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Vinney “Smile” Chopra shares his amazing journey from arriving to this country from India with $7 in his pocket to building a $70M multifamily real estate empire.  In this episode, we focus in particular on how he started his multifamily investing career and how he eventually raised $1.1M to do his first two deals.

After having graduated from George Washington University, Vinney became a mechanical engineer. He was fascinated by sales and marketing and sold encyclopedias and bibles door-to-door. For several decades, he was a professional fundraiser for non-profit organizations. He started investing in single family houses in the mid-eighties, but in 2007 he became passionate about multifamily investing. Since then, he’s done $125M worth of real estate transactions and currently controls over 1,400 units.

Vinney’s middle name is “Smile” because that what he did a lot during our interview. Here are the topics we cover on the podcast:

  • Why he decided to get started with real estate. Too much work! Couldn’t really scale.
  • His first venture into MF: hard!, it took 12 months. It seemed impossible. He ended up closing a 14-unit and then a 109 unit just several weeks afterward, raised $1.1M.

Key Takeaways

[7:30] Vinney’s start in real estate investing

  • Started with single family housing
  • Planned on selling the homes to fund retirement

[12:47] Vinny’s preferred method of learning

  • Youtube
  • Google
  • Podcasts (12-15 per week)

[13:31] Why positive thinking is so important if you want to achieve your goals

[18:13] Why Vinney decided to stop investing in single family housing

  • Minimal economies of scale
  • Risk of 100% vacancy
  • After the crash of 2007 lenders would only loan on multifamily housing

[20:33] Why Vinney recommends finding a partner

  • Encouragement through the tough times

[26:17] Why you should talk to a syndication attorney before raising money

[28:00] Vinney’s very first deal

  • 14 unites
  • Closed on 109 units soon after

[32:14] How Vinney raised money for his first deal

  • Hustled!
  • Decided not to accept money from friends or relatives
  • Designed a great presentation

[38:55] How one happy investor can lead to 30 more

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Vinney's Investor Presentation (PDF)

Connect with Vinney

Phone: 925-766-3518 (call or text)

Email: [email protected]

Vinney’s course on syndication: realestateu.tv

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