lost Cause said...

Galina went the UCD for 2 years, until she married. They moved to Tahoe, and she dropped out. She was recently enrolled in a JC. I doubt if she has more than a partial semester.

Miranda Mayer said...

The weight of my dead is really pressing down on me right now

BRING OUT YER DEEAD!

Anonymous said...

@Lost Cause
That figures, ever since she met Casey her life has been going downhill and fast. Do they teach basket weaving at UC davis? I really can't picture her of the organic chemistry or engineering type.

Miranda Mayer said...

@Duane

I hope I wasn't horrible to you. I try only to be horrible to Nigel and Casey.

I think I vaguely remember Heidi--I can't remember if I liked what she had to say or not tho. And I'm not willing to give Casey the traffic to check.

Miranda Mayer said...

Oh, and YneOne... I REALLY like being horrible to YneOne. Nobody deserved a foot up their ass more than that bleeding heart beyotch.

"Keep it up, my sweet little Casey... I think you're fabul-la-delicious! eeh hee hee"

:::grits teeth:::

Anonymous said...

By the way, take a 7 day snapshot of IAFF's visits and page views and you have the classic bell curve. I think he's at 2800 today or something. with as usual, few page views.

Anonymous said...

Oh man Steph thanks for reminding me of that freakin bitch. What with all her secret codes and messages at the end of her comments, and such and overly motherly ways. Man, that wench took the cake.

Miranda Mayer said...

YneOne: "I own a home and have a mortgage... so I can *totally* relate to Casey's plight. Ignore these haters, Casey... You're going to go far!"

::Loading clip on 9mm::

Lost Cause said...

I think Galina planned to be a CPA, so I suppose she was taking business classes. So that would be basket marketing or somesuch.

Anonymous said...

Why are people saying there is a baloon payment due?
It's on his spreadsheet from back in January or whenever it was last updated and published. It's called something like Loan Note 2.

lawnmower man said...

@Duane: rereading the comments on the IAFF post introducing your sponsorship, most are fairly positive; some are sceptical; a few are attacking. Your own comments there made it pretty clear that you were trying to help Casey but also expected him to make changes necessary to help himself.

The scepticism was a mixture of "so what's in it for you then?" and "do you really believe Casey can change?" That's why I commented, when you first reappeared here, that your attempts to help Casey seemed "genuine, if a little naive". Remember, a lot of the haters had been following the Casey story from the beginning; and had watched him making mistake after mistake and becoming more and more swallowed up in his own self-aggrandizing fantasies. The advice you tried to get Casey to follow was sensible and well-meaning, but many people already suspected how it would end.

Compare and contrast to the reception Nigel got, which was frosty from the very beginning. Nigel was always, obviously, exploiting Casey and his story for his own ends: Blogger Lands Real-Estate Story of the Year! I do think Nigel genuinely wanted to help Casey, but that was very much secondary to furthering his own interests. And it showed.

Lost Cause said...

I see it:

Promissory note 2 -- 15% $22,000.00 -- $250.00 -- 1st pmnt due 12/22/06. -- Terms: IO w/ 6 mo baloon due on May 22, 2007 plus fee (included)

Somehow I don't think that the marshall is going to show up collecting on that one.

Miranda Mayer said...

Lawnmower man:

I totally remember people making pointed comments about Nigel trying to direct traffic to his own site way back when.. people were already seeing right through that ass-pimple from early on.

Anonymous said...

Hey Steph.. if yu were mean to me I dont remember, and I was probably equally as mean back.. so we are probably even there...

If you werent mean, i probably wasnt mean back to you.. so.. ITS ALL GOOD...

(Im beginning to... to.. to.. talk like him...SWEET!)

Miranda Mayer said...

\ | /
P O P
/ | \

Anonymous said...

Steph you made me laugh AGAIN! with your clip talk....

Anonymous said...

It's not like Nigel is the master of being subtle.

Miranda Mayer said...

S'all good, Duane. You're pretty good in my book--you brought a whole new dimension to this story... and you brought it here...

So as Ali G says:

RESPEK, Yo.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you may need an intervention Duane..you are starting to talk like him...

Anonymous said...

Somehow I don't think that the marshall is going to show up collecting on that one.
Depends on the source, wouldn't it? If it's a personal loan then I doubt it. If the guy (Chris?) who set it up just acted as an agent for a loan company then that will be a whole "different ball game" as to them it's just another delinquent loan.

Lost Cause said...

Yeah, Duane, you have to realize the We Buy Houses companies have a very bad repuation, but then again not all software companies are Microsoft either. I am guessing business is booming, but how do you make a profit? (You can tell me that is none of my business.)

ratlab said...

Preview for another fucktard post?

Top Ramen pics on fucktard's flickr account.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sercasey/

Anonymous said...

@ ratlab

check the comments on snowflake's site. he tells t he bought groceries, look at his beans. i suppose trying to prevent a paypal chargeback.

Anonymous said...

It's already in an answer on the latest thread.

ratlab said...

@baa

I'm avoiding IAFF as much as possible, but I'll take your work for it. :)

At least the rice & beans pics shows that he has access to a Costco.

Top Ramen pics show he took the pics on 4/30 and upped them to the flickr today.

Anonymous said...

Lawnmower.. agreed..

sometimes I like being the underdog..

Where i TOTALLY missed the mark ws that Casey wouldnt listen to ANYTHING. I have never seen someone in such dire straights continue to shun help and self destruct like he does.. thats why i think he is bi-polar.. or something like that..

lawnmower man said...

Re: Galina.

Casey's casting Galina as the victim of his ambitions now, but let's remember that she was heavily involved during the buying phase of the adventure. The Earth Mission blog shows her making buying trips with Casey; attending seminars with Casey; attempting rehabs with Casey.

At some point between Earth Misison and IAFF either she stopped being involved, or she/he/they decided that she should not appear to be involved.

Question for Duane: was Galina in the picture at all while you were talking with Casey? Did he ever mention her?

(If Casey is bipolar or narcissist, then Galina is a victim; although she may be a willing and enabling victim. I'm less familiar with bipolar disorder, but in my experience narcissists can be deeply unpleasant, self-involved, controlling partners and parents.)

The Dude said...

Duane sez: (Im beginning to... to.. to.. talk like him...SWEET!)

...just wait till you type "lose" and wonder if the correct spelling is actually "loose". Also, you begin to refer to anyone with a J-O-B as a "looser".

At which time you are officially a member of Haterz(tm); however, it's not to be confused with Haters (i.e. Heidi)

Miranda Mayer said...

@Kevikins

That byatch got under my skin like noone else. Not even Casey inspired that level of violence in me. Just the sight of her posts made my hackles go up, and my homocidal tendencies to come roaring to life.

When I read her posts, my overactive imagination added this little screechy/whispery daddy-issues voice to accompany her words--and screechy/whispery daddy-issues voices make me want to punch people square in the face.

Yeah, Me No Like YneOne. It's people like her, with their undeserved praise and encouragement that encouraged Casey to make some of the worst decisions in his life.

God I hate that skank.

Anonymous said...

Lost Cause..

Agreed most WBH type companys are scum. I am in a very dirt industry.. wanna clean it up.. hoping the down turn will get rid of the shysters..

See, I really dont need to buy any houses.. if we can help you save it from foreclosure by other methods.. thats GREAT...

I know of sites that will get people to input their info.. then SELL IT TO ANYONE that has a buck... multiple times... it has been a slow and arduous process... but we are coming out on top.. the scum is slowly drying up...

Lost Cause said...

Thanks to those who are giving a synopsis of IAFF for those of us who are boycotting his site.

Pity the poor haterz -- copy a juicy comment for us please!

ratlab said...

@Steph J & all

Did anyone ever figure out who YneOne is? And what was up with the episode where YneOne's husband started posting about her and fucktard?

Anonymous said...

Gott alove his staged rice and beans pic with the comment
"Who says we're not frugal?"

I do you asshole, people who are eating rice and beans are doing so while working 3 jobs. With the amount you and your wife bring in a week, you guys should be eating less than rice and beans. Maybe a pic of the both of you scrounging thru garbage would be more appropriate. Ah who cares, it was another staged photo anyways, they probably fed it to the cat then went out to eat at macaroni grill.

Anonymous said...

@Lawnmower..

galina was hardly ever mentioned.. except in the past few weeks when she put her foot down.. even then we really didnt discuss it.

@Steph.. remind me never to piss you off... :-)

Anonymous said...

@ Lost Cause

From Snowflake's Site

Nacho… take a look. I did buy some groceries the other day with your donated money. Who says we’re not frugal!?



And then pics of a bag of top ramen and some beans/buckwheat/whatever on the stove.

Anonymous said...

Hey Duane, any chance of getting loose with some of the correspondence from Nigey Poo? And how DID you realize it was him yesterday..what did he let slip?

Lost Cause said...

Hi Duane, I imagine that there is plenty of supply, somebody's going to be doing this, it might as well be a good hearted man. Best of luck.

Miranda Mayer said...

I think that was a hoax; it appeared in a picture comment somewhere.

Rob Dawg said...

Duane,
Pardon my cynicism but I don't see how to clean it up. You can operate and make a profit but "clean it up" involves a conflict of capitalism.

Personally I am loathe to criticise unless I have a better idea but this is an exception. I know (in my heart) that equity vultures are not the best solution, I just cannot provide the better idea. A personal failing but all too often my gut says "You never should have gotten to this point" to the detriment of "here's the best way to get out of where you find yourself."

Anonymous said...

I think it's time to bring up once again the idea of
"Zapping Casey with small electric shocks" for dollars. Hey, it might help with his mental disorders anyways.
Also don't forget about
"Steph steel toe boot kicking Casey in the nads" for dollars.

Anonymous said...

I cannot brng myself to go over to shithead's blog, as I am under the spell of a massive web crush on Steph.

Only one thing: no glocks - Desert Eagle!

Lost Cause said...

No way -- Nacho donated grocery money again? I thought I was in a time warp.

So where does the symptom "constant defensiveness" fit into the DSM diagnoses? (See, I am not extravagant...blah, blah.)

Miranda Mayer said...

My "Pocket Protector" Is a S&W 9mm

Miranda Mayer said...

"Steph steel toe boot kicking Casey in the nads" for dollars.

I'd do that for free.

lawnmower man said...

@Steph: think that was a hoax; it appeared in a picture comment somewhere.

Here. I say hoax too.

Two new photos in Flickr: prepping for a "Galina's challenge" post?

Anonymous said...

@ Lost Cause

missed your 2nd half asking how i profit

@ RobDawg.. this will cottail with your question..

Typical investor trys to clean house.. i.e. screw the homeowner.. the old saying in the industry is you have to make 200 offers SO LOW as to piss people off.. one of the people will be desperate enugh to say okay...

Ok.. real estate investing involves buying and selling.. you have to agree on a mid price that is acceptable to all parties.

now, when distress is involved.. the buyer has the advantage due to time and or money constraints..

traditional real estate copmanies arent built for speed.. therfore it allows the hucksters a bunch of easy marks because there is no alternative.

So.. enter us... and again.. I wont delve in to too much but I will give you a few tidbits on what we do and how that will affect the industry.. (already is)

everything we do is online.. 100%.

We microtarget so basically.. if you are looking arond for real estate.. you probably wont see us... but if your motivated and need to sell wuick we are everywhere.. SO?? you say??

I am building an internet portfolio that is in effect a spider web of sorts...

I looked up one popular search term that we get a lot of traffic for... i had 2 paid searches and 6 organic searches for that term on the first page of google... that means I have the best chance of getting the homeseller to come to me just from a pure odds standpoint. Ok? SO?? If they come to me.. I keep them out of the hands of the shysters!!!!!!

This is where our ethcis come into play. we basically try to give a buffet of services.. ALL FREE.. to the homeseller... they may be in a bad loan that someone like..someone like... Oh.. Nigel (an example only) originated for them... In that case we work with LowerMyBills.com to find them a cheaper, more afforable solution.. No selling necessary. One alsp have home buyers.. these are the deep pocketed guys that can use all cash and close in days if needed.. they area used in the MOST extremem cases...

I had a lady call me from Oklahoma about 3 months ago.. her house was getting foreclosed on THAT day. ok, we couldnt help her, but is she wouldve called 2 days earlier, we might have.

We have "quick sale agents" over 75% of them


WAIT>>>> I just sent a letter in response to an information request.. hopefully it will explain us better..

lemme find it and i wil post

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your interest in our services. Matt passed me your information.



To your question about other company’s like ours: There are companies that are typical “lead generation” companies, but there is not a model like ours that I know of. In the real estate game, most sites are all the same, where everything centers on the MLS. This means a commodity service, and then a negotiable commission fee. Every company focuses on price, but not every seller has the luxury of time that it takes to garner the highest possible sales price.



That is where we are different; we are built for speed. As a matter of fact, one major newspaper equated our service to a drive thru restaurant for real estate. Our average home seller has to sell their home within 3 weeks. When I say sell, I don’t mean get a contract, they have to CLOSE in that time frame.



Today’s news is filled with housing statistics, foreclosures increasing, etc… what is missing is a solution. A REAL solution. That is where we come in. We are the “biggest little company no one has ever heard of”, that is unless you need us, then we are everywhere on the internet. The number of sellers coming to us is staggering. The number of homeowners needing help from us is increasing 5-8% - MONTH OVER MONTH since last November.



We have built “Americas Largest Home Selling Solutions company”, and we have developed into a multi-million dollar enterprise. We have done this by servicing the home seller at zero cost to them, taking care of the “heavy lifting” for them. What we have done is scoured the nation for the best… of everything. For example, we try to marry the home seller with a minimum of 2 choices, one “quick sale agent” and one professional home buyer.



Our agents average OVER 100 transactions per year. Consider the average agent does 5-6 per year and you can see we have people that know real estate. But the numbers of transactions are only part of the deal, over 75% of our quick sale agents have a “guaranteed buy program” that says if they can’t sell your home for you within X time, they will buy it. Sometimes this guarantee helps stave off the foreclosure process because the banks would rather wait.



The other solution is our professional home buyer. We require our home buyers average a MINIMUM of 10 property buys per year, but our network averages over 50 per year per person. These aren’t the “real estate investors” that you read about that buy spec properties in hopes of appreciation, neither are they the doctor/dentist type that wants a rental property portfolio. These guys are deep pocketed that can close with cash as soon as the title is run. Most have their own remodeling companies and have many methods for disposing the properties they buy. Some keep their inventory for rental, rehab and sell, rehab and lease purchase to credit challenged buyers, or “wholesale” which is actually selling to other cash ready – but smaller real estate investors, or they just “retail” the properties through normal real estate channels.



We have helped single moms save their house, recently a Colonel (I think, I will have to check the testimonial letter) that just got back from Iraq and somehow was on the verge of foreclosure. We not only saved his house, but put more money back in his pocket that he was expecting. We try to un-wind all the bad things about real estate. We see the damage the ARM loans do, we see the credit challeneged get suckered into loans thet shouldn’t ever be considered for, only to have the seller lose everything because of a greedy mortgage broker. We receive many calls daily, and you can bet the farm that every day we have someone in tears on the line. We believe that sometimes “bad things happen to good people”. We exist to help those people.



I would love to speak with you further about this. Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

Dawg
I gave up on snowflake a week ago. I find this site the best. Less spin, more info. Need to tell the folks who put me onto IAFF to come here instead. Pulling the clicks away from Casey is just so Sweet!

Duane
This is good stuff. I think those 2 chuckle heads are only now realizing how hosed they are because of you. They thought they could run the train anywhere they wanted, but you and this group keep changing the switches and confusing them as to which rail they on.

If you do not do it yet, I would suggest backups of your systems and store them offsite. Never know when the man is going to grab them for use at a Grand Jury and you don't want to risk being offline for some indefinate period.

Also appreciate you sharing your personal story. Had a similiar experience but with cancer. You are way ahead of me on being a better human. You make a heck of goal to shoot for. Thanks buddy!

Anonymous said...

I just read (hard going, his handwriting is about as good as his other skillz) the Promisary notes. The gist:

No more debt, until all current debt is paid off. Line of note is not to "pressure or manipulate" Galina into more.

Then,

He has to raise $1000 a week, in cash, on the kitchen table, or, within two hours, he has to give up

The blog, and not sell it, and no more blogs
His laptop and cell phone
Get a w-2 job, two years, no side work.

LOL!

He'll break that promise next week.

The only way he can make that kind of money is selling his ass on the street corner, or selling drugs.

I make $800 a week...no way he makes it.

Anonymous said...

@StephanieS: But he was smart enough to get cashback on the mortgages.

He was smart enough to listen to what someone else told him to do, nod, say to himself "that's cool" and then say all the same words to someone else. Casey didn't invent cashback-at-close. He just picked up a trick, and not well at that.

Again, typical for someone with NPD. Intelligence, but a very superficial intelligence. A serious attraction to perceived authority figures who reinforce his sense of entitlement, and then a simple following of footsteps.. and not usually nearly as well.

This whole "is Casey smart?" debate for me boils down to the old saying: "In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." All one-eyed Casey needs to do in order to look like a genius is to surround himself with blind people.

Dolph said...

Ok...Casey can't spell but it shows laziness to write DEAD for DEBT.

I've taken IQ tests over the years and I usually score in the 120s. Once I scored 130 (don't know how). I believe I am not a genius or brilliant but I do feel I am intelligent. I feel I have the capacity to learn AND retain.

I see Casey and he reads, retains the information that interests him but does he really learn from it? I bet he probably has a high IQ but then again, he can't spell, he can't reason, he can't use common sense and he can't seem to do basic business projections. He admits he has no idea how to stay focused.

I am ranting because I don't understand how anybody misspells a word like DEBT which is EVERYWHERE in this society.

Oh well...somebody enlighten me. Sorry to beat this dead horse on intelligence, but since we all seem interested in this just thought I'd throw some more ideas out there.

Anonymous said...

I also just read his little notes. I wonder if his wife and whoever witnessed these notes is aware of his tendency to think that these things are things he can back out of later, that they didn't really mean it, that there is some kind of special exception for him.

I know a guy who does this. He makes a promise, and then when you call him on it, proclaims that he thought it wasn't that important now that x,y, or z has happened.

Regardless. I am self employed. I make $700 a week, and yeah, if pushed, I could put 1K on the kitchen table next week. But not the week after that. I don't see how Casey is going to pull this one off without getting a job.

I honestly don't think Casey is aware that this is his life, and there is no Deus ex Machina in real life.

Dolph said...

My take on the Flickr posts:

Photo 1 (the promise to abstain from debt - sure, casey, sure!):

First off, his handwriting is like that of a child's. Wow, awful. Also anybody notice the pre-printed religious line at the bottom? For such a "devout" couple why chase the riches and materialistic crap to begin with? If you EARN it, that's one thing but to lie and cheat to get it that is breaking at least two commandments!

The second photo promising the 1K/week: Notice at the bottom where he SWEARS to not talk about family, Galina and such on the blog? Guess what Casey? Nobody will care unless you "organically" report on your life. Nobody give one rat's ass about your servers or your "sweet" advertising offers.

1K/week? Is that the best you can do? What happened to all the sweet deals and turning the corner and success just around the bend talk? Guess you were trolling us after all.

Dolph said...

Kim:

He's not gonna honor any of those. I know a guy who did that with his wife many years ago. He constantly fucked up, spent money like there was no tomorrow and the wife laid out a promise note to stop. He signed it and then promptly went back to his old ways. His excuse to her was that she was being unfair to force a legal agreement onto him when they were a married couple (what's his is hers, vice versa).

He then signed an agreement to pay her back xxx dollars and failed on that. They are still together because they are a good couple, people wise and he isn't in the kind of debt Casey is. They make enough as a couple to handle their debts.

He'll back out. History backs us up on this prediction.

Anonymous said...

Next week and maybe the week after, he will meet it by borrowing another $1000 from his corporation and then lying about how he got it. After that he will forget that he signed them and manipulate Galina into not pressing the issue.

Anonymous said...

....his handwriting is like that of a child's. Wow, awful. Also anybody notice the pre-printed religious line at the bottom?....
Oh my gawd! Yes and Yes to the above.
I'll bet this has come out of the counselling meeting. It was someone through the church wasn't it?

Sprezzatura said...

@dolph -- I try to not judge people too harshly on poor spelling / typing because I personally am a truly lousy typist. if it weren't for spell-checking programs I'd never get anything done.

And another thought w/r/t the $1000 week thing -- it just goes to show how poorly-educated that whole family is. $1000 on the table each week is NOT the same thing as a $52,000 a year job, because it completely overlooks taxes. After all the witholdings your take-home from a $52K job is closer to $700 than to $1000.

Anonymous said...

Aprt of the problem with the promises is Galina has let him slide time and time again, if we're to believe anything he's written.

I'd have to see the dynamics between both of them, to make an accurate assessment (who knows, maybe their chemistry is such that she just can't help it), but going on his record, he'll fail by next week without a W-2 job.

That he had to put that he would'n manipulate or pressure her to get more debt says it all - he's a child, and she's taken on the mommy roll (when she's a child herself). He whines and wheedles and begs and storms and rages to get his way.

I give her two more years of him, tops. It has to wear on you.

Besides, who in their right mind has to make their spouse sign promissory notes to do the basic tasks in life? And threaten to take away his toys if he fails? I'm sorry, but how can you respect anyone under those conditions? If I found myself in a position where my girlfriend or wife looked at me like that, I'd leave from shame!

He reminds me more and more of that character from Glenngary Glen Ross, the one who buys the property from Al Pachino, and is forced by his wife to get a refund, as he's not allowed to make deals like that. (that subplot always fascinated me, what was the story there? No power of attorney? Rich wife with family money? Addict?)

Miranda Mayer said...

@Kim
You mean money *doesn't* grow on trees?

Jake said...

I feel that my husband and I have been really responsible as a 29 and 27 year old, but we've had a bad last 6 months. We've had a lot of unexpected costs $15K (broken dishwasher, AC, stove, car, layoff, diagnose of chronic disease, extreme medical bills, and now bad health insurance). Luckily we had an emergency fund (10K), but that is now gone.

We are working with a financial planner because we hope to have children one day but we may have to push that back a few years now. The saddest thing is now is that because we both now have chronic illnesses and both of us have siblings with cancer in their 20s and grandparents and aunts and uncles with cancer, it's suggested that we get a genetic test first or not have kids at all. The other choice is adopting, but I don't know how much our health will come into account.

But I must say, we do have a lot in 401(k) and roths, but we refuse to borrow from that! I think we would sell our house before that, but we just bought it last year, and I'm worried about how much we would lose on it after we take closing, etc costs into account.

Dolph said...

Sprezz,

Completely understood and by no means would I assume everybody who can't spell isn't smart. I question Casey because seriously, how do you spell debt as dead? I am a much better speaker (and I am a good speller, but I am a photogenic memory person) than writer (obvious if you read my ramblings and I admit it) BUT since this is a message board/blog format I tend to just write in a stream of conciousness way and not like I would if I were writing letters for business and clients.

Anyway, I get what you are saying and please do not think I am saying everyone is dumb for not being able to spell. I forgive misspellings on a lot of words but I have a hard time with the simple words Casey misspells. When he said DEAD instead of DEBT it took me a couple reads to figure out he was referring to debt. At first I thought he was talking about his loans being dead or something!

Miranda Mayer said...

@Dolph
Freudian Slip?

Anonymous said...

Those notes are good news actually, it shows that Casey is running out of options and that Galina is backing him into a corner. We ALL know CAsey is not going to be able to make good on these promises, but he has reached the point where he will do anything or say anything to keep Galina around. This is usually the point of no return. What else can he say after he fails at this too? There is nothing left for him to offer.
I say fuck him and his blog. I for one will not give him one red cent tonight, just like the last time.

Dolph said...

Steph,

Do you mean with Casey? LOL, yep!

Anonymous said...

On another note, once again Casey is showing signs of someone with an addiction, just like your typical gambler

"C'mon honey, just this one last time, I swear to God if you lend me just 1000 more dolalrs it will be the last time, if I lose it all I will go to gambler's anonymous, stop going to the casino, I'll be a better person, anything you want I will do..."

"Ok one last time but.."

"Thanks honey" he says as he grabs the money and is in his car on his way to the casino in less than a minute..


Frankly, I don't see how she can even trust the little twirp for anything, all his marriage vows and saying that he wants to take care of her for the rest of his days....ahhhhh, she's just like every other wife or husband with a spouse with an addiction. The sooner she realizes he won't change, the better.

FlyingMonkeyWarrior said...

I spoke to the Secret Service in DC yesterday. There is a new Fed Initiative and a Federal law enforcement movement to crack down on Mortgage Fraud in the US. The Secret Service has this new division of Financial Crime Agents that are focused on just this.

Funny thing, I called their HQ in DC about something else and the Agent told me they only go after the million dollar fraud deals.

Gee, I wonder what url came to mind from my lips to his ears in passing...........

Anonymous said...

@Dolph:

I think the slip Stephanie referred to was your "photogenic memory."

Anonymous said...

John forsaken. Sorry to have told you about him lol. Hope you heared my side on KC's podcast show. I said u had good character and hope that he took your advice to heart (which he wont). Good luck to all.

Anonymous said...

I do hope that Duane issued a 1099 for the money he paid Casey (is 1099 the right number? I can't think).