Facing Foreclosure Video #2

Topics continued:

* Bankruptcy
* Job situation, working with local Rich Dad
* Car situation, insurance money, friend’s money
* Corporate credit

More on the facing foreclosure video #3

Filed under uncategorized, still, sweet video, other stuff
Facing Foreclosure Video #1
Facing Foreclosure Video #3
22 Comments

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1. Credit info
November 10th, 2006 at 3:38 pm

Wow….just…..wow.

I would highly recommend less time filming yourself and more time interviewing for a real job.
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2. jeff Emig
November 10th, 2006 at 3:49 pm

EL Toro Energy.com is hiring Product reps and Sales people. At least it would be a pay check?

Good luck
Jeff E.
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3. Fairy god mother
November 10th, 2006 at 3:57 pm

The fact that you didn’t give your friend back the 3000 and buy a 2000 dollar car is astounding. With friends like you who needs enemies?
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4. Nigel Swaby
November 10th, 2006 at 4:31 pm

Casey,

Stay away from that “corporate credit” deal. It is a scam involving Nevada shell companies and you will have to pay money upfront.

Run away from it!

Good job with the videos. You were able to cover a lot of things in a shorter amount of time. Did it take long to do?

Nigel
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5. Been there, done that.
November 10th, 2006 at 5:05 pm

Casey,

If you do decide that you need to file bankruptcy, please go to the library and check out “All Your Worth” by Elizabeth Warren, and read the chapter on bankruptcy.

Warren talks about common mistakes that people make in bankruptcy, simply because they do not know their rights. Creditors may use deception or intimidation to get you to agree to re-assume responsibility for loans even after they are wiped out by the court. Basically, sign nothing and agree to nothing after your court appearance.

She also writes about picking yourself back up after a bankruptcy filing. The good news is that, if you really need credit, it will be available. Credit card companies will extend you even more offers, because they know you can’t file again for another 7 years after your first bankruptcy. The bad news is that the terms won’t be as good, and you’ll have to stay on your guard about late fees, etc. Use the credit very wisely - don’t charge anything you don’t need, and keep on top of your payments.

I know that bankruptcy sucks. It’s humiliating. It helps to think of it as a tool to pull this crushing debt off your back.

After I filed, I was so depressed that I had a hard time getting out of bed (they can’t repo and resell mattresses, did you know that? But they can take your bed itself). But I wasn’t living with the stress of my tremendous debt load any more - and that was a feeling of unbelievable freedom.

If you think you’re going to go that route, please learn about your options before you file. Elizabeth Warren’s book explains a lot of the arcana around bankruptcy; it’ll really help.

Been there, done that.
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6. BTDT
November 10th, 2006 at 5:24 pm

Moral considerations shouldn’t stop you from filing for bankruptcy if it’s the wisest course in this case. Bankruptcy is a last resort, but it’s ultimately about protecting your family.
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7. walt526
November 10th, 2006 at 6:50 pm

First, I agree with an earlier poster that the “Corporate Credit” idea is not something that you want to get yourself into. To get a legitimate small business loan, you need collateral. There’s no simply no way around that. Even with good credit, lenders want you to have “skin in the game” if you’re enjoying the protections of limited liability that a corporation provides. I have a FICO score of 740 with $35k in savings (outside our retirement accounts) and I couldn’t get a substantial loan (ie, >$500k) without investing nearly all of our personal savings into the venture as well as convincing my relatively wealthy parents to co-sign. A subprime borrower with no proven track record and no collateral isn’t going to get money to start a company. I don’t know who is telling you different, but they’re not giving you a viable options. You’re not going to be able to “borrow yourself out of debt.”

Second, you say “I want to make smart investments this time” and then a sentence later you claim that “flipping houses” is still your plan. You have yet to be able to turn any investment into any sort of a meaningful profit–what makes you think that you can do so in the future?

You don’t want to hear this, but correctly reading a market is not one of your talents (yet). You have no construction experience of any sort, so what makes you think that you can correctly estimate and control the costs of a major renovation. Moreover, you have NO margin for error.

I work as a purchasing agent for one of the largest union electrical contractors in Sacramento (over $80M in revenue last fiscal year). We have a very talented estimating department, each of our 5 full-time estimators have well over 20 years of experience in the industry. We have an excellent team of 10 project managers (each at least 5 years experience, most over 20) and over 40 foremen (at least 8 years of trade experience). Despite the wealth of talent, we still miss our profit target of 15% on one out of three projects and we *lose* money on 1 out of 5, which is normal for the industry. That’s why so many startup companies fail within the first 5 years: they simply don’t have the established and diversified sources of cash-flow. Moreover, you need cash reserves if/when you have to go into litigation (probably 1 out of every 20 projects).

Now you’re not building a new Kaiser hospital or UC Davis lecture hall, but small budget projects (Tenant Improvements, or TIs) are actually tougher to manage. If something unexpected comes up (and it often does even on a well-run project) which forces you to overnight material weighing several hundred pounds, that single UPS charge of $1000+ could easily eat up a good chunk of your expected profit. If the project has a contract for $3M, then it can be absorbed by a contingency fund. But if you’re talking about a $10k project, then that $1000 freight charge represents 10% of your total actual cost and probably most of your profit margin.

As bright as you might be, you seem to be easily charmed by the idea of easy money. The world doesn’t work that way. In a booming market like residential construction in Sacramento had 2 years ago, there might have been enough fat to help inexperienced developers and real estate investors. That’s not what we have now. The market is down substantially and its likely going to continue to go down for several years (or best case, stagnate). We’re not going to see sustained 20% annual appreciation again most likely in our lifetimes. The only people who will make money in residential real estate over the next five years are those who are sufficiently capitalized, experienced, and market savvy.

You might be those things one day, but you’re not today. Take a step back from residential real estate for a bit and focus on working hard to rebuild everything that you stand to lose if you continue on your present path (marriage, financial security, sanity, etc).

Finally, I like the format of the video blogs. One critique: look more into the camera. Make eye contact with the lens like you would with a real person. When you look away from the camera, its distracting to have your eyes looking around. Also, when you move your eyes up and to the right, it creates the impression that you might be lying (when most people create a fiction, their eyes instinctively move to the right, the creative side of the brain).

Best of luck.
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8. Rick
November 10th, 2006 at 7:15 pm

You are not going to get any corporate credit. Take it from one who has run more than one business over the years, without any financial history or assets you cannot get any credit for a business unless you back it with personal credit.

I had an LLC with over $500K in revenue in the first 6 months and we could not get any bank to give us a credit line for expansion without having to attach our personal guarantee even though we had a 40% gross margin. You will need to have at least 2 years of corporate financials to get any legitimate credit line.

I am afraid that means a no go for you, I am sure your credit is shot. Even talking about something like that just demonstrates that you really have absolutely no clue wth you are doing.

You need to get real man, your naivete is painful.
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9. Panda
November 10th, 2006 at 8:57 pm

I’ve watched your videos and I’m disappointed to find that you have revealed yourself to be a liar again. Shame on you. Sharp readers and listeners will pick this up soon enough. You will bend and tear the truth to fit your purposes in any way possible.

Again, shame on you and shame on us for believing you.
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10. peteDog
November 11th, 2006 at 1:26 am

Casey,

I really admire your strength to keep going despite all your setbacks. This is the kind of attitude that eventually bring you success in whatever you choose to do with your life. Don’t listen to the haters telling you to give up - you only loose when you give up, so keep going and you’ll succeed.

Word!

peteDog
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11. peteDog
November 11th, 2006 at 1:27 am

Also, if I may suggest. When you put a videobog up in three parts, make it one post, that way all the comments related to the 3part post will be in one post not 3 seperate ones.

Thanks,

peteDog
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12. walt526
November 11th, 2006 at 2:11 am

“Also, if I may suggest. When you put a videobog up in three parts, make it one post, that way all the comments related to the 3part post will be in one post not 3 seperate ones.”

At the start of #2 he says he needs to break them up because YouTube has a max limit on the file size.
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13. T
November 11th, 2006 at 10:46 am

STOP TALKING ABOUT RE-INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE!!!!

Now is not the time to “do it right”!!! The market is TANKING. How can you not understand that? Buyer psychology is such that people are not buying. They’re waiting for the market to tank. You need a JOB right now. Forget about the local RICH DAD and cover your own butt right now by taking a FULL TIME, STEADY PAYING JOB.
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14. Joseph
November 11th, 2006 at 1:37 pm

Lots of good advice and comments.

Casey reminds me of young immigrants (he is one by the way) who come to the USA with dreams of hitting the American Dream.

Nothing wrong with wanting part of the American Dream of course, but what is funny to me is that all of these young immigrants have the SAME *IDENTICAL* freaking working philosophy - it’s amazing!

Their philosophy is that they are too good for the average common job. How dare anyone suggest that they work over 40 hours a day! That is below them.

Their philosophy is also to be “honest” - So long as I screw you and admitt I am screwing you, all is well BS. NEVER do they take personal charge for their actions.

Watch how Casey will continue to want to do “good” but will never get a job, even if it’s flipping buggers to back his claims of wanting to do “good”.

Casey, you may have to spend the rest of your life paying for your mistakes. Get not 1 job, but 2 or 3 jobs working 70+ hours a week and get your lady to do the same (she also lied on the loan applications) and both of you work your butts off paying for your mistakes because if you don’t, we have to then pay for your mistakes and that ain’t right.

I am not an investor, but have bought several homes and land in my time moving up and getting bigger and nicer homes.

In California, the loan process and application procress for buying real state requites LOTS and LOTS of paper work that you must sign.

There is so much paper work involved thay they go as far as having you sign saying that you are not a fictional character, but a real live human being.

All this paper work is notarized and you sign away stating that everything you said is true. The paper work even goes as far as stating (before you sign) that if you lie in any part of the application, you will be in deep s*** .

So Casey, what part did you miss?
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15. Josh
November 12th, 2006 at 1:29 pm

I live in SoCal myself and KNOW how hard it is to get around without a car. Indeed a car is essential for living, I’m glad that at least you know you’re not buying a car for more than $5,000.

Nonetheless, I guess however bad you’re having things, you’re 24 and married, what most people don’t do ar your age, better to learn lessons now than later. If you’re weren’t (or some say- aren’t) in foreclosure, you’d have just as bad money problems down the road in your shoes, so this’ll be good for the rest of your life.
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16. dcguy
November 12th, 2006 at 3:41 pm

dude

I run a small business, it took 3 years to get
“Corporate” credit. Lots of people offered us
“Business” credit, but, it was all signed personally
by each of us.

you need a job, you need cash. You need to stop
daydreaming, which is what you have been doing for a month
and work to earn. Get a weekend job, working at a computer store, really just get on the job train.
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17. Michael Cooke
November 14th, 2006 at 12:41 am

These last few videos remind me a little about what I might look like under heavy stress and increasing pressure from work. The pressure cooker syndrome. Casey you may need to relax and take a breather.

I get this way too. Working 22 hours straight with no lunch. Or like those weeks or days (like this Friday) when I have 20 different people screaming at me over the phone. Government employees yelling - making threats etc. Then obsessing about everything that needs to be done that I still haven’t done etc driving myself nuts.

You don’t want that to happen Casey. I’m being a hypocrite - but Casey please take a breather. Go surfing. The real estate market is going to do whatever it’s going to do from here on out. You have realtors working to sell for you. You can only do the best you can.
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18. Jacks
November 14th, 2006 at 9:40 am

I disagree about the immigrant comment. I am a “natural born” U.S. citizen, so I really have no bias/reason to stick-up for immigrants. But I do have a lot of exprience dealing with young adults, both “‘American” and “foreign”. I am in my mid-20s.

My experience is that most Americans in my peer group are the “lazy” ones while the “foreigners” are hard-working. I don’t think I have ever met an immigrant who didn’t have at least 2 full-time jobs,etc. I know several who worked their way through expensive private colleges doing things like waiting tables and earning professional degrees or working their a$$ off saving money and started legit businesses.

Young Americans on the other hand mostly care more about things like driving the coolest car ( even if they live with their mom at age 25), blowing money on doo-dads,etc- combined with wanting to “get rich fast”, thinking the world “owes” them something,etc.

Maybe Casey is less like the typical “immigrant” and more like the spoiled American brat..