"IamFacingForeclosure.com is over. It will never return."

June 1, 2007 7:28 AM

Casey Serin (discussed on MeFi here), the world's most hated blogger according to CNET, has taken down his "I Am Facing Foreclosure" blog. Why? Speculation abounds among his fans and foes alike. Did the law catch up to him? Was it a result of a crayon-penned contract with his wife? The "real estate bubble's" poster boy has inspired others to create a Caseypedia, to write copious blog entries of their own, and even to host "talkcasts" that function a little like memorial services in the emptiness that follows the sure (?) demise of Serin's own Foreclosure Fridays call-in, chat-in sessions. There's even one tonight!
posted by houseofdanie (49 comments total)

I thought it was weird that the media was calling him "the world's most hated blogger". It seemed like an easy "hook" to write a story around, but I think most of his readers were just interested in what was happening to him.

I think a big part of him shutting down the site was the just the difficulty in keeping the site up under all the exposure he was getting (it was a lot, going way up in the past few weeks, I think). Running the site was also taking up a lot of his time, that he needed to be spending looking for a job or something. It was pissing off his wife, and from what I gathered he spent a lot of time moderating comments and replying. He had also recently had server troubles.
posted by delmoi at 7:40 AM on June 1, 2007

Yeah, delmoi, in reviewing the comments his blog received before the takedown, I didn't see a lot of hatred, but there was an awful lot of, "Wow, check out this train wreck!" and, "Damn it, boy, DO SOMETHING." The "most hated blogger" thing sure does make a good headline, tho.
posted by houseofdanie at 7:43 AM on June 1, 2007

So, who IS the world's most hated blogger?
posted by notmydesk at 7:49 AM on June 1, 2007

I had really hoped he was just an advertising invention by a debt resolution company. *sigh*
posted by katillathehun at 7:51 AM on June 1, 2007

So, who IS the world's most hated blogger?
posted by notmydesk at 10:49 AM on June 1

Dooce.com
posted by Pastabagel at 7:59 AM on June 1, 2007

So, who IS the world's most hated blogger?

Maddox?
posted by danb at 8:00 AM on June 1, 2007

Maddox?

Just because Maddox is better than your children is no reason to hate him.
posted by psmealey at 8:01 AM on June 1, 2007 [3 favorites]

You can't go by whatever comments you skimmed to determine whether the guy was hated or not - trust me, everyone I know thinks he's slime.

So, this asshole's 15 minutes of fame are up. Good.
posted by Muddler at 8:11 AM on June 1, 2007

I think at this point, though, he could sell the domain name for a lot of money.
posted by delmoi at 8:13 AM on June 1, 2007

But Casey will not sell the domain name for a lot of money because Casey is Casey. If there's an opportunity to actually do something fiscally intelligent, he will fail to get it done for lame reasons.

The world's most hated blogger? More like the world's most aggravating blogger.
posted by cotterpin at 8:17 AM on June 1, 2007

He'll figure out a way to sell the domain name for a loss. or magic beans.
posted by Challahtronix at 8:20 AM on June 1, 2007 [2 favorites]

Here's hoping he woke up and faced the gravity of his situation.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:27 AM on June 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Did the law catch up to him?

I'm hoping it's this one!
posted by Big_B at 8:32 AM on June 1, 2007

Note on the shutdown from the "Caseypedia":

Nigel Update: see DHC: "The moment haterz have been waiting for has finally happened. The IAFF trainwreck has come to its ultimate resting spot. Kaput. Finito. Over. The reason? Short answer - contract with the wife was violated. Action was taken. The blog is over. I have a full email from Casey, but won't violate his trust by disclosing it."
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:34 AM on June 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

So, who IS the world's most hated blogger?

Kottke. Duh.
posted by reklaw at 8:35 AM on June 1, 2007

I thought Cory was more-hated than Kottke? Shows what I know.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 8:37 AM on June 1, 2007

Kottke hatred peaked a couple of years ago when he asked for micro-patron sponsorship to blog full time.
posted by smackfu at 9:05 AM on June 1, 2007

this casey guy "abused" the system by taking out liar loans on multiple properties with the intent to take cash (under the table) at closing to stay solvent / live the good life while flipping them.

This is intensely anti-social behavior, morally worse than if he had just gone around to banks and held them up for tens of thousands of dollars.

IMV, whether or not the law catches up to him (figuratively and literally), that he can potentially walk away scot-free from these failed obligations via the leniency of bankruptcy proceedings is the drivespring of my hate for the peckerhead.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 9:07 AM on June 1, 2007

Oddly enough, clause 1 of the "make money contract" (full-size) expressly forbids the sale of the domain name. Which sounds more like a "don't make money contract" to me.
posted by Partial Law at 9:11 AM on June 1, 2007

Yeah, Heywood, I certainly don't have any sympathy to spare for this jackass.

But then again, I can't find much for the people he owes financial obligations to, either. He owes it to mortgage companies and other financial institutions which are hard, professional players. If the property isn't enough to truly secure the loan, and if they gave this clown the cash without looking too hard at him, they deserve some hard questions from their equity holders, and not sympathy from the rest of us. Serin's wrongs don't make them competent fiduciaries or good guys.

That said, since I also can't condone Serin's conduct, I think the proper and just thing is that he walk away from the debts per se via bankruptcy, but straight into restitution and jail for fraud.
posted by tyllwin at 9:33 AM on June 1, 2007

My hatred of Cory should be sufficient to skew any meaningful survey solidly in his direction.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:39 AM on June 1, 2007

Looking at those "contracts"--is the guy functionally retarded? I'm not kidding...from the crayon down to the 1st grade "signature" it just smacks of someone who is developmentally disabled (to this non expert). The guy's an ass, in any case.
posted by maxwelton at 10:04 AM on June 1, 2007

Jesus, I just spent way too long reading the Caseypedia. That dude's a winner.
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 10:07 AM on June 1, 2007

Which sounds more like a "don't make money contract" to me.

I think the point of the contract is to make money at a normal, sustainable job, and that selling the domain name was such an obvious and unsustainable loophole that it needed to be expressly forbidden.
posted by mendel at 10:17 AM on June 1, 2007

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Either he's a publicity stunt or needs to see a therapist.
posted by muddgirl at 10:29 AM on June 1, 2007

At the risk of exposing my massive internet ignorance, why would his domain be worth a lot of money and to whom? Granted a lot of people went to his website, but if I am selling Allegra knockoffs, can I really expect to make some sales to people who mistakingly continue to look for this dipshit at that web address? When I put in a wrong address, I just hit the back button.
posted by dios at 11:04 AM on June 1, 2007

I wonder what mefi's lawyers think of the contract? Does Casey have good wiggle room here?
posted by boo_radley at 11:05 AM on June 1, 2007

I would guess, dios, that it might be worth money not to viagra salesmen, but rather to people "selling" mortgages at predatory terms, or outright scamming them.
posted by tyllwin at 11:15 AM on June 1, 2007

He's representative of that vast nation of dim ne'er-do-wells who truly, deeply believe that there is such a thing as a free lunch, you just got to know the right people. The right people, of course, are the far less numerous folk for whom Casey and his ilk are the free lunch. They will put Caseys to work selling magazines door-to-door, they will take the Caseys' money for investment seminars, they will charge Caseys $500 for attendance at a national sales conference. Casey and his fellows will move from one opportunity to the next, always sure that prosperity is around the next corner and waiting in a cheap suit with the wide, welcoming arms of the fathers they never knew.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:19 AM on June 1, 2007 [7 favorites]

This is intensely anti-social behavior, morally worse than if he had just gone around to banks and held them up for tens of thousands of dollars.

That's preposterous. When a person holds up a bank they commit an act of violence. When they defraud one, they don't.

(and the flip side, a bank that's conned out of money this way loses it for ever, whereas in a hold up, the money stolen would be covered by insurance)
posted by delmoi at 11:21 AM on June 1, 2007

“That's preposterous. When a person holds up a bank they commit an act of violence. When they defraud one, they don't. ”

It's only preposterous if you accept the idea that the violent act is always and necessarily the morally worse act. I'm not certain that it isn't true, but I also don't see why it must be true, either.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:57 AM on June 1, 2007

posted by delmoi a bank that's conned out of money this way loses it for ever, whereas in a hold up, the money stolen would be covered by insurance

Wrong, as usual.
posted by fandango_matt at 12:53 PM on June 1, 2007

So, who IS the world's most hated blogger?

Goatsewelt, the blog that consists entirely of the world's most powerful animated .gif:

THE GOATSE RECURSION.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:13 PM on June 1, 2007

Casey and his fellows will move from one opportunity to the next, always sure that prosperity is around the next corner and waiting in a cheap suit with the wide, welcoming arms of the fathers they never knew.

Wow, that's dark. And like most really dark things in this age, probably accurate.
posted by JHarris at 1:54 PM on June 1, 2007

Meanwhile, I have a mortgage I can afford, a nice house, a steady, lucrative job, and a happy life thanks to my wife and kids and dogs and extended family and friends. And I didn't have to cheat anyone to get all of this.

So there is a free lunch after all, I guess, if being honest and doing a good job don't cost you anything.
posted by davejay at 2:07 PM on June 1, 2007

Is it normal to have several written contracts with your spouse? That doesn't seem like it would be a healthy relationship.
posted by puke & cry at 2:15 PM on June 1, 2007

The source code of his now-blank site reveals his explaination for the shut-down.
posted by chudmonkey at 2:49 PM on June 1, 2007

Dooce.com
posted by Pastabagel at 7:59 AM on June 1

Pastabagel, is Dooce really that widely loathed? How come? Her "Daily Chuck" pictures of her dog usually cheer me up.
posted by infinitywaltz at 3:07 PM on June 1, 2007

Is it normal to have several written contracts with your spouse? That doesn't seem like it would be a healthy relationship.

Some would argue that it stopped being a healthy relationship when he ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and refused to get a job because he was 'totally going to nail the next deal.'

This kind of stuff might not happen everyday, but it's hardly unheard of in recovery/addiction situations where one spouse has a history of spinning their way out of reasonable expectations.
posted by verb at 3:40 PM on June 1, 2007

Casey will be back. He knew how to push people's buttons while getting hit-counts and comment numbers up in a personal blog and those are good skills to have. Heck folks, he's only 25. When I think back on the tom-foolery that I was involved in at 25, I conclude confidently that Casey will be back bigger than ever.

I wonder why he shut it down just as he was turning the corner? I recall a couple thou$and in "prominent link" sales just before this sudden, surprising end.
posted by telstar at 5:04 PM on June 1, 2007

Some would argue that it stopped being a healthy relationship when he ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and refused to get a job because he was 'totally going to nail the next deal.'

Good point.
posted by puke & cry at 5:32 PM on June 1, 2007

I wonder why he shut it down just as he was turning the corner?

wip-shash! wip-shash!

(wrist making whip motion)
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 5:59 PM on June 1, 2007

Too many unannounced vacations, $36 wheatgrass shots (debit card + overdraft charge), romming with the in-laws, getting chewed out by your own brother, and making friends with folks in pleather jackets does not show you are anything other than (fill in the blank).
posted by calwatch at 9:21 PM on June 1, 2007

Can someone explain to this old man why this is interesting to people at all?
posted by moonbiter at 2:16 AM on June 2, 2007

moonbiter: Voyeurism. Everyone got to watch this guy fall and fall and deny it the whole time. The disconnect was the most entertaining part, I think.
posted by mendel at 9:03 AM on June 2, 2007

I was following poor Casey's story. His wife gave him an ultimatum not too long ago. Apparently he was spending most of his time moderating comments to his blog, neglecting things like working or sleeping.

The result was that he promised her, among other things, that the blog would either earn $1000 a month or it would come down. He got his readers to pony up $972 or so via paypal, sold some ads on the blog for another $100 or so, but it was pretty clear that he was not going to meet his goal for May.

Casey's got problems of his own, but no-doc loans, like the ones he was getting 'cash back' out of, aren't ethical. He's ruined his own financial future and that of his wife at the age of 24; I believe that there's no particular reason that the mortgage industry should have permitted him to do it.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:19 AM on June 3, 2007

Casey is back! what'd I tell ya?
posted by telstar at 5:59 PM on June 6, 2007

Oh, God. Hey, does this mean my first-ever post gets deleted now? Damned Casey.
posted by houseofdanie at 8:24 PM on June 6, 2007

Hardly. Think like Casey. This is grounds for another FPP. Sweet!

it's all good
posted by telstar at 12:47 AM on June 7, 2007