Unfortunately, This is the Legacy Casey Really Leaves as He Exits the Stage…
Casey Serin provides ample psychological investigative fodder on so many levels. There is no doubt he has raw intelligence but he is unfocused and undisciplined. He has a high school education from a California government school and considering the state of government education in this country he was hardly prepared for what awaited him in life. The life lessons before him didn’t seem to sink in too well either.
I’m not going to debate the details and minutia of what he did, claims or admitted he did or anyone else claims he has done. It doesn’t matter for this discussion. All of that will be sorted out through the justice system, or not there is no in-between.
But, Casey does leave a legacy all real estate investors have to deal with from this point forward.
See, Casey wasn’t part of the guru circuit and he didn’t have a late night TV infomercial. Casey thought he was a real estate investor and claimed it many times but Casey was a speculator. He didn’t have the training to know how to evaluate a deal to see if there was any profit to be had. What’s more, his government high school education left him woefully lacking in the ability to recognize when he was being taken for a ride.
But, the legacy Casey leaves is damning to all real investors. That legacy can best be summed up with the following posted today on the Caseyhaterz™ board.
“…but do you really think he’ll stop scamming? He’ll get out of jail, find out how hard life is with a felony or two on your record (those that overcome that are to be respected), get rejected for a shiny job or two because of it, and within a week “We buy houses!” flyers will go up, and he’ll be back in touch with the NRU people.“
That is the legacy Casey leaves; he reinforces the myth that all real estate investors are frauds and con artists.
To me, in an ironic way, it also makes it more interesting to examine the deals Casey did to learn how he did them and what went wrong. From the information in the public arena, I think Casey’s mistakes all started long before he filled out a mortgage application or signed a single purchase agreement. And from what I’ve read he was an idiot to buy any of the eight houses he talked about on his blog. Yes, even the one where the builder guaranteed his rents for a while, in fact that one especially.
Casey, like most amateurs, did not understand the fundamentals. He wanted to jump in the deep end of the pool but he didn’t know how to swim and he didn’t want to really learn how to swim and he had no clue he was supposed to actually inflate the inner tube.
If he becomes the judicial example the haterz™ crave he and his actions will be used to justify even more intrusion into our everyday lives by government on all levels.
Yes, I and thousands like me buy houses and we even use flyers and I can assure you we real investors see NRU for exactly what it is.
We aren’t even remotely like Casey, but we will be seen that way.
We used to be compared to used car salesmen, sadly, Casey has ensured used car salesmen are safely on a level by themselves now and unless the honest real estate investors are very careful we will be looking up at those used car salesmen for a long time.
Hey Tim, RH here.
The Casey saga seems to be slowly winding down. There is still a way to go is my guess. But the posts on the haters sites, and Casey’s own blog have slowed down quite a bit the last week, and IAFF is now even gone (at least for the moment). I am getting a sense that people are finally growing tired of the story
You’ve mentioned in two recent posts the feeling you have that most folks view real estate investors in a negative light. Like used car salepersons for example.
I’ve never held that opinion, though I do have a opinion about real estate investing which is somewhat negative.
I don’t know how much you want to get into this sort of discussion on your blog. How persons view the real estate investing profession is clearly related to the subject matter of your blog, but it also gets into more subjective realms like which you may want to pursue. I don’t know it is your desire in this blog to stray too far from the business, economics, practical side of real estate investing.
If you do start at thread devoted to the subject of why real estate investors are viewed in a certain light, I’d certainly post ot it.
Take care Tim,
RH
I don’t think “honest real estate investor” is an oxymoron. I do think that the entire concept of “flipping” properties has been pretty well turned to mud in recent years, though.
It is quite amusing to see another real estate “investor” bemoan the fact that Casey’s spectacular blowup sheds a bad light on the industry. But what the Casey debacle actually did was turn over the rock in the garden with a big flashlight and reveal the slimy creatures who inhabit the world - feasting and living amid corruption and decay. And yes, that includes you. You, who presume to profit by adding NOTHING OF VALUE to the process, and in many times, profiting entirely on the backs of those in poverty already.
So Casey was not an anachronism in the whole real estate investing world. He was, rather its paragon. For he epitomized what the real estate investment industry is all about: UNBRIDLED GREED. Only in his case, this quest for easy money was cut short by his inherent stupidity.
This game’s only just beginning. We’re in the third inning of the Housing bust.
Hi Tim,
This comment concerns Casey’s “legacy”. The title of you original post refered to Caseys’ leagcy so I’m guessing that is this is an appropriate topic to post about.
RE: the comment in your post about Casey’s “raw intelligence”.
I don’t want to make too big a deal of it, but maybe this will stimulate some thoughtful discussion.
You, and a few others on other blogs, have commented on Casey’s high intelligence before.
I’m not beign snarky or anythign whenI say this, but I’m just not seeing it.
The evidence sure is not in his actions, because he has done one stupid thing after another, after another, after another, after another, etc. etc.
Now I know the response to that is that he made so many bad (some would say stupid) descisons not because he was stupid, but because he was inexperienced, impulsive, listened to bad “guru”-advice, possibly emotionally unstable, etc.
However, even ignoring his actions and just reading his words you see evidence not of a highly intelligent person, but of a person of average to below average intelligence.
His posts were consistently full of spelling errors and poor grammar (and I don’t mean the occasional error we all have in internet posts, his posts always had numerous errors). Much of that was intentional “Caseyisms” its true. But his poor spelling and grammar didn’t start out as Caseyims. At first that was just the way he naturally wrote. Even someone of average intelligence can spell simple words like “loser” correctly. I’ve heard it explained that these issues were due to him being an immigrant. I don’t believe the fact that he is an immigrant explains his language difficulties. He moved to this country when he was young, young enough that his youth was an advantage in learning a new language. He has lived here speaking English as his primary language for well over a decade.
Aside from poor spelling and grammar, there are numerous are other examples in his postings of a lack of intelligence. Take his post where he attempted to explain how arbitrage worked for example. He was way out in left field on that. As numerous persons who responded to that post pointed out - he had no clue what he was talking about. I can understand an intelligent person not being able to use arbitrage effectively because of impulsiveness, lack of experience, or emotional issues, but to not even understand what arbitrage is…that does not make one sound like they are intelligent.
The fact that his post about arbitrage clearly showed that he did not understand this concept (even though he thought he did) is not evidence of high intelligence. Its the opposite - it evidence of low intelligence.
I believe part of why people call Casey intelligent, despite all the evidence that would seem to indicate the contrary, is that they don’t want to totally beat the guy up. There is a desire to say something, anything, positive about the guy to balance out the negativity.
As the Casey Serin story winds down though, I would hope that the legacy of his that goes down is accurate.
I think the myth that Casey was some sort of misunderstood, manipulated, disturbed genius, should be cast aside.
The available evidence does not show us a genius. The available evidence shows us someone who was, at best, of average intelligence. There’s nothing wrong with that of course, I certainly don’t consider myself to be of anything but average intelligence.
Let’s just try to keep Casey’s legacy honest and accurate and not embellish it either way - to the positive, or to the negative.
bill_fogarty said: “…what the real estate investment industry is all about: UNBRIDLED GREED.”
I like this…it works with any pocket of people in any business/investment.
…what the stock market is all about: UNBRIDLED GREED
…what business owners are all about: UNBRIDLED GREED
…what capitalism is all about: UNBRIDLED GREED
Our society is made up of individuals doing whatever the heck they want whenever they want to…There are certain standards of which you should stick with to get what you want out of this society, but the reality is that 90%+ of the population basically stinks. So, all one can do is the best you can to stay out of societal standards as much as you can. Tread into business and investing carefully. You will find many crooks, but when you find one honest person, you will begin to find more. Keep in mind, honest businessmen/investors can just as easily be part of the 90% club…
Live your life to the fullest. If you never take a risk, you will never find out if you can expand your mind. The company you work was founded by someone willing to take a risk and hope for a reward. Whether investing in equity/business markets(including real estate, stocks, bonds, oil…etc) or building/running a business of your own, you will come across good and bad people. You choose your own path. Specific industries and investments get bad names, due to specific people making decisions they believe are the best at the time. Very few legal industries are inherently evil. The real estate investment industry is not evil, just like a coffee shop, someone can invest and open a franchise, get an SBA from a bank, lose their shirts and declare bankrupsy, I don’t see how what Casey has done is impacting society a whole lot differently, other than his deviancy in getting the funding…but I won;t get into that at the moment.
True to the end, our valiant hero stuck to his guns. He perhaps closed early because this morning marked the first day of his W-2 job™, or maybe the heat from “those of whom we cannot speak”™ has to™ great, or maybe he just watched his traffic fizzle over the last 10 days and threw in the towel. We won’t know for a week or so, until he pops back up.
I think the IAFF was his opium.
Also true to style, was his choice of attorneys. In his ABC News article (http://tinyurl.com/ypd2m7) of July 27th, they quote one “Kevin Mark Wray” on his ongoing FBI investigation and likelihood of charges. Unfortunately, if you Google him, you’ll find he is in Pittsburgh PA and his specialty seems to be in DUI defense… “I know what all of you haters™ are thinking, that I should have gotten an attorney that was closer. I fully intended™ too, but when you draw a line form Australia to either Sacramento or Pittsburg, the distance is about he same. Plus these are Federal and not State charges…”
So, until we read on the ml-implode blog (or IAFF since that’s now part of the family) what’s going on, we will have to speculate.
As the old saying goes “I’d rather be lucky than good” our valiant hero seems to have been neither™.
Adios™
RH, I think a thread discussing why real estate investors are looked down upon would be a wonderful idea. Look for it as my next article post to get things started.
RH Said:
Actually, in this article I said he has raw intelligence which I am convinced he does. Is he a genius, no and I am highly suspect of the 131 IQ.
But, don’t confuse his improper use of English as a lack of intelligence.
Even though I am an investor, I am one of those looserz™ with a W2 job as Casey might say. The company I work for does work around the world and I interact with people from all cultures and it is not uncommon for anyone with English as a non-primary language to make those types of errors in writing. I am sort of conversationally functional in German but my writing in German is awful! The opposite is true of some of the native German speakers I deal with on a regular basis.
Casey is intelligent but he is not very well educated, in my opinion.
bill_fogarty said:
Bemoan? Not really, but as the rest of your comment shows he definitely reinforces a myth.
That’s an interesting observation. I think I will hold this and address it in the next thread that RH suggested. It seems fitting to do it there because there are facts, figures and statistics that show you are just wrong - all motives aside.
Unbridled greed? The more I read the less confident I am you know the meaning of the words you are using. There are several good dictionaries on-line.
Really? And just how is housing going to bust? There is no single market for housing, there are as many markets as there are houses. Fair Market Value is not an absolute it is an ethereal estimate. In any market at any time a piece of property is worth EXACTLY what someone is willing pay and someone else is willing to accept.
This game’s only just beginning. We’re in the third inning of the Housing bust.
Really? And just how is housing going to bust? There is no single market for housing, there are as many markets as there are houses.
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I agree with the comment that the game’s only beginning.
What there was a “single market” for was the “ownership society” , safe haven of a new home, and 1% EZ money. If you had a pulse you could buy a house. Almost any house, regardless of if you could afford it or not. It was a mania like we’ve never seen in this country and housing was merely the vehicle.
It was a debt mania built on cheap money and fantastic expectations. Now its all collapsing.
Back to simple supply and demand, and the inventory of houses is going up a staggering 1% per month on a nationwide basis.
Before the end of the year over ONE TRILLION in ARMS is going to reset, likely taking down most of the home debtors and their abodes.
The days of flipping and becoming a paper millionaire almost over night are gone. 20% returns on housing each year are gone.
All that bubble money is gone. It was all an illusion.
Now, at about 70% home owner rates (highest in history) the music has stopped.
In a way, this never was about housing. Housing was only the slot machine.
Reversion to the mean will be…. quite mean.
eyefo, what you and many others apparently don’t understand is while the bust as you call it is getting a lot of press it is a small percentage of the nationwide housing market.
Yes, we are going to come down from the 69% homeowner rates to the historical norm. We will revert to the mean.
Yes, housing prices will revert to the mean.
But, it depends on how fast that reversion happens as to how painful the perception will be.
BTW, this…
Is totally incorrect. But, I think you were using it for dramatic effect and therefore I won’t point out the other instances within the last 100 years.
RH,
I started this blog to help other real estate investors. The perception problem is certainly something we all deal with on a daily basis. It is certainly worthy of exploration.
I started a new thread to explore it.
What is Your Opinion of Real Estate Investors?
I’d love to know what you guys (RE investors) think of value added profit.
IMHO, you don’t add any - you are just a middleman that can be taken out of the equation, with benefits to both buyer and seller.
In capitalism, you are supposed to deliver some value to the overall transaction. You guys just hike up property prices.
If I’m wrong, feel free to correct me.
It’s a little disheartening to see the term “real estate investor” used the way it is here. We have millions invested in RE. We maintain a low L/V ratio and are constantly striving to upgrade our properties, both to enhance the value and to provide a better experience for our tenants. We only sell or exchange properties when our needs change.
There are many responsible owners of investment properties. The real unfortunate part of the experience is the dearth of tenants who won’t go out of their way to try and take advantage of an honest landlord.
We will add to our portfolio when we judge RE in our areas of interest to be a bargain. Is that taking advantage of someone else’s misfortune? Maybe, but in reality it is probably the holders of the mortgages who will take the biggest financial hit on much of the action that is coming. The other harsh reality is that folks who bought into these loans, did so either with extreme ignorance or on a hope and a prayer (call it gambling if you like). I’ve had several tenants leave to buy homes over the last few years who were not even qualified to be good renters, much less homeowners.
Please don’t lump the good property owners in with flippers and slumlords.
Dan,
You must be a RE agent.
This has been THE biggest debt mania this country has ever seen.
The bust is just in the early stages. Today, yet another mortgage outfit went belly up. AHM
This was NOT a sub-prime outfit.
Case-Shiller index fell 2+ % on US home values today, also. Most in 6 years.
I’ve been having this conversation with bulls well before there was evidence of a bust, when RE was still going up exponentially.
The value of homes is what people can and are willing to pay. Nothing more. The money was available to any one with a pulse on a NATION WIDE basis.
1 and 2% mortgage money, no questions asked, was the Genesis of this thing. It was the demand for EZ money not homes that ran this thing.
This bust will make the Nasdaq internet mania pale by comparison.
The time to invest in residential RE will be 4 or 5 years down the road when NOBODY ever wants to even hear about investing in RE again.
Remember the RTC in the 80s?
Remember land and bldgs sold for pennies — literally — on the dollar?
I do.
It is and will happen again only worse, because this was on a nation wide basis fueled by once in a lifetime low rate crack cocaine funding.
On a more amusing note, Cramer suggests plowing under the CA Inland Empire.
Too funny
Eyefo, I personally know DanS and I can assure you, he is most definitely not a real estate agent or broker.