I'm not sure how old this is but MSM's homepage has a video on Casey Serin today - "The Face of the Mortgage Mess"

Check out Casey's $15k guru CD collection, his murse, and his admission that what he did was illegal..

I'm not sure when this was filmed and it's from some sort of TV show, but it's on the MSN homepage today... Man, I wish that kid was still blogging... And remember, I predicted one day Casey would testify in front of Congress. I still see that day...

Anyone know what ever happened to Casey?


The Face of the Mortgage Mess
We all know the banks screwed up by lending too much cash to borrowers who couldn’t really afford it, but ever wonder just who was qualifying for all that money. Meet Casey Serin.

UBS subprime losses now at $40 billion, fires its CEO, announces it will dilute its shareholders by $15 billion, stock goes up 10%

Yup, we're in la-la land

Their stock is still down 51% and the chart is ugly, but it always amazes me when a company pretty much announces they're the antichrist and the stock pops (for a few hours) on the news.

Meanwhile, $40 billion in 9 months. $40 billion. Man, that's a lot of coin. You'd have to be REALLY REALLY stupid to lose that kind of money.

And just wait until they get around to marking down their Alt-A, HELOC and Option Arm crap. Good luck issuing more shares after that debacle. And, uh, you might want to get your money out of UBS - QUICK!

What, did these banks all think that Casey Serin was good for it?

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) — UBS AG's chairman abruptly resigned Tuesday as the Swiss bank reported a first-quarter loss of $12.1 billion and said it would seek $15.1 billion in new capital.

UBS revealed more serious damage from exposure to the U.S. subprime crisis and said it expects write-downs of approximately $19 billion.

It was the latest indication of how far the severe plunge in U.S. housing prices and a credit crisis triggered by rising mortgage defaults has reached.

UBS write-downs have reached a staggering $40 billion in the past nine months, the largest reported by any bank to date.

"Home Rage": Banks are now offering foreclosed homedebtors cold hard cash to not destroy their homes before they clear out

Do you have any comprehension now about how ugly it's getting out there?

Thank you realtors. Thank you mortgage brokers. Thank you housing gamblers. Thank you Alan Greenspan.

This mess is only gonna get messier now. The screwed sheeple are getting pissed.

Buyers' Revenge: Trash the House - After Foreclosure Banks Pay People Off To Deter Home Rage

The stucco subdivisions of Las Vegas are caught up in the nation's foreclosure crisis. These days, bankers and mortgage companies often find that by the time they get the keys back, embittered homeowners have stripped out appliances, punched holes in walls, dumped paint on carpets and, as a parting gift, locked their pets inside to wreak further havoc.

Real-estate agents estimate that about half of foreclosed properties to be sold by mortgage companies nationwide have "substantial" damage, according to a new survey by Campbell Communications, a marketing and research firm based in Washington, D.C.

The most practical way to ensure the houses are returned in decent shape, lenders and their agents say, is to pay homeowners hundreds or even thousands of dollars to put their anger in escrow and leave quietly.

Anyone else find it strangely odd that in the end, Casey Serin brought down Bear Stearns and the entire worldwide financial system?

America is a banana republic run by monkeys. Deal with it. The FBI is now investigating a baseball pitcher, but won't investigate Casey Serin.

We are no longer a nation of laws.

We are no longer a nation of laws.

We are no longer a nation of laws.

Millions of mortgage fraudsters run free, while Roger Clemens is on his way to jail. God help us all.

FBI opens investigation of Roger Clemens

WASHINGTON - The FBI has begun investigating whether Roger Clemens lied to Congress when he denied taking performance-enhancing drugs. FBI agents in Washington opened the case a little more than two weeks after Clemens and Brian McNamee, his former personal trainer, testified at a House committee hearing Feb. 13, each accusing the other of lying.

"The request to open an investigation on the congressional testimony of Roger Clemens has been turned over to the FBI and will receive appropriate investigative action by the FBI's Washington field office," FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman said Thursday.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the circus has come back to town. Iamfacingforeclosure's Casey Serin is back online, and going on Dr. Phil in a few days

Thought you'd want to know

Baaa da ba da ba da bum bum

Baaa da ba da ba da bum bum

(Bonus Questions: I wonder if he's in line for the Christopher Dodd Housing Gambler Bailout. And who's going to jail first - Casey or Angelo?)

HP Exclusive: You know you were curious... Casey Serin of iamfacingforeclosure.com gives HP a "where's Casey" update

I know, I know, we're a bunch of "haterz", nobody wanted to see the kid catch a break, and the day he shut down the blog was a good day... right? But come on, you HAD to be a bit curious, eh? Well, here's Casey. Enjoy. Or not. But don't get mad at HP - just doing my job folks.

That said, I won't be happy until Casey is called in front of Congress in 2008 to tell his story. Take it to the bank - that day will come.
_______________

I hope this message is taken as sincere. I have no more reasons to
"spin" anything...

I'm working a stable consulting job for an experienced entrepreneur.
Consulting is a generic term which means I'm doing whatever needs to
be done. The best part is I have a slice of ownership in the venture.
So its the best of both worlds - the stability of a 9-5 with weekly
paychecks while still giving me lots of flexibility, a chance to build
something and share in the profits. Very much a blessing. So I'm
getting back on my feet financially, though very slowly.

Trying hard, REALLY hard, to not get distracted too much by "pie in
the sky" stuff and my temptation to go back online and in media.
Turning down the Dr. Phil show recently was a very tough one! I have
to remember that it was the online/media over-exposure that was the
"last straw" in my marriage breakup, amongst many other things.

Its obvious that I cared much more about my "fame" and potential sweet
deals/opportunities that might come as a result, than the concerns of
my wife and our unity. Also there was that hand-written promise I
made to her to shut down the blog, get a job and lay low for 2 years
or more. I want to keep that promise, even if I never get back with
her. It's the right thing to do and will teach me to honor my word.

And yes my wife and I are still separated, unfortunately. I am
learning some really really hard lessons about how fragile
relationships really are. As I'm sitting here all alone typing this
email at 4:48am (all nighter), I'm thinking back to a time when she
was right here by my side. Man, how stupid I was to ruin such a great
thing! Now I can only work on making things right in my life and pray
that God gives me another chance with her.

As you've seen, I sold the blog for 50K - huge thanks to Aaron Krowne
of www.ml-implode.com. I finally did the right thing (though
reluctantly at first) by paying off all the debt that was in my wife's
name as well as most of our private loans. It was really my own debt.
She trusted me with her credit to use for the real estate deals.
What did I do? I ruined it and broke her trust (not the first time
unfortunately).

Paying off that debt took a little over 40k. Plus there were a couple
of previous "partners" that I had to pay to make things right -- more
painful lessons on promising too many things to people and not keeping
those promises. The attorney fees to undo some of those entangling
relationships took a big chunk. G kept the Jetta so I also bought a
cheap used car for myself for 3K. So that's where that 50 grand went.
All gone, but for a good purpose.

Not sure what I'm gonna do about the approx 500K of debt still in my
name. That figure includes both credit cards, deficiencies on
mortgages and a private loan. Its just an estimate as I won't know
until all my bank-owned properties get sold. My desire is still to
find a way to pay back "every dirty penny", but I also have to be
realistic. I am considering Chapter 13 bankruptcy. It forces lenders
into a repayment plan and I can start cracking away at it. But I'm
not sure yet if that's the right plan. Too much things are still up
in the air. We'll see.

As far as FBI and "mortgage fraud "investigation goes, I don't have
any news. Last I heard they still have a file on me and perhaps
they're just taking their sweet time. I do have a defense attorney
and plenty of proof to show I did not have any criminal intent and had
plenty of reliance on professionals.

Of course I made some bad business and ethical decisions with the
loans. Then I was naive enough to blog about it in vivid detail and
let people blow it out of proportion. It was fueled my idealistic
desire to help others by sharing my experience of what "not to do". I
sure hope my story helped some people, both those facing foreclosure
and especially newbie investors to be more careful.

I am not excusing my behavior and am ready to do whatever I can to
"right the wrongs", like attempt to pay off the debt. All I know is I
have to continue doing the right thing and let the "chips fall where
they may". Living in fear is not going to do me any good.

Man, do I wish I didn't have to go through all this crap but I was
blinded by my reckless pursuit of financial success. It was
definitely fun and adventurous at the time (like the Australia trip),
brought me some great contacts and relationships, etc. In the end it
was much more harm than good. Loosing my wife that is.

Having said that... I'm not giving up on my dreams of financial
success. God gave me those desires for a reason. Instead I am even
more determined to pursue it but in a safer way - even if takes
longer. Biggest thing is I must put my loved ones first. For it is
because of them, my family and friends, that I want to become
financially independent. I'm looking forward to that day when I can
share my abundance with them. But in the mean time I have plenty of
non-financial abundance I can share - love, caring, quality time, etc.

About 3 weeks ago my 25th birthday came and went. I did not
accomplish my goal of 5K/mo passive income - a goal I set 7 years
earlier. I'm OK with that. The truly tough part was not being with
The One whom I really wanted to share that special moment with. I
guess we take for granted the things that truly matter
(relationships), until they're taken from us.

Anyway... this is the last the online world will hear from me for a
long long time. All in all, the past year has been some of the
craziest times of my life. That's for sure. I thank both the haterz
and the supporterz. Everybody played a role.

In closing, I will say my favorite line.... "Its all good!" I'm
still an optimist but (hopefully) getting wiser through painful
lessons and many lonely nights.

Casey Serin

Which do you think toxic mortgage homedebtors would choose to keep first - their MasterCard or their house? Welcome to crazy land folks

Those zero-down liar's loan failed housing gamblers sure are a funny bunch. Too bad for the bag-holders and too bad for anyone who thought 2005 home values were anywhere near reality.

Debt-Laden Homeowners Save the Credit Card Before the House
NEW YORK (AP) -- Conventional wisdom has it that people will do everything to keep their homes. Not any more.

The proliferation of no-money-down home loans over the past few years, coupled with the current housing downturn, is giving rise to a new mentality: People will risk losing their homes while doing everything to keep their credit cards.

"This is the biggest surprise we're seeing," said Elizabeth Schomburg, senior vice president of the Family Credit Counseling Service in Chicago. "People are actually coming to us with situations where they are current on their credit cards but are in foreclosure."

FLASH: Foreclosures soaring, and in mortgage meltdown cities failed flippers are just turning in the keys

Goodbye Florida.

Goodbye Arizona.

Goodbye California.

Goodbye Nevada.

And hello 50% falls in home values. No matter what lying realtors on commission try to tell you.

Subprime Mortgage Woes Push New Foreclosures to a Record High

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of homeowners receiving foreclosure notices hit a record high in the spring, driven up by problems with subprime mortgages.

Analysts said the problems in the formerly red-hot housing markets of California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona reflected in part speculators walking away from mortgages they can no longer afford.

During a five-year housing boom, the prices in these areas surged, creating what many analysts have described as a speculative bubble as investors bid up the price of homes hoping to quickly resell them for a profit.

Now with home sales falling, the inventory of unsold homes rising and prices stagnant, some speculators are choosing to default on their mortgages.

Ain't gonna be a housing gambler bailout. Why? Because politicians like to get re-elected and the bubble blogs made them listen

It's funny, a lot of 'em thought giving away free taxpayer money (like New Orleans) to failed housing gamblers would've been politically popular. So the wildly-unpopular and politically tone-deaf Bush and the Democratic Congress got together on the bailout idea, thinking it'd help both their anemic ratings.

Not.

Americans aren't quite as dumb as Dodd, Clinton, Obama, Schumer and Bush thought they were. And tax paying Americans who live within their means, read the fine print of contracts and have a sense of personal responsibility are OUTRAGED that our corrupt and incompetent leaders were thinking of bailing out failed flippers.

Ain't gonna happen. Mark my words. And it's because of you HP'ers, and the bubble blog community. Nice work everyone. We're ahead of this story, and we're driving opinion via the copy/pasters at the MSM now.

Is America really pro-bailout? - Politicians are sorely misreading public opinion of imperiled homeowners who bought into the bubble.

Here's one tale of sub-prime woe you may not have heard. Casey Serin, a twentysomething real estate investor in Sacramento, bought eight houses in four states with little or no money down, couldn't sell them and couldn't pay the mortgages, and so naturally began losing them to foreclosure. He then began keeping a self-pitying online diary he called Iamfacingforeclosure.com.

Serin hasn't drawn much notice from politicians or the media, but real estate bloggers have so vilified him that CNet's news.com granted him the title "world's most hated blogger." And cases like his help explain the disconnect between public opinion and bailout-happy politicians and the elite media: According to a recent Fox News poll conducted by Opinion Dynamics, there's 70% opposition to a taxpayer sub-prime bailout.

"It is amazing all the sympathy we are seeing from politicians for people who knowingly took out loans they couldn't afford, often lying on their applications to do so," commenter "srl" posted at the LA Land blog I write for the Los Angeles Times. "Usually," added "Brian," "when the facts are examined closely, we find people who . . . took a chance that house prices would keep rising, that they could remodel the kitchen, buy the truck and the motorcycle, put it on the credit card and pile that debt into the next refinance. ."

You can find thousands of similar comments on scores of "housing bubble" blogs. I asked Patrick Killelea, whose blog (patrick.net) has long predicted the current housing crisis, to quantify his readers' feelings about a bailout. "It is easy to quantify," he replied. "100% against."

A HousingPANIC message to the failed Housing Gamblers of America: You made your bet, you lost, now send in the keys and run

Hey, you made a bad bet and you lost. You lied about your income and took out a no-down, no-doc, interest-only, teaser-rate, piggyback negative amortization loan (good god does anyone remember 30 year fixed?).

You bought a mansion you had NO BUSINESS living in at your income level, you bet prices would go up and instead they cratered, and now you can no longer make your reset payment.

Who cares!!! You're not the bagholder! Hedge funds, foreign banks, US taxpayers, insurance companies and people all over the world are! But not you, no way no how!!! Party time!!

So just walk away. Send in the keys. Jingle mail. Ah, the American Dream!!!

Since there's no such thing as personal responsibility, ethics or morals anymore in America, you get off scott-free. Just walk away, stop hemorrhaging cash, and try to keep as many of your ill-gotten gains as you can.

I hope you transferred some of your cash-out-housing-ATM-refi-loot to unmarked Swiss bank accounts. I hope you bought lots and lots of stuff that you can now put on eBay. And a few years from now, don't forget to pull the same scam again!

Sleep tight!

Get used to these statements from failed mortgage lenders and homebuilders

American Home has ceased taking mortgage applications and has notified all of its production employees that they will be separated effective tomorrow, August 3, 2007. Accordingly, the Company employee base will be reduced from over 7,000 to approximately 750. The Company currently is maintaining its thrift and servicing businesses.

Michael Strauss, American Home's Chief Executive Officer, stated,

"It is with great sadness that American Home has had to take this action which involves so many dedicated employees. The employees affected should understand that this is not a reflection on their efforts or their productivity.

Unfortunately, the market conditions in both the secondary mortgage market as well as the national real estate market have deteriorated to the point that we have no realistic alternative."

The Fed's William Poole correctly says the mortgage lenders and homebuilders going out of business were "bad actors" whose punishment was deserved

Damn, this is getting interesting... So interesting that if you work for an Alt-A "Liar's Loan" lender, or a homebuilder targeting people with low incomes and bad credit, and you haven't been laid off yet, you might want to start packing up Monday, and take the plants home now... Doesn't sound like the Fed is gonna be bailing you out...

"This year’s markets punished mostly bad actors and/or poor lending practices. The market’s punishment of unsound financial arrangements has been swift, harsh and without prejudice”

-William Poole, President Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, July 2007

Open thread to talk about Casey Serin and the death of iamfacingforeclosure.com

Kid, you're the poster boy of mortgage fraud, and we'll miss ya. Good luck at the 2008 Senate housing crash hearings and with the FBI. Two Words: States Evidence.

Funny that iamfacingforeclosure and American Home Mortgage both died on the same day, eh?

There. That should do it.

July 29th, 2007

Over

IamFacingForeclosure.com story is no longer online. Earlier than I thought but for the better.

- Casey Serin

Alt-A "Liar's Loan" king IndyMac falling off the cliff, right on schedule

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..... (yes, I'm short IndyMac and can't for the life of me figure out why the Feds haven't raided their offices yet)

Funny though how the King of Liar's Loans appears to be run by liars themselves (Mark to Market?). But don't worry HP'ers, like Enron and WorldCom before them, eventually IndyMac's probably incompetent auditors (where their CFO came from btw) will have to do their jobs. Eventually. I feel sorry for their likely soon-to-be-laid-off 8,600 employees, but hopefully they'll find honest work next time.

With a reported 8% of their entire portfolio already in default, home prices crashing, the Great Unwinding underway, and "Mark to Market" (which IndyMac refuses to do so far) looming, this pig is in a poke. No matter what the insider stock manipulators and spinmeisters want you to believe. Earnings are July 31 and I predict happy happy talk and spin - but we'll see if anyone believes it.

"Liar's loans". As in "Come on in and commit blatant mortgage fraud" loans. Amazing. How the Fed ever allowed IndyMac and other Liar's Loan facilitators to game the system this bad, I'll never understand. And who bought this crap?

Mortgage Crisis Roughs up IndyMac
The mortgage lender, which provides "Alt-A" loans, suffers as the mortgage crisis

For investors in IndyMac Bancorp (IMB), here's the good news: the mortgage lender handles hardly any subprime loans. Defaults on the risky mortgages have skyrocketed, killing off a few of IndyMac's rivals. And Bear Stearns reported that its two hedge funds that held subprime mortgage debt were virtually worthless.

The bad news for IndyMac: The subprime crisis is spreading to other kinds of debt.

On Wednesday, IndyMac's stock fell 5.5% to $27.45. A downgrade by a Lehman Brothers analyst exacerbated worries that have sent the stock falling almost 40% so far this year.

At the top of the list of worries is so-called "Alt-A" mortgages. Subprime loans are taken out by buyers with low credit scores. Buyers who take out Alt-A loans are supposedly less risky, but they submit little documentation to prove it. The loan approval is usually based on a credit score and little else, with no proof of income. There's a "big spectrum" of quality among the loans, says Standard & Poor's Equity analyst Stuart Plesser. (S&P, like BusinessWeek, is owned by McGraw-Hill.)

IndyMac, as one of the country's biggest Alt-A originators, is vulnerable as the defaults rise among these loans. "From a credit quality perspective, it's a notch above subprime," says Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst Manuel Ramirez (KBW does investment banking with IndyMac). However, "you've seen signs of pretty significant credit deterioration," he says. Delinquencies and defaults are up.

Part of the problem is that no one really knows how bad the loan crisis will get, Plesser says. Experts worry that defaults will increase. "How many people were given mortgages who couldn't afford the loan?" Ramirez asks.

As important for IndyMac, what's the value of the homes that serve as collateral for its loans? "Now that you have home prices going down, what they have backing [the loans] isn't as strong as it once was," Plesser says.

Iamfacingforeclosure.com Casey Serin update: Shutting down the blog (supposedly) and under FBI Investigation

After the indecisive "Keep Casey, Dump Casey" HP survey, the best suggestion was "keep but only mention if something major"

Well, here you go.

Yes there is an FBI investigation as well. I just learned about it yesterday after I made the decision to shut everything down.

I’m not shutting down because of the FBI thing. The agent told me they don’t care if I keep blogging since they already have all the evidence they need, including the entire blog, loan documents, etc.

I just want to be careful what I say before I can find a criminal defense attorney and make sure I’m not doing anything stupid.

It kind of sucks that right when I decided to do the right thing now the law is after me too. But I guess we all knew this might happen. So its not a big surprise now.

I’ll just have to take responsibility and deal with it the best way I can.

Casey Serin has flown the coop - now in Australia, iamfacingforeclosure.com blog back up, and HP'ers vote Keep Casey or Dump Casey

OK HP'ers this is your chance. In true Larry the Lobster form. This thread will decide it.

A) Keep Casey - I keep you up to date on the kid's adventures

B) Dump Casey - I never post about Casey or Iamfacingforeclosure.com again. Ever.

First 100 votes with logged on addresses, we'll count 'em up, and majority rules. Don't get 100 then it's not a vote.

Yes, I’m here in Australia. The rumors are true. But a lot of people are slanting the story to make it seem worse than it is. These people are spreading crap about me to ruin anything left of my name and ruining the reputation of everybody who is associated with me.

No, I did not leave my wife penny-less and run away to Australia! It’s amazing how some people are trying so hard to sabotage my efforts to make an honest buck through my story/publicity

Like a junkie who can't lay off the smack, Casey Serin @ iamfacingforeclosure.com is back

Nuff said.

Iamfacingforeclosure.com is dead. Casey Serin has pulled the plug.

Probably was the wife.

Anyone got any info?

Any predictions?

Anyone care?

I'll miss the kid. The embodiment of the housing bubble and crash. I can't wait to see him at the Senate hearings though...

Read this and then ask yourself how Casey stays out of jail

Also ask yourself - how will the feds fairly prosecute all the mortgage fraudsters? Or will they?

CANTON TOWNSHIP -- A man who told banks he had annual income of more than $1 million when in fact he was earning less than $25,000 on Social Security was sentenced to 56 months in prison in federal court today.

Scott Edward Ashley, 40, of Canton Township, pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in November.

He admitted to using bogus documents to fraudulently obtain about $3.8 million in loans, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release.

Ashley was also ordered to pay about $1.7 million in restitution.