Veena Jetti narrates her transformative journey from investing in single-family homes to commanding a portfolio that exceeded a billion dollars in transactions, emphasizing the importance of adaptability, persistence, and a community-driven approach. The episode also highlights her dedication to philanthropy and her vision of empowering others through mentorship to achieve their own success in real estate.
• Exploration of Veena's beginnings in real estate and initial misunderstandings about multifamily investing
• The challenges and draining experience of single-family home management
• Insights into transitioning to multifamily investments for scalability
• Essential strategies for raising capital effectively
• The role of rejection in building resilience and understanding market dynamics
• The importance of philanthropy and community support in her journey
• Recognition of inspiring future generations in real estate through mentorship
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I thought it was for Jeff Bezos and.
Oprah and like Kim Kardashianright.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
We are at the Xpand conferenceand I have the pleasure of
interviewing Veena Jetty.
(00:29):
Veena, thank you so much fortaking the time to answer some
questions, and I'm just going tofix my mic a little bit, okay.
But thank you so much becauseyou're so busy.
I saw you on stage.
You just came off stage and ranright to our booth.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Straight to you.
I told you I was going to comeback here.
I am, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So real estate, I think, is your thing.
You bought a couple properties,managed to go and get over a
billion dollars of transactions.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So that's not just a couple of properties.
But you didn't start there, no,can you tell our viewers how
did you start in real estate?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, so I started investing in single family and
it was because I didn't knowthat someone like Veena Jetty
could own multifamily.
I thought it was for Jeff Bezosand Oprah, and like Kim
Kardashian right.
Like I thought it was forbillionaires and people that had
millions and millions andmillions of dollars, and I
didn't.
When I first started, I startedfrom zero and I started buying
(01:38):
single family homes.
There was a week where I putfive properties under contract
and, yeah, that's what I thoughtit was like.
Oh my gosh, this is amazing,I'm going to do great.
But then I immediately had twothoughts after that.
The first thought was I reallyhate this because I had to go
like 50 minutes here, two hours,this direction, an hour, this
(02:00):
direction, to collect rent andanswer for leaky toilets and all
these things I hated.
So that was my first thought.
And then my second thought wasI can never get to scale like
this.
If I want to ever have theaudacity of owning 5,000 or
10,000 or a hundred thousanddoors, there's no practical way
(02:20):
for me to do this one singlefamily home at a time.
So I needed something to scaleme up.
That's where the power ofmultifamily really unlocked so
many doors and basically a wholeworld I didn't know existed.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So that leads to my second question.
So you started very humbly,very simple single family homes.
Now you upscale your portfolioand now you're playing in the
multifamily game.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So how does someone move up or goes to multifamily?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, you know, and everyone asked me this question
and they think I'm going to givethem, like here's a silver
bullet, go do it and I'll tellyou.
I accidentally stumbled intomultifamily.
I did not know that I was goingto end up being a multifamily
investor.
I certainly did not know thescale at that I was going to end
up being a multifamily investor.
I certainly did not know thescale at which I was going to do
it when I was in my singlefamily woe right.
(03:13):
And it's like, oh, I have to goand collect rent from 100
different people and I reallyhate this.
I knew there was something else, but I didn't know what it was.
And I love residential realestate because I love the idea
of investing into an asset thatsomeone is going to live in and
that's their home, and that'swhere memories are made.
And home is very important andspecial for me, and so I love
(03:34):
that idea.
And it's also recessionresistant.
You always are going to need aplace to live.
It's a tangible asset, exactly,exactly.
And so I had a friend.
He's exactly exactly.
And so I had a friend he'sstill a good friend of mine.
I actually was just texting himthe other day and just I was
reflecting on my journey and Isaid, joe, I don't know if I've
ever specifically said this toyou, but you changed my whole
(03:58):
trajectory of where I am andwhere I'm going because he you
know he reached out to me and hesaid, hey, do you want to buy
this multifamily together?
And I was like what can gowrong?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Literally everything can go wrong.
That's the answer.
Uh, but I didn't know.
You know, I was young and dumband I didn't know what I didn't
know.
I was still in my likeunconscious, incompetent phase
of learning.
And so I said, yeah, okay,let's do it.
And he's like great, it's 200doors, it's $15.9 million.
In Dallas, which I lived inDallas, and he said we need you
(04:36):
to do like ABC, like all thisstuff and acquisitions and
post-close management.
One of the things I had to dowas raise $1.2 million.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Chump change for some , some not that much.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Who is a chump change for when you're doing your
first deal and you're in yourmid-20s?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
For now Vina Jelly.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well now, but it took me a decade to get here right
when I started, though, I waslike okay, yeah, no problem, and
I had like the cockiness of,you know, a 20 something year
old new entrepreneur where I waslike, whatever I can do that
it's easy.
It was not easy.
I literally cried myself tosleep every single night for six
(05:15):
weeks straight.
I thought I ruined my family'sfinancial future.
I thought no one was ever goingto want to work with me again.
I thought that I was nevergoing to be able work with me
again.
I thought that I was nevergoing to be able to do another
deal.
I thought that I had just lostlike hundreds of thousands of
dollars of our own money thatwe'd put in earnest money
because, we weren't going to beable to close the deal and you
(05:35):
know it's because I went abouttrying to raise that capital the
wrong way.
So I was meeting no after noafter no after no, and it's
exhausting and it wears on youno, after no, after no, after no
, and it's exhausting and itwears on you and when you're
raising capital you're almost onan island because I couldn't go
to my friends and family thatI'm asking to invest in this
deal.
Be like no one wants to investwith me, because then they're
(05:56):
gonna be like oh well.
I don't want to either, thenright, and so it became really
challenging, and it's verylonely to go through it.
The first time and back then,communities didn't exist, so
there weren't these spaces whereyou could readily access
information or other people whocould even just sit in the mud
with you and say, like it's OK,this is normal.
(06:17):
I've been there too.
Like that wasn't really a thinga decade ago.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So now you're raising capital for that multifamily
deal.
And it brings us to my thirdquestion.
I want to ask you Raisingcapital.
You need to do it if you wantto scale.
Everybody, everybody runs outof money at some point in time.
How does someone start?
Some people might think, oh,it's too big for me.
How can I raise money?
(06:44):
I'm not a banker, I don't knownothing about it.
How does someone put themselvesin a mentality of raising money
and how can they do it?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
this is the single most important skill set that
anybody yeah, anybody realestate or not can learn, because
this is transferable across allindustries and every company,
(07:15):
real estate or not, will need toknow how to raise capital in
order to get to scale and inorder to grow, whether that's
from the bank, retail investors,institutional investors,
whether you're raising debtequity, it doesn't matter.
You need to know the skill setof raising capital.
So the first and I'll tell you,the first deal that I was
raising on I did not know manythings, many things, and I
(07:39):
remember I had an investor.
I was talking to him and he waslike really excited about the
deal, and then he asked me thequestion are you raising debt or
equity?
And I was like I don't know.
But you can't say I don't know,right, because this is like a
basic question you should knowthe answer to.
So I think about it.
(07:59):
Right, this is my innerdialogue.
I'm like, okay, vino, you havea 50-50 shot of getting this
correct, regardless of which youanswer.
So I was like all right debt.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Was it the right answer?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
No, it was not the right answer.
And the investor was like, huh,you're raising debt.
And I'm like shit, I answeredthe wrong answer.
So I was like, oh yeah, youknow, we're just, we're
structured the way we are, butyou know what?
Let me confirm, my partnerhandles this.
Let me confirm and get back toyou and I did confirm that I was
(08:36):
in fact wrong.
We were raising equity.
I did go back to him and tellhim, with a lot of egg on my
face, that this was an equityinvestment.
He did not invest with me,needless to say, but this is
like a decade ago.
But here's the thing it's onlyhard the first time you do it
right it's only scary.
The first time you hear thequestion you don't know the
answer to.
Now, if you ask me, are youraising debt or equity?
(08:58):
I can tell you that it's equity.
I can tell you why.
I can tell you why we don't dodebt, why we structure the way
we structure.
I know everything there is toknow about this on my projects.
So it taught me something andit helped me get better from
that rejection or that failure.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
And this is the thing that people should understand
and know is that it's okay toget rejection, because that's
what builds your in French,carapace.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I don't know how to say it I'm looking for my.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
English word today.
It builds your character.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, your character, because you are going to get
no's.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It's not going to be all yeses.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yes, I get way more no's than I do a yes.
But here's something peopledon't know when you're raising
capital, a fast no is way betterthan a slow yes.
I would ask for a fast no 100out of 100 times versus someone
that's a slow yes.
And what I mean by that is if Icome to you and I say, hey, I
(09:53):
have a really great deal, mario,I think you're really going to
love it.
Here's why you should invest init and you go no thanks, and it
can be for any reason it can be, I don't like multifamily.
I don't like multifamily, Idon't have the money.
I don't like you, vina, like Idon't really care what it is.
You tell me no definitively andI go.
Okay, he just said not rightnow.
Right, like I convert it in mymind to a not right now and I
(10:17):
try to understand why.
I'll say why not?
And Dallas, texas, okay, great,now when I have a deal in
Atlanta, I'm going to come toyou and say, hey, I have a deal
in Atlanta.
I know you didn't like Dallas,but now do you like Atlanta?
Right, so I get to know youbetter when you say no to me.
And then, more importantly, ifyou tell me no right away, I
(10:38):
don't have to spend any moretime trying to get you across
the finish line of investing inmy deal.
I can go and spend time withSusie Smith, who is going to
actually be proactive and she'sexcited and she wants to do this
deal with me when I have toconvince you or I have to take a
lot of time holding your handand I don't mean basic due
diligence, I mean like hours andhours and hours and hours, or
(10:59):
days and days and days, whichdoes happen sometimes that slow
yes means that there's a veryhigh likelihood that you're
saying yes because you don'thave a way to say no and you're
not really in it, and that meansthat when it comes time to
write the check and give me themoney, you're going to be
nowhere to be found absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
And then you know you can.
You can get to almost thefinish line and they pull out
and it's like 100.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Then now you're stressed yeah, and you've spent
all this time, you've investedall this energy and effort where
I could have invested that insomeone who was excited about
the project.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So fourth question for you yeah, you.
Well, let's recap.
You started in single familyhome, upgraded to multi-family.
You raised now you, now youtransaction transacted over a
billion dollars in transactions.
You like to give back to thecommunity.
You're a philanthropist, youlike to support charity work.
(11:53):
Can you tell me more about itand why you do that?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah.
So Warren Buffett said ifyou're lucky enough to be in the
top 1%, it's yourresponsibility to look out for
the 99%.
And you know I tell people thiswhen they talk about what I've
done in my success, especiallyin the context of being a woman
of color right In thesetraditionally male dominated
spaces.
(12:18):
Yes, I've had adversity toovercome, but I've also had a
lot of privilege too, right.
I grew up in a two-parenthousehold.
I grew up abled.
I didn't have anyneurodivergence.
I grew up in a household whereeducation was valued and was
encouraged and my parentsinvested in my sister and my
education and development.
(12:39):
I didn't have any violence inthe home.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
We weren't rich, but we weren't poor.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I didn't have any violence in the home.
We weren't rich, but we weren'tpoor.
I didn't have food insecuritygrowing up, so all of those
things gave me a springboard todo what I do, and my parents
have always instilled the valueof investing into the community
around you.
So some of the organizationsthat we support, we love
(13:04):
waterorg.
Waterorg is really greatbecause they invest in the
infrastructure of differentAfrican countries and Asian
countries where the villagedoesn't have running water or
water infrastructure.
And the reason I do thatspecifically is because I
fundamentally believe that thevalue of a society is based on
(13:25):
how they treat women and girls,and what I found when I was
researching this is that whenthere is a village that doesn't
have access to clean water, theywill pull young girls out of
school at very young ages andthey will send them two hours to
(13:45):
go walk and fetch water for thefamily and then bring that back
.
So girls don't get educated andby every metric that a society
cares about, making sure thatgirls get educated is the number
one predictor of whether theywill get pregnant young or be in
the cycle of poverty, and byallowing girls to stay in school
(14:07):
because you've provided waterinfrastructure, you're now
allowing them the opportunity todelay getting pregnant, to not
be as dependent on a man and nothave to get married as young.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
That's unbelievable.
Like all of this for water.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
For water.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
It can affect lives, something that we take for
granted.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
For water.
It can affect lives, Somethingthat we take for granted because
it's so readily available to us.
So that's one we really love.
I also love ripmedicaldebtorg.
In the US it's a really bigproblem that most people can't
afford health care.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And it's one of the leading causes of bankruptcy or
financial devastation or ruin islack of access to basic health
care.
We don't have universal healthcare in the US and RIP medical
debt.
For every dollar you donate tothem, they'll wipe out $100 of
medical debt for somebody, and Ithink that that's a very
important cause to donate toward.
(15:01):
I do a lot of grassrootsdonations too.
Cause to donate to work I do alot of grassroots donations too,
so I like to give it just tothe person in general, because
then I know where the money'sgoing.
So one of my really goodfriends, jeezy.
He has the Street DreamsFoundation, so I have been
recently getting involved withthem.
We just did the world's largesttoy drive in the Dallas area
(15:22):
and we gave away 5,000 plus toys.
That's cool, yeah.
So you know, giving back iswhat it's about.
How much do we need?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, I mean at some point, how much food can you eat
in a day?
How much clothes can you wearin a week?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I mean, I can eat a lot of food in a day, but I have
enough right and I can give andhonestly for me now I'm even
more passionate about it,because I want to teach my
children this, because mychildren.
They're growing up in adifferent world than I grew up
in, because we have more moneythan my parents had and they I
see them becoming entitled, Isee them acting in privileged
(15:59):
ways and I have to remind them.
often I see them acting inprivileged ways and I have to
remind them often, like youdidn't earn any of this, you
don't deserve any of this.
This is a privilege.
You won the birth lottery.
That's all you did.
You didn't do anything to getto be here One day.
You will, but right now youhave it and you get to benefit
from this because mommy anddaddy work really hard and we
(16:21):
want certain lifestyleconveniences Right but you
didn't earn that and I don'twant my daughters to grow up
thinking that they're somehowbetter than someone because they
happen to be born into ourfamily.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, well, this is you know.
I commend you for this becausenot enough people give back to
others in more need than we areright.
So I congratulate you onsharing the wealth to others.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
So last and final question you invested single
family homes, went to amultifamily, raised millions and
millions of dollars, up to abillion dollars in transactions.
Yes, Now you're giving back tothe communities.
It seems like a full circle,full story.
You can't get better than that.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
So what's going to come next for Vina?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, you know this is something I've been
struggling with because you knowwe're getting to the end of the
year and everyone's asking mewhat are your goals for next
year?
And everyone's really surprisedwhen I say I know what, they're
not.
And they go, okay, what?
And I say, well, it's not toget to X billions of dollars,
it's not to make X amount ofmoney.
None of that is the goalanymore.
(17:35):
It definitely was early on but,it's not anymore because it's
not as exciting anymore.
The thing that excites me nowis seeing people who otherwise
wouldn't have been able to dothis finding an inroad to be on
this same path to success.
And I'll tell you a story abouta young man.
His name is Yannick and he'spart of my multi community and
(17:57):
he came into the community.
He is an immigrant, came tothis country all by himself, so
parents, brothers, sisters arenot with him, he's by himself
and he goes Veena.
What's the fastest that someonein our community has done a
deal?
I said you know, I'd say aboutlike six and a half, seven
months from the time you jointhe multi-community to doing
(18:19):
your first deal, getting yourfirst deal under contract,
because multifamily is a slowgame, it's a slow burn, and he
goes once I get my work permitI'm gonna do it faster.
And I said I hope you do.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Now he's 22 years old , so I'm like, yes, but I want
you to have that tenacity rightlike what's the worst, that
happens.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It takes him six months or eight months or
whatever, but he's going to doit, and that's the point.
So I'm like, yes, I love this.
He came back to me.
He got his work permit.
Two and a half months later hecame back to me and said I have
an 86 unit building undercontract in Lubbock, Texas.
I am raising capital for it.
He's raised $1.1 million for 22year old 22.
(19:10):
He's now 23.
So, 23 years old, you have cometo this country with nothing,
without anybody, without asafety net, and you're buying 86
doors Like this is what theAmerican dream is.
This is the land of opportunity.
It's the same reason my parentsleft India and came to the US
is for us to be able to havethat chance to do something
(19:35):
great.
And so I think what my goalsdefinitely center around is
helping the Yonix of the world.
Um, my mindset coach, rosieNoel.
She is now going out and she isdoing more.
She she just started her owncompany.
She was working at like thisbig 10,000 person company and
(19:56):
she was doing coaching.
She coaches CEOs like elitelevel and she now coaches in my
community and I want to help hergrow her business because I
think it's so important whatshe's doing and her work is.
It's changed my life Like she'sadded the most amount of money
to my balance sheet is becauseof Rosie, because she has poured
into me.
(20:16):
She helps me, she coaches me,she keeps my mindset right.
I was just talking to herearlier today and so I coach
with her all the time.
Anytime I have something that'slike not going well or going
really well, or I'm unsure, orwhatever, I always go back to
her.
She's my home base and so youknow, helping her grow her
business.
(20:36):
That's definitely on my listfor 2025.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And speaking on more stages, I think, well, you know
that's.
It's great.
I think you have great goalsand stages are a great place and
I think they're meant to beinfluential to other people.
You can change people's liveseven if you don't talk to them
directly, because if yourmessage is powerful, you can
inspire people.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Absolutely, and I've learned that, and that's part of
what I love about speaking iswell, I'm a people person.
So I get to meet more people,because after I get off stage,
people will come and find me andtalk to me and I'm like, yes,
tell me everything about yourlife, start with the day you
were born and don't leaveanything out.
And so find me and talk to meand I'm like, yes, tell me
everything about your life,start with the day you were born
and don't leave anything out,right, um, and so that's one
(21:20):
thing I love, but I also thenumber one comment I get is.
I love seeing women up herethere's not enough women on this
stage and I'm like, yes, you'reright, join me on this stage
next year.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Won't you.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Like I want other women to feel inspired.
I want minorities, people fromdifferent socioeconomic or
educational backgrounds, to feelinspired that they too can do
this Because, like I am notsmarter than the average person,
I'm just like a regular person.
I'm just more stubborn than theaverage person.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So I'm never going to quit, I'm going to keep going.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Exactly, grit is the number one determinant of
success.
Veena, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Exactly, grit is the number one determinant of
success.
Future again together, becauseI like to surround myself with
people that succeed and youclearly succeeded, so hopefully
we'll talk together again soon?
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yes, I hope so, and I have to say as, like a closing
remark, last year, in 2023, Ispoke on 110 different stages,
so I've seen all of theconferences and I've seen all of
the booths and all of thesetups.
I have to say that this is byfar my favorite setup.
It is so well done.
Like this is such an amazingpodcast opportunity that you
(22:45):
have.
Like what a great way to get somany people to stop and to
answer these questions.
And so kudos to you becauseit's clear you do everything
with excellence, thank you, so Ireally appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Thank you for having excellence, thank you.
So I really appreciate that andthank you for having me.
Thank you, and again, I can'tthank you enough for taking the
time for being with us.
Thank you, thanks for tuninginto the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
never miss an episode.
(23:12):
Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
I thought it was for Jeff Bezos and.
Oprah and like Kim Kardashianright.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the 5 Questions Podcast, where we
unlock real estate and businessinsights one question at a time.
We are at the Xpand conferenceand I have the pleasure of
interviewing Veena Jetty.
(00:29):
Veena, thank you so much fortaking the time to answer some
questions, and I'm just going tofix my mic a little bit, okay.
But thank you so much becauseyou're so busy.
I saw you on stage.
You just came off stage and ranright to our booth.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Straight to you.
I told you I was going to comeback here.
I am, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
So real estate, I think, is your thing.
You bought a couple properties,managed to go and get over a
billion dollars of transactions.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So that's not just a couple of properties.
But you didn't start there, no,can you tell our viewers how
did you start in real estate?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, so I started investing in single family and
it was because I didn't knowthat someone like Veena Jetty
could own multifamily.
I thought it was for Jeff Bezosand Oprah, and like Kim
Kardashian right.
Like I thought it was forbillionaires and people that had
millions and millions andmillions of dollars, and I
didn't.
When I first started, I startedfrom zero and I started buying
(01:38):
single family homes.
There was a week where I putfive properties under contract
and, yeah, that's what I thoughtit was like.
Oh my gosh, this is amazing,I'm going to do great.
But then I immediately had twothoughts after that.
The first thought was I reallyhate this because I had to go
like 50 minutes here, two hours,this direction, an hour, this
(02:00):
direction, to collect rent andanswer for leaky toilets and all
these things I hated.
So that was my first thought.
And then my second thought wasI can never get to scale like
this.
If I want to ever have theaudacity of owning 5,000 or
10,000 or a hundred thousanddoors, there's no practical way
(02:20):
for me to do this one singlefamily home at a time.
So I needed something to scaleme up.
That's where the power ofmultifamily really unlocked so
many doors and basically a wholeworld I didn't know existed.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So that leads to my second question.
So you started very humbly,very simple single family homes.
Now you upscale your portfolioand now you're playing in the
multifamily game.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So how does someone move up or goes to multifamily?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, you know, and everyone asked me this question
and they think I'm going to givethem, like here's a silver
bullet, go do it and I'll tellyou.
I accidentally stumbled intomultifamily.
I did not know that I was goingto end up being a multifamily
investor.
I certainly did not know thescale at that I was going to end
up being a multifamily investor.
I certainly did not know thescale at which I was going to do
it when I was in my singlefamily woe right.
(03:13):
And it's like, oh, I have to goand collect rent from 100
different people and I reallyhate this.
I knew there was something else, but I didn't know what it was.
And I love residential realestate because I love the idea
of investing into an asset thatsomeone is going to live in and
that's their home, and that'swhere memories are made.
And home is very important andspecial for me, and so I love
(03:34):
that idea.
And it's also recessionresistant.
You always are going to need aplace to live.
It's a tangible asset, exactly,exactly.
And so I had a friend.
He's exactly exactly.
And so I had a friend he'sstill a good friend of mine.
I actually was just texting himthe other day and just I was
reflecting on my journey and Isaid, joe, I don't know if I've
ever specifically said this toyou, but you changed my whole
(03:58):
trajectory of where I am andwhere I'm going because he you
know he reached out to me and hesaid, hey, do you want to buy
this multifamily together?
And I was like what can gowrong?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Literally everything can go wrong.
That's the answer.
Uh, but I didn't know.
You know, I was young and dumband I didn't know what I didn't
know.
I was still in my likeunconscious, incompetent phase
of learning.
And so I said, yeah, okay,let's do it.
And he's like great, it's 200doors, it's $15.9 million.
In Dallas, which I lived inDallas, and he said we need you
(04:36):
to do like ABC, like all thisstuff and acquisitions and
post-close management.
One of the things I had to dowas raise $1.2 million.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Chump change for some , some not that much.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Who is a chump change for when you're doing your
first deal and you're in yourmid-20s?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
For now Vina Jelly.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well now, but it took me a decade to get here right
when I started, though, I waslike okay, yeah, no problem, and
I had like the cockiness of,you know, a 20 something year
old new entrepreneur where I waslike, whatever I can do that
it's easy.
It was not easy.
I literally cried myself tosleep every single night for six
(05:15):
weeks straight.
I thought I ruined my family'sfinancial future.
I thought no one was ever goingto want to work with me again.
I thought that I was nevergoing to be able work with me
again.
I thought that I was nevergoing to be able to do another
deal.
I thought that I had just lostlike hundreds of thousands of
dollars of our own money thatwe'd put in earnest money
because, we weren't going to beable to close the deal and you
(05:35):
know it's because I went abouttrying to raise that capital the
wrong way.
So I was meeting no after noafter no after no, and it's
exhausting and it wears on youno, after no, after no, after no
, and it's exhausting and itwears on you and when you're
raising capital you're almost onan island because I couldn't go
to my friends and family thatI'm asking to invest in this
deal.
Be like no one wants to investwith me, because then they're
(05:56):
gonna be like oh well.
I don't want to either, thenright, and so it became really
challenging, and it's verylonely to go through it.
The first time and back then,communities didn't exist, so
there weren't these spaces whereyou could readily access
information or other people whocould even just sit in the mud
with you and say, like it's OK,this is normal.
(06:17):
I've been there too.
Like that wasn't really a thinga decade ago.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So now you're raising capital for that multifamily
deal.
And it brings us to my thirdquestion.
I want to ask you Raisingcapital.
You need to do it if you wantto scale.
Everybody, everybody runs outof money at some point in time.
How does someone start?
Some people might think, oh,it's too big for me.
How can I raise money?
(06:44):
I'm not a banker, I don't knownothing about it.
How does someone put themselvesin a mentality of raising money
and how can they do it?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
this is the single most important skill set that
anybody yeah, anybody realestate or not can learn, because
this is transferable across allindustries and every company,
(07:15):
real estate or not, will need toknow how to raise capital in
order to get to scale and inorder to grow, whether that's
from the bank, retail investors,institutional investors,
whether you're raising debtequity, it doesn't matter.
You need to know the skill setof raising capital.
So the first and I'll tell you,the first deal that I was
raising on I did not know manythings, many things, and I
(07:39):
remember I had an investor.
I was talking to him and he waslike really excited about the
deal, and then he asked me thequestion are you raising debt or
equity?
And I was like I don't know.
But you can't say I don't know,right, because this is like a
basic question you should knowthe answer to.
So I think about it.
(07:59):
Right, this is my innerdialogue.
I'm like, okay, vino, you havea 50-50 shot of getting this
correct, regardless of which youanswer.
So I was like all right debt.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Was it the right answer?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
No, it was not the right answer.
And the investor was like, huh,you're raising debt.
And I'm like shit, I answeredthe wrong answer.
So I was like, oh yeah, youknow, we're just, we're
structured the way we are, butyou know what?
Let me confirm, my partnerhandles this.
Let me confirm and get back toyou and I did confirm that I was
(08:36):
in fact wrong.
We were raising equity.
I did go back to him and tellhim, with a lot of egg on my
face, that this was an equityinvestment.
He did not invest with me,needless to say, but this is
like a decade ago.
But here's the thing it's onlyhard the first time you do it
right it's only scary.
The first time you hear thequestion you don't know the
answer to.
Now, if you ask me, are youraising debt or equity?
(08:58):
I can tell you that it's equity.
I can tell you why.
I can tell you why we don't dodebt, why we structure the way
we structure.
I know everything there is toknow about this on my projects.
So it taught me something andit helped me get better from
that rejection or that failure.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
And this is the thing that people should understand
and know is that it's okay toget rejection, because that's
what builds your in French,carapace.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I don't know how to say it I'm looking for my.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
English word today.
It builds your character.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, your character, because you are going to get
no's.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
It's not going to be all yeses.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yes, I get way more no's than I do a yes.
But here's something peopledon't know when you're raising
capital, a fast no is way betterthan a slow yes.
I would ask for a fast no 100out of 100 times versus someone
that's a slow yes.
And what I mean by that is if Icome to you and I say, hey, I
(09:53):
have a really great deal, mario,I think you're really going to
love it.
Here's why you should invest init and you go no thanks, and it
can be for any reason it can be, I don't like multifamily.
I don't like multifamily, Idon't have the money.
I don't like you, vina, like Idon't really care what it is.
You tell me no definitively andI go.
Okay, he just said not rightnow.
Right, like I convert it in mymind to a not right now and I
(10:17):
try to understand why.
I'll say why not?
And Dallas, texas, okay, great,now when I have a deal in
Atlanta, I'm going to come toyou and say, hey, I have a deal
in Atlanta.
I know you didn't like Dallas,but now do you like Atlanta?
Right, so I get to know youbetter when you say no to me.
And then, more importantly, ifyou tell me no right away, I
(10:38):
don't have to spend any moretime trying to get you across
the finish line of investing inmy deal.
I can go and spend time withSusie Smith, who is going to
actually be proactive and she'sexcited and she wants to do this
deal with me when I have toconvince you or I have to take a
lot of time holding your handand I don't mean basic due
diligence, I mean like hours andhours and hours and hours, or
(10:59):
days and days and days, whichdoes happen sometimes that slow
yes means that there's a veryhigh likelihood that you're
saying yes because you don'thave a way to say no and you're
not really in it, and that meansthat when it comes time to
write the check and give me themoney, you're going to be
nowhere to be found absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
And then you know you can.
You can get to almost thefinish line and they pull out
and it's like 100.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Then now you're stressed yeah, and you've spent
all this time, you've investedall this energy and effort where
I could have invested that insomeone who was excited about
the project.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So fourth question for you yeah, you.
Well, let's recap.
You started in single familyhome, upgraded to multi-family.
You raised now you, now youtransaction transacted over a
billion dollars in transactions.
You like to give back to thecommunity.
You're a philanthropist, youlike to support charity work.
(11:53):
Can you tell me more about itand why you do that?
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah.
So Warren Buffett said ifyou're lucky enough to be in the
top 1%, it's yourresponsibility to look out for
the 99%.
And you know I tell people thiswhen they talk about what I've
done in my success, especiallyin the context of being a woman
of color right In thesetraditionally male dominated
spaces.
(12:18):
Yes, I've had adversity toovercome, but I've also had a
lot of privilege too, right.
I grew up in a two-parenthousehold.
I grew up abled.
I didn't have anyneurodivergence.
I grew up in a household whereeducation was valued and was
encouraged and my parentsinvested in my sister and my
education and development.
(12:39):
I didn't have any violence inthe home.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
We weren't rich, but we weren't poor.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I didn't have any violence in the home.
We weren't rich, but we weren'tpoor.
I didn't have food insecuritygrowing up, so all of those
things gave me a springboard todo what I do, and my parents
have always instilled the valueof investing into the community
around you.
So some of the organizationsthat we support, we love
(13:04):
waterorg.
Waterorg is really greatbecause they invest in the
infrastructure of differentAfrican countries and Asian
countries where the villagedoesn't have running water or
water infrastructure.
And the reason I do thatspecifically is because I
fundamentally believe that thevalue of a society is based on
(13:25):
how they treat women and girls,and what I found when I was
researching this is that whenthere is a village that doesn't
have access to clean water, theywill pull young girls out of
school at very young ages andthey will send them two hours to
(13:45):
go walk and fetch water for thefamily and then bring that back
.
So girls don't get educated andby every metric that a society
cares about, making sure thatgirls get educated is the number
one predictor of whether theywill get pregnant young or be in
the cycle of poverty, and byallowing girls to stay in school
(14:07):
because you've provided waterinfrastructure, you're now
allowing them the opportunity todelay getting pregnant, to not
be as dependent on a man and nothave to get married as young.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
That's unbelievable.
Like all of this for water.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
For water.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
It can affect lives, something that we take for
granted.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
For water.
It can affect lives, Somethingthat we take for granted because
it's so readily available to us.
So that's one we really love.
I also love ripmedicaldebtorg.
In the US it's a really bigproblem that most people can't
afford health care.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Right.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
And it's one of the leading causes of bankruptcy or
financial devastation or ruin islack of access to basic health
care.
We don't have universal healthcare in the US and RIP medical
debt.
For every dollar you donate tothem, they'll wipe out $100 of
medical debt for somebody, and Ithink that that's a very
important cause to donate toward.
(15:01):
I do a lot of grassrootsdonations too.
Cause to donate to work I do alot of grassroots donations too,
so I like to give it just tothe person in general, because
then I know where the money'sgoing.
So one of my really goodfriends, jeezy.
He has the Street DreamsFoundation, so I have been
recently getting involved withthem.
We just did the world's largesttoy drive in the Dallas area
(15:22):
and we gave away 5,000 plus toys.
That's cool, yeah.
So you know, giving back iswhat it's about.
How much do we need?
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Yeah, I mean at some point, how much food can you eat
in a day?
How much clothes can you wearin a week?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
I mean, I can eat a lot of food in a day, but I have
enough right and I can give andhonestly for me now I'm even
more passionate about it,because I want to teach my
children this, because mychildren.
They're growing up in adifferent world than I grew up
in, because we have more moneythan my parents had and they I
see them becoming entitled, Isee them acting in privileged
(15:59):
ways and I have to remind them.
often I see them acting inprivileged ways and I have to
remind them often, like youdidn't earn any of this, you
don't deserve any of this.
This is a privilege.
You won the birth lottery.
That's all you did.
You didn't do anything to getto be here One day.
You will, but right now youhave it and you get to benefit
from this because mommy anddaddy work really hard and we
(16:21):
want certain lifestyleconveniences Right but you
didn't earn that and I don'twant my daughters to grow up
thinking that they're somehowbetter than someone because they
happen to be born into ourfamily.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Yeah, well, this is you know.
I commend you for this becausenot enough people give back to
others in more need than we areright.
So I congratulate you onsharing the wealth to others.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
So last and final question you invested single
family homes, went to amultifamily, raised millions and
millions of dollars, up to abillion dollars in transactions.
Yes, Now you're giving back tothe communities.
It seems like a full circle,full story.
You can't get better than that.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
So what's going to come next for Vina?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, you know this is something I've been
struggling with because you knowwe're getting to the end of the
year and everyone's asking mewhat are your goals for next
year?
And everyone's really surprisedwhen I say I know what, they're
not.
And they go, okay, what?
And I say, well, it's not toget to X billions of dollars,
it's not to make X amount ofmoney.
None of that is the goalanymore.
(17:35):
It definitely was early on but,it's not anymore because it's
not as exciting anymore.
The thing that excites me nowis seeing people who otherwise
wouldn't have been able to dothis finding an inroad to be on
this same path to success.
And I'll tell you a story abouta young man.
His name is Yannick and he'spart of my multi community and
(17:57):
he came into the community.
He is an immigrant, came tothis country all by himself, so
parents, brothers, sisters arenot with him, he's by himself
and he goes Veena.
What's the fastest that someonein our community has done a
deal?
I said you know, I'd say aboutlike six and a half, seven
months from the time you jointhe multi-community to doing
(18:19):
your first deal, getting yourfirst deal under contract,
because multifamily is a slowgame, it's a slow burn, and he
goes once I get my work permitI'm gonna do it faster.
And I said I hope you do.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Now he's 22 years old , so I'm like, yes, but I want
you to have that tenacity rightlike what's the worst, that
happens.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It takes him six months or eight months or
whatever, but he's going to doit, and that's the point.
So I'm like, yes, I love this.
He came back to me.
He got his work permit.
Two and a half months later hecame back to me and said I have
an 86 unit building undercontract in Lubbock, Texas.
I am raising capital for it.
He's raised $1.1 million for 22year old 22.
(19:10):
He's now 23.
So, 23 years old, you have cometo this country with nothing,
without anybody, without asafety net, and you're buying 86
doors Like this is what theAmerican dream is.
This is the land of opportunity.
It's the same reason my parentsleft India and came to the US
is for us to be able to havethat chance to do something
(19:35):
great.
And so I think what my goalsdefinitely center around is
helping the Yonix of the world.
Um, my mindset coach, rosieNoel.
She is now going out and she isdoing more.
She she just started her owncompany.
She was working at like thisbig 10,000 person company and
(19:56):
she was doing coaching.
She coaches CEOs like elitelevel and she now coaches in my
community and I want to help hergrow her business because I
think it's so important whatshe's doing and her work is.
It's changed my life Like she'sadded the most amount of money
to my balance sheet is becauseof Rosie, because she has poured
into me.
(20:16):
She helps me, she coaches me,she keeps my mindset right.
I was just talking to herearlier today and so I coach
with her all the time.
Anytime I have something that'slike not going well or going
really well, or I'm unsure, orwhatever, I always go back to
her.
She's my home base and so youknow, helping her grow her
business.
(20:36):
That's definitely on my listfor 2025.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
And speaking on more stages, I think, well, you know
that's.
It's great.
I think you have great goalsand stages are a great place and
I think they're meant to beinfluential to other people.
You can change people's liveseven if you don't talk to them
directly, because if yourmessage is powerful, you can
inspire people.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Absolutely, and I've learned that, and that's part of
what I love about speaking iswell, I'm a people person.
So I get to meet more people,because after I get off stage,
people will come and find me andtalk to me and I'm like, yes,
tell me everything about yourlife, start with the day you
were born and don't leaveanything out.
And so find me and talk to meand I'm like, yes, tell me
everything about your life,start with the day you were born
and don't leave anything out,right, um, and so that's one
(21:20):
thing I love, but I also thenumber one comment I get is.
I love seeing women up herethere's not enough women on this
stage and I'm like, yes, you'reright, join me on this stage
next year.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Won't you.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Like I want other women to feel inspired.
I want minorities, people fromdifferent socioeconomic or
educational backgrounds, to feelinspired that they too can do
this Because, like I am notsmarter than the average person,
I'm just like a regular person.
I'm just more stubborn than theaverage person.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So I'm never going to quit, I'm going to keep going.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Exactly, grit is the number one determinant of
success.
Veena, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Exactly, grit is the number one determinant of
success.
Future again together, becauseI like to surround myself with
people that succeed and youclearly succeeded, so hopefully
we'll talk together again soon?
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Yes, I hope so, and I have to say as, like a closing
remark, last year, in 2023, Ispoke on 110 different stages,
so I've seen all of theconferences and I've seen all of
the booths and all of thesetups.
I have to say that this is byfar my favorite setup.
It is so well done.
Like this is such an amazingpodcast opportunity that you
(22:45):
have.
Like what a great way to get somany people to stop and to
answer these questions.
And so kudos to you becauseit's clear you do everything
with excellence, thank you, so Ireally appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Thank you for having excellence, thank you.
So I really appreciate that andthank you for having me.
Thank you, and again, I can'tthank you enough for taking the
time for being with us.
Thank you, thanks for tuninginto the 5 Questions Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's episode,don't forget to subscribe, like
and hit the notification bellon our YouTube channel so you
never miss an episode.
(23:12):
Stay tuned for more insightsand tips to transform your real
estate and business game.
See you next time.
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