April 11th, 2007 2:53 am
Get Naked and Rule The World… Why I Blog. Why Do You Hate?
Check out the Wired magazine article The See-Through CEO “Get Naked and Rule The World” - about blogging and transparency for businesses. This similar to the New York Magazine article, in which I was mentioned.
I like this Wired article because it talk about how businesses have finally realized that Google has turned from a search engine into a “reputation-management system”:
Think about how Google works. When you type in a term, the search engine puts the site with the most links pointing toward it at the top of the list. That means bloggers and discussion boards are extremely powerful in influencing Google’s search results, because bloggers and discussion-board posters are promiscuous linkers, constantly pointing to things they love or hate. Google hoovers up those links and makes recommendations based on them… Companies have watched their biggest screwups quickly migrate to the top of a Google search. When Shel Israel and blogger Jeff Jarvis wrote about wretched treatment by Dell’s customer service, their posts were so gleefully linked to that for a while they appeared as the number one and two search results for “Dell.”
In my case, I was the one who decided to air my dirty laundry in public by talking openly about my real estate investing screwups, shady loans and facing foreclosure.
Why did I start blogging? I’ve been wanting to do some kind of a business blog to share my real estate investing adventures. I have a very open personality and wanted to have a voice on the internet. At the time I was already experimenting with a personal blog of my daily life. (which I took down because it was too naked).
Ironically, it was the old personal blog that got me denied for “just one more” cashback deal to help float the other properties. That’s when I saw the power of blogging and internet search. I realized I am going to be facing foreclosure on 6 homes last August. I saw an opportunity. Impulsively I ceased the moment. I registered the domain and wrote my first entry. I was hoping this foreclosure blog might help others and can turn into some kind of financial gain too. Never did I realize what was about to come…
Shortly after I started blogging, I got picked up by HousingPanic and other Housing Bubble blogs. That’s where I got some of the “haters” and harsh comments. All of a sudden I had an audience, although, a very critical one. To keep “the fans” happy and to get more “naked”, I naively posted about possible mortgage fraud and straight up admitted to lying on my loans.
Right then, I kind of got scared that I might be sharing too much so I impulsively took the blog down only to bring it back online a couple of days later. When I was down, Motley Fool mentioned me. “The cat is already out of the bag”, I figured… better stay online and have a chance to control what is being said about me. That’s what the Wired magazine talks about:
But here’s the interesting paradox: The reputation economy creates an incentive to be more open, not less. Since Internet commentary is inescapable, the only way to influence it is to be part of it. Being transparent, opening up, posting interesting material frequently and often is the only way to amass positive links to yourself and thus to directly influence your Googleable reputation.
I reasoned talking about my “shady loans” couldn’t have been that big of a deal. None of the mortgage brokers told me I was committing fraud and it seems like all the other investors were stating their incomes. Besides I was just trying to survive and help people by tellin’ how it is. So I kept talking.
Not long after that I started getting interview requests from various main stream media outlets: CNN, NPR, The Economist, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Sacramento Bee, Scotsman Guide to mention a few. I just kept saying “YES” and telling my foreclosure story exactly how it is, without putting on any kind of a spin. I was at the mercy of the media, though I figured I would still have the last word on my blog. Surprisingly, the media told my story in a fair and balanced way every time.
Not so “the haters” and the numerous “hater sites” that emerged. It still amazes me how emotional people get over my story. Look in the comments on any entry and you’ll see. The environment in the comments is so negative that my family and friends get offended and don’t even read them anymore. They wonder how I can stand this negativity and if it gets to me. Well, there are those days, but most of the time it’s all good.
I figured if I filter too many comments people will think I’m trying to hide something. So I would let the “haters” post dirt about me because I can then explain it and give my view. By keeping it “organic” and encouraging “free speech” I have been trying to follow the strategy that the Wired article talks about:
Putting out more evasion or PR puffery won’t work, because people will either ignore it and not link to it - or worse, pick the spin apart and enshrine those criticisms high on your Google list of life.
The problem is that I can’t share EVERYTHING because I want to respect the privacy of people close to me. People also blow things our of proportion.
For example, posting a screenshot of my bank account a couple of months ago took the level of hate to a new level when they saw such names as: Macoroni Grill, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, Chipotle, etc. I tried to explain it away many times. I even accepted $250 to get chewed out for an hour about eating out while being in foreclosure, not getting a W-2 job and stuff.
I really identify with this next part:
There’s no going back, yet many young CEOs worry that they’re on a treadmill: Once they’ve started blogging, they can’t stop, and that takes valuable time away from running their businesses. They also worry that all their witty little missives are simply giving critics fuel for later pyres. One new firm, Reputation Defender, last year began offering services to “clean up your tracks” online - by emailing sites and discussion forums that contain unflattering information and asking, nicely, to have it removed. “We do search and destroy,” says Michael Fertik, the company’s founder.
I agree. All the blogging, defending, and moderating comments eats up a lot of my time. I need to get going on monetizing this blog the right way so that I can justify the time spent here.
And yes, I sometimes do wonder if all this “honesty” and “transparency” is doing me much good. I feel like it doesn’t even matter what I say… the haters are going to hate. You know who you are. You call it “tough love” but I feel like you have already made up your mind.
To the “haters”:
- You say I need to get a W-2 job? But according to Nacho if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really? Or are you still gonna hate?
- Some of you say I should file bankruptcy? Others of you say I need to pay back every dirty penny like I intended? Which one is it? Or are you still gonna hate?
- What if I turn this blog into a foreclosure help site and create true value while making a living out of it? Are you still gonna tell me I need to get a W-2 job and throw away the position I have developed? Or are you still gonna hate?
- If I become a raging success through this “failure”… Are you still gonna hate? (or be jealous?)
There is no pleasing you. You think everything I do is a scam. You’re quick to judge and you don’t know even the half of it!
Have you been in my shoes? Are you a business owner, or investor or entrepreneur? What qualifies you to give me advice? Why should I listen to your negativity?
Yes, perhaps I have not been very good about explaining things or I have given you partial information. I need to get better at that. But still, why do you have to jump to conclusions? Don’t you see that I’m naked here and trying to make something out of my situation…
What do I have to do to get support around here?
202 Comments
April 11th, 2007 at 4:06 am
I always find your posts entertaining. Keep it up!
FT
April 11th, 2007 at 4:20 am
Casey, what became of that Utah payment?
April 11th, 2007 at 4:21 am
http://www.iamfacingbankruptcy.com/
let me know if you need the site for your next adventure after you loose your last house.
April 11th, 2007 at 4:32 am
to get support:
turn yourself in to the fbi, if you really aren’t guilty of mortgage fraud, then they will laugh you out of the room, and you are all set. Show them the post above, about how everyone else was doing it, see if that holds water with them.
Learn to SPELL, ceases is not seized, you are in america, learn english.
April 11th, 2007 at 4:32 am
“…If I become a raging success through this “failure…”
Aint gonna happen, Bub
“…You’re quick to judge and you don’t know even the half of it!…”
You could provide more details
“… Are you a business owner, or investor or entrepreneur? ..”
50% owner of a small residential rental for a few years;
currently own several acres of vacant lakefront land
for “investment” purposes (paid cash)
“.. Why should I listen to your negativity?..”
If you did not want to hear it, then why in the hell are you
posting all this crap on the world-wide-web? Keep your
personal business OFF the web if you can’t take the heat.
What a moe-ron
April 11th, 2007 at 4:53 am
Yes, Google is a “reputation-management-system”. How’s that working out for you?
What do you have to do to get some support? Start adding real value. Building a crappy link farm does not count.
How many times have you failed to save a home from foreclosure? How much do you still owe? Who would pay you for advice about escaping negative equity?
Who would trust any site that chose to advertise here?
April 11th, 2007 at 5:11 am
I wouldn’t call myself a hater, but I do find you infuriating and while I started off honestly hoping you’d work through your messes I came to realize that you only think about the next sweet deal and/or promoting yourself and you think nothing about the ruin you leave behind. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you did anything near enough to stop the foreclosures on your properties the way you seem to believe and I find it pretty hard to hope for the best for you now based solely on what you’ve shared on your site. You’ve painted a pretty crummy picture of yourself on here.
I think you’d get support if you were as transparent as possible and stopped blogging about anything other than your recovery from foreclosures and/or business dealings. No one cares about you as a person. They care about you as an entity. The problem that I’ve seen is that you spend too much time giving the haters fodder to work with rather than hard information about what you’re doing. I can’t count the number of times people have literally begged you for updates about the Utah payment, short sales, etc. that you’ve ignored in order to pimp some appearance you make in the media or something that has nothing to do with your facing foreclosure (like this post of yours). If you’d stop promoting yourself and let the haters focus on your work you’d take your person out of the picture, which is what you should do. I just think you’ve become enamored of your celebrity, which is just plain dumb.
You also have to understand that it’s become apparent that you have a pretty long history of trying anything to get rich quick and people are just predisposed to not want to see someone hit it big without paying their dues. You might not like that, but that’s how it is. And defaulting on a bunch of liar loans is not paying dues.
The bottom line is that you’re just not a sympathetic character and you need to understand that you have to not make this site about Casey but about Casey’s financial recovery. Also, I can’t imagine anyone trusting you as a foreclosure resource, but good luck with that.
April 11th, 2007 at 5:13 am
I not only support you but, I also admire that fact that you willing to share your experiences and avoid taking the cowards way-out Bankruptcy, like so many others in your situation do.
I applaud you and your willingness to confront your problems face on and work your way out of them.
April 11th, 2007 at 5:20 am
Yeah Casey! “Cease” the moment!
The haterz will hate because no matter what you do, “it’s all good.”
April 11th, 2007 at 5:46 am
WHY do you feel you need the support pf people you dont know and could quite frankly care less what happens to you? You are the train wreck of the moment, the dancing monkey, the court jester, so why do you need such acceptance from people that you will never REALLY know? That is my question. Just like yourself, these self-important little hotshots want the celebrity without the negatives that go with it all. go casey go
April 11th, 2007 at 5:50 am
“You think everything I do is a scam. You’re quick to judge and you don’t know even the half of it!”
So, everything you do times two is a scam?
Seriously, though, you’re wasting a tremendous amount of energy worrying about the “haters.” But you know who comes to this website every single day? “Haters.”
Yes, you should get an actual job, if only to better your own life.
Yes, you should file bankruptcy, for the above reason.
No, you’re not in any position to offer anyone help, advice, networking, or anything other than Schadenfreude.
You have put yourself in the public eye; pulling your coat over your head and shouting, “No paparazzi!” is simply pathetic.
Without the “haters,” you are nothing.
April 11th, 2007 at 5:55 am
“What do I have to do to get support around here?”
If it’s support you want, try wearing a jockstrap.
SubKommander Dred
April 11th, 2007 at 6:08 am
“Impulsively I ceased the moment.”
You sure did, pal.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:08 am
The answer is simple. If you want support, behave like an adult, in an honest and ethical way.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:11 am
@ Ca$ey
To the “haters”:
You say I need to get a W-2 job? But according to Nacho if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really? Or are you still gonna hate?
I WOULD START TO RESPECT YOU - AS IT STANDS, I DON’T
Some of you say I should file bankruptcy? Others of you say I need to pay back every dirty penny like I intended? Which one is it? Or are you still gonna hate?
YOU NEED TO GET A JOB AND MAKE SOME SORT OF ATTEMPT TO PAY YOUR DEBTS. BORROWING MORE MONEY IS NOT THE SAME THING
What if I turn this blog into a foreclosure help site and create true value while making a living out of it? Are you still gonna tell me I need to get a W-2 job and throw away the position I have developed? Or are you still gonna hate?
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY
If I become a raging success through this “failure”… Are you still gonna hate? (or be jealous?)
NEITHER
Ca$ey then goes on to say:
There is no pleasing you. You think everything I do is a scam. You’re quick to judge and you don’t know even the half of it!
WE DON’T KNOW “THE HALF OF IT” BECAUSE YOU ARE WITHHOLDING 95% OF THE DETAILS. YOU DON’T EVEN BOTHER TO ADDRESS THE COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO RESPOND TO YOUR MUSINGS.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Casey, I dont really hate you, but you leave yourself so wide open sometimes, I have to take a jab or two.
If you will hold on I will get you a crying towel.
I cant wait until next Tuesday(tax day). Boy have I come up with a good one!!!!!!
Julian-Trailer Park Boy and Hater
April 11th, 2007 at 6:23 am
quote: “What do I have to do to get support around here?”
answer: Do *one* thing right.
p.s. Not a hater, or a supporter - merely a highly amused bystander. Oh, and I will say that I’ve learned quite a bit from many of the commenters.
p.p.s. It’s “seized” not “ceased”
April 11th, 2007 at 6:28 am
Begin becoming a positive contributor to society, rather than borrowing and spending.
No more borrowing.
Then we’ll respect you.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:29 am
my guess is the haters will stop hating *if* you can manage a stable stream of income, whether it is a W-2 job or through a business venture. The problem is you dont seem capable of running a profitable business venture, which is why everyone tells you to go get a w-2 job.
One of your big issues is that you always “need” to do something or are going to “try” to do something, but you dont. You do not have the self motivation to succeed, just look at how much time you actually spent on your houses (at the properties, working on them)… Heck at home you couldnt even be bothered to keep up with your mail or make timely phone calls to your lenders.
You think any client of a business you might have is going to put up with that? You have another thing coming if you do.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I’ve been following your blog since October, and I don’t often comment. I read your blog because I believe at some point your story will turn around - and I guess that’s naive.
From what I’ve seen, you’ve had swarms of supporters. They’ve moved on after their well thought out advice has been ignored time after time. You must admit this blog is somewhat of a spectacle. You often post topics specifically to get a reaction whether through your colloquial language, attaching labels to yourself, or soliciting advice. While this increases the value of this site in terms of traffic and hits, they tend to be from people who are already pretty comfortable in their dislike of you.
The people who hate you are probably not going to change their opinion based on whether you have a job or make money from the blog. As someone who wishes you well, both would be moves in the direction of either paying back those pennies OR declaring bankruptcy and moving on with your life.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:34 am
casey maybe you should listen to some of the advice that your readers are giving you?
April 11th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Why on earth do you care whether your blog audience LIKES you??? You’re acting like your job is to win the favor of your blog audience, which means you’ve completely missed the point, once again.
Your job is to deal with your financial situation, not to try and win an internet popularity contest.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:42 am
“I just kept saying “YES” and telling my foreclosure story exactly how it is, without putting on any kind of a spin. I was at the mercy of the media, though I figured I would still have the last word on my blog. Surprisingly, the media told my story in a fair and balanced way every time. ”
Casey, it’s lies like this that infuriate this “hater.” You lie about telling the truth, when time after time your story is shaded in grey. Myself and other commenters have time after time found serious discrepancies with the stories you tell various media outlets and the reality of the situation. I seriously wonder if you know the difference between truth and fiction at this time.
I personally won’t be “happy” until you make serious efforts to reform yourself and right the many wrongs you’ve committed. If that means prison, so be it. One clue….e-begging isn’t the answer. You are a serial offender of many people and company’s trust, and you demonstrate a basic ease with coloring reality however it may best suit you that I find unsettling.
If you want an example of what many of us “haters” are expecting (and have been expecting since October) you need look no further than the man at www.my 334442debt.com. There is someone solidly grounded in reality who is addressing his problems in a realistic, thoughtful and meaningful way. Notice too, that he is so busy with his real responsibilities that blogging is something he only occasionally get around to doing.
ASW: semivegan, another example of you assuming belief systems and things that have real meaning to people, and then twisting them to best suit your interests…only to learn that you don’t have the conviction to sustain those beliefs when they no longer suit you.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:51 am
CS writes, “You say I need to get a W-2 job? But according to Nacho if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really? Or are you still gonna hate?”
NO> PLEASE GET A JOB. IT IS VERY INSULTING FOR ALL OF US WHO DO WORK IN THE RED OR IN THE BLACK AND ITS CONTINUINGLY INSULTING WHEN YOU WASTE SO MUCH TIME PONDERING THIS F-ING QUESTION.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Casey,
I wont comment on the W2 job or bankruptcy because they seem to be your only 2 defensible positions, but I will address the other questions. hopefully this will prompt you to answer some questions that still are unclear.
* If I become a raging success through this “failure”… Are you still gonna hate? (or be jealous?) — You are known as the poster boy for everything that went WRONG in the housing market. WHO ON EARTH WANTS THAT TITLE EVEN IF YOU HAD A BILLION DOLLARS?
Have you been in my shoes? YES, but worked my butt off to recover- didnt declare bankruptcy (although I probably should have since it took the same amount of time to build my credit back up, and pay back every penny to my creditors)
Are you a business owner, or investor or entrepreneur? All 3, and have a W2 job
What qualifies you to give me advice? I drank the guru kool-aid myself, and found out that there is NO SUBSTITUTION FOR HARD WORK. The only guru book that I recommend is William Nickerson’s “How I turned $1000 to 5 million in Real Estate in my Spare Time” -That book made me realize that I can build passive income AND have fun, instead of the other gurus getting you to build passive income THEN have fun. This is the fundamental difference between a helpful guru, and one that is trying to take your money. The one that is trying to take your money needs you to pay for their seminar NOW!!! Bad Gurus tell you to “Have fun once you make your millions!!” BS!! This keeps you chasing one scheme after the next, and there is always a guru there waiting to “show” you how to do it!
Why should I listen to your negativity? better to talk to someone that has made the mistakes and worked their way out of it, than someone who just wants to bash you.
AND LASTLY,
What do I have to do to get support around here? Take the advice that is being given to you (for free) and use it. If you do that, you will be surprised to find out who actually has your back.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:59 am
What do I have to do to get support around here?
(1) Follow some of the sound advice you’re been ignoring for 6 months.
(2) Are you forgetting we all bailed you out with Cashcall? What do you call that? I think ’support’ is an appropriate word.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:00 am
To answer you’re questions:
1.
You say I need to get a W-2 job? But according to Nacho if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really? Or are you still gonna hate?
The question about perception is not important, the reason people are advising you to get a job is because of the income.
As it is now you have no steady income for you’re living expenses, not to mention the monoey you need to keep some debt collectors off your back long enough to find a way out of the mess you’re in.
2.
Some of you say I should file bankruptcy? Others of you say I need to pay back every dirty penny like I intended? Which one is it? Or are you still gonna hate?
See above.
What do you care about your haters?
You have a debt of 2 MILLION !!!
What would you like better :
to be debt free and hated or in debt and loved ?
Kind of a no brainer i think.
3.
What if I turn this blog into a foreclosure help site and create true value while making a living out of it? Are you still gonna tell me I need to get a W-2 job and throw away the position I have developed? Or are you still gonna hate?
what you do specifically is not important, what is important is a regular postive money stream to cover living expenses.
From what you’re revealing on the blog you’re doing nothing constructive towards that end.
Yes you’re taking on jobs that earn a little money.
That accomplishes nothing constructive towards the goals you say you have on the blog.
Have money to live, you’re scraping by.
Keep debt collectors happy enough to be able to make deals to get back on you’re feet, look back at the cashback call, you’re puling figures out the air to make a deal.
Pay back every dirty penny, sorry but if you can’t meet the first 2 there’s no chance in hell for this to happen.
Make an other sweet deal, same as before.
4.
If I become a raging success through this “failure”… Are you still gonna hate? (or be jealous?)
If you’re a success who cares ?
It maybe a cliche but you can’t please everybody.
First worry about getting there then look back an decide.
And the last question:
What do I have to do to get support around here?
Dude,
you’re getting advice left and right in the comments, so shut the hell up about getting support.
I understand that you’re not liking what you’re hearing, but really get a clue.
You’ve run up a HUGEMONGOUS debt, signed some stupid contracts, refused help from people who selflessly offered time en energy to help.
Get the hint: there is no easy way out of the mess you’re in.
Stop asking for “support”, because you got a load of it already which you’ve ignored completely.
The impression i’m getting is that when you’re asking foor advise you’re really asking for a way to get out of this mess fast.
Sorry to break it to you, but you’re screwed, you did it yourself and by ignoring the advice you keep getting left and right you’re still f****** things up further and further.
Why don’t you try some of the advise out there and find a job and see how it works out.
Try to find a job and go for the interview, you can always refuse the offer if there are any.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:01 am
not sure what kind of ‘reputation management’ you’re doing or even how one could control it online. you’ve let the cat out of the bag. you need to start making choices based on what you need, not what we need or want. once you realize that, life will be a little easier.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:03 am
This is what your blog is going to become, you talking about magazine articles?
April 11th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Your question has been answered a billion times, but I’ll answer it again.
The reason that the “haters” hate you is because of statements like this…
“I need to get going on monetizing this blog the right way so that I can justify the time spent here.”
You NEED to monetize this blog.
You NEED to get some sort of steady work (W2 or not).
You NEED to track down the missing Utah payment.
You NEED to stop spending money you don’t have on frivolous things.
You NEED to get out of the real estate business.
You NEEDed to fix up the properties to sell them.
You NEEDed to send out short sale packages earlier than you did.
You NEEDed to stop spending money on gurus.
You NEEDed to open your mail in a timely manner.
You NEED to do a lot of stuff. You COULD have done a lot of stuff to avoid the situation that you are currently in. It amazes me that you continue to call yourself a businessman yet you refuse to follow through on any plan whatsoever. Every time you post something real estate related, REAL real estate professionals post comments telling you that you don’t know what you are talking about. Did the gurus really just teach you catch phrases and slimy business tactics? They don’t appear to have taught you anything useful, or at least if they did, you didn’t pay attention. Either way, those “seminars” were a colossal waste of money.
“Impulsively I ceased the moment.”
By the way, “seized the moment” would be the phrase you were looking for here. To cease is to stop or discontinue. To seize is to grab or take.
Carpe Pisces. Seize the fish.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:09 am
You have an awful lot of “if”s at the end of that post. You ask what the haters will say if you do this or if you do that.
It is not important which “if” you do but you have not achieved any of the “if”s at all and have not made progress towards any of them.
All you have is vague references to something on the side and suggestions that you will continue in real estate. But given your past history, there is every reason to believe that you will fail.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:11 am
You won’t get a W-2 job. I would respect you if you did, but you won’t. You wanted to escape the rat race with all us suckers, so you tried to make a quick buck through lying and then selling overpriced real estate to suckers. However, you were the sucker, and now you are in trouble. You will never have a steady w-2 job, as you are still chasing sweet deals that will never materialize.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Keep tossing the grenades Casey. Might as well go out with a bang before you get the chrome jewerly and don’t have to worry about room and board for a long time.
Maybe you can get your own blog at the federal pen. Modified to the needs of the imat,err I mean new readership. Lord knows you will have lots of time on your hands.
You can talk about sweet deals like borrowing smokes from Sleazy Al to pay Muscles Malone.
Or how you do protein shots in the shower to garner a circle of professional advisers who help keep you safe from true haters.
Or working with a whole new set of crimina.., err I mean advisers who show you new scam..,err, I mean business ventures to become rich.
To you this seems a joke. To us working stiffs, we will pay higher interest rates on our car loans or see lower ROI on our 401s to make up for the scams of you and the brokers
who played this bubble.
I hope you have gotten an attorney as I have said many times before. A pretty boy like you with a manbag is not going to last long in jail. I have had friends get the crap knocked out of them working at prisions and were not inmates. yeah our slammers are nicer than those in east europe, but they are not the Holiday Inn.
You need to fix things by paying your debts and get a good lawyer to stave this off. The judge is going to laugh himself out of his chair when your attorney says you should not do jail time because you want to make good on all these bad decisions.
Stop rationalizing your decisions as it rings hollow and/or flawed. Can you imagine some of your readers showing up at your court trail?
The interviews they give on the courthouse steps that the judge sees on the news before sentencing you. Bet the crowd will be bigger than at the foreclosure auctions.
Don’t worry about what I or others think. DO THE RIGHT THING, GET A JOB AND PAY FOR YOUR SCREWUPS. Stop thinking and execute for goodness sake.
The finger pointing on liar loans has started in the press Casey. You are running out of time to start making amends.
Casey said: Impulsively I ceased the moment.
It is seized. Ceased means to stop which would have been the right thing to do at the time.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Hey fliptard,
“Have you been in my shoes? Are you a business owner, or investor or entrepreneur? What qualifies you to give me advice? Why should I listen to your negativity?”
Do you realize how many self-made persons have been giving you GOOD advice for the last 7 months?
Just off the top of my head I remember a lawyer, multiple RE agents, entrepreneurs and decent folks in general. Most people who found this site early on were trying to give you advice to help you out of your situation.
YOU created the Haterz™.
By continuing to make the same mistakes OVER & OVER & OVER again.
By continuing to waste money.
By continuing to ignore our plea to consult a lawyer.
By continuing to ignore our plea to consult a CPA.
By continuing to look for SWEET deals.
You just don’t get it. Maybe some jail time will help it sink in.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:18 am
Answering your questions -
To the “haters”:
* You say I need to get a W-2 job? But according to Nacho if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really? Or are you still gonna hate?
We HATE the fact that you are playing with money that is not yours - and by PLAYING we mean fake trips to utah, dinners, and murses - IF you want some respect - live life on the cheap in order to fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams. I worked 8hrs a day - 5 hrs of school a night - worked hard - not played the real estate lotto with others money
* Some of you say I should file bankruptcy? Others of you say I need to pay back every dirty penny like I intended? Which one is it? Or are you still gonna hate?
You SHOULD pay back every penny because you didn’t have respect for your leverage. You didn’t make mistakes - you feel entitled to things - you are not without hard work (real work)
But since you are so far down BK is your only way - either way you wasted time, money, and resources
* What if I turn this blog into a foreclosure help site and create true value while making a living out of it? Are you still gonna tell me I need to get a W-2 job and throw away the position I have developed? Or are you still gonna hate?
We will still think you are a foolish, undeserving kid that got lucky with his 15 minutes of fame - and we are here to watch the train wreck.
* If I become a raging success through this “failure”… Are you still gonna hate? (or be jealous?)
Hate and be jealous - yes because your gains are the result of a fluke - dumb luck -
April 11th, 2007 at 7:19 am
You’d probably get more support from your audience if they saw you were taking the advice they were offering. Instead, you often give excuses as to why you aren’t going to do what people are suggesting.
You’d also probably get more sympathy if people saw you were taking some sort of action to help yourself out. Instead, your lazy, procrastinating side is showing. You remind me of myself back in high school. That may be exactly why you’re getting the “hater” response. You may be reminding people of their own traits they don’t like seeing in themselves.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:21 am
“What qualifies you to give me advice?”
My net worth > your net worth.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:21 am
“Well kids, we’ve been on the air for 346 consecutive hours.. and it is all thanks to one little boy.. who WON’T LET ME STOP!” - Krusty The Clown
At this point, I’d strongly support turning yourself in to the proper authorities and making a full confession. Hell, I’d be happy if you retained a criminal attorney and actually took good advice for once. Third choice? Setting yourself on fire in hater protestation would make for a quite amusing IAFF post.
Casey, IAFF will never be monetized. And it sure as hell will never be a foreclosure resource site. You’ve got a pipe dream, boy, one that reality just won’t let you have. So stop pretending like your readers have an obligation to help you make money, be a man and face up to your role in life.
Guess what happens when the hating stops? The traffic stops! We all just keep coming back to watch the dancing monkey, Casey - that doesn’t mean we respect it. Once the monkey refuses to dance anymore, the crowd dissipates. IAFF dies.
Meanwhile, if you take down IAFF and replace it with a completely new site, the radical change of content is going to have a seriously negative impact on your Google rankings. Not immediately, for sure, but pretty soon. A lot of the backlinks will be dead, and Google will treat the new pages as brand new PR0 listings.
Do you know what happens then? You completely lose control - EN and other critical blogs jump ahead of IAFF in rank. How many people do you think are seriously going to look to you for foreclosure help then? After everything you’ve done, do you seriously think that the hater community will EVER let it work?
So, again, here’s the thing: we don’t care. Whine all you want - it’s just more dancing monkey, just more entertainment value. You’ve dug yourself in so deep now that you don’t have a choice but to keep up the show until the authorities finally let you stop. So dance, monkey, dance!
The sooner you finally accept your situation, the sooner you’ll have answers to your questions.
Tick tock, Casey. Tick tock!
April 11th, 2007 at 7:24 am
That’s your Rodney Dangerfield moment…I CAN’T GET NO RESPECT!!!™
April 11th, 2007 at 7:26 am
Casey,
To get support around here, you need to start doing the right things and stop pursuing strategies that postpone a point where you have to deal with reality. The folks who advise you to pay back every penny are genuinely upset with your unwillingness to take the necessary steps to do so, despite your REPEATED expressions of desire to pay it back. They are holding you to your desire (and the ethical obligation) to pay back, which you have expressed on multiple occasions.
The people who are advising you to BK are looking at a longer-term scenario, and are thinking of your best financial future. Again, they’re trying to help…they’re holding you to your REPEATED expressions of desire to become a successful entrepreneur.
The problem isn’t with the “haterz”…the problem is with you. You either can’t decide what to do, or you have decided but you have not been forthright (naked) about what that decision is. Meanwhile, the people on this blog see inaction, or digging into a deeper hole. Why shouldn’t they be upset with someone they’ve invested time and effort into understanding and trying to help?
It won’t be hard to get support from folks on this blog if you do the following:
1) Make a REASONABLE decision about how to resolve your debts. This includes aspects like getting a job, cutting up credit cards, budgeting for everything from rent to food so you know where the money’s going.
2) Follow through on it, and GIVE EXPLICIT DETAILS. Every time you say you have something going on, you are infuriatingly vague. You have effectively set up an environment where no one can really hold you accountable to anything you say, which is not a good thing. That’s how this blog can help you: you can get advice from people and then they will help hold you accountable in solving your problems.
3) Monetize the blog, but not as a foreclosure resource site. People going through foreclosure want advice from someone who has gone through foreclosure and now is in an ENVIABLE financial position. That’s a success story. While that may happen to you one day, that’s not the case now. You may have a winner of an idea, but your timing is too soon.
4) Here’s the kicker…when people ask questions on your posts, ANSWER THEM. And not vaguely, not with flippant cliches…put down thought-out, extensive, clear answers. Err on the side of transparency.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Why should I listen to your negativity?
Beats me - why do you? You obviously get something out of it (traffic).
If you don’t like the negative reaction to your having continually ignored sound advice and repeated the same mistakes, then moderate with an iron first and watch your blog die.
Choose the problem you want to live with.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:30 am
Bill Cosby said the sure fire way to failure is to attempt to please everyone. Sounds like you’re still on the same track. At least we know Casey is a steady guy!
April 11th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Hey Casey,
Here is the problem: You try to solve your problems by inventing solutions that are really trading one problem for another. You cannot be truly credible until this all over and you have found some postive outcome to this. You cannot call yourself an expert in middle of the storm. Until then, your people will keep ragging on you because you cannot see the forest past the trees.
I have seen all good, solid and rational advice that you refuse to take because you think failing is the path to success. It is, but the trick is to LEARN from your mistakes- no keep repeating them. You have been receiving a ton on exposure from this site and your escapes, but at what price? Everyone thinks you are an idiot and when people start reading your blog, the further they get when reading comments- the more they will understand how naive you really are.
Good luck, Amigo.
Roberto
April 11th, 2007 at 7:34 am
“What do I have to do to get support around here?”
“Why the hate?”
forget it. You’re just one ludicrous troll at this point. Probably were all along.
Anyone continuing to feed this little attention-w**** deserves what they get.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:34 am
You say no one here is qualified to give you advice. So why do you keep asking for it?
And I guess the readers shouldn’t bother giving it anyway, because no matter how well-intended, no matter how much sense it makes…..you won’t follow it anyway.
It appears the only thing you want to hear is “where do I send a check to Casey Serin”.
I love how you say you “accepted $250 to get chewed out”. Like someone was forcing the $ on you. You begged that $. Aren’t you ashamed? If my husband was begging $ on the internet instead of working, I’d leave his sorry a** so quickly his head would spin.
I think I am just about ready to move along. Not much to see here except the ravings of a man that is almost at the end of his rope, and is frantically pulling what few tricks he has left out of his bag, to gather attention.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:35 am
The haters are a varied group, some of which are pretty scummy and you will not be able to please all of them. Some of us that would like to see you succeed, but really, really, really doubt you will. We are now calling ourselves realists to disassociate from the haters.
As to your questions
Should you pay back every penny?
It is not within your power to pay back the debt so I consider anyone obsessed with this to be irrational. America specifically setup the bankruptcy system to make sure that people who were hopelessly in debt could get a fresh chance and make something of themselves. I believe that once the foreclosures are done, you probably should declare bankruptcy.
Will the perception change if you start making money from your business? Will I have a good time if I get a threesome with Jennifer Aniston and Angolina Jolie?
Neither is going to happen so the question is irrelevant
Making this website a foreclosure help site to help people.
Nobody believes you would be legitimately helping people with a foreclosure website. Very few come here for help and those that do realize this site is poisoned as a viable business. You may be able to setup an equity stripping entity where you can make a little money refering suckers to equity strippers.
What do you have to do to get support?
Quit trying to be a leach on society.
Corporate credit is what turned me away from being a supporter. You are paying 10 points in upfront fees to get your $50,000 line of credit. Hard money lenders would still be willing to work with you if the deal was right and would probably charge around 5 points. You will be paying additional fees and interest to actually get the credit. These costs are too high for you to be able to legitimately compete in the market.
The only way for the corporate credit to work is if you use it just to hide your identity, get loans and then bankrupt the corporation. If this works, it is repeatable and threatens the integrity of the US banking system. Therefore if it works, and you are public about it, you have to go to prison. If it fails, you can stay free.
I have built successful businesses and failed in business more than once.
My advice for you would be to not even attempt to run a business until IAF has been dead for at least a year. And you should listen to it because it is good avice.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Casey, I just don’t understand your generation … I really don’t. What do you expect we owe you? What does anyone who reads your train wreck of a life owe you?
I’m approx. twice your age. I own multiple properties. I’ve worked hard all my life for everything that I have. And believe me when I tell you this: things haven’t always been easy for me. I’ve fallen on my face a few times, and been hit with some crap I certainly didn’t deserve.
Why do young people of your generation feel that there is any value at all in blogging about your life for all to see? People get so emotional about your story because you BROKE THE LAW. In doing so, you ended up with 8 houses you could not afford - while honest, hard-working people who dream of owning their own home cannot even buy ONE.
We also believe you’re a shady person because you look up to shady people - namely, ripoff gurus who run seminars for suckers. They pray on people looking to better their life, and sell them “education” that’s worth maybe 1/10 of what they charge.
Listen, Casey - you’re YOUNG, uneducated, and don’t really know how the world works yet. But that’s OK, we’ve all been there. What frustrates us (”haters” if you so choose to label us) is that even in the face of all your failure, you refuse to admit you’ve followed the wrong path.
I know a lot of people that read your blog - myself included - have College degrees. I also have a post-graduate degree. That doesn’t make me SMART. But the MOST VALUABLE thing I learned in College is CRITICAL THINKING. It’s formed the core of my business and personal judgement, and along with the rest of the tools I acquired in College (financial analysis skills, economics, etc.) has enabled me to get where I am.
Gurus and MLM fanatics make me SICK - and you are a fool for falling for their crap. (I also believe any organized religion is a scam as well, but that’s another story.)
I’ll repeat what’s been said here by many others before: we don’t give a flying fock about you - we’re here for the amusement of watching the train wreck.
SN
April 11th, 2007 at 7:38 am
I know one way for a lot of the “haters” to stop the hate.
Stop acting like a f*cking idiot. Quit being so iffy on what direction you are going to take. Most of the hate comes from the fact that you seem to prefer to do nothing than something.
Did you read between the lines there, DO SOMETHING!!!
And by something I do not mean take out more credit to pay back some lenders, that really gets you nowhere. Start making some progress.
I’ll admit, I will be slightly disgusted if you happen to go through this and be a great financial distress with the only penalty to you being some scorn on the internet and a bruised credit rating. But that’s the beauty of America.
Bottom line, stop trying to please all the “haters”, do something, ANYTHING to move forward, and from my perspective stop always justifying your wasting of time(which you do a lot of). You should have learned by now that ignoring your problems only makes them a bigger mess to deal with later.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Stop trying to please everyone and just keep blogging about your latest episodes. I’m sure the hater™ comments represent less than 2% of your total traffic. You have far more silent fans than haters.
I’m a hater™ that’s starting to see the Casey Method™ as the smarter path in life than a regular J-O-B. You seem to feel good about your life, and have an eagerness to learn from your mistakes… which is more than a lot of wage earners ever do.
Besides… any lender stupid enough to give money to a 24 year old and not perform any due dillegence deserves to lose their money.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:50 am
You spent a lot of time out of your “very busy schedule” writing this post.
Have you found the missing Utah payment yet? If not, wouldn’t that have been a better use of your time?
April 11th, 2007 at 7:52 am
I’ve only read this blog about a week, never posted but I understand fully why the “haters” are on you so.
The problem is, you simply won’t admit that you have lost. There is no win, there is no comeback, you are just that far in the hole.
And you keep digging, and see no problem with it.
The casino Martingale reference some have made is apt (for those not familair, the idea is if you lose you bet just enough on the next hand to make a profit, upping the bet on each loss to come out 1 unit ahead on the (presumed) eventual win, the problem is after enough losses, you hit the table limit and can no longer place significant enough bet to recoup previous losses).
You hit the table limit a LONG time ago.
Its time to drop back and punt, yes (in some sequence) declare bankruptcy, get a job, repay the debts you can’t get cleared, put your life back together. In a few years THEN you can put up www.howIrecoveredfrom2millindebt.com and maybe (just maybe) you will have learned enough to begin a few (small) real estate deals again.
Right now your “web property” site isnt worth as much as you may think, your expertise is non-existent, I’m not interested in how to get way over my head, I’m quite capable of doing that on my own.
You have not proven any ability to make even the slightest headway in getting out of debt, in fact are hellbent on resisting any of the proven ways of making it, even posting with some glee plans to get FURTHER into debt.
THAT is what your “haters” can’t stand about you. You post happily that you were able to shift a higher interest loan to a lower interest loan, and the next thing you post is about “looking for a sweet deal”. Thats how you got in this mess in the first place. If you can’t see whats wrong with that you need to either take the blog down or quit complaining about ..well people complaining about your behavior.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:54 am
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and here is why we hate.
There are two types of people in the world.
1. Those who think the world has rules, that everyone must play by the rules, and that cheaters will destroy society.
2. Those who think there are no rules, that anything goes, that there is no right or wrong, and they therefore want to break the imposed ‘rules’ to see what they can get away with.
Here are some of the rules #1 type people believe in:
If you take out a loan, you must seriously consider all of the consequences and commit to repaying it.
If you give someone your word, you must keep it no matter what.
Success comes through thoughtful effort, not through get-rich-quick schemes.
If you make a mistake (everyone does), you must stop and think what went wrong before repeating the action.
The haters on this blog belong to #1. They see you as belonging to #2. They come here to see you get what you deserve, mainly bankruptcy and jail. The haters want to see their world view confirmed by your pain.
The haters will stop hating you if you made a long term plan on how to create wealth by creating a value, NOT by taking money from others because they were a greater fool.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:55 am
You should be receptive to the advice that has been given. Very much of it has been worthwhile. Obviously some of it has not been. Filter through that.
You don’t answer other people’s repeated questions. Why are you asking them?
Originally I think a lot of people really wanted to help you - they still do! - but you are evasive and behave as if you are smarter than everyone else. That turned the tide on this whole website. You can do whatever you want with it, but there will always be people who do not believe in you.
This question and answer thing at the end of every post is kind of lame. Did you read about that in a “How to blog” book?
April 11th, 2007 at 7:56 am
CS: “if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really?”
Yes, for me if you “start making solid income” but so far there’s been 6 months of talk and no action.
CS: “Some of you say I should file bankruptcy? Others of you say I need to pay back every dirty penny like I intended? Which one is it?”
It’s not for us to decide, it’s your decision. But yet again you’ve been putting it off. You said on 7th Oct you were seeing a BK lawyer “next week” (IIRC) so did you? I’ll bet NO.
Got to go, but one other thing, did you really write this or is the Ghost Writer theory correct?
April 11th, 2007 at 7:58 am
If I say I can fly enough times, it still doesn’t make it true.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:07 am
Casey,
Now your turn:
The Utah payment?
The stock purchase- did you make the purchase or not?
Who did you borrow the cash to start the corp?
How did you pay it back?
How is your corp plan on generating revenue?
April 11th, 2007 at 8:19 am
as a mtg. broker of 10+ yrs, and a stuck investor who also has made mistakes, KNOW THAT MOST “HATERS” are loosers.
They justify doing nothing by bashing doers. Here is what T.R. had to say about bashers and haters.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the
strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them
better. The credit belongs to he man who is actually in the arena; whose
face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the
best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if
he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall
never be with those cold and timid souls who knew niether victory nor defeat.
F*** the w-2ed loosers, the will always be loosers. Loosers who are frusterated and underpaid, insecure in their own jobs, lacking the balls to take risk and reap reward. The don’t have the balls to unionize, they vote for Bush and they send their own kids to Iraq.
Lighting always hits the highest tree.
Failing is a building block to success.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Casey,
Stay the course, don’t file for bankruptcy. Use your line of credit to get your investments going, it takes money to make money. Make this into a foreclosure site even if it costs you every dime Visa and CitiBank have. Don’t give into the advice to file for bankruptcy, keep the dream alive not matter the cost.
Keep living the Dream
-Roger
April 11th, 2007 at 8:23 am
What do I have to do to get support around here?
Tell the truth about where you got the $4,200 to invest in the GSPG stocks, and where the $4,500 came from to pay the corporate creditors. Then tell the truth about how come you didn’t have enough money for CashCall to make a reduced $220 monthly payment and why you needed a begathon to make your payments.
You are caught in your own lies, Casey.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:25 am
While I don’t agree with anything you’ve written in this post, you included photos of Jenna Fischer in her birthday suit, so I’ll have to give you a passing grade.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Are you kidding me? You defrauded at least 8 separate lenders and profited to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars in ill gotten gains. Cash back at close, owner occupied financing on ALL properties, and taking out credit to pay off credit? Come on Casey, do you really need to ask why we all hate? I work for a lender (thankfully not one that you ripped off, or trust me, we’d be all over you), and I can tell you that you’re not a guru, or a role model, or a teacher. You’re a punchline. You’re the definition of what not to do in life. I looked at Sacramento’s market data just for kicks. Turns out it’s about the worst in all of California. Most zip codes are down 20-30% year over year. Any more “Hot” markets you can recommend, oh great one? Do yourself a favor and stop what you’re doing. This is not hate talking, it’s the voice of reason. You can’t fail your way out of this. The more you do now, the more you’re going to open yourself up to what most of us believe is going to be your inevitable fate…. Prison. When (not if) they start looking at you (the FBI, the IRS, the Attorney General), you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.
BTW…. I think it says a lot about you that you seen to be talking out of both sides of your mouth. You started this blog to warn people about foreclosure and whatnot, yet you also just admitted that you were trying to obtain financing on a “9th” deal that was declined after they found your blog. Would you have ever stopped if they didn’t catch on? I doubt it. But I’m sure you’ll say that was going to be your “last one”. Casey, you’re an addict. Unfortunately, I think you’re addicted to failure.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:26 am
I can’t believe you are comparing yourself to a “young CEO” as the article says.
Mind you- that they blog AND run a company.
Try that. Try just working… for actual taxable dollars… and then blog. It’s not that hard.
I work a “traditional” 45/hr a week job, which you have somehow given a negative connotation over your blog as a “W-2 job.” (Which by the way is insulting to any American worker including many immigrant workers).
I attend webdesign shcool at night.
I (successfully) own rental property, which I am also the property manager for.
And I’m planning a wedding on top of all that!
I also have a four year double major degree…. dun dun dun.
Try just one of those things Mr. Serin. Just one.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:26 am
You want support? Try achieving success in an ethical and intelligent manner. Have a little humility about your situation.
Your story is running out of steam and the blog is getting tired.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Dude, if you’re being naked and totally honest, how about giving honest answers to the following questionnaire.
Multiple people, myself included, have previously brought up the idea that you might be a compulsive gambler, and yet you’ve never once responded.
We don’t hate, we’re just trying to understand why you consistently do the exact wrong thing in almost any given situation, and a compulsive gambling problem would explain a great deal if it.
Let’s see your answers if you’re really being honest. Or you can just keep pretending to be truthful with us, like begging for $300+ dollars after you’d taken out a loan for $4500.
Let’s see what you have to say.
Gamblers Anonymous offers the following questions to anyone who may have a gambling problem. These questions are provided to help the individual decide if he or she is a compulsive gambler and wants to stop gambling.
TWENTY QUESTIONS
Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?
Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
Did gambling affect your reputation?
Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?
Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
Were you reluctant to use “gambling money” for normal expenditures?
Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?
Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?
Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?
Most compulsive gamblers will answer yes to at least seven of these questions.
http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/
April 11th, 2007 at 8:30 am
“What do I have to do to get support around here?”
Um… get a job? I’m sure by you have realized how much money you could have made had you worked a normal W-2 job. Transferring personal debt to corporate debt is just playing the shell game.
Also, (as I’m sure a million people will have pointed out by the time this gets posted) it’s seized not ceased.
So what *is* it you’re doing, specifically, to pay off this debt?
April 11th, 2007 at 8:32 am
ASW: blueball
Whoa, Nelly!! Getting a little ahead of ourselves with all those questions to the haters, aren’t we? And you consider FIVE MONTHS as “quick to judge”?
April 11th, 2007 at 8:34 am
What do I have to do to get support around here?
Have you forgotten the fact that people _gave_ you a bunch of money just the other day? I can’t remember the last time complete strangers gave me money.
Honestly, do you think that a course of action exists that will make everyone on the internet happy? Of course there’s no way you can do that. Most of the ‘haters’ just want you to stop digging yourself deeper.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:36 am
Those are some BIG legs.
Just sayin.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:40 am
Casey seems to like sweet deals. These appear to be situations he has been suckered into so far.
1) Real Estate Seminars
Seminars $30k
Real Estate Agents ??
Casey Debt, Foreclosures
2) Penny Stocks
Loss so far
3) Corporation Credit
Company $5K
Casey more loans to pay
4) Lemon Car Buy
Any others on the record
April 11th, 2007 at 8:42 am
Why haven’t you been shut down yet?
April 11th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Have I ever been in your shoes? No, I tend not to step in turds. My mommy taught me it was wrong to steal.
April 11th, 2007 at 8:56 am
—-What do I have to do to get support around here?
Casey, let me tell you why most people are “haters”:
People are haters because you have done illegal deeds out of greed, have no remorse and even consider it “all good”, justify your fraudulent acts by saying “everyone else does it”, give every indication that given the chance you would (and will) continue to do fraudulent acts in the future and then try to look for ways to profit on the publicity you receive from your fraudulent acts, all to make a quick buck without working too hard.
You somehow don’t seem to understand that it’s people like you that make life on hard working honest people tougher than it has to be. You also can’t seem to make the connection in your mind that what you did was stealing and someone has to pay for your losses, all of us. Whether you walk into a bank with a gun and steal a million dollars or lie on an application to get a million dollars from the bank that you never pay back, the bank is still out the million dollars either way.
Your complete lack of sorrow and remorse is what I find most troubling. How would you feel if someone was speeding and driving recklessly in their car, hit a slick spot in the road and hit a busload of children? None of the children died or were seriously hurt, but people are still critical of the driver who crashed into them.
Now, if the person driving the cars response was: “Everyone speeds. I didn’t see a problem with it. I learned a lot about how one should look for slick spots in the road while speeding. It’s all good. The next time I speed I’ll try to be more aware of the slick spots. I don’t see what the big deal is, nobody got hurt. This has been a very good learning experience for me. I’m looking into giving people advise about speeding and dealing with crashes. I’m still going to speed; I just need to try to be more careful when I do it. It’s all good.”
That kind of attitude would outrage people. That is the type of attitude you have about what you did. After all this time and hundreds of people trying to point this out to you, you still don’t get it. You still think it’s some type of a game. You still believe that your little fraud scheme is a business.
Another thing that outrages people is your belief that somehow you are a real estate investor and entrepreneur. Why, because you say so? If I defend myself in court on a traffic ticket and lose, does that make me a lawyer? If put a bandage on a cut, does that make me a doctor? If I build a deck in my backyard, does that make me a carpenter? If I replace the fan belt in my car, does that make me a car mechanic. If I buy some shares of stock, does that make me a trader? Calling yourself a real estate investor and entrepreneur not only insults everyone who truly is a real estate investor and entrepreneur, but brings bad meaning to the terms. If you built a deck in your backyard that fell apart and then told the world about it and that you were a carpenter, that would bring a bad light to all carpenters and the general public would not look at any carpenter as highly. Once again, you just don’t get it. You are not a real estate investor. You are a kid who quit his job in hopes of making money in real estate because you saw one too many late night infomercials, bought a few houses by lying on applications, and lost miserably. That’s it, no more. That does not make you a real estate investor.
Change your attitude and people will change how they feel about you.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:06 am
This post seems like a practice run for what you are going to say to the judge when you end up in court.
One thing i learned about law school, Federal judges and federal cases are a nightmare. They have almost a 100% conviction rate. Once the Government goes after you, it’s all over. Most lawyers advise their clients who are being tried by the government to take a plea deal, because trials are guaranteed to result in a guilty verdict.
This isnt much of a defense. Good luck.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:10 am
What do you have to do to get support? Something worth supporting. Like getting out of la-la land and getting a job or two, stop the double talk about your income and actually accomplish something with what’s left of your existence.
I think that a lot of people were willing to cut you some slack for getting in over your head. What has turned people into “haters” (how I despise that word…) is that you’ve refused to face reality and actually do something productive to turn things around. Not to mention the fact that you refuse to answer serious questions.
For example, where did you get the money to pay Corporate Brokers?
April 11th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Trust me, you arent going to ever be a “raging success”, unless you mean succeeding at failure. You have that pretty locked up, son.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:31 am
To get support, you need to start taking actual responsibility for your actions. Not responsiblity where you say you’re responsible, but actually engage in actions that demonstrate that you understand that you’ve dug a massive hole for yourself, and make some efforts to start filling in the hole.
The ‘haters’ didn’t start out that way. But they watched someone talk and talk and talk (and talk), but never do anything, at least not do anything sensible.
Your complete lack of effort towards repairing your situation has turned the sympathetic into what you call ‘haters’.
And I know you’re sitting there thinking: “I’ve done so much to fix my situation! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!” Well, I only know what you’ve posted on this blog.
And what I see is a guy who *thinks* he’s super busy, but doesn’t actually do anything (lack of self knowledge) and someone is far more concerned with ’sweet media’ (every minute you spend worrying about the ’sweet media’ is a minute you could have done something *productive*) and someone who still thinks that he can engage in get-rich-quick-schemes (lack of knowledge of objective reality).
You want support? Get your crap together.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:31 am
“It still amazes me how emotional people get over my story.”
That’s because you’re a delusional egocentric. While you’re mooching off friends, family and society and living the life of a deadbeat, we “haters” are actually working, producing things that other people want, and contributing to society. We don’t like criminals like you. You say you don’t hate us but your behavior tells us you feel our only purpose in business is to work hard to give you the passive income God has entitled you to.
People like you are damaging our society and always have been. You make it harder for honest people to get loans, buy houses, start legitimate businesses, and live productive honest lives. The more Casey Serins are that are allowed to run amok in our society, the more everyone will have to suspect they’re going to be defrauded or scammed out of their money.
I think your early Communist education has twisted your understanding of how American business works. As a child back in the old country you were taught that speculators were the evil parasites of capitalist society, producing nothing yet reaping the benefits (what you now call “passive income”) by oppressing and exploiting the rest of the population. I’m sure you decided that if you ever ended up in a capitalist country, THIS would be the position to get in business. The Communists didn’t tell you that speculators are a tiny fraction of American business and they almost always get their “passive income” jobs through decades of actual work and making connections or in some cases inheriting the position.
I say this because we had this problem in the large Russian population that immigrated to my city in the early 90’s. They were victims of the lies they had been taught about capitalism. A small percentage thought that getting rich in America was a matter of exploiting people, finding loopholes in the system, and seeing how far they could push the law (sound familiar?). This made them suckers for get-rich-quick schemes which fit their distorted view of what America was about (sound familiar too?). Fortunately these immigrants were a small minority and the tight Russian community was wonderful at exposing these criminals and in many cases reeducating them so they’re now productive and law-abiding people who are sorry for what they did.
But not you. You admit you committed fraud yet none of us who actually own houses committed fraud. If committing a crime is a “common practice” why didn’t we lie on our mortgage applications if it would have benefited us? If someone told you that tricking elderly people out of their life savings is a “common practice” (which it is unfortunately) would you do it? Why not?
BTW, any sentence you start with “What if I…” is not worth the space it takes up on our screen so don’t bother asking questions when you won’t get the answers you want.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:38 am
I am at a loss as to how you can write phrases like “ceased the moment”. When you read this back, don’t you see that it makes no sense? Writing like this reveals your lack of education. You repeat things without understanding them. On a positive note, your constant comical confusion over near-homonym words is amusing. But it isn’t boosting your credibility.
Seizing the moment is a phrase that has been around since at least Roman times (In Latin it was “Carpe Diem”, literally “Take hold of the day”)
Casey, I don’t think anyone is going to have to worry about being jealous of your success in the future. The probability that you are going to succeed at any meaningful level is vanishingly small.
memento mori
April 11th, 2007 at 9:39 am
[ASW = whatdebt]
Have you been in my shoes? Yes, if you mean young poor and ambitious. No, if you mean uneducated, impatient, and committing and have committed crimes.
Are you a business owner, or investor or entrepreneur?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
What qualifies you to give me advice? Successful track record of real estate, business and entrepenurship.
Why should I listen to your negativity? It’s the only place you’ll get useful advice.
What do I have to do to get support around here? First, understand; There is no “here.” You haven’t built an asset with IAFF. Already you’ve tuned out. You have this elaborate worldview that is premised upon IAFF as an asset. One sentence in and you’ve already decided this advice won’t work for you. Second, you’ve gotten nothing but support for 8 months. That you cannot recognize support when presented does not mean there has been no support. Indeed, this is a classic negative indicator test. You could take the first 1000 posts to IAFF, throw out the venom, throw out the fake cheerleading, throw out the junk and be left with 50 posts that had everything you needed. Had, because it is too late for that advice. Third, you need to buld a pryamid of support. At the bottom all suggestions, middle possible suggestions, top of the pryamid; the possible suggestions that also mean you are doing the right thing not just the possible. Everything else except the top 2/3rds of the pryamid is weighing you down; throw them overboard. Again I’ve lost you. You cannot pay back every dirty penny –> never mention it again. Not possible in the world you’ve built. Repeat for all your other schemes and affectations.
The smell of desperation is all over your recent actions and revelations. Understandable. You’ve been handed all the clues, you’ve been given this roadmap. What no one else can do is make you walk the path.
And that’s it all I can do is close with a modern day parable. A man was caught in a flood. His brother drove up through the rising water with his 4×4 and offered him a ride. He said; “The Lord will save me.” Later a neighbor rowed over to the second floor window. Again he put his faith in “getting saved.” Forced to the roof a helicopter came but he waved them prefering instead to use his own judgement and belief. He drowned. Later, at the Gates he asked his Maker why He didn’t intervene? The Great Maker replied “Who do you think sent the truck, boat and copter?” Casy, your haterz™ are you helicopter and you wave us off.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:40 am
DC EConomist says: “I would publicly support you if you got a W-2 and started trying to pay back whatever you could.”
Come on, get real a job would cut in to Blogging time, sleep time, Jamba Jucing and bouncing on the blue ball…
April 11th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Casey:
You should call WIRED an offer to pose on the cover with the hot looking G. They will probably take the offer since the chubbo chunkster on the cover this month will probably kill newsstand sales.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:44 am
To the “haters”:
* You say I need to get a W-2 job? But according to Nacho if I actually start making solid income from my business(es) the perception will change. Will it really? Or are you still gonna hate?
* Some of you say I should file bankruptcy? Others of you say I need to pay back every dirty penny like I intended? Which one is it? Or are you still gonna hate?
* What if I turn this blog into a foreclosure help site and create true value while making a living out of it? Are you still gonna tell me I need to get a W-2 job and throw away the position I have developed? Or are you still gonna hate?
* If I become a raging success through this “failure”… Are you still gonna hate? (or be jealous?)
If, if, if. You will fail, just as you have in the past. You are lazy and uneducated, willing to jump into any “get rich quick” scheme that comes your way. Either pay back every dirty penny (remember, those are YOUR words) or file bankruptcy, just do something. You need steady income, you have been told that by gurus and haters, even if it’s not a W-2 job, get steady income. You made yourself a public figure, and haters come with that territory, so you better get used to it. You can’t afford to pay rent on time, you have to beg for money on this site, you cannot pay your debts, these are clues that you are failing at being entrepreneur. As far as the haters not knowing the whole story, that’s because you don’t tell them the whole story. I’m sure the whole story will come out in the court documents.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Poor Misunderstood Casey, right?
You ask “What do I have to do to get support around here?”
Well, I’ll tell you… I began reading this blog and thinking about how sad it was that a 24 year old “accidentally” got himself into this much trouble… then I read your posts. None of this happened TO YOU. YOU CAUSED IT.
I know you still don’t get it, and you will dismiss my opinions and the opinions of much of your audience as “Haters” but I’m just being honest here.
How can I feel anything but disgust and anger when I read how you bought so many properties with liar loans and false claims of primary residency one after the next? Not only that, you quit your PAYING job and used illegal cash back for things like eating out, honeymoon in Hawaii, whatever.
You say in August you realized the trouble you were in, so what did you do to stop the bleeding? You tried to buy ANOTHER house and get another “Cash Back” infusion. Did you get a job? NO! You did “consulting” for another “investor” hopefully better at it than yourself, I don’t know what he’d want to hire you for. You took a “job” if you can call it that, at your rich dad’s office… It’s not a job if you don’t get paid.
You consistantly piss on getting a job, you have made ZERO progress toward paying off any of your debts because you intentionally have no income. You waffle about bankruptcy for “moral” (give me a break) reasons and because you are scared of fraud charges (this one is probably more accurate, I’d be scared too).
With 6 properties that were facing foreclosure as of last August, you have 4 that have now foreclosed. You have one “Wrapped” but can’t even be bothered to track down a missing payment… probably because there’s nothing in it for you to do that, and you have one that will foreclose in the next month or two if a short sale isn’t completed first.
News Flash! You have done nothing since August except blog and make excuses. Oh, and aparently take out MORE DEBTS now through your psudo corp.
By the way, in the last two weeks you received $250 from Nacho and something close to $300 in “donations” to help you make a cash-call payment. This is in addition to whatever cash you have “borrowed” through your corporation. I’d say you are getting some support through your website, even though in my opinion, it isn’t deserved.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:50 am
The reason people “hate” you, are because you are directly responsible for the following:
1) House prices removed from reality - which is why young families can’t afford a home.
2) Retired people have to choose between food and medicine because the loans you made got sold in a MBS to their pension plan. D’oh!
3) You have allowed greed and criminal activity to stand in the way of any good advice, good will, or common sense you might have received. This has occurred at every step of the way.
4) People are frustrated with how brainwashed you’ve become by people we know are just lying hacks - the Carleton Sheets of the world. You don’t see failure as an indicator that you’re doing something wrong or that you suck at real estate investing, no, you see it as LEARNING! As FALLING FORWARD! You honestly think anyone and everyone could become a billionaire through real estate if they just quit their jobs and failed enough times.
As far as the question about bankruptcy or “paying back every dirty penny”, why not do both? Just because your debts are legally forgiven doesn’t mean you can’t pay them back anyway.
April 11th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Honestly Casey, if this is so hard on you, why are you upset?
Let’s face, you’ve managed to turn yourself into a celebrity, along the likes of Paris Hilton. She too, is famously not successful for anything (her actual successes came after the attention, and are kept much quieter), and the negative attention she attracts keeps her in the spotlight.
Let’s face it, you only need this attention if you are planning to monetize this site. If that’s the case then it’s your choice to bear this burden and deal with these “haters”. If you have no plans to monetize, and the haters are causing you grief, then kill the site. It’s that simple.
You see how easy life becomes once we realize how much control we have over ourselves?
April 11th, 2007 at 9:58 am
your a Joke ..your still trying to pass off your exploits as some sort of business..really Casey..you fool no one….and yes i do have a business and have had for well over 15yrs ..ive never financed it because ive never needed to ..as the old saying goes Casey..learn to crawl before you walk…you seem to think at some level your successful but the sad thing is your successful at not being successful..andf quite frankly even if you managed to clear your debt ..i would never do business with you because one youve shown a propensity to lie in desperation
and spout all the right terms without really knowing what they mean
April 11th, 2007 at 10:00 am
PLEASE CASEY…Give us a quick rundown on just THREE people that you have helped via this blog… Overall details with the names left out…Quote from some of your e-mails for credibility.
CAN YOU DO IT?
April 11th, 2007 at 10:01 am
It’s really easy.
The difference between those CEO’s and others the article talks about, and you, is that those people work.
It’s really very easy.
The haterz aren’t demanding you get a W-2 job. The W-2 isn’t important. The steady, reliable stream of income is. The W-2 thing is totally in your head, the advice twisted around so you have a way to defend yourself.
Hater> You need to get a job, a steady stream of income, and pay off your bills!
You> Why should I go to college and work as a drone 9-5?
Who says “work” is 9-5 with a college education in an office? Straw Man argument, anyone? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man)
It’s really very, very easy.
People are “haterz” because you’re lazy and sleazy.. always looking for the quick way to get rich without putting any effort into it whatsoever (sorry, talking to people doesn’t constitute ‘working hard’).
The Great Backhand of Reality is heading for your face even as I type this. You know it. As it gets closer, you yell, scream, and whine, doing everything you can convince yourself (and everyone else) that no, it’s ok, I DON’T need to do any real work, I’ve got a deal working that will make me rich!
The more posts of yours I see, the more I think jailtime is a necessity. It’s the only way to save you and your family from yourself. Until you are able to actually read the comments posted here and see things as they are, not how you want them to be, you’re just going to get worse and worse. Your scams are becoming more blatant and more desperate. Misrepresenting yourself to scam your blog readers out of cash, the very people generating the traffic you need to build your blog into something that generates cash? Never poop where you sleep, son. You keep going down this path and you’re going to scam the wrong person and end up dead in a gutter somewhere.
Of course, the long-term “haterz” only post here to vent. You don’t actually read or acknowledge anything in the comments, or you wouldn’t be in this situation. Don’t act like you care what people say, we all know its not true.
April 11th, 2007 at 10:03 am
You and your site are too entertaining to hate. Even if some comments sound hateful, they must have some intense interests in your site and situation to have such intense emotion.
People’s attitudes will change if your debt load starts shrinking.
People make negative comments when you are sinking into the deeper hole, that is w