While searching for REO property in RPV I came across this home formerly owned by the popular Barryg1. With records showing a default around 200k it seems that Barry was hit especially hard by black friday. It appears that Barry hasn't made a mortgage payment in over a year on the 12,000 sq ft home which can be seen on cardplayer's high stakes living. I'm curious why Barry didn't attempt a short sale given his philosophy on always paying back loans. I hope this isn't a indicator of deeper financial troubles because Barry seems like a genuinely great person and is by far my favorite player.

Lol! This is simple! You can't short sell if you have assets and you especially can't short sale with cash in the bank to cover deficit. You need to do more research on what a short sale is and who is eligible.

he probably lived in it for free for 2 years that how long it takes these days to kick out people

If you liked him so much and thought he was such a great guy then why would you make it more difficult for him to borrow money?

People who short sale get the same type of summary judgement as those that foreclose. If you are eligible to short sale then it will most likely benefit you more then foreclosing though. Foreclosures are about 250-300 points off a credit score short sale usually around 50. .

Not true, sellers short sale with assets i.e. stocks, ira, other real estate all the time, they are usually required to pay a portion of the shortfall as part of the agreement.

I anxiously await a small army of posters declaring there's no way Barry can be broke despite knowing absolutely nothing about his actual financial status, using things like the amount he bought in for on HSP as proof, along with another army of posters declaring he's totally busto without any real idea of his financial status either.

Carry on.

you're to cool for school, bro.

Barry greenstein has been around a long time, long before poker was on tv all the time, he'll grind it back.

I'm not saying he's broke, but if he is any amount of money in the bank over 5,000 then short sale was not the way to go.

This is troubling news, maybe he just forgot to pay

IF Barry was smarter in real estate wouldnt' he have paid cash for a house with his poker winnings like I did and be "living the poker dream" like me?

Then take the savings without having a mortgage and save that for five years then just keep payhing cash for houses and flipping them or just renting them??

I saw an interview with Barry while back and he was talkinga bout needing to make money.. cmon Barry quit living above your means and pay cash for everything.. dont get loans man.

Ever think that the house could be a money pit to him? The taxes and cost of the house yet alone the resale value would probably result in him losing more money then him just foreclosing.

Doesn't he have a deal with Pokerstars still? If Edog can hold it together (sorta) while having a deal with FTP, surely everyone else can, right?

Greenbok Productions tho

No way Barry can be broke.



The degenerate Busto

He bought the house for $2.55mil only $200k was owed on it. I understand there are reasons to do this but it seems odd.

Could this be a different Barry Greenstein?

If only he sold those books he gave people who busted him in tourneys he probably could have not only saved his house, but refinanced from a 30 year to a 15 year mortgage.

Barry is such a top notch iam sure he will come on here and explained fully what happened.

wasn't he so rich he gave 50% of his mtt earning to charity? thats why they called him the robin hood? I could be crazy

Where did that $200k balance on the loan come from? It doesn't seem possible that anyone with over 2 million in equity would let a house foreclose over 200k. The market value of the house appears to be around 3 million, but even if you sold it for 1 million, you would pay off the 200k and have 800k cash in hand. And that's not a short sale, since a short sale just means the sale price is less than what is still owed on the house, not less than what the buyer originally paid for it.

Something doesn't add up here.

edit: my guess is that he, like lots of homeowners during the housing boom, took out huge home equity loans based on inflated home values. then the prices crashed back down to earth, and people owed huge amounts on the HELOCs, and couldn't pay them back.

There was a $2.8M loan made on the property in 2006 and a $1M second in 2007. The amount due the senior lien holder at the time of the foreclosure sale was $3.008M. I am sure this, like many other similar foreclosures, was a business decision and not necessarily a function of Barry's financial status, although I know he was significantly impacted by the housing market "crash" and subsequent stock market woes.

At some point it becomes difficult to justify throwing good money after bad. The market downturn undoubtedly devalued the home to the point where Barry was upside down with little to no hope of the market catching up to the amount owed any time soon. He and/or the property may not have been eligible for a short sale. In any event it is likely he just decided to cut his losses. It is a beautiful home on a stunning piece of property, but was huge and super expensive just to run and maintain.

I have not seen Barry for a few weeks, but the last time I did he looked great and was in good spirits, playing in a hi limit stud game. I am sure he will be just fine. Despite what others may think after reading some of the comments here Barry really is a great guy. I am lucky to be able to call him my friend.

I'm sorry i should have been more clear the 200k is the default amount meaning he is about 200 k behind on his mortgage payments.

couldnt have said it better myself