I was going to do an update on all the different properties, Sacramento Bee article, top 5 ignored advice, and other open loops, etc…
But what I REALLY need to do right now is open this new stack of mail on my desk, check the balance in my bank account, and get on the phone with all my unsecured lenders to see what we can work out. My goals:
- Get them to lower the interest rate on my wife’s cards from 30% APR down to something manageble
- Find a way to pay all my wife’s cards to keep her credit up
- Negotiate with my unsecured lenders to see what we can do about my debt that I haven’t been paying on for a few months.
I need to learn to prioritize my time. Taking care of this mess and producing income should come first, blogging should come second. Will try to finish the update and moderation this evening.
Hey if anybody is willing to help me with moderation of comments let me know. I’m looking for a couple of trusted individuals to help me start filtering out all the negative non-constructive comments with personal attacks, etc. Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive.
103 Comments
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…what I REALLY need to do right now is get on the phone with all my unsecured lenders.
A little mouse told you this? Unsecured lenders are… wait for it… unsecured.
No, really. WHO told you the unsecured were your most pressing concern?
I don’t care what caused you to pay attention to whomsoever, what is important is who told you that unsecured creditors were the attention of the morning. Answer this after the previous important issues.
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Here is constructive advice:
DO NOT start weeding out personal attacks. I guarantee that most of your audience consists of people who enjoy perusing vicious, demeaning comments about you.
I’m one of them. I love the angry lawyers dismantling your thought process regarding contracts… the dismissive RE specialists snarking on your future ambitions… the Ivy League graduates attacking your language skills… the fictional characters ranging from angry cats to gang bangers devicing snide one-liners about your fans.
Love ‘em. It’s a bizarre, unique community united by disdain of you. Do not underestimate how fragile this ecosystem is - it’s like some exotic treetop niche in an Amazon jungle. Change the annual rainfall a bit and the whole elaborate, symbiotic structure comes crashing down.
This site may be the only success you have ever attained; or will ever attain, no matter how limited and kooky.
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i could do some moderation for you on the side….although it would be clean, i’d keep it organic..
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Getting some help with the moderation is a really good idea.
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casey, have you thought about credit counseling? i know it will show up on your credit that you are doing this, but i mean your credit cant really get much worse than it probably already is. im considering it myself. i have a cousin that has gone through the process, and basically its a company that will negotiate with your creditors…..all your credit cards, not your mtge’s…..and they will get you into just one payment, and that payment will actually kill off whatever balance you have….not just pay the interest. im not an expert on this, but like i said, im looking into it for MY situation….so i thought id share the advice…..think it over.
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YAWN….
We’ve heard all of this before.
The mood of this blog will change when you do. -
Credit card companies might be willing to negotiate, assuming you can keep the payments up. Check the fine print, most of them reserve the right to jack your rates if you miss any payments on any of your bills (phone, electric, promisary notes).
The banks that you have outstanding notes with (Country side comes to mind) may be negotiable, maybe not.
Some of your other loans on the other hand….. I would assume that Cashcall is more then willing to send in its lawyers to start sucking you dry the moment you mention that you are going to be getting behind in your payments. Cashcall has a reputation for being loan sharks. Calling upto several dozen times a day, everyday until you make your payment. Check your paperwork and see if they accept partial payments or not. You could be in really deep kimchi with them.
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I think turning this blog into a positive one is a great step for you! Spending all your time going thru people attacking you and being negative doesn’t move you forward one inch!
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Houses are sales pending very fast in the East Bay.
Multiple offers with “as is” deal is back~~~~
Happy Seller
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You’re a stpuid f*** Casey, and you are going to fail utterly. Mark my words.
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“Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive.”
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! You believe that “The Ladies” were trying to take advantage of you but you don’t believe that you were taking advantage of the lenders.
When people read your blog, they’ll make different value judgements and post comments around those observations.
I like Patrick’s blog, patrick.net, because he is no bullshit and allows anyone to post anything, I think…
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Go Casey! Go!
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Finding someone to moderate for you is an excellent idea. It will free up a lot of time for you to focus on more important things.
Wait… Satan’s on skates; Casey just made a good decision.
Bestill my heart.
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you realize, if you dont allow any “negative” comments, you’re only going to have like 2. and they’re not negative per se, they’re constructive criticism.
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FIRST
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“I’m looking for a couple of trusted individuals to help me start filtering out all the negative non-constructive comments with personal attacks, etc. Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive.”
Oh please, without all of us “haters” your blog is nothing.
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I need to learn to prioritize my time. Taking care of this mess and producing income should come first, blogging should come second.
For heaven’s sake, who told you that? Keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing. It will all work out!
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Correct - those are your priorities. Kind of late realizing it - but ‘better late than never’.
Skip the article and top 5 from my POV - we’ve already heard it all, and I don’t want to hear it again.
Properties update - I want to hear an update. ‘Timebox’ it to 5 minutes, 1 or 2 sentences per property, and do it NOW; won’t take long and 5 minutes is enough detail for tonight.
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3. Negotiate with my unsecured lenders to see what we can do about my debt that I haven’t been paying on for a few months.
“See what we can do”?
I got an idea! Make some payments! Funny thing how making payments usually does the trick.
Here on Planet Earth, most people do that by working.
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I think having a person go over your loan situation is very important. You need a mortgage broker on your team. One who is ok with the fact that you cannot do any loans right now but will be able to help you in the future. They are the best to understand the options you may have.
I used a mortgage broker when I first got started. I was unsure of what to expect, having had some issues in the past. He guided me through it and helped me improve my credit score and ultimate get several loans. I still use him. He’s been very helpful I recommend that you find someone near you who can be that person. Having said that it’s clear they’ll be waiting for some time to get any business out of you unless you give them a plug here.
Frank in San Francisco
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Duane,
I would like to make this blog and its denizens a bit more positive (am suffering from a surfeit of Schadenfraud) by asking you to give Casey a decent salary for whatever it is he does for you, i.e. enough that he doesn’t have to lose all of his houses. That way, we can all watch as he learns more lessons on real estate from books/guru/Comedy Network/whatever. In the end, he will finally sell his house(s) for a significant loss but, more importantly, the rest of us will then know that the housing market has finally reached its bottom.Mike
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The moment you change the mood of this blog from negative to positive is the moment you have the same hit count as Nigel. By the way, the haters are now boycotting your site due to your new no hatin ultimatum. After this post, I’m going to join them. Actually, I wrote a stupid theme song for you and I plan to make a YTMND page for you, so I’ll probably post those if I ever get them ready. Otherwise if anyone needs me I’ll be at Robert Cote’s.
P.S. Enough with the fluff posts. Do something already.
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We went through that with Citibank and AmEx a couple of years ago when a layoff temporarily screwed up our finances. I found that persistence and having a credible history of financial stability when asking for forbearance is a big help, but ultimately it all depends on the company and their policies.
It took a few phone calls before we got through to someone willing to be flexible, but eventually Citibank looked at how long we’d been good customers (10 years) before we hit a rough spot, and cut our rates significantly. We’re still very happy customers.
AmEx, on the other hand, refused to budge. So as soon as we could arrange a better line of credit, we did a balance transfer and told AmEx to take a long walk off a short pier.
In your case, you don’t have much of a leg to stand on when asking for forbearance. You’re young and have had a lot of upheaval in your financial life the past few years, so you don’t have a well-established history of good credit to fall back on. Plus, you don’t have any real prospects of being able to pay back your debts even with the interest rate reduced.
But hey, go for it. The worst thing that can happen is that you waste some time listening to really bad hold music and then they say no.
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“Hey if anybody is willing to help me with moderation of comments let me know. I’m looking for a couple of trusted individuals to help me start filtering out all the negative non-constructive comments with personal attacks, etc. Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive. “
CAUTION - Pick the wrong moderators and focus only on “positive” and 90% of us are gone forever. Your ego will starve.
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Alright! Think of all the time I will save when this blog becomes positive and uplifting.
But seriously, that’s what you might have been wanting to do since September (or before).
I am seriously interested in how you can save G’s credit. Sure, you can pay down the cards, but she was on the Dallas house. Sooner or later that public record is going to make it into the Credit Reporting Bureaus. Once that happens, isn’t that going to shoot her credit out of the sky?
I await the favor of your response.
Yours obediently,
Time
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Casey, I might be interested in helping you moderate. Please email me at (IAFF username)@gmail.com. I live about 15 minutes from Roseville if you wanted to meet in person. I’ll treat you to a Jamba Juice, if you’d like.
Can’t wait for the update. If I were you, I’d focus solely on making substantiative postings (like abouts on negotiations with lenders, what arguments worked, what didn’t), rather than the more trivial stuff.
Take care.
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Hey Casey,
Why dont you talk with the FBI about the fraud you have commited. They obviously have a file on you. Otherwise, you may be successful, and in a few years time - get the knock on the door - from the FBI - and things will go south rapidly. Just like that mortgage fraud guy you had on podcast,
Loads O Money
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Good idea Casey, the nasty comments don’t do anyone any good. Best of luck.
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“I’m looking for a couple of trusted individuals to help me start filtering out all the negative non-constructive comments with personal attacks, etc.”
Ogg help. Easy job. Delete all post. Ogg even write script for you to delete post when posted.
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Casey,
You are getting back on the right track! Keep up the good work. I wish you all the best.
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I’m guessing this is your way of selling part or all of your blog to Duane huh? Duane Legate…I’m gonna ask you now. Deal or No Deal????
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Casey,
You said “Taking care of this mess and producing income should come first, blogging should come second.”
Why don’t you STOP BLOOGIN and get a JOB to pay for your mistakes?
You have read all of your signs wrong: YES, you were meant mean to Flip, but not to Flip houses, but to Flip Burgers. Start flipping at McD’s.
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I dont know, the negative comments are what keep me coming back. They crack me up
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It was a cold day in New York today, I “had a case of the Mondays” due to the fact that I’m a 9to5er with a J-O-B socking money into my 401k, so guess where I went? That’s right, Jamba Juice! While there, I thought about how Casey must be thirsting for some of that Jamba Juice, so I bought him a very special Jambacard. I didn’t get a chance to mail it off to Casey yet, but it will be on it’s way soon. Have same Jamba Juice on me Casey, and think of some sweet deals. Don’t forget me when you get to the top, and don’t mind the haters!
Click on my name above to see pictures of my trip to Jamba Juice today.
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The good news is you ought to be able to negotiate a settlement of your unsecured debts for 20 - 30 cents on the dollar. Thats the good news. The bad news is before you can do that you need to find a way to come up with the 20 - 30 cents.
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Change mood??
How do u change mood from negative to positive WHEN IT’S ALL NEGATIVE COMMENTS??
You edit the comments~
So that means this BLOG will be LIAR’s BLOG
What a Liar, Casey, YOU DONE IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!
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YO YO YO ITS HOME TIME
Wassup Casey kat?
Soes, yu dont be wantin no negutiv peeps here on yo blog?
Wellz gess wut fool. LOTS o peeps don wan tu be lissenin tu yo whinin an cryin no mo eether. We be wantin da truf frum yo fo munths.
Heer be da deel fo shnizzle lil boy. We ain gonna be postin NO MO til yu start anserin qwestshuns. FO SHO
Yu ain gonna post dis butt it dont mattu. Da peeps allz be gettin da 411 an ain nobudy gonna heer makin yu punk azz da bling til you c** kleen. An dat goez fo yo brotha Dewain tu.
We noze de ownly thin yo gots iz dis heer blog. Butt it ain woith nuttin witout US, dig fool?
Love,
Homey
PS. Yu dun pissd awf Heidi reel bad cuz. She be lyke Homey and noze DA man. She dun giv him da 411 on yo azz fo sho. Shee kin be my fust b***** any ol tyme fo sho. Homey be in luv wit her.
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ANSWER THIS QUESTION CASEY…
DID YOU RESOLVE THE CONTRACT
WITH…
INTEGRITY???
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Casey: you are a putz. You’d rather spend time worrying about the supposed haters and negativity in your audience than in taking effective action on any of your problems. Underneath all the irritation expressed by your audience, I believe there is actually a surprising reservoir of good will, if only you would remove your head from your r***** and straighten up.
Your reaction to the no ‘count ladies from PRbzlink is illustrative. Lots of bravado to the effect of “no more Mister Nice Guy–take that, you unconscionable ladies!–I’m on a new path now!”, but it really sounds like nothing more than some of your past glories:
1) “Out of my way, Mr. Debt and Discouragement!” (I’m paraphrasing roughly)(seems like those unruly guys are a lot harder to shake, in reality, than that)
2) “It feels great to take the Early Riser challenge!! I can already feel my resolve hardening. I know that I will succeed!!” (OK, that lasted for two or three days)
3) “I will repay every dirty penny!!!” (except, maybe I can find a way, or a rationalization, to get out of this $50K promissory note that I executed, which substituted for a portion of the debt on a much large promissory note that I executed some months ago)
Gimme a freaking break.
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We haven’t yet finished flaying the alleged “ladies” yet, and some of us are still piling on wood for the bonfire. So is it all over, and all forgiven? Is the contract still in force, or not?
After opening your mail, U need also to update us on the status of the foreclosure moves. Think you are going to find a lot of snakes in there. -
“Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive. ”
If you do that through moderation, then:
- Only cheerleaders left (3? 4?)
- Low post count
- Boooring
- 90%+ of us bail
- No eyeballs, clicks, ad $
- Blog dies -
“Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive. ”
The right way to do this is:
- Give us frequent updates - short, on-topic
- Answer our questions - short, open, honest
- Stop trolling us with “sweet”, “invest”, “RE”, etc.
- Take action (you’re on the right track now, I think) -
“Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive. ”
Break the following cycle
a. Post “Woe is me, what do I do?”
b. Ignore our answers
c. Disappear for 2 days
d. Do the opposite of our consensus
e. Post “Woe is me, why did that happen to me?”
f. Disappear for 2 days
g. Post “Sweet, here’s the newest RE guru shiny thing!”
h. Create drama
Goto a. -
Do you really want to censor some posts? This is not China, or is it?
Casey - you need to let people have their free speech, as long as there is no profanity or nut jobs posting.
Rock-on, Dude!
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Maybe you could pay someone through paypal to moderate for you. Just sayin.
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@Casey….all I ever really wanted was full disclosure or even partial answers to even a few questions. Since none or forthcoming, I’m done. I’ll still watch the trainwreck but I am done posting. Cheers.
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Just remember Casey..When life hands you Lemons, make Lemon Chiffon Cake!
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Casey,
Good for you. I think it’s important for you to keep yourself surrounded by good news and positive feedback. Not the negative crap that I seem to always see on this blog. Keep your chin up. You’ll get past this.
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I couldn’t agree more with you, many of these people are sick in their love of negativity. To be honest, the limitladie’s contract made me mad at you but more at those vultures. I say you moderate the comments to those that are constructive, which can involve some criticism but not hate.
I think a positive mood would be great for this blog and may attract a better crowd and with that maybe some realistic solutions.
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Casey, I emailed you. Looking forward to reply.
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Do you want “positive” or do you want “realistic”?
In your case, the two are almost mutually exclusive.
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ha, first one?? Sounds like you need the military, there is some law saying if you join the military (active duty) with all that cc debt that they bump the % down to 4-6%
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Taking care of this mess and producing income should come first, blogging should come second.
Yeah blogging should come last, if at all. Who cares about your blog any way except haters or for entertainment.
Glad to see you become aware of real priorities. -
“But what I REALLY need to do right now is open this new stack of mail on my desk.” No, what you need to do is open the OLD stack of mail”
“Taking care of this mess and producing income should come first, blogging should come second” If only your really believed that. Usually after you say something like this, it’s followed by your “nothing against 9-5 jobs but……”
And blogging should be about number 50 on your list. -
I still don’t understand why you’ve got all these properties sitting vacant.
would it not be logical to rent out all the properties at whatever price the market will bear?
Take the aggregate monthly rental income and structure it in such a way that one or more of the properties receives its mortgage payment(s) in full each month, while making partial payments on the remainder. Rotate the full payment to a different property each month.
it would still be a net loss each month, but the loss would not be as great as it is now.
lots of other benefits here. Several families would have decent places to live. The rental income would provide you with the mean to service a portion of your debts - mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, property taxes, etc.
you might even be able to deduct the mortgage interest from your yearly tax bill. (unsure about this one - don’t know whether you can deduct mortgage interest on a rental property)
who knows - you’d be able to hold the properties long enough to sell them for profit rather than dealing with short sales and/or having them foreclosed upon.
would this not be a better alternative to simply sitting about and waiting for the axe to drop?
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So have you still been waking up early? I thought that was a priority just a few weeks ago.
Or is that like all other new years resolutions?
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You don’t want to sterilize the blog too much, Casey. Some of those negative comments really add to the site.
I do have one question…what the heck is Jamba Juice?
-BJ
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“Time to start changing the mood of this blog from negative to positive.”
Because I have nothing better to do, I went back and read your September blogs. You actually had a lot of support when you first started. That was when folks seemed to want to help you because they thought you may actually listen. It seemed to turn when you started comparing liar loans to people burning CDs.
So go ahead, make this blog “positive” and don’t post any “hater” comments. Folks will sign on, read the positive comments from DL, RobBBB, Nigel, etc., and move on with their day. That will go on for a couple days and then your blog will go the way of everything else you’ve done. Down the crapper…….
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Tibetan Monk say:
Casey still not see big picture.
If blog only pollyanna, page views go down.
Way to pay off debt is get job.
Way to dump house is go bankrupt.
Casey still not take pebble from master hand.
Casey need think real hard, see big picture.
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Remove the negative feedback? Come oooooon, you’re taking away my leisure reading! There’s nothing better than reading what ignorant haters come up with next.
(Just kidding. Removing the non-constructive comments would be awesome.)
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Looks like I am first! Forget about this blog and get those credit cards under control!
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Good Luck with getting those interest rates lowered. CC companies generally don’t lower interest rates for the very risky borrower. Make a big payment to one of them then they’ll talk.
Why not spend your time trying to get some rental income on the properties before their foreclosure and demise?
H
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28 year old just digging myself out of debt as well. Have been listening to Dave for a while, I’d highly recommend you check him out and take a listen to his radio show as you open your mail.
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Casey,
If you want to kill the blog, kill it. Having comments like:
Hi Casey,
Boy you are cute. Hope it all works out for you. You are my role model, with the exception of the debt. I’m going to skip that part.
Have a great big cotton candy kind of day.
will be the death of this blog. Shallow comments = 10 hits a day and 3 comments. People come for the show, but stay to be a part of the crowd.
You’ve hit a high point. Please don’t think the rush in traffic will continue. Also, because the ‘haters’ have found other targets for their special brand of wisdom, they’ll get bored of the same old stuff.
Your brand is fading.
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You feel the word ‘hater’ is derogatory.
Many here (me included) give it a more subtle and complex meaning. We wear it as a badge of honor.
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Casey: I hope you get beyond this. But you remind me of the black knight in Monty Python’s Search for the Holy Grail. All your limbs are cut off and you keep fighting.
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I’ve been around IFF pretty much as long as anyone, and I’ve posted my share of humorous/sarcastic messages. But I’ve stopped doing so, though I’ve continued to monitor the site.
Casey is a very sick person. I have come to see that laughing at him is like laughing at a special Olympic contestant. I’m not a physiologist; I don’t know what he’s got, but its bad. The problem is that he seems “normal” so we judge him accordingly. If he had an obvious physical or mental disorder many of us would never say the things we do. In fact he has a 10-year-old brain in a 24-year-old body. Kind of, but worse.
Before I go on (and get killed by you all) let me state clearly, normal people are responsible for what they do, and the consequences that result. Casey is not anywhere near normal.
I believe a good attorney, with a desire to do so, could extricate Casey from this entire morass with an incompetence defense. It would initially be difficult, since he looks and acts like a competent person, but once you begin to look at how he filled out all the forms, telling the lending companies what they wanted to hear, nothing is checked and they just gave him the money. Guru scammers tell him they’ll make him rich; he gives them money, over and over again. Goes to Country Wide (crooks) they hand him a promissory note, he signs it. Phoenix ladies, signs it. Can you imagine how the local contractors on the first few houses must have ripped him off? And the RE agents? And in his mind they are all “awesome people” great people” “looking out for my interests”. The whole lot of them are no better than the schoolyard bullies stealing lunch money from the special ed kids.
I’ll go further out on a limb. I think he could sue all the banks, mortgage companies, credit card companies, Phoenix ladies, even the Guru’s for their collective responsibility in getting him in the mess and then piling it on. He could become the poster child for every dumb consumer who has fallen victim to the predatory practices of sub-prime lenders and voracious credit card companies.
I’m talking here about the obese guy’s lawsuit against McD’s for making him fat.
This sad person will learn nothing in jail. He should be institutionalized. Think about it before you kill me.
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dude… I totally hear you on dropping those credit card interest rates! I’ve had massive problems dealing with that myself! What a bugger!!
And the mail… yeah, I’m with you there too! We’re just shifting through the last two weeks of mail or more… it’s soooo easy to get behind on that…
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CS:
“I need to learn to prioritize my time. Taking care of this mess and producing income should come first, blogging should come second.”
No friggin’ kidding. Isn’t that what people here have been saying to you over and over and over again?
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Bet Casey will be back to full time blogging it is a distraction from reality. Trying to make money involves work and facing reality, so Casey won’t stick to it.
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Knock, knock - Hello, anyone home?
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If you give me permission to mirror your content, we can just take your posts from a feed and automatically channel them to a forum where people can discuss. No work from you involved, aside from making an agreement with me to absolve me of any copyright violations from Casey Serin content.
I think it’s what we need, anyway. Comments are hard to follow.
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God Deal!! Get those High APR’s down!! You can probably get the rates down to 10% (where they should be). I will help with moderating comments if you’d like.
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Get a job Casey.
That would be your first and most important step.
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You have a bank balance?
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sell the Jetta/cancel auto insurance. That would float you for a day or two.
Ever consider gutting the houses….sell all the appliances/hardware/fixtures? Pretty much anything that’s not nailed down? Could give you a short term cash flow. Since you realistically can’t sell them, why not use them to help with the short term cash problem? Heck, if you’re really desperate, tear out any copper plumbing. I hear copper is worth serious money right now!
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“Casey - you need to let people have their free speech, as long as there is no profanity or nut jobs posting.”
This doesn’t make sense - I thought Casey wanted people to post positive, upbeat stuff?
So isn’t this the exact opposite of not wanting any nut jobs to post?
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Josh the Magnificent shows up trolling for traffic on his lame website. For the small fee of $97, and for a limited time, he’s going to….dare I say it….learn to be MAGNIFICENT.
Who hooked you into doing this crap?
Then we have Mr. MillionDollarJourney who’s about $10 down the road. Hey, things are looking up….you only have $999,990 more to go!
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casey i submitted a magic spell…
why did you not approve?
does it go against your high horse so-called religious values
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One of the worst things I could imagine happening to me is going to prison. If that threat loomed over me, I would do everything in my power to prevent it. You are aware that this could happen to you, and yet you do nothing but distracting busywork. Opening mail, paying bills and installing software are all things people do in their spare time, and are not considered major events in a day.
Forget the mail, get rid of the cell phones, cancel the AAA membership and replace the cable connection with dial up; then focus on getting a steady income so you can start paying off your debts and avoid going to prison.
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@ Rob P No. 48
Casey, you asterisked out my 6 letter word, a clinical term meaning the last portion of your intestine, but allowed through the word “putz” (which is Yiddish for penis). Your editing is a little mercurial. Whassup?
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So now we’re stuck to read a minute-by-minute schedule of your life? Shoot me an email when something interested/productive happens.
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I’m not handling my side of the deal and not “calling the lenders and making amends”. I thanked him for his patience with me and I told him I will hang up the phone and get to work on handling debt right away stopped writing a big blog entry and put up something quick saying that I need to handle priorities and also asked for help with moderation checked all 11 G’s credit card accounts online and updated all unsecured accounts on balance sheet (local and online)
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