A Journey Through Health Challenges And Real Estate

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Amy has always been drawn to growth and expansion and knew that she could support and serve even more people through investing in multifamily real estate Her skillset heart-set and mindset were a perfect fit for real estate and she is now providing clean safe affordable housing to working-class families 00 00 – 05 58 Opening Segement Amy Sylvis founder and principal of Sylvis capital a real estate firm that invests in large multi-family properties and emerging markets Amy discusses her journey starting out in Clarksville Tennessee and acquiring properties in Augusta Georgia Decatur Alabama and Evansville Indiana Amy says that one key to success has been partnering with other professionals in the real estate industry and managing properties effectively 05 58 – 11 40 Evansville is a great market due to its growing economy and strong infrastructure investments by the state government The construction of a new bridge between Indiana and Kentucky will make rail lines more accessible Amy created a massive spreadsheet and let her VA populate it looking for trends that would Help them focus on their growing market Amy has an MBA and a Background in Biotech where data analysis was a part of her work She said that understanding numbers and how they change over time are good to stay ahead 11 40 – 17 05 A Miracle Medication Came to The Market that has greatly improved Amy s health Amy discusses how having a setback in life can be difficult but that it is important to have hope and faith Amy shares that after going through a debilitating disease her personal health journey has been a gift in that it has given her a new perspective on anything is possible She emphasizes the importance of mitigating risk when it comes to real estate investments citing the potential for a recession and interest rates rising as potential risks She also recommends market research as a way to hedge against potential risks 17 05 – 18 09 Closing Segment Reach out to Amy Sylvis Links Below Final Words Tweetable Quotes The true gift of this perspective I knew from a very young age how precious life was and that tomorrow wasn t guaranteed So it was up to me to really take advantage and live life to the fullest and really led me to this career because I wasn t sure how long or if at all I could trade my time for money – Amy Sylvis —————————————————————————– Connect with Amy Sylvis by emailing her at reachout silviscapital com or visiting sylviscapital com Connect with me Facebook LinkedIn Like subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts or whatever platform you listen on Thank you for tuning in Email me sam brickeninvestmentgroup com Want to read the full show notes of the episode Check it out below 00 00 00 Amy Sylvis truly understanding where numbers are and how they change over time and being able to just track them and synthesize Hey is this getting better or worse Is this a trend Is this a blip on the radar I humbly present to you that it s a bit simpler than maybe it sounds I think the hardest part is just compiling the data 00 00 17 00 00 29 Sam Wilson Amy Silvis is the founder and principal of Sylvis capital a real estate firm that invests in large multi-family properties and emerging markets throughout the United States Amy welcome to the show 00 00 40 Amy Sylvis Thank you so much for having me Sam What 00 00 41 Sam Wilson a pleasure s mind There are three questions I ask every guest who comes in the show in 90 seconds or less 00 00 45 Sam Wilson Where did you start Where are you now How did you get 00 00 48 Amy Sylvis Sure So started with my first property in Clarksville Tennessee Yes And what how did I get there It was a 10-year-long journey of trial and error and some personal medical issues and all sorts of interesting bumps in the road but it is a story of the persistence never giving up and making sure I followed my calling 00 01 08 Sam Wilson That is incredible Now you re based in Los Angeles right Yes So I mean Clarksville Tennessee while for those of you that don t know it s kind of a submarket almost of Nashville correct Clark Clarksville is north and west of Nashville IFM not mistaken Yep how in the world did you end up buying a property in Clarksville 00 01 26 Sam Wilson This is now a decade 00 01 27 Amy Sylvis No A couple of years ago Okay A couple of years ago Yeah Okay Yes Yeah It took me 10 years to get into this space I ve been in this space for a couple of years now Yes so thankfully I m not crazy enough to buy in California learned that lesson I live here because of my family but right control and 00 01 42 Amy Sylvis Eviction moratoriums that are still in place two and a half years post COVID I am not interested in buying in the state that I call home Right Instead I m a big market research guru Endlessly studying markets saw that there was mass migration into the greater Nashville MSA I knew that although there was a ton of institutional competition in the main city going an hour Northwest as you said of this incredible city with great economic growth job announcements and people moving it was such a great space to be in my journey 00 02 14 Sam Wilson Right And if you did that two years ago I mean gosh that s Tennessees had just nothing but influx Of residents even or ever since then so that s absolutely fantastic What do you feel like So so so you bought a property in Clarksville Where else have you acquired since 00 02 29 Amy Sylvis then 00 02 30 Amy Sylvis Yes So we also own in Augusta Georgia As a GP owned in Evansville Indiana right across the border from Kentucky Yes And Decatur Alabama just outside of Huntsville 00 02 45 Sam Wilson Yeah Well Huntsville s another one of those markets I mean not actually too far from it s just straight down 65 From ex Clarksville is 24 but then 24 to 65 and still is not a far jump from Clarksville then down to Decatur Alabama 00 02 59 Sam Wilson So that s really interesting How were you able I guess you in a couple of years time to acquire so many assets 00 03 05 Amy Sylvis Partnership I am a self-admitted only child s type a personality that loves to be self-reliant And if something needs to be done gosh darned I m gonna go out and get it right 00 03 15 Amy Sylvis Or do it But I had great mentorship and realize that I can go further faster By partnering with other folks in this space So amazing partnerships with people that live in the Southeast and great property management is the recipe to get that going 00 03 30 Sam Wilson Wow Yeah Good property management 00 03 32 Sam Wilson that s harder in some of these more other than say Huntsville I mean I think it would be harder in places like Clarksville and places like that to find good PMs How have you done that 00 03 42 Amy Sylvis Yeah we have one property management company that we work with that has scaled with us So they re outstanding 00 03 48 Amy Sylvis Yeah They have done us Good And we have a mutually beneficial relationship there 00 03 52 Sam Wilson Wow So one that has scaled across all of those assets and all of those various Places you said that you love research right Yes So I m really curious about what research took you to Evansville Indiana it s right on the Ohio River 00 04 07 Sam Wilson It s at the bottom of the state but I don t know that I ve spoken with anyone out of 500 and I don t know where we are when this goes live We ll be pushing 600 episodes It s investing in Evansville Indiana So 00 04 17 Amy Sylvis let s talk about it Yeah Yeah So think Chatanooga 10 years ago Okay 00 04 22 Amy Sylvis Lots of parallels I know that s a hot take That s a bold thing to say Fair but Evansville is the third largest city in the great state of Indiana Yep Indiana sometimes is deemed not as sexy As maybe some of the Southeast markets but my goodness is it pro-business The state government is investing heavily in infrastructure particularly in Evansville always a dynamic really dynamite sign that a market is emerging 00 04 47 Amy Sylvis Toyota s bringing a bunch of jobs to the MSA good manufacturing jobs We re seeing healthcare jobs and hospital expansion there All of those really great key metrics as well as decreasing property taxes which you very rarely hear these days may not stay But yeah quite stunning They ve got a state law that property tax can t be more than 2 of the value of the property 00 05 11 Amy Sylvis So it s a great environment 00 05 13 Sam Wilson Wow now that s that s Yeah I are a Hoosier I wore a Hoosier I am a Hoosier Okay I lived there for 30 years so I know this state fairly well But yeah I mean that so which is I just surprised yeah Evansville that s really intriguing 00 05 26 Sam Wilson That s just not something yes I would ve really thought about you mentioned the word that the state is or you mentioned the phrase the state is heavily investing in infrastructure What does 00 05 35 Amy Sylvis that Sure So specifically in the Evansville area you may be familiar but there s for the most part kind of a disjointed disconnected two lane highway going from most of the way from Evansville up to indie right 00 05 49 Amy Sylvis That s changing they re building an actual freeway building up the li the infrastructure there for logistics which is another industry that s growing in the great city of Evans They re redoing the bridge to make it wider and will robust across the river over to Kentucky making rail lines investing in there and partnering doing a public private partnership there as well to help with logistics 00 06 11 Amy Sylvis So yeah when the state s willing to invest in doing some of that infrastructure it s always a good sign 00 06 16 Sam Wilson Yeah absolutely No that s really intriguing There s a lot of there s a lot of parallels and things that you mentioned between Evansville And Memphis except for the fact that the state is investing heavily in infrastructure 00 06 28 Sam Wilson I mean I m thinking about things like rail lines you re on the water mean Ohio river for our listeners that aren t familiar with The Midwest is enormous It s one of the largest feeders into the Mississippi So the in in the amount of goods that are transported up and down from grains to goods I mean up and down the Ohio is is pretty incredible actually to see 00 06 47 Sam Wilson and again for those of you who aren t listening that just the fact that they re building a larger bridge between Indiana and Kentucky is a really it s a really big step cuz that will actually connect Now that I think about it that would then connect really all the way down to Memphis which is if we get a major highway running through there that ll be really awesome 00 07 03 Sam Wilson So yes very cool I love that How what resources did you use to research this and say I mean cause it s one thing to find a newspaper article like oh whoop you do They re building a new bridge across the Ohio We really don t care No one pays attention but to aggregate all this data takes time 00 07 18 Sam Wilson How did you do 00 07 19 Amy Sylvis that It does yeah it it is quite frankly taken quite a bit of time I ve got a massive spreadsheet I use some VAs to populate it but you know really looking at trends from the milk and report that comes out every year to simple things like job growth announced by the bureau of labor statistics 00 07 36 Amy Sylvis A amazing resource that is paid but for me it s worth it called housing alerts com I don t know if you ve heard of them They re mostly single family focused but as we know Single family proceeds Multi-family it s a leading indicator by about 12 to 18 months So a lot of great statistics and forecasting by demographers and economists have that site and pump out that data 00 08 00 Amy Sylvis So I really look for overall trends not just a blip in the radar but you know consistent kind of green In all of those metrics 00 08 08 Sam Wilson is this something you ve been kind of traditionally trained in is in synthesizing this data and then coming up with a conclusion Cause I think you can throw a lot of data at a lot of us myself included in this 00 08 19 Sam Wilson And I just kinda I look at it for an hour and I go What does this tell me I don t even know how to make sense of this How do you compile all this into something that s meaningful 00 08 28 Amy Sylvis Yeah So I think I to to answer your question not overly trained I do have an MBA I do have a background in biotech where data analysis and all of that has been 00 08 39 Amy Sylvis Part of how I ve been trained but nothing specific but truly understanding where numbers are and how they change over time and being able to just track them and synthesize Hey is this getting better or worse Is this a trend Is this a blip in the radar I humbly present to you that it s a bit simpler than maybe it sounds I think the hardest part is just compiling the data 00 09 00 Sam Wilson Right Right And then paint painting the picture and saying okay Yes Are things moving What is the general direction that things are moving in that s really awesome I love that Talk to us about what it means to I guess have a setback in life Like what s a setback look like in life for you and then how have you overcome 00 09 19 Amy Sylvis Sure I love to talk about this just because everyone has setbacks in life right None of us gets through this life without a setback or a bump in the road Right So it s not whether you get knocked down but whether you get back up I was born with cystic fibrosis Some of you may have heard of this 00 09 37 Amy Sylvis It is a genetic disease that impacts about 30 000 people in the us And when I was born in 1981 my parents were told that I would live to maybe be 12 years spoiler alert in two weeks I turned 41 but growing up there really wasn t much medication or treatment And I was in and out of the hospital quite a bit with virent lung infections that were resistant to antibiotics 00 10 00 Amy Sylvis and it made it really To attend school regularly And as I became an adult hold down a job regularly because the nature of the illness is progressive deterioration of my lungs in addition to several other organs in my body So it Yeah there were some bumps in the room there Happy to dive in with whatever direction you wanna go down 00 10 22 Sam Wilson Wow I guess where does that bring you today Some mm-hmm something has either changed medically or medicinally or something where we get to have this conversation today Yes 00 10 33 Amy Sylvis well really scientifically Explanation until about three years ago as to why I was doing so well 00 10 39 Amy Sylvis And what brought me so far I say maybe my hopeful attitude and my faith is how I explain that But thankfully a miracle medication did come to the market for the vast majority not all of people with cystic fibrosis right before the pandemic in November of 2019 And Almost all of kind of my struggles 00 10 58 Amy Sylvis I m no longer in and outta the hospital All of this has virtually disappeared So I get to enjoy the great health and live like most people thankfully Wow 00 11 08 Sam Wilson Wow That s gotta be just I mean literally life changing Yes 00 11 13 Amy Sylvis Yeah it was there were again a bump in the road where COVID came and so I didn t get to fully kind of experience it until quite recently but 00 11 21 Amy Sylvis The true gift of it is this perspective I knew from a very young age how precious life was that tomorrow wasn t guaranteed So it was up to me to really take advantage and live life to the fullest and really led me to this career because I wasn t sure how long or if at all I could trade my time for money 00 11 40 Amy Sylvis And that was a big realization where I thought although I m sure my parents would ve taken care of me I wanted to be financially independent not be a burden on them So gosh darn I m gonna figure out a way to generate income regardless of my health So I can continue to pay my bills and live by myself and have a prosperous life 00 11 57 Amy Sylvis So that is really one of the gifts of going through that struggle that has led me to where I am 00 12 01 Sam Wilson today Wow Wow That s an incredible perspective And not one I think that many of us would imagine or be able to share if it s like Hey I ve had a debilitating disease the bulk of my life and yet it s been a gift in its own 00 12 14 Sam Wilson Right 00 12 15 Amy Sylvis Yeah that perspective is everything right Because there truly are I mean it s hard when you re going through it right I can relate to maybe people have had other struggles with family or health or an inordinate number of things But I think it is so important to look back 00 12 28 Amy Sylvis Once things do pass as they always do sometimes sooner sometimes later and see what the gifts are because they re they are there and they can be utilized as a superpower moving forward in 00 12 40 Sam Wilson Wow Wow That s really cool What did you do before you got into multifamily real estate 00 12 46 Amy Sylvis I was in biotech 00 12 47 Amy Sylvis Raise your hand if you re surprised but the notion that I could be involved in developing and distributing medications to people that all also suffered grievous illness was just really fulfilling And it was a space I was very comfortable in both personally but of course professionally 00 13 05 Amy Sylvis So I was there for 13 years doing 00 13 06 Sam Wilson Right right Wow that s absolutely cool I love that Let s talk a little bit Let s take let s thank you for taking the time to really share your sure Personal health journey and using that as a springboard to say Hey look anything s possible So thank you again for being so willing to talk about that 00 13 22 Sam Wilson Certainly appreciate it Of course Let s go back a little bit And rewind the tape to the data conversation a touch and just kind of caught maybe not so much look in the rear view mirror but maybe look a little bit out the windshield and say all right what do you see You guys you re in the multifamily space right 00 13 37 Sam Wilson And it s been crazy hot been lots of money flooding into it And we have this potential recession on the horizon We have inflation that s outta control People are calling for stagflation which wouldn t surprise me in the slightest Where are we going from here And how are you guys preparing for 00 13 52 Amy Sylvis it I love this question 00 13 54 Amy Sylvis Let me get out my crystal ball thank you 00 13 57 Sam Wilson You re the first person that s ever said You have one 00 13 59 Amy Sylvis it s my superpower No you it is all about mitigating risk right Because none of us has a crystal ball but to your point there are ways we can hedge ourselves We can protect our investment protect our investors contribution to our investments by a going back to market research There is no one United States real estate market Right We all remember 2008 when some markets I m in LA completely tanked 00 14 25 Amy Sylvis Right Other markets some in Texas were like recession what Housing Christ who right It really it was Almost a non-event it s a great reminder that there are markets in the United States that are so robust and job fr or economically friendly job friendly All of this It s not to say we assume that there won t be issues but you can really hedge yourself with a recession 00 14 49 Amy Sylvis And being in a market that has recession-resistant industries where we know historically jobs aren t being cut and mentioned Decatur Alabama The FBI is expanding thousands of jobs there The United States space force which is such a wild thing to say but that s a real thing is located from Denver to Huntsville 00 15 09 Amy Sylvis These are recession resistant jobs Not to say that there won t be layoffs or pay cuts but they really position ourselves to have still great renter demand But yeah interest rates are rising for how long I don t think any of us know but we do know the fed is really in between a rock and a hard place 00 15 25 Amy Sylvis Midterm elections are coming up The interest on the debt on the national debt is gonna become a little tricky if they raise too much And we re all familiar with the term a tape or tantrum right The stock market is not happy about this prospect So in our mind simply data-wise is looking historically 00 15 42 Amy Sylvis It s only a matter of time before the fed starts cutting again could be two years could be three But history shows us that s usually the time period from when they fed raises to when cuts start happening again So right We are Yeah go ahead That was a bit of a monologue 00 15 57 Sam Wilson I ll take a breath 00 15 58 Sam Wilson Oh I love it I love it That s a great way to that s a great way to frame it cuz you hear some people I ve been asking this question a lot recently And some will tell you how they re buying right They ll tell you changes in their underwriting strategy They ll tell you changes in what they re forecasting or how they re changing the debt they bring on 00 16 16 Sam Wilson And for you you said Hey we re not really you re not really focused on that as much as you are just saying we re buying in the right locations And I think that s a great answer So I appreciate that 00 16 25 Amy Sylvis Thank you Yeah our underwriting it has definitely changed as well just to be fully transparent and most of our deals could survive half renters not paying at all we re conservative in that respect and always making sure we protect capital but yeah the macro economic environment s really fascinating 00 16 40 Sam Wilson as 00 16 41 Sam Wilson Right right Yeah The macroeconomic is certainly fascinating but a again just to reiterate it s not like the microeconomic environment is what you are more focused on 00 16 50 Amy Sylvis Precisely precisely 00 16 51 Sam Wilson Yeah Is awesome Amy I thank you for coming on today I certainly appreciate it Are there any other closing thoughts you would have for our listeners or things you d like to share before we sign off 00 16 59 Amy Sylvis Sure thing I would just encourage folks as they re on their journey wherever they are in this journey to know That obstacles are simply a sign that you re getting closer to your goal And so keep going on keep persisting I m cheering you on And if you d like to get in touch with me would love for you to reach out silviscapital com 00 17 18 Amy Sylvis If you wanna chat about market research the economic environment or investing anything like that I love to talk to people It s one of the best parts of what I do So look forward to speaking with Awesome 00 17 28 Sam Wilson And for those of you who are listening that Silvi capital S Y L V I S capital com Thank you Amy for your time today 00 17 35 Sam Wilson I appreciate it 00 17 36 Amy Sylvis Appreciate you Thanks for having me Click here to visit this podcast episode