Manny arrived in the United States from Iran in 1985 at the age of 14. He spoke no English, had no friends, and knew almost nothing about America.
Homeless, living in a car with his family, Manny started his first “business” by dumpster diving and selling the goods he would find at swap meets on the weekends. From there, he worked many different jobs such as a K-Mart employee, selling nuts door to door, mechanic at a tire shop, and more before he found his start in real estate as a loan processor.
Fast forward 30+ years and he has now amassed a fortune, privately buying and selling over $1B in real estate, all starting by putting down $1,300 on his first rental property. Manny contributes a large amount of his success to transitioning to commercial real estate very early on, buying a shopping center just two years after purchasing his first rental property which led to him making his first million.
After decades of investing and refining his craft, Manny has developed his strategies into a straightforward Contrarian Formula™ that anyone can follow and implement, which is the foundation of everything taught inside Contrarian Academy.
The founding of Contrarian Academy was not driven by making money. It was (and still is) driven from passing on the torch and creating lasting impact through building a global community of commercial investors who acquire and add value to distressed properties, therefore adding value and creating growth to communities around the world.
Residential real estate investors work longer hours for smaller returns compared to commercial real estate investors.
This slows down their progress, limits their ability to create impact, and holds them back from achieving their full potential.
Contrarian Academy teaches investors how to successfully acquire a commercial property or grow their existing portfolio so they can scale faster, create larger impact, and unleash their full potential.
We are passionate about teaching and helping others. Passionate about real estate. Passionate about creating large impact and leaving our mark in history.
We set standards. We do not follow. We innovate. We think creatively. We accept nothing less than exceptional. We all operate like owners. We think BIG.
We operate with an extremely high level of integrity. We keep our word. We overdeliver. We think long-term. We put our customers first.
We all put the team and company ahead of ourselves. When someone needs help? We handle it. When challenges come up? We conquer them together.