Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Casey Serin: An elaborate hoax?

Everybody loves a good conspiracy theory. Take the Flat Earth Society's opinion on the Apollo Moon Landings. I propose here that one should consider that Casey Serin's story on iamfacingforeclosure.com is an elaborate internet hoax, like Primate Programming Inc. Here are a few reasons:

  1. Nobody could get in 2.2 million dollars in debt so quickly at such a young age with no employment history. It's true that 0% down no-doc neg-amortization loans have been out of a while, but 8 properties? Didn't the subprime mortgage market start to collapse in 2006? Then again, Casey Serin wonders aloud why is my credit score so high, since it takes a few months for one's credit rating to be affected.
  2. Despite Casey's loathing of "haters", Casey is willing to put up a collection of satire on himself. This is an indication to me that the whole site itself is satire.
  3. Even though Casey Serin is constantly mocked and parodied in comments and in other blogs for abuse of the word "sweet", Jamba Juice product placements, and obsession with wheatgrass shots, he continues to do so. Even today, he has a whole post dedicated to juice.
  4. Deliberate irony in several posts. The foremost on my mind is the post entitled Homess Dude Trespassing on my Property, despite the fact that he himself is homless (he lives with in-laws) and soon will not own the property either. Another is the post with the foreclosure auction, where the auctioneer is wearing a hat that says "flop", and uses a trashcan as a podium. There is also the above-mentioned posting of satire pictures.
  5. Despite comitting mortgage fraud on a massive scale, among other scams, the State and Federal governments have not yet used him as a posterboy for mortgage fraud, despite his high profile public image.
  6. Nobody posting on Casey Serin's blog has yet met him in person, as far as I've read in the comments (can somebody prove me wrong?).
Despite all of that, there are a number of things that are not in my favor:
  1. Numerous photographs of properties that would be time consuming to steal from other pages, and pictures of events that require paying for entry.
  2. Pictures of legal and financial notices that might be tough to fake.
  3. Appearances in the media and with Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) that would make it difficult to fake one's story.
  4. The fact that many real estate purchases were timed to have a minimal impact on credit score (though this may not have been intentional), and they were done in multiple states to allow for easier committal of fraud.

3 comments:

Sac RE Agent said...

Actually, Casey is a real person. Last Monday on the Sacramento County Courthouse steps, he had his property on Larchmont Ave. go to Trustee Sale, with no takers. So the property was returned to the lender. This sale was not a lark. I know because I've been to many of these sales. And I actually attended Monday's.

All that being said, I too, wonder what the endgame is with Casey's blog and story. I know it's not a hoax. I'm hard press to think he will walk away without any financial repercussions, as his credit is screwed up royally. Hopefully he'll spend some time in an 8x8.

Count Nadeau said...

Huh, so he is for real? I guess this falls into the realm of self-parody then. The irony here is that to help make amends to all the OTHER people he screwed over, he's going to have to think better for HIMSELF, such as by getting a lawyer and filing for bankruptcy. The longer and more stupidly he plays out these firesales, the more likely some homeowners are going to find themselves underwater due to declining comps ;) (however, young couples and RE vultures will find themselves grateful)

Casey Serin said...

Casey Serin is not only a real person, he's also a closet homosexual. His whole Utah trip was just an excuse to indulge in an orgy of gay sex with Nigel Swaby and certain other people. Check his Flickr account for details.