RG 105 – Successful Partnerships: Top Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Out with Vinney Chopra

About Vinney

• Vinney came to the US with $7 in his pocket
• Vinney studied engineering
• Vinney grew up in New Deli

Nuts and Bolts

Vinny is the owner and founder of the Monelle Investment Group LLC and Monelle Management Group LLC. He is runs education courses for people through his multifamily education platform. Vinny earned his first dollar in junior high in New Deli helping his older neighbors. He grew up wanting to be an engineer and earned a scholarship to study at university. He worked in engineering for 5 years and came to the US and did a Masters in business. He arrived in the US with $7 in his pocket. While studying for his MBA in Washington DC with a specialty in marketing, he sold bibles and encyclopaedias to save money for tuition. Once he had finished his education he took a job as a promotional consultant in fundraising and motivational speaking.

While in work he realized that all his colleagues were working in real estate on the side. He joined them in acquiring 2 to 3 single family homes per year. He also invested in multifamily as a limited partner but this wasn’t a good experience, however it taught him how to treat investors properly. His first syndication was 165 units in Reno, Nevada with a friendship group and a friend as a managing partner. This went on for 2 years with no cashflow, and at the end he only received his money back with no capital. He became a broker in 2004 and after then2008 crash he went to buy properties in Texas as he couldn’t get loans California. Texas had a low unemployment rate and he could get seller financing on 2 deals which closed within a week of each other.

Vinny had heard about the Texas market because a friend had a small apartment in Odessa, so he went to find more deals in the small market. He turned up not knowing much and had to learn on the job, he received advice from a mentor and also learned by listening to education cd’s in the car. After 6 months of looking for deals in Dallas and not getting lucky he went to find deals in Odessa. He closed on 2 and bought 4 more and doubled his money on each. He did 14 syndications with his old companies and then wrapped them up. After he launched his two new Monelle companies he ran a further 12 syndications through them.

Top tips

• Most important habit – Constant motivation, only worry about today
• Most influential person – All of his mentors, especially Spencer Hayes
• Most important tool – Underwriting systems
• Most important failure – He was flipping a C house to an A and the sewerage system blew, and the house was ina bad neighbourhood.
• Contact – vinneychopra.com