Casey Serin on Nightline last nite

[sdrealtor]

Did anyone else see him? He has absolutely no problem with what he has done. He compared what he did to speeding on the freeway. He says everyone does it and whay should he be any different. He also compared his failure to the failure of other successful entrepreneurs (BTW, who didnt brake laws) and that he will keep trying to make money in RE.

The more I listened to him, the more I thought about his speeding analogy. Stated income liar loans have become so prevalent that the social norms have changed regarding lying about what you make on mortgage applications. Hell people have been lieing about what they make since the time of the caveman. I really think this loan mess falls at the feet of the lenders far more than the borrowers who are just speeding down the highway. Until the cops set up a speed trap or two there isnt much of a reason to change behavior.

[blahblahblah]

I really think this loan mess falls at the feet of the lenders far more than the borrowers who are just speeding down the highway.

Although people must be held to a high standard of personal responsibility, I have to agree with you here. The real culprit behind this is the MBS market and the trading of mortgages. Banks used to carry these risks themselves and had a vested interest in ensuring that they didn’t make bad loans. In the last decade, hot-potato mortgage trading has allowed banks to write bad loans with impunity knowing that they could dump the risk on someone else.

[Critter]

Casey (aka Snowflake) is an addict. He is addicted to thinking of himself as an entrepreneur, to the point that he ignores every single indicator that he is a failure at business.

Similar to a crackhead, he keeps going to the crack dealer (loan officer, banks, CashCall)… the only thing that will stop him is when the they cut him off (which they are doing) and/or when he ends up in prison.

There is a complete disconnect between him and reality. Getting a ticket for speeding and ending up in prison for fraud are about as alike as taking a walk and running a marathon.

[sdrealtor]

Critter,
I agree 100% with everything you say but he is just exercising human nature in a capitalistic society which was my point. If not him, someone else.

It’s like putting a block of cheese at the end of maze and letting a mouse free in it. The problem here is far more the dairyman than the rodent.

[AK]

And the lenders will tell you they were powerless, they were puppets of Wall Street, they had neither choice nor free will … I mean, for God’s sake, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup waved MONEY in front of their faces and told them that real estate only goes up!

This is moral hazard in action … a small number of highly visible people abandon all sense of reality and personal / financial responsibility, with neither social nor financial consequences when things go bad. Seriously, look at Casey. He got to play Richie Rich with other people’s money, then got tons of attention when things went bad, which is even better than money to a hard-core narcissist. And now he’s talking about a book deal? WTF?

[Critter]

Comparing Serin to a rodent is not being fair to the rodent, but I get your point. “Back in the day” (five years or more ago) we had to have 20% down, six months of reserves, a year’s worth of paycheck stubs or other verification of income, etc. All this was not to make homebuying impossible, but to see a pattern of financial prudence which would indicate the borrower had shown the ability to save and would be capable to pay back the loan.

This is what happens when lending standards turn into elastic – anyone who “thinks he can” is able to get a loan, and there are no checks and balances to put the brakes on wishful thinking.

This is also the danger behind “it’s all good, take a chance, believe in yourself” BS gurus like Rich Kiyosaki and Tony Robbins. They don’t encourage due diligence, just a wave of the magic wand to make everything happen because you believe it will all turn out well.

Positive thinking is not the same as positive action and being able to take a step back when things don’t turn out as planned – instead of continuing to think “real estate entrepreuner” is still a viable goal.

I still think Serin is a nutcase.

[mixxalot]

I agree- this Serin Gas attack will poison the minds of all with folly with respect to real estate markets and business.

[HereWeGo]

I agree wholeheartedly, Critter.

That said, the $64 question is “Will those who currently hold the bag (i.e, the big Wall Street Boys) be bailed out by the taxpayers?”

[no_such_reality]

Speeding is breaking the law. At any point, an officer can apprehend you for breaking the law by speeding.

When excessively speeding, the punishments become rise in equal porportion.

When speeding is done intentially for other illegal purposes, such as street racing, the penalties become more stringent.

When something else happens during the speeding, such a car crash during a street race, even more stringent penalties such as trying the drivers for homocide.

So you see, Casey may be right, he’s like the deluded street racer with their modified subarus racing down the street past a school, one car wrapped around a telephone pole and couple kids dead in the crosswalk.

[Enorah]

Sometimes I think he is not real. You know, an invention, a distraction, a useful tool.

Just saying.

[kewp]

A year from now this joker won’t even be able to get a $500 credit card.

[Cow_tipping]

No … not everyone lies about their income, and not everyone is a chronic speeder (OK atleast not at this point in my life) and atleast not quite in a car (motorcycle … sometimes).
Speeding is likely to be far more dnagerous though, but usually people speed when traffic is light and they tend to have the good safety distances I think (OK that’s when I speed). That clown is a POS who ruined it for everyone (Him and a 1000 others starting with Charlatan Cheats).
Cool.
Cow_tipping.

[Anonymous]

Casey Serin has proven that he will not voluntarily cease harming communities. After these many months, he continues his quest for the elusive get rich quick program that will bring him untold passive wealth.

I was happily surprised to see my website in the Nightline segment. The post was Why Lenders Need to Know Casey Serin

Seeing that screenshot nearly made me spray my cocktail through my nose. Take a look if you’re interested.

[Author]

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