Is Casey Serin and Speculators Like Him, Really To Blame for the Housing Bubble and Current Correction?
Posted on June 25, 2007
Filed Under Fraud, Real Estate Investing |
Everyone seems to have an opinion as to what caused the housing bubble to inflate and what poked the first hole and started to let the air out but more often than not the real estate investing community is blamed. But, real estate investors, not the speculators had little to do with driving it in either direction.
But, that doesn’t seem to matter and more and more the media and bloggers are confusing investors with speculators.
Will this be the poster child of the housing correction?
That is Casey Serin who was recently proclaimed the World’s Most Hated Blogger and while his blog now has little to do with real estate speculation or investing he is the current lightning rod for many. Now, his blog is really little more than an attempt to milk the fame he has achieved and therein lies his current quandary. He notoriety is not from positive actions or results but from being gullible.
Casey is an example of the wrong way to do things and he followed the advice and instructions, to the letter, of all of the guru courses, boot camps and seminars he bought. Young Casey spent somewhere between $30K and $50K on courses, camps and seminars and he states that it all started with a late night tv infomercial. Sadly, that is the case for many and while Casey is an extreme example, his not all that unique. Hundreds of thousands of people have been fooled into thinking the easy and passive way to wealth is through real estate speculation.
I’m not trying to paint Casey as a victim, well he is, but not in the way he probably feels. Casey is a victim of bogus gurus who make money teaching systems that don’t work at best and land you in a lot of trouble at worst. Casey took it to the extreme, followed all of the bogus advice and landed in a world of trouble.
But, does he deserve to be the poster child of the current correction?
To do so gives the Casey’s out there, and there are lots of them, way too much credit for the symptoms of the market. Much of what Casey did was based on the materials he received from the various gurus. The pitched that appealed to Casey seems to always be the same, easy passive income with little or no real work and avoid the dream stealer types.
So, be bought houses the way he was shown using mortgage brokers to get him approved for no documentation loans the way he was shown and then attempted to rehab the houses and sell them for a profit.
Then the bottom started to drop out. Casey didn’t cause it and many argue he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when the market changed. I don’t buy into that because even if the market hadn’t started to tank in his areas it is still unlikely he would’ve actually made a profit. He may have broken even or had a small loss which is better than where he is now for sure, but Casey just wasn’t positioned to be successful with his efforts from the get go.
So, is Casey to blame because he got bad information and advice? In my view yes. Personal responsibility is important and Casey’s biggest mistake was not recognizing he needed to change his tactics. Unfortunately, he still seems to believe that he can borrow his way to riches. He doesn’t really understand leverage and therefore he continues to be burned by it.
How different would Casey’s position be if he had found a site like http://magicbullets.com? The forum there is filled with good and to be fair, not so good, advice and information. Had he found that site and joined and posted questions about his plans to buy and rehab there is a chance he would’ve received better advice and counsel. If someone had pointed him to a site like The Real Estate Field Guide for Investors and he had joined he would’ve had the chance to learn the fundamentals behind the markets and interact with real, serious investors who would’ve absolutely told him he was crazy to do what he was contemplating.
But, alas, young Casey fell into the cycle of marketing glitz and seminar highs where he was told exactly what he wanted to hear.
Then Casey dutifully executed what he was shown and was burned for it.
Oh yeah, and the people who hate him so? I think a lot of what is driving them is Casey at least had the guts to try and they are all still sitting on the sidelines.
No, Casey is not an example to follow, but he is an example for learning.
Comments
7 Responses to “Is Casey Serin and Speculators Like Him, Really To Blame for the Housing Bubble and Current Correction?”
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Excellent post about Casey! Balanced and fair I thought.
I only two issues with the post:
1. You spent a lot of time talking about Casey’s original mistakes without mentioning his mortgage fraud. I did not see the words “Fraud”, “crime” or” lies” anywhere in your post.
Casey wasn’t just gullible and he didn’t just have the misfortune to enter the market at the peak - he also commited fraud. To make matters worse, he knew even as he was committing this crime of mortgage fraud (over and over again) that what he was doing was illegal.
That’s worth repeating - Casey knew what he was doing was illegal, but he did it anyway.
2. You only dedicate one paragraph to the fact that Casey has learned nothing at all form his experiences. you say:
“So, is Casey to blame because he got bad information and advice? In my view yes. Personal responsibility is important and Casey’s biggest mistake was not recognizing he needed to change his tactics. Unfortunately, he still seems to believe that he can borrow his way to riches. He doesn’t really understand leverage and therefore he continues to be burned by it.”
I’m glad you bring up these points, and glad you mention personal responsibilty. But, this issue of learning from your mistakes is a very important issue for Casey.
Like you said, Casey is not the only person who is being burned by the housing downturn and these no-doc loans. However, I would guess many of the other people are learning something from their experience and won’t make the same mistakes again.
Casey has learned nothing so far and continues to make the same mistakes over and over again.
In my opinion, that story is actually more relevant to the situatiuon he is in than the story of his orginal mistakes/crimes.
You are just another support/enabler of Casey the fliptard Serin.
The aonly important issue is why the hell isn’t the FBI all over his scrawny little ass?
Why hasn’t he been prosecuted for fraud? He freely admits it, why are they letting him thumb his nose at the law?
Why haven’t the lenders gone after him?
Where the hell is the IRS?
The fliptard needs to be in jail people like him really are the reason people like me can’t afford a decent house!
The cost to prosecute Casey are massive. You won’t find anyone willing to put his or her job on the line to put away this guy. The feds are looking for professional service providers. Closing companies, mortgage brokers, RE agents and the like are far far more likely to be prosecuted, because they come with 10’s or 100’s of millions worth of deals… Unless Casey’s mortgage guy gets prosecuted, there is all but no chance he will be prosecuted. Think about it, is the DEA looking for a street peddler, no they are looking for the supplier of the street peddler, suppliers supplier. Big dogs are gone after, Casey is a street peddler, even if all the world knows it…he is still just a street peddler…not worth the effort.
I predict Casey will never be tried for anything. And even if he is, it likely won’t be a criminal case, so no jail time…just fines and resistution…
We do prsecute the dealer on the street and the user too.
Why is this fliptard any different?
Send Casey to jail!
I intentionally left out the discussion on his admitted fraud and other crimes many claim he committed and some he admitted.
The reason for my leaving it out can’t be explained in word or two, so I think I will follow up with a post.
The only time street peddlers and users are prosecuted is when they are doing something else wrong like speeding or public nuisance…
Casey won’t be prosecuted…good luck on that petition…Glad to see Brittany Spears and Elvis are on the list…silly humans…
[...] I am writing this post in response to a comment from my post earlier today, where RH said: Excellent post about Casey! Balanced and fair I thought. [...]