Wow… this took a lot of back-n-forth but I finally have a cash buyer for the Angleridge Dallas property. It went into escrow today, but there are still a couple of issues.
I will have to tell you the history on this deal another day - why I bought it, what went wrong, how I tried to sell it, how much friggin money I am going to lose, etc. Don’t worry, all the juicy details will come when I finally close on this thing. For now, just a quick update.
After my round-robin auction failed back in June, I decide to list the property with a local agent. She makes some promises but then all of a sudden drops the listing and refuses to work for me. (The auction and the first agent is also a story for another day).
So then I list with another agent. I already used this agent for the flat-fee listing for the auction. Now, I though, I will hire him to do a standard full-service listing at 6% commission.
I negotiate with this second agent to allow me to continue marketing the property on my own. If I find a buyer then the agent would cancel the listing for $2500. This way, instead of paying 6% commission I would just pay the listing cancellation fee and do the deal directly with my buyer.
So I market the property to my list of investors and also on craigslist. Here is the ad that I used:
Facing Foreclosure on 6 houses, TAKEOVER my payments!
Hello,
I’m a real estate investor. I’ve made some bad moves and got overleverged this year. I’m now stuck with 6 houses in 4 different states. I’m 2 payments behind on all the mortgages. Willing to have you just take over my payments and I deed you the property. I just want some cash for my equity. I’m also open to doing a short-sale. Properties are in Sacramento, Modesto, Utah, New Mexico and Dallas. Here is the local one:
ANGLERIDGE
9524 Angleridge Rd, Dallas, TX 75238
5/4/0car ~2800sf, 7210 sf lot, built 1964
Owe 195k, Worth ~275k = $80k equity or so
PITI: 2,270/mo @14.0% hard money baloons in 9 mo
Vacant, just finished an extensive remodel. Nice property but garage conversion and street noise makes it longer to sell. Good area, good schools, steady market.-Casey
Here are links to my other properties and my situation:
http://IamFacingForeclosure.comKeywords: foreclosure, short sale, desperate, motivated, must sell, owner financing, owner finance, seller financing, lease option, rent to own
I get a pretty good response on that ad. As you can see I put all the numbers there - how much I owe, payments, etc. The ad is targeting investors. They just want the numbers. I also included keywords at the bottom so that my ad would be easily searchable.
A wholesaler out of Utah contacts me…
He wants to put the deal under contract and re-market it through his own channels. I am not sure if I want to go that route. This guy wants to tie me up with no deposit for a couple of weeks and then if he can’t find another buyer he would just drop the deal!?
Well, he sounds pretty convincing and I can sense he is a good negotiator. He promises to not tie me up for too long. He also promised to give me 50/50 split of his assignment fee (finder’s fee) - once he sells the deal to another investor. I get a good feeling about him so I decide to give him a shot.
He tries but it doesn’t work. He says the house is too weird. At least that’s what his buyers are telling him. By the way, he is doing the whole thing remotely from Utah. He has never even seen the house. A good wholesaler can do that no problem. Especially if they already have a good buyer’s list. So the problem is the “weird” house.
Backup buyer ready to go…
Even though the wholesaler’s deal falls through, I have another buyer lined up. I’m glad I never stopped marketing. (See, I learned something in my real estate seminars). I accept a back-up offer from a cash buyer from New York City.
Things don’t go too easy though (do they ever in real estate?). This cash buyer and I negotiate back-n-forth for a while.
He first offers to buy the house for the mortgage balance. I say “No! I want a little bit of cash out of this deal”. There is some equity.
Then we talk again and he offers me a much higher amount. I get pretty excited. But then a week later he changes his mind and lowers his offer. Apparently he does some more homework on the deal. His local contact was telling him that he is paying me too much.
Well, I’m a pretty motivated seller so I don’t take offense and take a lower offer. I don’t have many options at this point.
The offer is just a little bit over my pay-off. So I will pay back my hard money lender in full including the back-payments. The buyer will be paying all my closing costs. And there should be there a little bit of room to put some money in my pocket - maybe $2-3K. Ofcourse, considering that I spent over $35K on this deal, I am still losing BIG time. At this point though, I’m happy with whatever I can make to put food on the table.
Sounds good but…
The problem is that the buyer refused to pay for my realtor’s cancellation fee. And I don’t have the $2500. So I talk to the realtor and asked him to see if he would take less. He feels sorry for me and agrees to $650. That is pretty generous of the him. I thank the realtor and call the buyer with the news.
The New York City buyer, however, will not open escrow until the MLS listing is cancelled. He also refuses to pay the agent cancellation fee, even at a discount. I cannot scrape up enough money to give to the realtor upfront, so now I have a problem again.
So back to problem solving mode: I talk to the agent and see if he would put a demand in escrow for his $650 and give me a listing cancellation right away. This way I will fax the cancellation to the buyer and the closing will continue moving forward. The agent would be paid at closing from my my proceeds. (My 2-3K is disappearing rather quickly!)
My agent agreed to the arrangement and tells me today that he will be in contact with the escrow company. Now I’m just waiting for the agent to submit his demand and fax me the cancellation.
More issues…
The New York buyer originally agreed to close in 10 days. Today when I asked him if that’s still possible he said “I am not sure… we have many other closings”. Great! Well… what am I going to do?? I am desperate. So I don’t fight him on it. He will close when he will close. I will just have to be patient, I guess.
Another twist is that back in August 31, I got a letter from the hard money lender’s attorney. It was basically “Pay us now or else - in 30 days we will start foreclosure”. That 30 days ran out October 1. So, I’m not sure what’s going to happen now. I told the buyer about this but he doesn’t seem to be concerned about it.
I need to call the hard money lender and try to stall the foreclosure process. I heard it happens very quick in Texas: 21-30 day or something like that. (Will research and report it later). I heard they call it “Sudden Death”. That’s because it takes 3-4 months in most other states to foreclose.
Here is the letter:
August 31, 2006
RE: Promissory Note dated May 3, 2006 in the principal amount of $194,600.00 payable to the order of XXX Corporation, secured by Deed of Trust recorded as Instrument No. XXXX in the Official Public Records of Dallas County, Texas
Dear Mr. and Ms. Serin:
This letter is to give you notice of default under the reference loan documents. This default consists of failure to pay two installments of principal and interest in the amount of $2,270.33 each and late charges in the amount of $227.03; being the total amount of $4,767.69.
You are notified that if the default is not cured within thirty (30) days after the date of this notice, the lender intends to enforce its rights under the loan documents. Specifically, the lender intends to accelerate the maturity of the note and demand payment for the full unpaid principal balance, together with accrued but unpaid interest and all fees and expenses, as allowed by law. If the amount due is not timely paid the lender intends to foreclose the lien under the loan documents.
You have the right to reinstate the loan after acceleration (as described in Section 19 of the deed of trust) and the right to bring a court action to assert the non-existence of a default or any other defense to acceleration and sale.
Lender shall be entitled to collect all expense incurred in pursuing its remedies under the loan documents including, but not limited to, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of title evidence.
In accordance with federal and Texas laws regarding fair debt collections, unless you within thirty days after receipt of his notice, dispute the validity of the debt set forth above, or any portion thereof, the indebtedness will be assumed to be valid. If you notify the undersigned in writing within the thirty-day period that the indebtedness, or any portion thereof, is disputed, I will obtain a verification of the indebtedness and will mail that verfication to you. On my receipt of your written request within the thirty-day period, I will forward to you the name and address of the original creditor, if different form the current creditor.
I am attempting to collect this indebtedness, and any information obtained will be used for that purpose. This letter is being sent to your attention in accordance with state and federal law.
If you have any questions, please consult your legal counsel.
Very truly yours,
XXXX
Certified Mail No. XXXX
So I don’t see anywhere that it says the lender FOR SURE will start foreclosure in 30 days. It just says they have the RIGHT to do that. My NY buyer thinks I still have 2 months left. I am not sure about that.
Will be calling the lender tomorrow morning.
In the meantime you can check out the interesting comments for the Dallas property. There is even a comment from somebody who lived in the property at one time a few years ago. Fun stuff!
72 Comments
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Good job. Use the precious few weeks you have before really serious things start to happen.
Offer the NY buyer a $750 discount at closing if he pays the $650 cancellation fee now. Or get an Ebay account and sell your extraneous belongings, which is what I would advise in any case.
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There you go. One monkey off your back. Keep on selling and don’t buy any house again I say in at least 4 years. You’re not gonna make enough money that’s worth your trouble.
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This NY buyer guy seems as honest about the deal as you were with your lenders.
I got 50 bux that says this deal falls through.
“I am not sure… we have many other closings”. Great! Well… what am I going to do?? I am desperate. So I don’t fight him on it. He will close when he will close. I will just have to be patient, I guess.
This reminds me of the ponzi scheme where people got told that the money is coming and once it does..EVERYONE will get paid off..of course it never comes..but most people hang on to that little bit of hope, and wait, and wait and wait..because the alternative is just to painful to bear; the fact that they are being swindled or duped. -
You don’t see where it says the lender will start foreclosure? “FOR SURE”? What does that mean, other than you are just hoping to get lost in the system.
You are notified that if the default is not cured within thirty (30) days after the date of this notice, the lender intends to enforce its rights under the loan documents. Specifically, the lender intends to accelerate the maturity of the note and demand payment for the full unpaid principal balance, together with accrued but unpaid interest and all fees and expenses, as allowed by law. If the amount due is not timely paid the lender intends to foreclose the lien under the loan documents.
What is ambiguous about that? Maybe the gurus should teach some basic English at their cult sales performance shows.
Geez. They even tell you what you should do about this:
If you have any questions, please consult your legal counsel.
That sounds vaguely familiar. Oh yea, it’s what you’ve been told about 500 times in the past few days on this blog. But you won’t have it. You’re gonna figure out an “unconventional” way out of all this, prison and bankruptcy be damned.
Hey, Ms. Casey. You might want to take some note of the introduction:
Dear Mr. and Ms. Serin
You might want to consider making that Former Ms. Serin before it’s too late for you too. You’re going to be paying for this gem’s buffoonery for many many years if you don’t. Imagine working off his debts while he pounds license plates.
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[…] 5 in foreclosure? Surprise? […]
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Hey Casey,
I was wondering how much money you could rent out this place for? This is one of the most important things to consider when buying a place (so you have a backup plan if you’re carrying it for a long time).I checked the “fair market rent” in Dallas for a 4 bedroom and got $1,283. But your place is in a higher priced neightborhood with an extra bedroom, so I think the rents would be much higher.
I think you have a fighting chance if you refinanced at a lower interest rate and rented it out.
Get back with the rents in your area please. I’m interested to know. -
if you had a job you could afford to pay off the realtor’s cancellation fee without all the wheelin’ & dealin’. this is one of the reasons so many responders told you to do it!
will you ever take the good advice?
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“After my round-robin auction failed back in June, I decide to list the property with a local agent. She makes some promises but then all of a sudden drops the listing and refuses to work for me.”
Refusing to work with Casey? Gee, I wonder why. Did she consult legal counsel and then decide to back off?
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Has any actual money been paid into the property as principal? Or is it just rising market value equity? I would assume you got an interest only loan for this exercise.
You may be hold the hard money lender off for a little longer, if it’s cheaper for them to wait than start foreclosure procedures in the very short term if a solution is imminent. I guess they read you the full Riot Act up front to make you aware of the position you’re in and their potential recourse. But you better pray the NYC buyer pans out.
Foreclosure and an auction or fire sale or assumption of mortgage could be the end result otherwise. There’s worse things. I assume it’s vacant, i.e. there is no revenue stream from tenants covering the interest payments. Wow. And doing this all at once to 8 properties for short resale???? No tenancy arrangements? Just attempting to rehab 8 properties at once? I don’t think even the gurus recommend that one… but there’s no downside with the gurus, and no such thing as a turning market…
Oh well. you got burnt trying to rehab 8 properties at once in a turning market. These things happen. You may get out of it with serial foreclosures and as long as the banks more or less get their money back from the resales, they will probably leave it at that… Unless they are on the market for weeks and months. A tenancy arrangement might help, where the bank will effctively become landlord after foreclosure, which they admittedly hate…
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Way to go Casey! One less problem to deal with. I’m keeping my fingers crossed this escrow completes for you.
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I keep seeing the reoccuring theme that you want $xx for your ‘equity’ in these properties. Also, seeing the comment repeated that nobody is going to pay for your mistakes. Lets face it, the homes are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them and any ‘equity’ is just perceived equity ( paper profits) until the deal closes. Lastly, I think we can all be adult enough to agree that the housing market has softened. Good luck getting your (perceived) equity out of some of these properties. I know what you ‘want’ but what you want and what you get may be two seperate things. Hell, I want the winning lottery ticket from lasts nights lottery!
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How do you come with “Owe 195k, Worth ~275k = $80k equity or so”
If you truly have “$80k equity or so” then why are you being foreclosed on? Don’t you have a piggy back 2nd on this?
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You da Man!
Hopefully you can uload this POS and move on.This property seems to have issues and not even sure why you bought it. Did you look at it before you bought?I have a question? How did you pick the states that you invested in? Was there any method involved or just a guess of most rapid appreciation?
Gir R done!
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My guess is the NYC investor will end up purchasing the property for $199,367.69 i.e. the exact amount that’s owed the hard-money lender and not a cent more. So much for your imaginary “equity”!! Might as well just screw your realtor out of his commission once he cancels the MLS listing and call it a day….
Now imagine if you’d had the place rented for a few months? You could easily have gotten $6k-$8k in rent out of the deal (that sounds pretty good now, doesn’t it??).
Why don’t you refi with an IO mortgage and rent it out? Maybe you could refi for $250k and get some of your precious imaginary “equity.” Its a better deal than what you’re getting!
Question for you: Will ANY of your properties generate positive cash flow? (And if so, why the heck aren’t you renting them out, genius??).
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Read your grand master’s confession …
“The president of the National Association of Realtors, Thomas M. Stevens of Vienna, admits he didn’t follow his agents’ advice when the real estate market started to cool. That, he says, is why his old house in Great Falls has now been on the market for a year at the price of $1.45 million.
“What I should have done,” confessed the senior vice president of NRT Inc., parent of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, “was listened to my agent and cut the price by $50,000 to $100,000 early on, and the property would have sold last October.”
Or, even better, he said, “I should have listed it a month earlier,” when the market was only just beginning to lose air.”Has the foolish old man learned a lesson …
“Stevens said that when he set the price for the four-bedroom, 3 1/2 -bath Great Falls property, his agents, Gail and Terry Belt of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Vienna, warned him that he might be high. And they have continued to remind him about the shifting market.
“They sent the letter telling me the listing was approaching a year” and that the price needed another look, he said. “They’re doing their job as agents. I’m not doing my job as a seller.”
But, he noted, in his defense: “Who knew last September how long this down trend was going to continue,” after so many years of climbing upward?
When asked how long sellers should expect a sale to take these days, Stevens said 40 to 60 days would be typical. And if a house hasn’t moved by then, he said, “You need to adjust the price. . . . But I didn’t do that. And my house is still on the market.”
Awesome, lesson has not been learned …
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Yet more proof that Casey just does not get it. He won’t get off the “make money fast train” until the conductor boots him onto the tracks. Casey, man, if you aren’t careful you’re going to fall UNDER the train.
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Casey,
Good luck with this deal. I would consider being as flexible as you can to work with this would be buyer. Just some food for thought, the market is going down and going down fast. In San Diego county the year over year drop for a median home is now -4.5 percent. In terms of raw numbers it plays out as such:
Peak: November 2005: $518,000
Current: September 2006: $476,000A drop of: $42,000 from peak. This of course does not include the 6 percent sales commission which of course is somewhat negotiable. However the point is this. We are on track to seeing close to double-digit depreciation in many areas including San Diego, Florida, and Phoenix. The market right now still has a few laggards and even though you are taking a loss, you need to unload these things ASAP because in a few months I hate to say there will be a lot less buyers. In addition, the mainstream man on the street still thinks real estate is a good deal because of the years of hype and all the pomp and circumstance associate with the get rich quick bandwagon.
Be flexible and work with the buyer. Be open to cash advancing a few hundred on your credit card to close this deal. This would be one down and four more to go. I wish you the best.
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The haters are still telling me to get a job!
Yes, it’s just “haters” who are trying to give you solid advice.
And for you to say you are “working harder” than everyone else tells me you’re just trying to sell eveyone on your “efforts.” I suspect you put more time into putting together posts for your blog than you do trying to find actual paying work.
All us “haters” understand that money coming in pays for daily expenses. There is no job that’s going to bail you out of your colossal debt. But blogging all day won’t do that and it won’t pay the daily expenses either.
You wanted a get rich quick without any work scheme and now you want a bail me out quick without any work scheme. And you wonder why there are so many “haters?”
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Ok… maybe I got too emotional / too extreme with the word “haters”.
Many well meaning people are telling me the smart thing to do is to get a job. Some people are not so well meaning and get a little too crazy about it.
But anyway… to the well meaning ones - Yes I know I need to take care of my daily expenses. And I’m not just sitting around and doing nothing. The blog doesn’t take that much of my time. Selling the houses, dealing with the lenders, buyers, etc, is what takes a lot.
I’m trying to also focus on securing something with an investor mentor that I mentioned so I can “bird-dog” for some money to put food on the table.
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Ok,
I am now leaning towards the “this is a joke” site after reading Casey’s response.
I mean no one can be this stupid.
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Hello Casey:
Whatever happened to your scheduled appearance on the John and Ken Show? You are no longer shown on their website.
http://www.johnandkenshow.com/
Whatever happens, I hope that you are able to sell your homes before foreclosure. I appreciate the information that you are sharing. It is a privilege to learn from your mistakes. Please keep us informed!
S/Misstrial
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I gues John and Ken don’t want me on there anymore… some other “breaking news” too my spot.
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Your ignorance exceeds even the wildest expectations.
“Rich Dad”. Give me a break. One unit of time for one unit of pay sounds like a slogan. Unfortunately, it ignores the fact that career progression is not linear for successful people. Many a lawyer, doctor, and indian chief have seen their incomes increase 10-20-100 fold in their lives as they accrue credibility, success, and compensation structures. Even entrepreneurs, which your Rich Dad fabricator idol pretends to be, earn wealth by creating value.
What value have you created? Anywhere. Demonstrate for me where you improve the net value of the industry and financial system in which you tried to run your game? Even if you were earlier, and your flips paid off. Where is the value?
You just want to make money by finding it first.
Your gurus are so no wealthy that they have to sell books to make an income. Debt does not equal Wealth.
Here’s a little equation for you, that they teach right at the beginning of real business education.
Equity = Assets - Liabilities.
That’s why you are screwed, Trump is not a “billionaire” and I personally know half a dozen venture capitalists in the Valley with 10x the Equity of your gurus. And all without ever having flipped a single home or lied on a single loan. Imagine that.
Still waiting:
What did your lender say about wrapping their mortgage?
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HN…. I’m not the speculative flipper you’re talking about that bought at retail hoping to just ride the market up.
I was buying wholesale and fixing up the property and was looking to sell within 3 months or so. There is not enough appreciation during such a short span to be gambling on the market.
What i was doing was buying a house that nobody else wants because it needs repairs, fixing it up and making it livable. I was actually creating good inventory for buyers like you to buy.
So I was creating supply, not taking it away.
While, yes I failed at my mission, but at least you see the difference in my strategy.
make sense?
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We also personally guaranteed the loan. I heard that’s a stupid thing to do on hard money.
Yes, it is very stupid. But that’s pretty much par for the course with you.
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John and Ken are no good. People do cannibal to survive and this is not an advice to Casey or anyone in any mean.
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HN
I tend to think of today’s flippers as the same breed who were the day traders during the tech stock boom.
Whenever there’s a mania, tons of people jump on the bandwagon and try to make a quick buck. When the market tanks all the flotsam and jetsam is washed away and things go back to a normal pattern.
I expect that’s what’ll happen here. Give it a few years and people like you and me who just want to buy a property to live in will have our chance. We just need to wait for the rest of the specuvesters to go belly up.
And Casey, how can you claim you’re not a speculator? That’s just crazy. You did the same thing all the other flippers did. Have you looked at the number of listings on craigslist that advertise remodeled homes? There’s tons! Have you watched “Flip this house?” They’re doing the exact thing you’re doing.
Semantics doesn’t change a thing. You’re a flipper and a speculator, just not a very successful one.
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Yes, you’re still flipper to me. Fancy words “wholesale” etc that you learned from your masters mean “flipper” in my dictionary.
If you bought one or two houses fixed them yourself and sold it for a moderate profit because you did actually work hard for your money then that aint flipping. Then you can go on and do it to one or two houses a time. But six houses at the same time? And not even a sweat harming a nail or mopping the floor? Who are you trying to fool?
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An important statistic is more than 90% of people are unlikely to get higher pay (you go and look for median income).
Flippers must come down to earth. Allan Greenspan too needs to come down to earth.
:O)
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How on earth did you end up with such a horrible mortgage payment? 14%!!??! I didn’t even know such things existed! $2270/mo on a $195k loan? I’ve got a $304k mortgage, and my PITI is only $2099/mo.
And as far as trading 1 unit of time for “unlimited future potential”? No way. It’s very limited. Very limited indeed.
The problem here is that flipping is one of those things that works only in theory or for already very rich folks who can absorb losses and can stand to lose all the money that invariably gets eaten up in broker commissions, taxes, fees, and whatnot. In the real world, normal people are often frustrated at the fact that flipping isn’t nearly as easy or as foolproof as portrayed at conferences or on HGTV.
24 is too young, too inexperience, too poor, and too naive to expect to be able to pull this off. You need to work a real job for a few years and build a bit of a nest egg before you dip into make.money.fast schemes like this.
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Casey,
Please answer me this. How much could you rent the place above out for? Please do some market research in your area. I would be very interested to see so I could play with the numbers. -
>>Selling houses yourself does take a lot of time. Also this blog is taking on a life of it’s own and I need to feed it 2-3 hours a day too.
Actually, no, you don’t need to waste your time with this blog, though it is immensely entertaining to the rest of us.
>>All those haters who think I am too lazy to work - why don’t you try doing some of this stuff yourself!
Most of us have better hobbies. Some of us have also wasted lots of time running blogs and the like, only to realize that it’s not a particularly powerful way to make money unless you have something truly unique.
>>I’m trading 1 unit of time for unlimited future potential. The skills i’m learning by trying to invest and failing are very valuable. The skills running a blog are very valuable. Combining Real Estate and Internet and making something out of it is what I’m aiming for.
Sorry, but everybody from the online brokers to Homestore to Google is already there. You’re like the guys who decided that 2001 was the perfect time to start an online store.
>>In the mean time I am going to get a job working for another investor, so I can be an apprentice of sorts. I already have a local investor in mind.
Does he know about this? Or is it just a fantasy in your own mind?
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Oye! My sides! They hurt!
Casey, you’re precious gift to the bubblehead community. We thought we’d be bored stiff once the housing bubble implodes. But your blog and similar stories of naive and greedy people are giving us ample returns in mirth.
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EXACTLY SQT
I am sure the day traders of old are exactly the ones in the flipper biz… took what little cash they had left from trading the globe.com and webvan and plowed it into property in miami and san diego !!!
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Of course you were a speculative flipper.
You bought properties across half the country without any skills to do the refurbishments yourself and so relied on paying others to do it.
There is no way that can be profitable in a normal market.
You are using expensive (fraudulent) loans to buy a property and then having to pay the interest on those loans while hiring others (at retail prices) to do the work. Then you hoped to sell for a profit that would exceed the 6% commission on the sale.
Not possible.
The experience you will be gaining in the near future involves avoiding bending down to pick up soap.
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SQT is completely correct.
Casey has not demonstrated that he either intended to run a legitimate restoration business, nor that he even possesses the basic skills and knowledge necessary to succeed at doing so.
In fact, Casey was buying homes (even suicide leverage aside) at a faster pace than he would have logistically been able to restore and recycle them into the market at an added value, while still retaining a profit margin. That is because Casey had no intention of injecting any real value into these homes, but instead just smear some toothpaste into the cracks in the wall and list it at 20% of his purchase 30-60 days earlier.
There are legitimate restorers and rehabers. I know three myself. They work *very* hard, and have worked as many years as apprentices to learn both their trade and their business.
Make no mistake. All Casey’s “business” did for the market was drive up home values without merit. This already hurt perspective buyers. It hurt people who traded-up during Casey & Friends’ mania. It is now going to hurt a lot of people trying to sell.
That Casey & Friends might also get hurt too is only too small a justice.
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The way Casey did it, it wasn’t raw, pure speculation, like buying at retail and waiting for the market to rise. But there WAS some speculation. After fixing up the house, Casey was hoping he could sell it for a certain amount. Hoping is the key word.
Compare that to a contractor in a non-bubble market. He gets an order to build or repair a house. He signs a contract for a certain price and pay schedule.
The contractor set the price, and didn’t spend a dime until a contract was signed and a deposit received. No speculation at all. (As always in business, there is still some risk involved, but it is not speculative risk.)
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Hey Bird Dogger,
I think this might have all worked out if you had started with one house to flip. You just got in over your head dude. I think you do have some good business skills but it takes time to build a successful business. I don’t see you getting a job as it is not in your blood.I tell you what, if you pull out of this mess I will buy you a few beers to celebrate your tenacity. -
For all the ‘haters’ out there– Casey isn’t doing too bad a job, by the way, on selling his properties. Most realtors average 1-2 sales per year! He’s sold two houses already this year and is gonna sell a couple more if he’s lucky. Sales is a difficult, grinding, time-consuming job….
Most of you people leveling criticism at Casey probably haven’t ever sold anything in your lives, let alone a $200k house!
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Only an idiot like Jimbob would suggest losing money in selling home is doing a good job.
I guess Jimbob is a lousy realtor. Most average realtors are doing different thing by now. $650 is what his realtor will make … if lucky.
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This site is about as “real” as lonelygirl15 on youtube who turned out to be an actress working for a couple of wannabe movie producers.
None of these houses exist. Nobody is stupid enough to admit to massive mortgage fraud on a public forum. The only reason he is “admitting” all this stuff is because it never happened and he knows he can’t get in trouble for it.
The real reason this site exists, is to make money through all the Google adsense ads that are plastered all over it.
Mortgage related ads are the single most expensive ads on the net, and Casey is probably make 10k a month if not more just through these ads.
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Jimbob
October 12th, 2006 at 2:49 pm For all the ‘haters’ out there– Casey isn’t doing too bad a job, by the way, on selling his properties. Most realtors average 1-2 sales per year! He’s sold two houses already this year and is gonna sell a couple more if he’s lucky. Sales is a difficult, grinding, time-consuming job….Most of you people leveling criticism at Casey probably haven’t ever sold anything in your lives, let alone a $200k house!
JimBOB you are an idiot…any moron, you and Casey included could sell anything for a loss…., then next thing you know..you will be saying that realtors and all the WORK they do deserve the commisions that they get.
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Difficult my a** . The dumbest realtors are still trying to sell house. The not too dumb ones are in different profession by now.
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Casey casey casey. I never for one second suggested you should get a job. If you did what would happen to my daily slice of ‘casey goodness’? As far as I am concerned your time is better spent on this blog documenting your train wreck for my amusment.
I do want to know what mrs casey thinks about this. She should contribute to the blog. And have you actually told her how far she is on the hook for all this. (Does she even read yr blog BTW).
Enquiring minds want to know.
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From what I can tell your Real Estate investing days are over. You’ve got about 5 houses, all showing up with 60 and 90 day lates. You’ve got to have a FICO score under 500. Have you even looked at your credit report lately?
No sane lender is going to be willing to loan you any money in the long /or/ the short term after this fiasco. Have you talked with a BK attorney yet?
I hope that you get to keep a house for your own residence, and manage to payoff all your lenders. Good Luck! You’ll need it.
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I wish you the best of luck Casey.
For all of those non believers, I went to High School with this guy and I believe every single word.
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Robert Cote’ raises a point that dovetails with my earlier point. Casey has 0 equity. Negative equity, in fact, regardless of his “wishing it into existence”.
The hard money lender wants one thing only; first dibbs on your aorta. No personal liability = no hard money loan.
You, in fact *can* get a senior loan purely on the company’s assets, leaving your personal wealth largely safe. There’s a big catch though.
You have to have some equity. More specifically, you have to have valuable assets that don’t already secure senior debt.
I know that’s difficult for Casey & Friends to digest. Lots of business, accounting and finance mumbo jumbo. And any guru knows that’s *not* how you get rich. You get rich flying by the seat of your pants and just buying & selling & wishing.
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What a retarded advice. People don’t really care if you bought Google stock at $130 or $2000. Casey’s trouble was forseen. Only dumb a** like you would encourage such behavior. No wonder you and the likes are sinking in your own sheit. It’s not fun eating your own crap, is it?
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Try to make 1 payment on your mortgages just before the expiration of the demand letter. Most lenders will “give you the benefit of the doubt” seeing your intent, and issue you another demand letter to expire 20-30 days later. Last case scenario it keeps the vultures away.
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I don’t have the time to read all the posts, I don’t even remember how I got here (to this site - OH yeah - craigs). But I have been through some down times. You have to be creative and YOU sound creative. If it were me, I’d line up those ducks and figure out which I had the least invested in and quit paying the mtg and let it go.
You’re credit is going to drop down the hole, but it sounds like it is anyhow. Might as well be in control of it.
Now I’d go locale to locale and figure where the market was - where there was TRUE buying demand and leave those houses for sale. The others, if in a buyers market, I’d try to rent.
I understand why you have high % loans, when you don’t put much $$ down, this is the banks risk factor - they make you pay more for the loan.
I would call each of those bankers and explain the situation and tell them if they don’t cut you a lower interest rate, you’re going to have to get foreclosed. Banks do not want to be in the real estate business.
I hate to say it, but when/if a bank takes back a house that you owe say $140K on and they sell it for $120K, you will basically have a ‘gift’ from the bank and will owe the IRS for the ‘income’. Ugg. Been there.
Foreclosure: no matter they are going to ’start’ in 30 days, try to believe (or don’t you have an atty by now?) that the process takes a LOOOoooong time. I’d guess 90 days, but that depends state to state. The first thing I’d do in a foreclosure is nothing. Pay nothing. Wait about 3 weeks, and then call the bank, explain the situation, ask for a lower interest rate and tell them the house if for sale. They might want to wait and ride it out…. their mortgage (with no pymts for 5 mos or whatever) will be PIF during escrow.
They really really do not want that house back no matter how threatening the paperwork appears. Call them and try to work out some resolution that buys you 90 days. Maybe they’ll just take some payment and save the interest due for when you sell.
SELLING: first of all read EVERYTHING very carefully that a buyer writes onto an offer. Most contracts are a bunch of legal terms but anything they take time to write in is very important to take into consideration.
You still have some clout, it’s yours and you’re selling under market I’d guess…. so if particularly if they offer “all cash” you should shorten the escrow to 10 or 20 days - there’s nothing to wait for. I also shorten the length of time for inspection (by having the home inspector report and the termite report done ahead of time to hand over). You’ll know a real buyer when they offer all short times and don’t dick with you. My last house I went through 5 offers… but don’t despair… only the 1st and last offer were full price. So the waiting and irritation and frustration was worth it because I made out.
I think it’s rather brilliant that you turn to the internet and ask for advice. However, asking for advice on Craigs is not always gonna be the best advice. People just love to tear another down, particularly when they are not risk takers. They love using dirty words and seeing their stuff in print, oh so important, while they are working at the video store and still will be when they are 37. I posted a rant (on craigs) about a neighbor who was keeping me and my ill son up at night, it added to the stress of his cancer and people on craigs actually wrote stuff like: tough s*** , you should have thought of that before you moved there, I hope he coughs up a lung every night.
Lastly - READ MIND POWER by John Kehoe. It is one of the most important books I can refer to you. Short read but completely beneficial. YOU create your reality. You can’t afford at this point to be negative, afraid, worried, etc. It will affect everything you do, say, your posture… people will read it and go for your throat. We are animals after all.
Read that book. STOP. And remake your paradigm of what’s going on and how you will create resolution. Believe it to the core of your soul.
Take time every day to STOP all this madness…. and fortify your faith in yourself, in your abilities, in your creativity and that things will work out OK. You waded in over your head, but you can hold your breath a long time. Long enough to wade back out.
Also in the meantime, take some time to keep connected with your marriage. You see the dark side every day, so balance it with the bright side. Take walks, see sunsets, rent every comedy DVD you can - that helps surprisingly, even when you think you don’t feel like laughing.
Dream about: in a year from now.
Where will you be? What of this will you have resolved? Learned from?I was in retail business and had 6 stores when we hit a recession and I lost them one by one and the wait through it was horrible. Painful. I didn’t think I could do another day. People LOVE to see you suffer. It makes their day feel better. And eventually, it evened out. I didn’t have to go bankrupt. And you know what? I ended up with this HUGE loss carryover ($865K), laughing pitifully like SO WHAT????
Well you know what? 7 yrs later with everything long settled and nightmares all over, I sell my house and now can keep every cent tax free. Do exactly what I want with it instead of having to buy another house because I would have to pay cap gains…….. good stuff comes out of dark times. You just can’t fathom what it will be.
You’ll come out and have figured a lot out and won’t make the same choices you did this first time around. I bought my house 2 yrs after I closed those stores. In 7 years it tripled in value, yay. money is fluid, it’s hard to explain. But the harder you try to hold onto it, control it, the weirder the response is. Slips through your fingers, deals get broken. Sometimes you lose it, OK. And other times you gain it, OK. Try to stay balanced with the daily flow and not get pulled through a roller coaster as data re the homes comes in every day. I got an offer (UP) I got a foreclosure notice (DOWN) - it’s not good for your health and in the end, believe me NONE of this is worth it if you ruin your health or marriage.
Stay positive - create your reality. Don’t let the jackals pull you down to their level. You’ll get through this and with all the knowlege move forward with a confidence and power that will serve you the rest of your life.
WHEW.
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Did you get your cancellation letter today? When’s the closing? When do you expect to get your money?
(From your $3,000 thread:) “The realtor on the Dallas closing refused to get paid through escrow. So that’s where the first $650 is going. I overnighted it to him today. He promises to fax me a cancellation as soon as he gets the money (on Monday). This will allow the NYC buyer to close. I should get 2-3K from that deal. “
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wanker,wanker,wanker !
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Casey. You have no idea how I feel for you. And Done It Before, Amen. My hole is not that big, but it HAS taught me a lot. As I read your story, a completely different picture of life is painted, and to some degree, expectedly. I know how you feel, and everything that Done It Before said, I have experienced in my life. Thanks to the study of the Word of God, these are the same advice I gave myself as I was going through the same thing. (you will laugh at the size of my hole, but never the less, it is still dark inside, no matter how deep)
did you notice how everyone just shut up after his comment?? : )
I feel even more sorry for them because they will never achieve greatness, always in the sidelines, behind a safe gate. They use to have hopes, but life dashed them. They are the same people who initiated the crucifixion of Jesus, who disturbed their comfortable life. (I am not comparing you to Jesus completely, but there is room in your life for comparison: you have a dream, an undashed one.)
Now you know why the Pharisees wanted Jesus to suffer!
Just look at these people. No shame of course, their conscience was burnt a long time ago, by dissappointments and failures. They do not have a life of their own, they are to scared to live their dreams. Why do you think the snake tempted eve into doing it, and not eat himself?I have much more to say, but your honesty has revealed to many many things, priceless lessons. Money is nothing! It is only valuable because people want it. You can make millions selling porn, and only destroy lives, while giving nothing back. It’s about the values and the building, and the giving, and from what you told, that is what you want to do.
Yes, you wanted to make a quick buck, but who doesn’t, especially at our age!? And that quick buck had every good intention, not to feed unhealthy appetites (you eat organic!)
I love humans even more because what you have gone through. I am still bitter, but I am growing more wise every day, thanks to people like you, that are willing to play the game, and not give up.
Keep what you already have: your innocence, something all these jackals and vipers lost a long time ago.
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Stoopid, but nothing that a small house fire can finish….or maybe RAISE the price and hope some sucker falls for it, otherwise, you are stuck trying to rent these dumps out. Welcome to reality!
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right back into your fantasy world so I won’t get my hopes up. 69. Rob DavyApril 20th, 2007 at 12:17 pm Then call it a day. Declare bankruptcy, and move on. Chalk it down as a learning experience and learn from it. Go and do something else. 70. Sweet Moments in Serin HistoryApril 20th, 2007 at 12:22 pm Today’s topic: the value of hard work. Casey Serin, 10/11/06, IAFF comment 22. “All those haters who think I am too lazy to work - why don’t you try doing some of this stuff yourself!
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