It is no secret that Vinney Chopra and I are tight. He often checks in to discuss family matters, goal setting/achieving and career progress. Heck, my sister-in-law and I translated his best-selling book to Spanish, Apartment Syndication Made Easy: A Step by Step Guide. Having been an integral team member on his two most recent syndications in Central Florida, I got to see Vinney in action, learning along each step of the way. He always preaches his 5 spinning plates, and I was fortunate to see him spinning those plates in real time. The lessons were invaluable, and I am extremely grateful for those opportunities to learn from a master.
The Top 3 Lessons I Learned From Shadowing Vinney Chopra:
1. Build Superb Teams
2. Investors Are The Life Blood Of Every Deal
3. Underwrite Aggressively To Find The “Golden Opportunity”
Lesson #1. Build Superb Teams This is by far one of the secret weapons to success. Our team at Ten15 Capital recently used this weapon to acquire an off-market asset in the Tampa submarket (Florida Gulf Coast). Prior to even submitting an offer, we had to ensure that we had what Vinney calls a “superb team”. With my partner and fellow UCF Knight Myron McNeil (American Commodity Investment Group), we spent months and months interviewing and trying-out potential team members. The list includes underwriters, capital partners, lenders, due diligence inspectors, real estate attorneys, syndication attorneys, contractors, property managers etc. With the team locked in place, when the deal in Tampa materialized, every step of the process flowed seamlessly from one part to another, with perfect hand-off between teammates. This could not have happened without building the “superb team.”
Lesson #2. Investors Are The Life Blood Of Every Deal You might be one of our investors! If you are, understand that you represent the most vital piece in a real estate syndication. To further define this, you are our partners. Hence, the term "Equity Partner" instead of "investor." Our team at Ten15 Capital has invested countless hours educating and preparing our equity partners. Aside from in-person seminars and Zoom webinars, we provide educational monthly newsletters where we keep providing the most current information on the benefits of investing in multifamily real estate. We partner with experts that teach how to use their retirement funds, such as Self Directed IRA & Solo 401k, on these deals. We provide information on why they need to be ready to JUMP at the right opportunity, since every deal is first come first served basis due the short time window to invest in a syndication.
Lesson #3. Underwrite Aggressively To Find The “Golden Opportunity” To underwrite a deal means to scrutinize the income and expenses of a property against the investment required to purchase it in order for us to determine if it will meet our investment criteria. I am a licensed Professional Engineer. I am a spreadsheet and numbers nut. I am an expert at creating systems, processes and budgets. I am an expert at managing diverse teams to tight budgets and schedules. Why is this important? Because this attention to detail has made me an expert underwriter. Along with our team at Ten15 Capital, not only have I kissed a lot of frogs looking for the right deals, but I have been carefully honing my craft to fully understand the rules of cash flows and cash on cash returns, NOI, IRR, ROI, AAR, DCR, CAP… it is all second nature. On an underwriting spreadsheet with multiple tabs, I literally leave no cell untouched while analyzing hundreds of individual components to fully understand if the opportunity is a deal or it is not. There are people out there claiming to be investors but couldn’t figure out an underwriting spreadsheet if it hit them in the face. That is not the case with Ten15 Capital.
Check out Vinney’s interview on “Success En Español” with Lupita Jimenez. This is the Vinney that I know, humble and in raw emotion. He drops so many nuggets on what it takes to achieve a dream as he details how he chased his. Grab your pen, pad and a handkerchief
The lessons have been invaluable, and I am extremely grateful for those opportunities to learn from a master.
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We are Ten15 Capital, and we are innovating the world of real estate investing via apartment complexes. We create lucrative opportunities via syndication or joint venture projects.
To learn more, please go to our website: www.Ten15.co
