Jaw-dropping. I am in shock. I know that this happens. I know that people go into foreclosure. I bought a property that was foreclosed on and I have countless people contact me to help them find foreclosures. But I always wonder/worry about the person who owned the property before. Casey Serin’s story gives a little insight.

Here are his 10 mistakes (Read the entire article here, please!)

Used Stated Income Loans

Over paid

Rented out a house for less than his monthly mortgage

Quit His Day Job

Hired and Unlicensed Contractor

Bought Properties Sight-Unseen

Bought in a Market He Didn’t Understand

Bought Too Many Too Fast

Underestimated Renovation Costs

Had No Exit Strategy
There are many different reasons that people go into foreclosure and most are lamentable. Loss of a job, sickness, death of the primary borrower, poor money management skills. But Casey is in foreclosure because he was trying to get rich quick. He is a self-proclaimed Would-Be Real Estate Mogul (read another article about Casey) and he committed some serious bank fraud.

Reading Casey’s blog is painful and frightening, but educational (so do it) and it makes me feel bad for him. But after almost every paragraph, I find myself asking out loud, “How did that happen?” Did no one check this kid’s credit. How does an umempleyed 24 year old graphic designer get 8 loans pushed through in less than a year? And how is he walking away from a closing with thousands in his pocket?

He found a Sacramento couple who’d twice cut the price on their home and were asking $360,000. Aware that the market was softening, Serin successfully bid $330,000, including his closing costs. But he also wanted to pay off his credit cards. So he took out a $360,000 mortgage and asked the sellers to give him $30,000 in cash once the deal closed.

Oh, yeah–He isn’t supposed to do that. It’s illegal! So I waiver. I feel bad for Casey, but he knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong.