Saturday, July 28, 2007

House Raffle Sign-Up and Brainstorm

A couple of people suggested doing a “raffle” to sell my houses quickly. If you are interested in participating please use the signup form below or in the sidebar. If you have some ideas please post your comments here or email me.

To pull this off I will need everybody’s help. Once I am ready I will need everyone to spread the word like crazy! If this doesn’t become a wild-fire buzz of an idea it will NOT work. However, if it DOES work, we can use this system to sell houses for other people and help people out of their tough situation. It’s an experiment.

How the raffle might work:

Basically, the idea is to offer raffle tickets for say $50-100 a pop until there is enough money to pay off a house. Then hold the raffle and pick a randomly person. That lucky person will then become a proud owner of a $500,000 luxury model home in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. I can do this for all the other houses too.

If the raffle does not result in enough tickets sold, then we return the money and everyone is happy.

You can buy as many tickets as you want to increase your odds. However, I am not sure what the minimum ticket price should be. To me, $50 sounds very reasonable. Most people can afford to give it a shot at that price. How much do you think is reasonable? What is the advantage of going higher or lower?

The odds of winning the $500,000 model home at $50 per ticket:

1 ticket at $50: 1 in 10,000
10 tickets at $500: 1 in 1,000
100 tickets at $5,000: 1 in 100

(Am I doing that math right? Someone correct me if I’m wrong.)

Legal Issues

I talked to my RE attorney today to look into the legal issues. He is checking into it. So I will wait to hear more from him.

Does you know anyone who has expertise in this area? I can use a second opinion.

What if Casey just takes the money and runs? Is this a scam?

To all my haters - this is NOT a scam but a way to sell my houses quickly and avoid foreclosure. I want prevent my lenders from losing any money on me. I want to repay every dirty penny I borrowed. It’s the right thing to do. However, since my situation is so bad I need something REALLY creative to get myself out. It also must be legal and ethical.

Brainstorm questions:

  • How can I make sure people take me seriously?
  • How can I ensure the security of the money?
  • How can I collect the money safely and offer a refund?
  • How do I manage the entire process?
  • How do I spread the word to sell enough tickets?

Perhaps I can use a 3rd party escrow company to hold the money. Maybe there is even a company out there that specializes in providing a raffle / lottery service. Something to look into.

Signup for the Raffle!
Be the first one to hear about it! As soon as I have a plan, I’ll notify you so you can participate. Signup and spread the word.
Email:

Any ideas?

147 Comments

  • Checking state law regarding private lotteries might be a good idea…

  • you’ve gone mad…

    really, this time…

  • Um… a simple four-function calculator would tell you that 10 tickets at $500/each equals a mere $5,000, little buckaroo. Not to mention that you would have to sell 10,000 tickets at $50/pop to break even on this latest scam of yours. Seriously buddy, if you can’t do simple multiplication, how the hell do you expect to ever convincingly show even a retarded bulldog (not to mention those hungry creditors of yours,) that you can handle your finances?

    Dude, you’re sunk. Start looking into plea bargains.

  • hey..why just do it on one house? Why don’t you put up all of your remaining houses up for raffle? Let’s see…$100 X 30,000 people and not only will you unload your crap on some loser that is going to take a bath in tazes… ie 2 million X 2.2 million * .35% (yes you pay taxes on winnings) = 770k …but you will make like 600K to boot! But wait! It gets better, if you sell a ticket to 300,000 people..wait no 3 million…uh..30 million nah 300 miliion people, you can sell them for a $1 each and make 270 million in profit!!!!!!!! Hell, I’m going to work myself on such a scam…

  • I agree with the previous poster (kpom) - what you are describing is an illegal lottery.

    [NOTE: I am not an attorney, and nothing here should be construed as legal advice. As always, check with legal counsel of your chosing before taking (or forebearing) any action.]

    A lottery is defined as: (1) trading something of value (usually money) for (2) a chance; to (3) win something of value.

    In nearly every state, this is illegal (with specific exceptions written to allow state-sponsored lotteries and certain charitable activities [think church bingo, etc.])

    To make it legal, you need to eliminate one of the three elements listed above. The most popular choice for commercial “lotteries” is the first element (valuable consideration.) This is why so many contests have an alternative “no purchase necessary” method of entry.

    If you allow people to enter without spending money, you’re ok (but that would sort of defeat the point of your contest.)

    Folks in your position (trying to sell a house by way of contest) have chosen to eliminate the second element instead (i.e. chance).

    To do this, you don’t have a drawing, you have a contest where the winner is chosen based on skill (instead of blind luck). Here, you’re going to want to think “essay contest” or something similar (e.g. 500 words about why you want this house.)

    Of course, you are then opening yourself to charges of fraud (did you really pick that person because of their quality essay, or because you had some sort of serruptitious deal with them?)

    Which is why people turn to outside (think “independent”) judging agencies.

    Whatever you decide to do, you’re going to want to tread lightly, and not take my word for any of this. Do your homework, or the deep hole you are in might get a lot darker.

  • And another day goes by where you don’t look for a job…

    If this is performance art, it is utterly brilliant.

  • The way I see this is that the lender has a lot to lose not you. They took a risk of lending you the money. I can’t think of anything other than in the area of short selling that can work in this situation. I am still thinking and I have no brilliant idea at the moment. The raffle idea seems weird but who knows if it will work.

  • It would be nice if you would stop calling your critics “haters”.

  • What a stupid idea from a stupid person that gave you this idea. How is your attorney going to obtain the permit for this? You are soliciting for illegal gambling. This is not Friday night bingo at your church. If you want to come clean for your lenders, do what they asked. Do not monkey around with the banks.

  • Not to mention that you would have to sell 10,000 tickets at $50/pop to break even on this latest scam of yours.

    I don’t know about you guys, but there is no way I am going to give this guy $50 toward bailing his sorry behind out.

  • 11. Voice of Reason
    October 10th, 2006 at 6:43 pm

    Still following the Robert G. Allen playbook I see. Now you want to add to your growing resume of real estate fraud, loan fraud, banking fraud, an illegal raffle.

    “I talked to my RE attorney today to look into the legal issues. His initial reaction is - it should be very doable - we just need a good contract. So I will wait to hear more from him.”

    Who’s your “real estate attorney?” Johnnie Cochran?

    When did you become a charity? When did you register this raffle with the State of Ca? I assume you will notify the “winner” of the pending civil actions and IRS bill they will face? Not going to notify your lenders that you intend to “raffle” off the properties?

    Man, you are a piece of work.

  • ‘Art unions’ are allowed to conduct house raffles in the interest of benefitting a registered charity or club. In this case, I doubt whether the authorities will see you as such. Regardless, a permit would have to be obtained.

    Even more regardless, what if you don’t sell many tickets? You will be obliged to still conduct the raffle and make an even bigger loss, or else go through the administration of refunding everybody’s money, and face even more ire, complaints and possible legal action from more disaffected persons. The administrative costs of making the refunds would be enough to break you financially in your already distressed state. Although I don’t think many people will be buying tickets if you have rider clauses saying it may not even go ahead, and they’ve just given you some amount with 00s on the end they may never see again. You just won’t appear reputable in this to anyone. Maybe just ask for PLEDGES to buy raffle tickets to test market sentiment, and by 2009 you may be ready to go ahead — oops, that might be too late…

    Furthermore, raffled houses are usually of very high quality, or included Mercedes in the package, etc, which is what induces people to part with some multiple of $50 to get the thing. You are offering very ordinary properties. OR, you could try packaging them all up as an investor’s raffle…

    Try appearing on Oprah? That always seems to work. Maybe she or her viewers will bail you out, she is a very kind and charitable person I understand : s

  • Try appearing on Oprah? That always seems to work. Maybe she or her viewers will bail you out, she is a very kind and charitable person I understand

    Lol

    That’s tomorrow’s plan.

  • please forward me the link where I can sign up for this raffle for FREE.

    yes, that’s right FREE.

    That’s the law. If you want to raffle anything you have to provide a way for someone to enter the drawing fro no charge. federal law, applies to ALL states.

    I doubt you talked to any attorney about this as that is a well known fact regarding lotteries/raffles/sweepstakes. If you did talk to an attorney and he did not know this then he is an idiot.

    So…like I said, please send me the link where I can sign up for the raffle for NO COST WHATSOEVER. It’s in the fine print on every single raffle/lottery ticket you buy that is not state sponsored.

  • Bravo, you’ve jumped the shark. Write up your thesis and do the talk show circuit.

    Here’s a scoop (that isn’t legal advice); if you ain’t a registered charity you cannot do dis in Kalifornia. EVERY single bit of face to face advice (with a c) you’ve posted so far has been disaster. You didn’t really talk to a RE attorney, come on, some of us are suspending belief for the purposes of playing along but you need to keep the story at least remotely grounded.

    On the remote chance that you did talk to a RE attorney and he did tell you “it should be very doable - we just need a good contract” then do the world a favor and turn him in.

  • Casey, you are sooooo in DENIAL of your situation! I am amazed at your so called “creativity”, but why should I be? Youth indeed is wasted on the young. What’s really annoying is that you keep on saying how you are taking responsibility and want to do the right thing, but blogging and coming up with ‘creative’ ideas, such as a lottery, is nothing short of irresponsible. Casey, face it, so you know it - there are no MIRACLES for situations like yours, and the faster you get on with the consequences, the better for everyone, not just YOU. Why should someone give you $50, or whatever for your screw ups and impuslive decisions? You have the nerve!

    Indeed, get a job, while you still can, though if I was an emplyer I wouldn’t want to hire you. Yeah, yeah, maybe this blog has given you the 15 seconds of fame (shame!) you seem to enjoy, but only an idiot will think about giving you any money. Hmmm…let’s see, sending a check to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation or Casey?

    Hope your life turns out OK, kid, after all this, but do us a favor, do something better with it, starting now.

  • Maybe you should start with one little red paper clip, and trade it up on eBay a few times until you finally end up with ownership of an entire Donald Trump development, due to serial lucky strokes of charity, then sell ‘em all off for the cash!!! Except leave the penthouse to donate to Robert Kiyosaki out of gratitude for his infinite wisdom and verifiable investment career and business smarts…

    http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

  • Casey said: “To pull this off I will need everybody’s help. Once I am ready I will need everyone to spread the word like crazy! If this doesn’t become a wild-fire buzz of an idea it will NOT work.”

    I must have forgotten something. Explain to me how I came to work for you. I thought I was just watching a train wreck.

  • You cannot be too bright. I’m an idiot and even I know a raffle is illegal.

    Email me back if you wanna make some real money. I’m serious. The only thing you have to do is drive to Monterrey, Mexico in your car. Pick up a duffle bag from a guy named Jose and deliver it here to me in Las Vegas.

    You can make the trip twice a month and I’ll give you $10,000.00 per trip. It will keep you floating (financially and literally) and it’s all perfectly legal as long as you don’t look in the bag. If you get caught just tell them it happens all the time, and everybody’s doing it.

    And for God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like publish it on the internet…

  • How about this… contract with a registered charity to conduct the raffle?

    That way it *can* be done legally.

    Hopefully you can hang on to the house long enough to transfer it to the winner! (use the raffle ticket money to pay the mortgage on the house being raffled).

    It would be a lot of work to promote… but a lot less work than paying back the $100k you’d lose on a short-sale!

  • 21. Just A Gum-Chewin' Kid From Nebraska
    October 10th, 2006 at 8:07 pm

    “If the raffle does not result in enough tickets sold, then we return the money and everyone is happy.”

    You’ll return that money because you say you’ll return it, right? Isn’t that the same thing you told the banks before you told us you lied to them?

    “Brainstorm question: How can I make sure people take me seriously?”

    Spending less time posting half-baked ideas in your blog and more time trying to sell your houses might be a good way to convince people you want to sell your houses.

  • The charity idea may be a good way to go… I don’t want to do anything illegal and it seems like many people are saying that doing a private raffle in CA is against the law.

    I’m surprised my RE attorney didn’t know that. Maybe I need a new attorney.

  • You are a moron. Just quit trying to “get rich quick” and go get a job. As the famous line from the movie Caddyshack goes “The world needs ditch diggers too…”

  • …. or make it possible for people to enter the raffle for free. Like Rick is saying above. Just like the lotteries do it. Wait… I didn’t realize I can get a lottery ticket for free!?

    But then unless I make the FREE signup option a very hard to find thing, as in VERY VERY small font, then it’s not going to help me because why would you pay for it then? Maybe out of charity? I don’t think so. You guys wouldn’t just give me money like that.

    And making the “free entry” into a very very fine print is shady.

  • Mike… and everyone else who keeps telling me to get a job… what I’m doing here is try to pay off 2.2M in mortgage and credit line debt, before they foreclose on me. How in the world is a job going to help me in this case????

    Yes, I do need to get a job to pay for my daily living expenses. But to wipe out my debt quickly I need something very creative.

  • “I’m surprised my RE attorney didn’t know that. Maybe I need a new attorney”

    That’s what happens when you a hire a lawyer for $5 an hour…

  • You need something creative like a bankruptcy hearing. You aren’t going to wipe out your debt quickly, period.

  • Is everyone from Uzbekistan an ignorant lier?

    http://www.ivygateblog.com/blo.....mself.html

    Why don’t you go back to your own country and try to “flip” property?

  • “Mike… and everyone else who keeps telling me to get a job… what I’m doing here is try to pay off 2.2M in mortgage and credit line debt, before they foreclose on me. How in the world is a job going to help me in this case????”

    What you don’t seem to GET is that nothing is going to help you….you are going to be foreclosed on, now before you probably could have just done it and be done with…but now that you have opened up a can of worms by blaring to everyone how you lied and cheated, do you think they are just going to slap you on the hand? If they did..then every other person out there in your situation would just do the same thing… and the lenders know it. Nah, they are going to nail you hard…kinda like bubba in the big house is going to do.

    “I’m a 24-year-old aspiring (failed) real estate investor (speculator, investing would imply that I knew what I was doing) from Sacramento CA. After going to few seminars (Ok it was just one and it was the cheap one) I bought 8 houses(I figured my net worth would go up with each house that I bought) in 8 months across 4 states (I figured being wanted for fraud in one state wasn’t enough) with no money down( Mainly because I don’t have any money…except for the houses, which means my net worth is 2.2 million right?). I fixed and sold 2 (Ok, I did the old lipstick on the pig thing..and I didn’t really FIX them myself..I don’t know how to do that either) and then ran out of cash (I kinda realized that the money in those houses are negative and not positive when calculating my net worth, and I kinda realized that I don’t really OWN those houses either…in fact I am renting them from the banks, and they ain’t happy)

  • “You need something creative like a bankruptcy hearing. ”

    You mean maybe Casey can get two shrinks to declare him mentally unsound and suicidal, and find a sympathetic bankruptcy judge will let him off easy?

    I got some ideas that involve the legal particularities of Nevada, but I don’t think I need to go into details about that…

  • Casey, I do have a bit of a direct question. Not sure if it’s one you can answer, but I would sure appreciate it if you would try.

    Given that, you have never had $2.2 million, and that less than a fraction of 1% of all Americans have ever had $2.2 million in their lifetimes (a class including people with inherited wealth, winners of 100-million-to-1 lotteries, professional athletes, A-class entertainers, and bona fide businesspeople with decades of experience), what makes you convinced that you can come up with $2.2 million in a matter of months (or even years)?

    To be honest, that’s the part with which I’m having the most trouble (and there are a lot of parts I’m having trouble with).

  • You cannot get a CA Lottery ticket for free because it is a state sponsored Lottery. private lotteries/raffles/sweepstakes all have to give the option to enter for free. Same thing goes for giveaways from any private company or game show. read the fine print on that M&M’s candy wrapper or McDonald’s Monopoly game. It always says something to the effect of “to enter this contest without a purchase send a self addresed stamped envelope to…”

    Even the game shows have that in their disclaimers in mouse print. TiVo the “Deal, Not a Deal” show and read all that legal mumbo jumbo when they do the “text message us with your guess” thing for the briefcases.

    this is also why all the studio tickets for the game shows like “The Price is right” etc. are free. They cannot REQUIRE a fee in any way if they intend to give away a prize.

  • I am not telling you to get a job to repay your debt. The fact is that is pretty much impossible at this point. What you need to do is declare BK, pray the lenders don’t press charges for fraud and choose to just write off the loans (they probably will just do that as anything else is throwing good money after bad), and get on with your life.

  • 34. BelowTheCrowd
    October 10th, 2006 at 9:03 pm

    Usually the way you make the “free” option for joining a raffle difficult is by creating some incredibly complex paper process. One organization I know required you to send them a self addressed stamped envelope which they would then use to send you the entry form, which you could then fill out and return to them. You could enter as often as you wanted, but they would only accept one request per day, and only allow one entry per day from the same person. Essentially this meant that every entry cost you three envelopes and three stamps (the SASE, the oversized envelope to put the SASE in, and the envelope to mail the entry form back in). So it wasn’t really free to you, but generated no revenue to them. That kind of thing is typical. Of course, supporting it (and you must support it!) requires that you be set up to do the whole thing.

    And of course, you must have an auditable, corruption proof way of running the raffle. That means hiring an independent company to run it, which means spending money.

    Trust me, you’re not in a position to do this.

    Given that you have no assets and no income, chapter 11 is actually a possibility for you even under the new rules (since qualifying depends on your income over the past six months). Once you have income, it’s a lot harder and you can be forced into a repayment plan which will leave you perpetually broke for life. The longer you delay, the less the properties will be worth to the banks, and the more it’ll be worth their while to really go after you. Do it now and it’s not worth their while.

    And I doubt anybody will ever bother with criminal prosecution, though you probably did break the law. Reality is that most D/As can’t be bothered sending somebody to jail unless there was real malice and something particularly reprehensible about what they did. You may be incredibly naive and dumb, but you are not malicious, and it’s not like you ripped off a bunch of gullible senior citizens. But the longer you delay, the greater the chance that somebody goes after you because you just pissed them off.

    Get it over with. I’ve spent the bulk of my working life looking for the years in which I can make as much as you’re going to need to come up with even AFTER selling your properties. It happens occasionally. It’s not going to happen to a 24 year old with no experience and no connections. The longer you delay, the worse the consequences will get.

    -btc

  • Casey,

    Raffling a house off for non-profit purposes may be illegal in California, as raffles are a form of gambling. Check with your real estate lawyer on this.

    Even if it is not illegal, you would need to advertise the raffle, which might get expensive. And your lawyer would also have to advise you on how to hold that raffle money (e.g, in an escrow account).

    The winner will owe the IRS a chunk of money too.

    The bottom line - your lawyer needs to advise you every step of the way.

    People have auctioned off houses and structured the auctions in a way that the highest offer can be refused, though in your case I doubt that will happen. If you want a fast sale, that might be your better bet.

    If you are interested, try www.auctioneers.org. Also check out the advertised homes on EBay.

  • can’t…..stop…..laughing……now you’re begging for money via a raffle for a so-called charity…..my side hurts. stop….seriously.

    I do hope you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. What you did is completely wrong and posting a blog as though you are apologetic doesn’t cut it.

  • This trainwreck just keeps getting better and better.

    How much longer until the forclosures roll in?

  • Casey, I’ve been following story for some time now with riveted attention, checking your blog several times a day for updates.

    *** In many ways, you and I are alike, and I also have entrepreneurial aspirations. We’re also about the same age, and we’re both “from” the golden state–and we’re both in tech; I feel like whats happening to you is only a hair’s breadth away from something that could be happening to me. Reality is more surreal than fantasy…

    *** I don’t know much about real estate, other than that most financial advisors consider it to be an extremely high risk investment, right up there with penny stocks and junk bonds–the riskiest of all investments. This seems to be territory reserved mainly to experts (university degrees, extensive experience) who combine expertice with large hedge funds. There are a few exceptions, but perhaps the number of exceptions is mostly consistant with chance?

    *** Realistically speaking, there’s no particular way to leverage your present assets to bring in income. This means, short of discharging your debt through bankruptcy, that you need to generate several hundred thousand dollars of income. Try not to get distracted by the large scale of money you are working with. Do you really think it is realistic to make this sort of money, seeing as how many of the “gurus” aren’t really capable of producing this kind of cash?

    *** Even if you are capable of creating serious big time cash, from virtually no capital, don’t you think it would be better to do this from the opposite side of bankruptcy protection, inside a well-structured LLC? You can always pay back your creditors after bankruptcy.

    *** Let me remind you again that several hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money.

    *** If you don’t think you’re going to be able to generate the several hundred thousands of dollars, you’re basically down to:
    1) Do nothing, while the sheriff slowly plunders whatever assets you have left. At some point, criminal charges may become a more significant issue.
    2) Bankruptcy will probably allow you to discharge most of your debt. But you might not be able to discharge all of it. However, whatever’s left will probably be something thats able to be paid off by conventional means, such as professional income from a job.
    3) Leave the country. This is probably not socially-responsible, but then its also probable that your creditors wouldn’t be that worse off if you did leave.

    *** Again, please try not to be distracted by the scale of the money involved, or the fact you have some time left before things get really hairy. Unless you can come up with a quarter of a million dollars from scratch from a truly unique idea that noone else has been able to successfully implement yet, you need to pick one of 1-3 above.

    *** I think you are doing a significant service to the world by exposing yourself on this blog. While its likely that the world is a worse place for your poor business dealings, the world might be slightly better for such a candid example of the consequences. Personally, I know I will see my business decisions in a whole different way due to following this blog. Perhaps this may be the one thing you’ll be able to give the world out of this god-awful crappy mess of yours.

    Anyway, good luck. Contact me if there’s some way I can help you, or you just want to talk.

  • Casey

    After 41 comments, all telling you the same thing, and 1 from Susan the realtor in denial only tacitly supporting you, why do you not seem to get the message?

    State lotteries are not raffles. They are statutorily created mechanisms. That means that the legislature of the state passed a specific law to allow the lottery. If you can get the CA legislature to pass a “Casey’s Side Show Drawing” law, and then defend it against any federal challenges, more power to you. You can’t walk into an Indian casino and play slots for free either. Think about it real hard and you might get it.

    As to this whole newest scam, go for it!!! You’ve already demonstrated that you have no moral compass or ethical inhibitions when it comes to trying to get something for nothing. So use your lawyer from Hollywood Upstairs Law School and start selling your tickets.

    Hell, I’ll even buy one so that I have standing to be a party when it comes time to sue your a** into oblivion. In fact, I encourage everyone here to buy a Casey ticket if you can muster the $50. Maybe we’ll get enough common standing to get a class action? Well, probably not, but we will — and I guarantee this — have enough victims to get the attention of his local DA loud and clear.

    Where do I sign up? Not the email form BS. Where do I send a check or get you to charge my credit card??? C’mon. I’m ready to fork over $50 right now. But I want a record of it going to *you* for *this scam*.

    And by the way, I’m not even going to waste the time pointing out the overt ignorance you exhibit in the “odds” you arbitrarily set up in your little game. You do realize that you have to actually do a little statistics to figure out the what odds will work? No, of course you don’t. Legal issues aside, just picking “1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100″ out of thin air means that your lottery is totally game-able. I can construct a number of ticket combos that will make you lose money, dude.

    Like I said, where do I sign up? I’ll end owning your home and sticking you with even more losses. WAIT? That won’t work, will it? Your bank won’t give me the home simply because *you* are a colossal idiot.

    –Randy H. I guess the ‘H’ is for ‘Hater’. lol.

  • Don’t you guys see that his job is now this website. He is trying to get enough hits and buzz to qualify as an internet phenom. I assume he believes he can utilize his 1.5 minutes of fame from this site into some sort of money making scheme. My guess is an advance from a publisher followed by some sort of ghost-written book.

    The problem with this scheme is that he is not a sympathetic character, or even all that interesting. Definitelly not interesting enough to generate the half million or so that he will need to cover his debt.

  • The problem with this scheme is that he is not a sympathetic character, or even all that interesting. Definitelly not interesting enough to generate the half million or so that he will need to cover his debt.

    I find it interesting enough to want to see the slow-mo train wreck. But he’s definitely not sympathetic. Not at all.

    It would really bother me if he was able to parlay this into enough money to bail himself out. No one should be able to escape committing fraud that easily.

  • Mark
    October 10th, 2006 at 11:04 pm Don’t you guys see that his job is now this website. He is trying to get enough hits and buzz to qualify as an internet phenom. I assume he believes he can utilize his 1.5 minutes of fame from this site into some sort of money making scheme. My guess is an advance from a publisher followed by some sort of ghost-written book.

    I’ve been curious about the fact that his comments are screened first - and sometimes edited. Casey, do you do this by yourself, or do you have help? And if you have help, just how much? Is this all some big publicity stunt?

  • This blog makes for an interesting read. If anything, it would make people feel better about their own financial woes but I have my doubts. For starters domains and web hosting aren’t free (unless you want a lot of crap on it). We have someone claiming to not even have enough money for groceries, yet he can afford to register this domain ($9.95) and if you click on his “email me” link it is another domain ($9.95), although this second domain has nothing attatched to it. Ok so were up $20 to make a website, by someone who is seriously (understated) in debt. Now I am a blogger and I haven’t found any web hosting that would allow for this type of blog to be free. I pay $10/month. Now, for the best part. Domain registrations are public. Doing a search on both domains mentioned here gives an address:

    [address removed for privacy]

    If you do a reverse lookup, it shows a building with a number of officies in it. None of which have Casey as an occupant in name. Is everyone just being fooled by someone looking to see how many hits they can get (I’ll admit thats fun). Or, is this by someone who seems to have money to spend on meaningless things, when they can’t afford groceries. Is this someone looking to sell some property and this seems to be a good way to advertise? It’s just some food for thought. I would be more inclined to believe this if some things made sense, but I don’t see how someone so poor can find the money for domain registrations and web hosting fees.

  • So does he really have a job? Using a false address? Maybe he lives in that dumpster :-) With the days of free wi-fi I suppose he could still post but jeez if I was that poor all of my stuff would be on ebay so I could eat. There was a UPS store listed, so I suppose he could have a mailbox there but again, more fees. It makes it all really hard to believe. It looks more like someone just wanting to sell houses (which I would kind of be cautious about buying). I mean picture yourself being this far in debt. Would you not get rid of unecessary bills and prepare yourself for what was coming? I have a pocket pc phone too, but I don’t think I could afford the fees every month if I had to choose between eating or having a cool phone. My advice, dump everything you don’t need to live and be prepared for what is coming (unless of course this is just a pretense to sell some houses in which case kudos for creativity)

  • [address removed for privacy] is a UPS Store. Casey’s mailbox is #—. There’s probably a little slot you can stuff $1000 bills into. I know I just did.

  • Someone else previously pointed out it is UPS mailbox store location or something.

    How about doing this: ” Remi Frazier’s Million Dollar Destiny - My name is Remi Frazier. I’m taking $100, a cell phone, a camera, and leaving on a one-way ticket to New York City …
    www.remifrazier.com

    He sold his business for 4k! haha do that what 4000 times and your in the money!

  • Well, maybe of intersting note, according to whitepages.com his phone number is registered to T-Mobile but the phone in the pic is Verizon. Maybe he ported his number. Maybe this is all an elaborate scam. Either way I don’t really feel sorry for anyone. If this was geniune these things would make sense, but there are too many discrepancies. Maybe someone with some wireless knowledge could track him down via cell towers and see if he really is the guy in the pic.

  • Try appearing on Oprah?

    Lol That’s tomorrow’s plan.

    I can see a new blog topic tomorrow: “Get me on Oprah!”

    ‘Come on guys, if you all write in to HBO, and spread the word to your friends to write in, it’ll be a cinch. I need you to get behind me now on this one. Oprah gives away cars to the whole audience, this one is peanuts…’

  • Pornographic suggestions and closing in on your address. I guess things are coming to a head.

    It’s not in your best interest to keep up this site, so I fully expect you to continue the updates. Please don’t stop. It’s like JACKASS…with money.

  • I hope this a web scam where you are trying to create a high-traffic blog Casey. Because I have real fears that if it isn’t then you are going to go to jail. Jail isn’t a nice place.

  • It’s a long, long, long way down …

  • Casey,

    Why don’t you just take your beating like a man? Foreclosing is bad, but it’s not the end of the world! You will learn a great lesson in life and others will learn from it too! You will get back on your feet again and you will be much stronger. How would you really feel about yourself if everyone chipped in to bail you out of this mess? I know I would rather get it all over with and foreclose on the properties rather than feel indebted to the world. This is no difference than asking for all the taxpayers to bail you out. You are asking for charity money for yourself, which is not very cool!

  • Sigh. Although I am increasingly suspicious that this blog isn’t real, in any case I do think that Casey’s fifteen minutes are about up.

    Initially, you had a pretty gripping story - the poster child for the housing bubble, and a lot of people can emphasize with being 24 and doing stupid things that get you over your head.

    However, it’s becoming pretty clear that you intend to just continue being a scam artist - your claim that that you intend to pay back all the money is used an excuse for wilder and wilder “creative” scam ideas. I think that you think that you can figure out some ploy to get out of this (and get paid in some fashion for doing so), and then run seminars on how to tell other people how to do this.

    You were offered a $35/hr contract job “out of the blue”, and you told them that you could inform them in a week or two when you could start because of Your Very Important Real Estate Business? A normal person would have called the employer and asked if they could come over immediately to start filling out the paperwork to get hired.

    Enjoy your last minute or so of fame…

  • kpom

    I think you’ve summed up what bugs me most about Casey. Of course no real job is going to pay off all his debt. But not working for that reason is asinine. It shows the mind set of someone who is still sure he’s going to get bailed out somehow.

    Or maybe it is all a scam. It would be annoying if this was all set up as some sort of experiment for a social anthropology class.

  • I do love the entertainment value here but I think the site should be renamed “Casey’s scam of the week.”

    As if people with an IQ above room temperature would trust that *anyone* would end up with a house. It just looks like another way for Casey to live a while longer as a “real estate investor” using other peoples money…

  • I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Casey sounds like the real thing. If he’s faking it all then I have the greatest admiration for his character acting skills and he should use this website to get himself an agent/TV show/movie deal.

  • Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

    The stupidity of fools that actually buy tickets from you amaze me even more.

  • To all my haters - this is NOT a scam but a way to sell my houses quickly and avoid foreclosure.

    You lied to get the loans.

    Now you have a reputation as a liar.

    Why would anyone believe your word about lotteries/other scams?

    I think the expression is: You made your bed, now sleep in it.

  • You sound like a hard working young immigrant that is trying to go for the American Dream. I think if all of the readers of this blog just sent you a check for $20.00 to help you out you could reach your goals and then help others that are down on their luck.

    I also think that the moon is made of cheese. Yum Yum!

  • To astrid - Casey does sound like the real deal. Charles Manson sounded like the real deal too. To his followers anyway. LOL

    Fools, Tools and Sociopaths are where you find them I suppose…

  • I am actually getting kind of bored with his schemes and whining….I’m pretty much just checking back here daily waiting for the
    “this website was seized by law enforcement” sign.

  • I think it’s very admirable what you’re doing, given the situation.
    I don’t think I could show as much calm as you seem to have to come up with all the ideas.
    IMHO, you’ll need some money to implement all this and the best thing you could do to get some short time money is a personal loan you should be still able to get as bad credit doesn’t seem to be a problem these days.
    The interest is pretty low too.

  • the jig is up folks…this is a publicity stunt. We have all been such fools for patronizing this blog. Shane on you Casey..er whatever your name is. I knew no one could be so stupid as to get in the predicament you claim you were in.

  • “Taking a page from the no-money-down gurus he had already ruined his credit scores learning from, he didn’t let the fact that he was under-employed with no financial assets slow him down. He bought one house at a discount and sold it for a profit of $30,000, which he used to wipe out his credit card debt and bring up his credit scores. The next house purchase wasn’t quite so lucrative — it had a negative cash flow, but this didn’t dissuade him. In fact, the negative cash flow only convinced Serin to think he needed more investments “to keep me busy with profit in the pipeline.” In January 2005, he took a three-week leave from his job to get “enough deals in contract” so that he could give his employer two weeks’ notice.

    All proceeded according to plan. He quit his job and in the next four months he acquired six more properties. All in all, his portfolio included eight single-family homes, including two houses in Sacramento and one in Modesto, a seven-bedroom fixer-upper in Highland, Utah, a model home in Rio Rancho, N.M. and five-bedroom, four-bathroom ranch house in Dallas, Texas.

    But (surprise, surprise) the profit didn’t appear in the pipeline as planned. “I didn’t manage my cash flow and the market changed on me,” he told me. “I guess I didn’t have enough exit strategies. ”

    He managed to fix up two of the properties and sell them before the market slammed to a halt, but he found himself holding six houses with over $2.2 million in debt in a fast-declining market. Young, computer savvy, with the sense of full-disclosure masochism typical of our age, Serin didn’t cut his losses, file for bankruptcy and get a job.
    He started a blog.”

    Read the rest at:

    http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/lloyd/

    In regards to the legitimacy of this blog and Casey’s situation, many things point to all this being unfortunately true. In the above article by the San Francisco Gate Casey’s situation is painfully documented from past to present. Casey has the blind faith in real estate that it will solve all his economic woes including his massive debt CAUSED by real estate. In some ways, your behavior is much like a co-dependent abused person; you are co-dependent on real estate. Like spouse that is constantly beaten, they come back to the same source appearing to be a gluttony for their own pain. They ask “why did I do this?” and “how did I let myself get to this point?” And the majority of the time they are drawn back to the relationship only to get beaten again. You exhibit every behavior of a co-dependent individual. Not once have I seen you condemn the real estate gurus that fed you hyperbole. Typical, just like an abused spouse protecting her abuser. Why? Because you have yet to cross the threshold of accepting your loses and needing to leave the industry! Even this raffle speaks to the fact that you are enjoying this pain. Is 2.2 million in the bleeding red not enough to tell you that maybe real estate is not for you?

    When we are kids, we imagine being baseball players, rock stars, actors, and high profile celebrities. At some point we realize that these are fantasies and sublimate our desires to other areas; in the majority of cases we sublimate to a job or hobbies that fulfill our life. Real estate is a vehicle toward wealth for many individuals. Those that succeed have a thorough understanding of market cycles, marketing, finance, and more importantly risk management. Unfortunately you lack 3 of the 4 required skills. I’ll give you the marketing part because you seem to do okay in this department.
    Casey, look at your balance sheet. Look at the comments. Your ratio of positive to negative comments is about 1:60. Think that real estate might not be the route for you? The quicker you admit that you do not understand the fundamentals of real estate the quicker you’ll be able to move on with your life. Otherwise you’ll be seen as that black eyed spouse only going back for more pain and saying “I fell down the stairs…of my remodeled flip in New Mexico.”

  • Send money to him? You don’t even know him right? Well hey I’m self employed and I haven’t worked in six months so go ahead and send me a check too, so I don’t lose my car.

    Anyway for my real comment. About a year ago I started a somewhat contraversial blog that gained a lot of attention. About 90% of the comments I got from people were negative. People thinking I was making stuff up etc. I know how it feels. But honestly no one could find holes in my story or discrepancies about who I was. People made stuff up, but nothing was factual in their accusations. I put my real address on the domain. People could call me if they wanted (journalists and greedy lawyers did). A week after the blog was started the party in question admitted my accusations were correct and fixed the problem. So yeah I’m sure all of those people felt like huge jackasses for saying what they did (at least I hope so), so I’ll give you a little benefit of the doubt, BUT, it would be so much easier to buy this if everything made sense. Having holes in your story just makes it that much harder to believe. You keep saying how honest you want to be about everything but you don’t even put your real address, and then say things like ok well you found out about this. What have we not discovered yet? If I wanted to propose serious business dealings with people I think I would at least put my real address for people to see. Would you do a $200k deal with someone who doesn’t even have the courtesy to post their address? It’s kind of sketchy sounding but maybe you have a good reason. I just don’t see it.

    As far as anyone just handing you money….I think that’s probably the whole idea behind this. I mean I’ve looked at some of your other registered domains and I find it funny to see that only 2 months ago you were posting on web design forums to see what the catchiest domain would be to get people’s attention for your “brand” and now you are here doing this. Sounds like a lot of creativity going on. Maybe invest in a focus group.

  • Casey,

    This blog will not help you find a job. There are just too many negative details that a hiring manager would have a second thought.

  • Casey,

    I’m still waiting to hear what your bank said when you called them and cleared your wrap-around mortgage idea. Waiting…

    I see you have the ability to scan images and know how to put them up on your site. Redact* the document, and how about the others people are asking about to prove your authenticity, and put them up so we can see you’re for real.

    *Redact means sploosh out any private/personal info with a big black crayon, by the way kiddo.

  • And I do have one big question:

    What in the hell has it come to when any bank that’s not run by Guido and Mario out of the back of the mattress discount store would give a 24 year old millions in loans? Even for a house. C’mon.

    What were you doing when you were 24? I was 2 years out of undergrad, living out of a suitcase on the road all the time in my first real job as a consultant. I didn’t even have an apartment part of that year of my life, lol. I was happy when Amex gave me a credit line so I could float my travel expenses until reimbursement.

  • Hey Casey.. no matter how bad things get it’s still better then living in Uzbekistan !!!!

  • Casey

    I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, that you are dumb like a fox.

    I dont believe you are foolish enough to believe this lottery bs. Come on. This whole site, just like the loans, is a manipulation. You manipulated the banks (and their investors) to get money and now you are manipulating all of us blog readers by keeping the soap opera twists coming. Maybe you could use that skill to write scripts for “24″.

    My guess is that you are quietly taking some of the good advice here. You are investigating your bankruptcy options, and even searching for that horror of horrors, a real job.

    Meanwhile you will string readers along on this site to get ad revenue, publicity, and keep the door open for that long-shot miracle you hope for.

    I hope thats the case, anyways, because as entertaining as this is for me, im sure its a nightmare for you. With any luck if this ends up in BK court your judge wont be like me, a renter who has a good job who couldnt buy a house for the past 5 years. Still, I hope you find a reasonable way out of this mess.

    All the best,
    Judy

  • 71. AngryintheBronx
    October 11th, 2006 at 11:30 am

    Casey,

    You have dissappointed me. I came here today expecting to find that you had posted a fresh slice of casey goodness.

    What do I find instead? That the raffle idea is still at the top of the page. This just won’t do. The raffle was yesterday’s bit of idiocy - and dare I say ‘fishy business’. We should have moved on to something else equally stupid by now.

    Pull your finger out man. I don’t know how you expect to dig yourself out of this hole unless you show a bit more effort.

  • 72. Former Mortgage Servicer Employee
    October 11th, 2006 at 11:34 am

    Unfortunately, this is an illegal lottery and here is why, based on each state you have property in:

    State of California
    Article IV, Legislative, Sec. 19.

    “(1) at least 90 percent of the gross receipts from the raffle go directly to beneficial or charitable purposes in California, and (2) any person who receives compensation in connection with the operation of a raffle is an employee of the private nonprofit organization that is conducting the raffle. “

    Source: http://www.gambling-law-us.com.....alifornia/

    Also, “The raffle may not be advertised, operated or conducted over the internet, nor may raffle tickets be sold, traded or redeemed over the internet” and “An organization cannot engage in a raffle with another person or entity other than another eligible organization (e.g. no for-profit entity may be involved with a raffle).
    Source: http://www.runquist.com/article_raffles.htm

    Here’s the Raffle Checklist courtesy of the CA Attorney General: http://ag.ca.gov/charities/for...../3/hilite/

    New Mexico

    Basically the same rules and regulations

    See: http://www.gambling-law-us.com.....ew-Mexico/
    And: press release from Attorney General: http://72.14.253.104/search?q=.....k&cd=1

    Utah

    Even Worse for you

    ARTICLE VI. LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT s 27
    [Games of chance not authorized.]

    “(5) “Lottery” means any scheme for the disposal or distribution of property by chance among persons who have paid or promised to pay any valuable consideration for the chance of obtaining property, or portion of it, or for any share or any interest in property, upon any agreement, understanding, or expectation that it is to be distributed or disposed of by lot or chance, whether called a lottery, raffle, or gift enterprise, or by whatever name it may be known.”

    And: (2) It is unlawful for any person to distribute or disseminate any advertisement or other written or printed material containing an advertisement or solicitation for participation in any lottery unless the advertisement or solicitation contains or includes the words “Void in Utah” conspicuously printed.
    (3) (a) Any person who is convicted of violating Subsection (2) shall be fined the sum of $2,500.
    (b) Any person who is twice or more convicted under this section shall be fined the sum of $10,000.
    Also: (1) Any gambling bets or gambling proceeds which are reasonably identifiable as having been used or obtained in violation of this part may be seized.
    Source: http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Laws/Utah/ and http://le.utah.gov/~code/const/htm/CO_07027.htm

    Texas
    A little more lenient: http://le.utah.gov/~code/const/htm/CO_07027.htm
    “OCCUPATIONS CODE

    CHAPTER 2002. CHARITABLE RAFFLES

    SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

    § 2002.001. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the Charitable Raffle Enabling Act.

    § 2002.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
    (1) “Charitable purposes” means:
    (A) benefitting needy or deserving persons in this state, indefinite in number, by:
    (i) enhancing their opportunities for religious or educational advancement;
    (ii) relieving them from disease, suffering, or distress;
    (iii) contributing to their physical well-being;
    (iv) assisting them in establishing themselves in life as worthy and useful citizens; or
    (v) increasing their comprehension of and devotion to the principles on which this nation was founded and enhancing their loyalty to their government; “

    BUT….

    “2) “Qualified organization” means a qualified religious society, qualified volunteer fire department, qualified volunteer emergency medical service, or qualified nonprofit organization.”

    See also: http://www.oag.state.tx.us/qfs.....ollection=

    FYI: I am a gaming consultant and am based in Sourthern California, currently working with Tribal Casinos

  • How are you paying for a ‘real estate lawyer’?

  • I don’t think the real issue is showing documents to prove something. Im sure I can photshop some documents to make it look like I own something. The issue is closing holes in the story and not leaving room for doubt. What does a con artist do? They do anything to gain your confidence. I was most intrigued by his picture of his creditors calling him. Why? One small detail. Mom. Mom has been involved in more con artists schtick then she probably cares to know about. Why did it catch my attention? You’ll notice Mom is at the top. When you first open your call history screen the top call is the highlighted one. He moved the highlight bar to number 2. Notice how it is hard to read, white on blue. If he had left it where it was Mom would have been hard to read. He moved it so you could see mom. Look how innocent I am, my mom is calling me, she trusts me, so should you. It’s not something you think about, but your brain saw it. I think sometimes the smallest details are the ones that tell more truth. Why would you move a bar when you are trying to show something further down on the screen? Maybe I’m too pickey but I’ve never been con’d by anyone. If anything I think he should get a job in marketing. Looks to be his best skill.

  • Since time is a factor, have you considered putting your houses up for auction instead?

    I don’t know the rules in California, but in IL it is easy.

    How this usually works is that the auction house will appraise each property. You’ll be asked to sign an agreement that you will accept any bid in the range they appraised it at. They prepare packets of information which buyers can get for around $20. Buyers pay a 5-10% fee to the auction house when they win.

    There is a risk that the house will sell for less than you expected, but you should be able to recoup some of your money anyway.

  • 76. joe don baker
    October 11th, 2006 at 11:47 am

    check out the comments section in this post Casey Serin is the official stamp of flipper approval:

    http://thisoldhouseflip.blogsp.....house.html

  • Photoman,

    True enough. I never defined what the “real thing” would be.

  • you should have bought in Bend, OR

  • DUDES AND DUDETTES.. stop with the armchair lawyering! I have personally seen homes given away by entering an essay contest for $100 and I have also seen $50 raffles. All this other stuff is mumbo jumbo. See this NY Times article that mentions house raffles in SEVERAL states:

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f.....A967948260

  • FMSE,

    Thanks for sharing that information and confirming this raffle as an illegal activity.

    You’ve dug this up as a free public service. Meanwhile, Casey alleges that his paid attorney did not know this - what do we call information that’s worth less than free?

    Maybe Casey was planning to use his RE attorney’s malpractice insurance to bail him out.

  • CALIFORNIANS.. please do not quote CA law for the rest of us……..if the home domiciles in AZ then why cant the raffle ( or whatever you call it) be AZ based for example. FMSE go back to turning Native Americans into victims yet again by overcharging ( more then 5%) for your worthless services !!!

  • astrid has the key. Everyone who has given “advise” and neglected to state “not financial advice” on these pages will be named as co-conspirators.

    Enough fun Casey, what’s really going on? You’ve got people like me who early on said there’s no way someone could make every single mistake and then go public. We agreed to play along for entertainment purposes. Then bunches flooded in and you needed to feed the publicity beast. No one knows you personally, your paper trail peters out. I imagine the poor people in Sacto with your last name are tired of the phone calls to their listed numbers. What’s the next move not thought?

  • I did actually spend time to read the URL provided by that idiot joe shmo:

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/f.....A967948260

    That idiot joe shmo basically suggested Casey go and do timeshare on his houses if I assume joe shmo’s advice based on his interpretation of the timeshare idea in the crazy article above. Well it did mention some people in Virginia raffled out their home. What a joke. Go and read yourself. I’m wondering if that idiot joe shmo did actually read the whole article. What a waste of time.

  • astridhater

    Where is Casey operating his “business” out of again? FMSE fully enumerated the legal issues facing this grandly stupid idea, regardless. And there is a FEDERAL law relating to such things as well. Which country does Casey live in, at least currently?

    Sure you *can* give away about anything in a raffle. But, you have to do a ton of work to make it legit. Casey is allergic to work, so we’re just challenging him to see if he’s actually thought this trough or if he’s just trying to find another rathole through which to escape his due justice.

    And no one has addressed the fact that Casey — yes, the guy some of you geniuses seem hell bent on defending — didn’t even do the basic homework to figure out what odds he should set for the raffle.

    Like I said Casey, if you can get this thing actually up and running I’ll own your home for far less than $500,000 using your own odds. Didn’t anyone tell you that when you hold a raffle, the prize *must* be awarded, regardless of the number of participants.

    Here’s your first clue, the rest you’ll need to actually take the time to learn the hard way: Each ticket CANNOT be an independent probability of winning. Two or more people cannot win. Neither can zero people win. Unless you sell EXACTLY a combination of $500,000 worth of tickets, you’ll need to make a weighted adjustment…Ouch that’s gonna hurt, kiddo.

  • “astridhater”

    Huh? I feel very honored. Thanks!

    That is all.

  • joe shmos and other hater haters,

    DUDES AND DUDETTES.. stop with the armchair lawyering! I have personally seen homes given away by entering an essay contest for $100 and I have also seen $50 raffles.

    Yea, and I have personally seen someone get robbed at gunpoint outside of the corner market. What’s your point?

  • Casey, what was your bank’s response to the wrap-around mortgage? You promised you were going to be honest and call them to make sure it was legitimate. Well…what did they say? Or is that why we’re talking about Bingo now?

  • Casey,

    This is getting too complicated. If you cannot sell the houses, foreclose them. It is simple as that. I really feel sorry for the bank that lent you the money. Heads would roll there.

  • 89. Sir Olden Atwoody
    October 11th, 2006 at 4:07 pm

    An essay contest, with a required minimum number of priced entries to hold the event, let’s say $100 each. Not enough entries, the money is returned.

    Selection of “sanitized, no-name” essays to be made by recognized experts (local Priest, your High school Science teacher, and the USP store manager).

    Prize: One house, winner responsible for taxes.

    What are you waiting for?

    Oh, yeah - put some Google ads on this site, you’ll have grocery money.

  • http://www.google.com/search?h.....gle+Search

    None of you did a google search?

    Note esp http://www.cincypost.com/busin.....10497.html
    House raffle is a bad idea

    For the record, I think Casey should declare BK.

    Oh, and here is another interesting link:
    http://www.nickleeson.com/

    Apparently Nick Leeson has a book out on Coping With Stress.

  • Darn Robert Cote scared me. I haven’t given Casey any financial advice, I hope. I think I once told Casey just do what his lenders asked. And that is NOT a financial advice.

  • “However, if it DOES work, we can use this system to sell houses for other people and help people out of their tough situation. It’s an experiment.”

    What’s this WE crap? You got a mouse in your pocket? And like you really will give a rat’s butt about other people once you’ve unloaded your garbage. Of course you might help organize it for someone else for a fee right?

  • I meant to post in this thread. The details match for the Texas property at this link -> http://www.realestate.countycl.....ounty.org/

    So the story is unfortunately probably real for the rest of the properties (which I have not checked). I was kind of hoping this was an elaborate hoax.

  • I found this missive online from Bruce Williams ( as in the Bruce Williams Radio Show)

    by no means a definitive answer:

    DEAR BRUCE: I would like to sell my house through a raffle. I have contacted the state government, state attorney general, two attorneys and a real-estate agent - and no one seems to know if it is legal or how to go about it.

    I would like to advertise it …and have interested people send a predetermined amount of money along with a letter as to why they would like to have the house.

    When the winning letter is drawn, that person would get the house. What can you tell me? - L.B.

    DEAR L.B.: It can be covered in two words: Forget it.

    First of all, you will not be allowed to have a raffle. The restrictions on raffles are severe in every jurisdiction; they are generally limited to charitable organizations and the like.

    What some folks have done (more often than not, to their regret) is to hold a ‘’contest'’ - for example, ‘’Write 50 words on “Why I’d like to live in West Bumper Shoot, Mont.,”’ with an entry fee of $50 or $100.

    The problem is: What happens if you spend a lot of money advertising and promoting the contest and get only a few responses? (The answer should be clear - you need to have a proviso such that if you don’t receive an adequate response, you will return all of the money.)

    Years ago, I was contacted by a couple who were distraught; they had put in no such disclaimer, and had only received a few thousand dollars on a property that was worth $100,000.

    If you want to sell a house, call a real-estate agent.

  • Sounds like a great idea…

  • Woo-hoo! 100 comments! This blog sure is picking up momentum.

    I can’t wait to see what the next crazy idea is. How about an Emu ranch? I hear you can make a lot of money, fast ;o)

    Ok, ok. Maybe that’s TOO creative. How about we just hope for an act of God, like…oh…I dunno…a fire? What if some squatters saw the empty house, and broke in? They left an old coffee pot plugged in, and oops! the house burned down to the ground. It’s insured, right?

  • Even though I don’t think any of the advice here are the kind to have SEC lawyers tingling…here goes.

    I hereby disclaim all my past and future postings on this website as purely entertainment and not intended as either legal or financial or relationship advice.

  • Looks like you are screwed in the poop chute on this one. On the other hand, selling the houses as timeshares is perfectly legal. All of your properties could be subdivided for less than $10,000 per 1/52th share. You could sell them all as timeshares and then take a few $100s from each owner per year for maintenance. This would give you a job. Too bad they aren’t all in Orlando.

  • Well, ultimately, look at the materialist, money-making society and cultural inputs Casey has been surrounded with most of his life. Everyone in America spouts stuff like ‘this is the next trillion dollar industry’, ‘get in now on XXX or miss out’, etc etc.

    No wonder the society suffers from overlapping waves of boom/bust cycle — tech stocks, ordinary stocks, housing, etc…

    It’s just like the Nirvana Nevermind album cover with the baby conditioned to swim for the buck… http://www.marko.net/phish/nrvmain/bignever.jpg

    Although Casey doesn’t ‘blame the gurus’, the guru courses have polluted his thinking. I doubt whether even the gurus are stupid enough to suggest that their graduates buy 8 properties at once to flip, but there is never any downside talked about in any of their courses either, nor much about market downturns or using ordinary common sense. When you look at the ‘flippers in trouble’ blog, you can see how the infection of these courses is spreading, and it only stops when ordinary people’s credit is exhausted, as very little is done to regulate either the gurus or the flipping practices. Some new subdivisions have sale clauses designed to prevent flipping, having said that.

    Anyway, Oprah will bail him out, she’s worth $900 million…

  • Sir Robert Cote’ had it right, once again. This show has jumped the proverbial shark. Short of smut videos, this blog will be dead within a few days.

  • I want to see Randy H take your heart out and sacrifice it on the altar of capitalism! Aum Namah Shivaya, Aum Namah Shivaya, Aum Namah Shivaya, Aum Namah Shivaya, Aum Namah Shivaya!

  • This is an intresting story. Maybe if you keep at it you’ll make your money back in Google ads.

  • As someone pointed out, there is website on house raffle http://www.houseraffle.net/

  • If we’re sacrificing on the alter of capitalism, shouldn’t the chant be Ayn Rand, Ayn Rand…?

  • 105. Laughinmyassoff
    October 12th, 2006 at 6:18 am

    Ditto what Astrid said:

    I hereby disclaim all my past and future postings on this website as purely entertainment and not intended as either legal or financial or relationship advice.

  • Casey said

    “Am I doing that math right? Someone correct me if I’m wrong.”

    You’re only asking that question NOW? Shouldn’t you have asked this Before you got involved in all these shennanigans?

  • 107. Former Mortgage Servicer Employee
    October 12th, 2006 at 8:56 am

    Astridhater;

    Read my whole post before commenting, for I did not just site CA law, I included laws for all state that Casey has property listed for sale in.

    And I am Native American. Thank you for posting for all to see your ignorance and hatred. Native American dba’s do not pay for my service, it is the non-native gaming entities that pay for my services. Again, you are bold to post your ignorance and hatred for all to see. I LOVE IT!!!

    Thank you Astrid. How cool is that, that he spends his time so preoccupied by you that he uses your name in his moniker.

  • 108. Former Mortgage Servicer Employee
    October 12th, 2006 at 9:07 am

    Ditto what Astrid said:

    I hereby disclaim all my past and future postings on this website as purely entertainment and not intended as either legal or financial or relationship advice.

  • Disclaimer:

    I hereby disclaim all my past and future postings on this website as purely entertainment and not intended as either legal or financial or relationship advice.

  • FMSE,

    Thank you! There’s nothing quite like official state statutes to settle questions of legality. If Casey does have a lawyer, he or she is guilty of practicing law without a brain.

  • Still not convinced this isn’t a SCAM. Honestly , how many 24 year olds can get one home loan much less 8 with just one income…..I call bullshit.

  • Casey,
    You should check out:
    www.mmsraffle.com
    They are raffling a 1.8 million dollar house.
    The contacts there might be able to help guide you towards legitamizing your raffle.

  • Anonymous,

    That’s a charity raffle. Casey can’t do a charity raffle because he’s not a charity.

  • Astrid,
    That’s a charity raffle. Casey can’t do a charity raffle because he’s not a charity.
    I know, but for many folks, he IS the charitable cause. Furthermore, if he can get more in raffle than the cost to close the transaction, he can donate that to the homeless ;-)

  • Others can call me stupid, but I’d buy a ticket for $50. 1 in 10,000 is better than any state lottery. And with the amount of pubicity you are getting, I’d bet I am not the only one. From my understanding what you would need to do is partner with a real charity, and sell 11,000 tickets, that way the charity gets something out of it. Once the first one is done, you will get more publicity, and be able to do the same with the remaining properties. Go For it Casey!

  • 116. Sir Olden Atwoody
    October 15th, 2006 at 1:32 am

    I did my part today. I cilcked on the ads at the top. :-)

  • 117. The Chin Gigante
    October 19th, 2006 at 4:54 pm

    Dude, you are brilliant!!!! You are like the Vinny The Chin Gigante going out every day in a robe, so that the press and eventually the court consider him insane.

    Keep posting bad math, illegal stuff (mortgage fraud, raffles) and so on, and they will proclaim you clinically insane, and there will be your reprieve.

    Rock on!

  • 118. The Chin Gigante
    October 19th, 2006 at 4:55 pm

    Oh, and I clicke don the ads….I am not a HATER

  • Many people are enjoying the Casey Serin saga. I am not, because I know the law, and under the law banks and some bank subsidiaries are required to file SAR’s on federal crimes involving aggregate money over a certain point. It’s not an option. If they learn of certain types of activity

  • 120. buster brown
    October 25th, 2006 at 10:51 pm

    Your website is very interesting. I’m amazed at how little regret you show? In the old days you might have been put in debtors’ prison.

    You MISALLOCATED capital. Capital (or simply cash) has the power to change lives, build houses, cure diseases, solve problems, educate, feed, etc.

    When capital is put to use poorly then we all suffer. EVERYBODY SUFFERS. Society Suffers. I’m not making this up.

    You committed two heinous crimes:

    (1) you abused banking institutions. By borrowing money that you could not afford to borrow you made it more difficult for somebody else to borrow. You took capital out of the system for illegitimate reasons. You caused banks to “short sale” their properties which further diminshed their capital lending ability and made them raise their risk premiums (interest rates) for other borrowers. Furthermore, somebody who might actually be qualified for a loan (and have a legitimate need) might not get the loan because the supply of money isn’t there. I’m glad you’ve stopped blaming the lendors for this mess… it takes 2 to tango as the saying goes.

    That leads me to crime #2:

    (2) you inventoried houses that could’ve been put to use by working families, homeless families, people who legitimately needed houses for their growing families, etc. You took houses off the market. You made it more difficult for legitimate end users to find a home. Personally, my family could’ve used a larger home because we had a child, but because of this real estate mess we are making do with what we have. The prices simply aren’t reasonable. I meet working people with legitimate middle class jobs that can’t afford to live near where they work. They are college educated. They have savings, etc. They’re not going to take out a loan that they can’t pay for the next 30 years. You bought houses and took out several loans like this on which you have no ability to pay (or intention to pay over the life of the loan).

    Thanks to U.S. bankruptcy laws, you can borrow and spend as much as you like then, after you screw up, you can have the slate wiped clean in a BK court. The time period following your BK will keep you out of trouble.

    Good luck with the blog. Keep it coming. Possibly show more regret.

    PS… You don’t get ahead by working 9-5 and taking the weekends off. You work as hard and as much as it takes when there is opportunity. (no opportunity… play hard, surf, etc.) AND you take risks that you can afford to take.

  • This kid is a lunatic. Get it over with. Get a job and claim bankruptcy. Maybe you’ll avoid jail.

    I’m praying that the American banking system doesn’t collapse.

  • I notice you only publish what you feel like, why are you moderating all of the reply’s? Why don’t you post all of the responses, or is it making you look and feel like a complete fool knowing that there are soo many people out there that think you are an idiot?

  • 123. homeowner near one of your homes
    November 26th, 2006 at 2:53 pm

    We live in the neighborhood where one of your homes foreclosed. We need to take out a loan to cover our infants skyrocketing medical bills. Because your home went into foreclosure, the price of my house and the rest of the neighborhood’s decreased. Yes, there was a market decrease, but our neighborhood’s is substantially greater thanks to your inane and selfish actions rsulting in needless foreclosures. And I suspect this is the same in all communities where you commited fraud in “purchasing” your properties. Neighbors, families you have never met are now suffering because of your actions.

  • […] It depends on how you do it and which State you live in. Casey Serin has considered doing this as well. Read the comments for some good info. Utah Real Estate […]

  • 125. MRS MARY BLAIR
    December 1st, 2006 at 1:02 am

    HELLO
    I AM MRS MARY BLAIR,THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF MARY BLAIR LOAN INVESTMENT .WE HAVE DECIDED IN GIVING OUT LOANS RANGING FROM BUSINESS LOANS,INVESTMENT LOANS,MORTGAGE LOANS, AND EQUITYLOANS TO THOSE IN NEED OF IT AT LOW INTEREST RATE. FOR MORE INFORMATION,CONTACT ME VIA EMAIL ;MARYBLAIR_INVESTMENTS@YAHOO.CO.UK
    BORROWERS INFORMATION
    Your names …………………………..
    Your country…………………………..
    Your address …………………………
    Your occupation ……………………..
    Your marital status ………………….
    Current Status at place of work………
    Phone number…………………………
    Monthly Income………………………….
    Amount Needed………………………..
    AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE.
    MRS MARY BLAIR

  • Seriously, people. You’re too limited in your little world of rant first, help last to do a little research?

    http://www.sdmcdonalds.com/raffle06/

    http://www.ipsf.net/houseraffl.....lRules.doc

    http://www.rcpalhouseraffle.org/FAQs.html#legal

    http://www.houseofdreamscharit.....aspx#faq01

    http://www.mmsraffle.com/rules.html

    http://www.pvartcenter.org/3raf-rules.html

    http://www.pvartcenter.org/raf06-rules.html

    http://www.santabarbarapropert.....House.html

    http://realtytimes.com/rtcpage.....inhome.htm

    And that’s just SoCal.

  • So what happend in the end?

  • 128. Rio Rancho Friend
    January 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

    Here is a better idea:

    1. Move to Rio Rancho and live in the property you own.

    2. Rent out the garage to people who are moving to the area to buy property. No, not for them to live in - but to store their belongings while they search for a house to buy.

    3. Also rent a portion of the house to the people who are here looking to buy a property for six to eight weeks until they find one.

    4. I know this works - because that is how we moved to Rio Rancho from across the country. We paid top dollar to live in a safe, furnished rental and stored our things in the garage until we found a house we wanted.

    5. Earn extra money driving the people around, showing them the sights, etc. while they are living in the house waiting for escrow to close on the property they’ve just purchased.

    6. After you are caught up financially. Get a job at Intel. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump away from your property there.

    That would be a win - win situation. You’d be able to live in a lovely property and earn top dollar by renting it out at the same time. Believe me, people would love to stay there temporarily as opposed to staying at a hotel for several weeks.

    Plus, you would become independent and not relying on your families to support you.

  • d like to know if your experience truly reflects what has already been said about this new way of doing business. Auction Sites For Real Estate: eBay RealtyBid rBuy <> Tags: money, finance, personal finance, investment, real estate, properties, investing, auctions, internet

  • Do this instead:

    1.) Just do the raffle thing whether the money is enough to pay the house or not.

    2.) if the money is enough to pay the house, then everyone is happy including the winner.

    3.) if the money is not enough to pay the house, keep the money and refund the winner and tell him sorry. what the heck, return double to the winner to make him happy.

    And you gotta keep the rest, win-win situation.

    ASW: flipper

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