Welcome to The Gold Collar Investor Podcast, with your host Pancham Gupta. This podcast is dedicated to helping the high-paid professionals to break out of the Wall Street investments and create multiple income streams. Here’s your host, Pancham Gupta.

Robert Helm

Hey everybody. It’s Robert Helm, host of the Real Estate Guys Radio Program. Congratulations for getting educated in listening to The Gold Collar Investor.

(interview)

Pancham Gupta

Welcome to The Gold Collar Investor Podcast. This is your host, Pancham. I really appreciate you for tuning in today. My guest is Amy Sylvis. She is the Founder and Principal of Sylvis Capital, a real estate firm that invests in large multifamily properties in emerging markets throughout the United States. Accredited and non-accredited investors appreciate investing with alongside them to take advantage of not only their extensive experience, but also their detailed research and exclusive relationships. Sylvis Capital offers multifamily investment opportunities without the day-to-day hassles of owning real estate while generating strong returns. Sylvis Capital currently has over 654 apartment units and $59 million worth of assets under management. Amy, welcome to the show.

Amy Sylvis

Thank you so much for having me. What an honor this is. I’m so excited.

Pancham Gupta

I am super excited. I know we have rescheduled it multiple times. But I’m super excited about the show, that we finally got together and starting to record this. Before we get started, are you ready to fire up my listeners breakout of Wall Street investments?

Amy Sylvis

Let’s go. Absolutely.

Pancham Gupta

Let’s do this. Amy, before we get started, why don’t you talk about your background, how you got to where you are today and, more importantly, the person behind that background?

Amy Sylvis

We’ll do. Yes, my name is Amy Sylvis. I live in Los Angeles, California with my amazing husband, Joel. Yes, we own and operate almost 600 units of multifamily throughout the United States, specifically in the southeast. We both come from very humbled rat backgrounds. We’re both Los Angeles natives. In fact, my father, still at 69 years old, does manual labor. So, I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth whatsoever. I actually come from a biotech background. I decided after undergraduate and then my graduate degree to work with people that were having health issues in the biotech space. But ultimately, I wanted to figure out a way to not have to trade my time for money. There’s a backstory to that. We can get into it if you want. But yes, I love the freedom that I get from being a real estate investor, and probably something that resonates with you as well as your listeners.

Pancham Gupta

That’s awesome. Yeah, I would definitely want to get into that. As of right now, are you not doing anything related to biotech? Are you still doing that?

Amy Sylvis

I do some nonprofit work and some charity work in the biotech space. I actually have cystic fibrosis. Some people may have heard that before or know what that is. It’s a pretty serious genetic disease that impacts the lungs. I’ll give you a spoiler alert. I was put on a miracle medication about three years ago. So, my health is incredible now. Thank God. But as you can imagine, growing up with health struggles, I resonate and care deeply about people that also have grievous illness. While I’m no longer formally employed by the biotech space, I do a lot of charitable work. In fact, I’m getting ready to do some antimicrobial resistance advocacy in Congress. So, it’s still very much near and dear to my heart.

Pancham Gupta

Wow. That’s some story. I would try to peel some money in there and get into that. You went to school, you got your degree in biotech, masters, too. After that, you did work in the space. Something happened, whatever that is, that you wanted more freedom. Everyone defines that in different ways. What was that? Given that this is so near and dear to your heart, that you had this condition, and you actually went to school to help people out, and you’re still doing that work but you still wanted to get out of that space, and do this buying 600 units in the southeast, tell us the backstory there.

Amy Sylvis

Absolutely. I’m an open book. So, if anything sounds interesting to you, feel free to dig in. I know most people are like, oh my gosh, can I ask? Can I learn more? So, please know no question is out of bounds. When I was born with CF in 1981 — I’m 41 years old — I was only supposed to live to be about 16 years old. Going to college, having a career was something my family and I weren’t even sure would be a part of my story. I did live longer, obviously. Thank God. But the prognosis of the illness prior to this medication was spending weeks at a time, adding up to months every year in the hospital for extended stays, treating very virulent lung infections. My ability to trade my time for money, support myself with a job was extremely difficult. I dedicated myself to it. I wanted to be a productive member of society. But in the back of my head, it was always my lungs are going to fail at some point. I’m going to need a lung transplant. That gradual deterioration over time would mean being employed would likely not be something I’d always be able to rely upon.

So, to your point, I went to college, I worked for a few years, and I went and got my MBA, all on this thought process of how do I make more money, save more money for this inevitable health outcome that I saw as this freight train coming at me. Having passive income or something like that, I didn’t really know what that was until I was about 30. But I was just desperate to find a way to be self-reliant. I love my parents. I don’t ever want to be a burden. They would never say that about me. But having to turn to them for income support as an adult, they’d already sacrificed so much raising a disabled child. Thankfully, I stumbled upon Rich Dad, Poor Dad — that purple book that we all know so well — just right after I got my MBA, and thought, “Oh, my gosh. There’s something out there called passive income. I might not have to trade my time for money. There might be an answer for me to be self-reliant.” So, I went on this long journey of acquiring multifamily assets in order to achieve that goal.

Pancham Gupta

Wow. When you went on to that journey — you started that journey, and one thing led to another, I’m sure. At some point, you decided that you want to call it quits?

Amy Sylvis

From the WTO job?

Pancham Gupta

Yeah. What was the milestone? Did you even have a milestone that you had in your mind that, “Oh, if I reached that goal, that’s when I would quit”? Was it like that? Tell us a bit about that.

Amy Sylvis

It’s a good question. At 30, when I first discovered passive income, I had my WTO job in biotech. I had my full-time job of caring for myself with cystic fibrosis. Then I tried, on the side, to invest in real estate. I failed countless times. Countless times, not because I would dare to say lack of skill. My health just kept getting in the way. Unfortunately, at the age of 37, I became so sick I had to medically retire. So, that was really the inflection point. I don’t know if I would have ever, if I’m honest, had the courage to leave the golden handcuffs of the biotech industry. Because I did enjoy it so much, and I felt like I was really contributing. It was a cushy job. So, of course, I was devastated having not being able to work at age 37. But it’s amazing how sometimes life gives you what feels like huge blows and can actually be a great pivot point to point you towards what you’re destined to do next. For me, that was getting into real estate full-time after my health improved.

Pancham Gupta

Wow. Man, you should write a book on just that and your experiences. I’m honored to have you on the podcast. People who are listening are maybe in a similar situation as yours or remotely close, they can get some inspiration from just that. So, tell me. After you quit, what’s your motto now? What are you planning on? Are you planning on creating more and more of these units and helping with nonprofit? What’s the goal?

Amy Sylvis

Yes, you read my mind. My husband and I live pretty humbly here in Los Angeles. It really doesn’t take much to keep us happy. We both have huge charitable goals, charities that we’re excited to put out of the fundraising business, if you will. Of course, for me, there are some people with cystic fibrosis that don’t benefit for the miracle medication I’m on. So, I’m dedicated to help funding additional research to help them. My husband grew up in East Los Angeles, a very economically disadvantaged area. He benefited from after school programs. That really kept him off the streets and kept him in school and focused on what he needed to do as a young man. So, we’re very dedicated to serving the economically and socially disadvantaged children in Los Angeles. They need a lot of support. We would love to be able to financially give and invest in our future. So, yes, we are going to continue to grow our real estate investments, not only for ourselves and our charitable goals, but the folks that invest alongside us that are looking to grow their wealth and do it in a meaningful way where they know they’ll be able to have impact as well.

Pancham Gupta

Got it. Cool. So, I want to go back to your time when you quit your job. Were there negative thoughts? Was your husband supportive, your parents supportive, your cousins, or your siblings, all that?

Amy Sylvis

Yes, it was the hardest decision I ever made. Having the conversation with my doctors where they said, “Hey, Amy. You keep getting more and more sick. Each time you end up in the hospital, your lungs get worse and worse.” I’ve always found a lot of meaning in work. I’ve got a busy brain. I’m always thinking. I like to be involved sitting at home. I think some people might think, “Oh, it might be nice to get a disability check, maybe.” That’s fine. No judgement to people that need that, because some people truly are that sick. But it was really my worst nightmare, if I’m honest. It was very difficult. We knew that there were some medications in the pipeline that were being researched, but nothing is guaranteed. If you know anything about drug development, it is extremely hard. Most drugs fail, and they don’t get through testing. So, I really had a choice.

This is the conversation I had with — thankfully, my husband was extremely supportive — my parents, my large family, as we talked about prior to recording. I’m very blessed to live near a large, extended family. I really stand on their shoulders, because I don’t know if I would have been okay without their support and encouragement. But I just decided to play the cards that I was dealt. I was dealt health that was deteriorating, a hope that a new medication might come in a few years. So, it was many days I was in the hospital. I’m too sick to do anything. But on my good days, I read and I listened to podcasts. I tried to plan what my life would be when my health got better. I tried to lay the groundwork despite failing a few other times to be a real estate investor. I’m really glad I had that discipline because it paid off.

Pancham Gupta

Awesome. So, let’s talk about your real estate business. How did you get into real estate? I know you’ve talked about reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad and all that. How did you get into syndication business? What do you do now? Like you said, fundraising company. Are you operating, or are you purely on the capital side? Tell us about that.

Amy Sylvis

I actually invested in a coach and a mentor. It’s a pretty big expense out of the gate. I continue to work with one.

Pancham Gupta

Investment?

Amy Sylvis

Yes. To go somewhere, it’s a great idea to find someone who is where or has been where you’re interested in going. So, yes, it was an investment. But I thought I would like to compress years or decades of learning into months or weeks, if possible. That’s exactly what happened. I was able to go further faster, because I did invest in my education, in coaching and experience. You and I, still, I think invest in that. I know I work with Trevor McGregor. I think you do as well, as a coach. It was extremely foundational into entering into the industry.

The second part was finding business partners. I’m a pretty type A. I’m also an only child. So, getting stepped on on my own, even taking care of my health, no one can take care of my health other than me. So, I’m used to what needs to be done, I’m going to do it. But one of my biggest learnings was, “Hey, there’s a lot to do when you own and operate an apartment complex.” There are incredible people with great values, great experience, amazing complementary skills. Once I formed partnerships, yes, it was off to the races. That’s when my business really took off.

Pancham Gupta

Got it. Can you talk to us about your process that you followed to maybe wet out these partners? Because that’s one question that everyone has — how to partner, how to find the right partner? How many partners are you working with? If you can tell us, how do you bet them out?

Amy Sylvis

To go back to your previous question real quick that I didn’t answer, I do work as an owner/operator. I operate my deals. I find them, and I also connect people with deals that may fit their investment criteria. No surprise with what I just revealed about myself earlier. I have a lot of things going on that I really enjoy, doing on all aspects there. But in terms of evaluating partners, skills are important. History is important — what’s someone’s track record, what are they good at? If I’m bringing, let’s say, I love market research, which I do to the table, are there other people that maybe have more experience with CapEx than I do? We’re living in Los Angeles. We’re investing in Alabama. Are there people that live there?

The primary mode of doing due diligence and getting to know folks are values for me. There are people that have abundance mindsets or scarcity mindsets. There are people that believe the best is yet to come. Whatever they can imagine, they can achieve. Whatever they believe, they can achieve. There are inevitable bumps in the road. I don’t think it’s talked about enough in our industry. It can be hard. This can be a tough business. We operated with COVID — eviction, moratoriums, massive unemployment. I mean, there are things that happened. I need to know that people will do the right thing and focus on residents and doing right by them. Of course, by our investors, when no one’s looking, when these hard decisions need to be made, all of those things are imperative to me. I love to mention to people, checking out other people’s values can really serve you well in the space.

Pancham Gupta

Awesome. Can I ask you this? It’s a very tough thing to check someone’s values. What do you do to check that? Is there a process you follow? What is it?

Amy Sylvis

Yes, well, my first partnership, I actually passively invested with them prior to being on the GP side with them. Not everyone has that money or has that maybe patients or timeline. But it was really important to me to understand how they treat their investors and what that experience was like, if I was going to go ahead and partner up with them on the general partner side and own and operate a deal with them. So, it was an incredible way, actually, not only for me to get to know them but for them to get to know me as well. To have a seat at the table and build that ongoing relationship. It was during COVID, so there were definitely some tough times. True people’s character is revealed when things aren’t always smooth. Luckily, they’re amazing.

Pancham Gupta

Absolutely. During COVID, I remember when the COVID hit, we had to travel to our properties. Obviously, there was a huge hysteria around traveling. There were a lot of things that needed to be done, and it was really hard. At that time, you find out who your true partners are.

Amy Sylvis: So true.

Pancham Gupta: So, I totally get that. Can you share with us one deal? Numbers on one deal? Have you gone full cycle on any deal yet? If you can share numbers on that, that’d be great.

Amy Sylvis

Yes, absolutely. So, we have gone full cycle. I just was doing some underwriting prior to this podcast. So, forgive me, if I’ve got a little bit of deal merge. I’ll do my best to think about those.

Pancham Gupta

I just want how much you bought it for, how much you invested capital. What were the returns, and what did you do on the property to get that return? Where was it?

Amy Sylvis

Okay. All right. I may have to pause to pull up a few details. But yes, it was a 67-unit, three-property portfolio in Knoxville, Tennessee that we bought in June of 2020. Everyone remembers what was going on then,

Pancham Gupta

Yeah, I remember it. We closed one property in July of 2020, so I know exactly what was going on then.

Amy Sylvis

Yes, you know precisely. For anyone who doesn’t remember, unemployment was around 10%. GDP, quarter over quarter, just plummeted around 33% or 34%. It was a wild time to say, yes, I’m going to buy some multifamily property. Yes, we held it for — I think we bought it on average for around $57 a door, sold for around $83 a door just under 24 months. I think it was technically a 23-month hold. Our annual cash on cash return or average annual return, that’s a better metric to use, was over 30%. So, very, very beneficial to take action at a time when a lot of people were scared and some people needed to sell. But we decided to jump in. So, it was a value-add deal. We definitely did some renovations, pushed rents. Yes, very grateful to have gone full cycle just as of few months ago.

Pancham Gupta

Got it. Thanks for sharing that.

Amy Sylvis

Of course.

Pancham Gupta

Now, if we can quickly talk about what you offer investors in your syndications?

Amy Sylvis

Yes, in terms of returns or how we’re structured?

Pancham Gupta

What are the preferred returns that you offer? What are the splits? Is it 70:30, 80:20? What is that?

Amy Sylvis

Sure. So, I have to be a little careful because some of our deals are 506 B. Sorry.

Pancham Gupta

I would say, don’t mention any of that. Actually, it’s fine.

Amy Sylvis

Sorry.

Pancham Gupta

Anyone who’s listening, we’ll talk to Amy in the end on the details and that you can reach out, so that she’s not violating any SEC rules there. Cool. Thanks, Amy, for that. I would have to ask you one last question before we move on to the second part of the show. My question is totally different. Do you have a morning routine that you follow? If so, what is it? Do you think that attributes to your success?

Amy Sylvis

Definitely. I don’t know if you’ve read the book — I’m guessing you have — if the listeners have read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, incredible book. The acronym is SAVERS. I do this every single morning, where I practice Silence — whether that’s prayer or meditation — the A or the affirmations that I do, V visualizing what I want for my future, for the world, E exercise, R read. Then the second S is slipping my mind.

Pancham Gupta

Scribing

Amy Sylvis

Scribing. Thank you. Writing, yes. Journaling, I tend to do a gratitude journal. So, I do each one of those five things for about — six things, excuse me, for about 10 minutes every morning. I think it’s incredible. We all understand the science now of the different waves that our brain exists in, especially in the first half hour, two hour in the morning, how much more impressionable our subconscious is right upon arising. So, imprinting these abundant ideas and these goals and visualizing what we want for our lives is imperative. So, I think it has transformed my business and has definitely contributed to my success.

Pancham Gupta

Cool. Well, thanks for sharing that. I’m a big fan of that book. If you have not read it, I would highly recommend reading that book. That book definitely attributed to a lot of success and change in my personal life, too, in a way, the mindset and the calmness, the quieting your mind, all of that. So, thanks for that, Amy. We’ll be back after this message.

(break)

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(interview)

Pancham Gupta

Let’s move on to the second part of the show, Amy, where I ask these four questions to every guest on my show. I call this Taking the Leap Round. Mt first question for you is, when was the first time you invested outside of Wall Street?

Amy Sylvis

I was, gosh, just out of MBA school. So, I was around 31 years old when I invested passively in my first syndication. I think I bought gold and silver bullion, actually, a year or so before that. So, I’ll have to amend that answer. But yeah, both around the same time in my early 30s.

Pancham Gupta

So, 2012 approximately.

Amy Sylvis

Correct.

Pancham Gupta

Wow. That was the best time to get into syndications.

Amy Sylvis

Yes. Can you imagine? I know things have changed so much over the past 10 years. Who would have guessed?

Pancham Gupta

Yeah, exactly. All right. My second question for you is, what fears did you have to overcome when you first invested outside of Wall Street? Let’s talk about not the bullion purchase, because you still had them in your pocket. But what about the syndication, like passive syndication? Did you have any fears?

Amy Sylvis

Absolutely. All of us that are hardworking, successful in our careers, we’re used to knowing what’s going on, being competent, maybe even being in control. Doing something for the first time can be very nerve racking. I wasn’t sure if my hard-earned dollars that I was relying upon to take care of me if and when my health failed, I was doing the right thing by investing in a syndication. But my gosh, I’m glad that I did took that chance. I educated myself as much as possible. I found an operator that I trusted. It ended up to be the start of quite an amazing journey. But I was terrified.

Pancham Gupta

Everyone has fears. If you have fears, it’s about how you overcome them or how you face them. Cool. Third question for you. Can you share with us one investment that did not go as expected? I know you mentioned during the show, you had many, many, many failures. Let’s talk about one, maybe two, if you have, whatever is on the top of your list.

Amy Sylvis

Of course, yes. One of the first investments I attempted — again, I live in Los Angeles. Phoenix seem to be a very logical, a close-ish area. Investing in California, I knew even back then, 10 years ago, it wasn’t the best idea, at least for me and my goals. So, there was a quadplex in downtown Phoenix, the historic area, that was available. Obviously, not technically multifamily because it was below five units. But I went under contract with it with a business partner. I was very excited to close on my first deal. I landed in hospital for longer than just a few weeks. Unfortunately, I had to back out of the deal, because I simply wasn’t — it was really clear that my health wasn’t going to allow me to be an operator. I was going to have a property manager. I had a business partner. But back then, things weren’t as virtual. Things weren’t as digital. I just wouldn’t have been a good steward of my money, my business partner’s money, because my health was just too unstable. So, it was pretty painful.

Pancham Gupta

I’m so sorry to hear that. But you did it, and you learn.

Amy Sylvis

That’s it.

Pancham Gupta

Did you lose a lot of money on due diligence and attorney fees and all that on that?

Amy Sylvis

Thankfully, no. We got our earnest money back. We were decently early in the process, so we hadn’t invested on too much due diligence, or attorney fees, or third-party reports. So, thank goodness.

Pancham Gupta

Do you have any deal that did not go as expected after you’ve done it?

Amy Sylvis

Yes, we have one, actually, that we currently still own in Clarksville, Tennessee. That’s a long-ish story. But there were quite a number of things through an extended due diligence period. We had to extend because the lender was a little bit fussy. The seller was not happy about the fact that we had to extend the contract and really neglected the repairs and maintenance, including some water issues. That turned into mold issues just before closing. Needless to say, we didn’t have that CapEx allocated. We didn’t know about the issue until a few days after takeover. That’s changed our CapEx and renovation plan quite a bit because of the initial money we had to invest in getting that done. So, lesson learned, without a doubt, that we need to continuously inspect units and be on site throughout the course of having a property under contract. But the deal, thankfully, is still performing well. We’re probably going to be selling it soon, and the residents are very happy. But we just had to undertake a different business plan than what we initially thought upon takeover.

Pancham Gupta

Got it. Okay. My last question for you is, what is one piece of advice would you give to people who are thinking of investing in the Main Street that is outside of Wall Street?

Amy Sylvis

Piece of advice? Educate yourself. There are so many resources out there. It may feel different. I think we’ve all been told invest in the stock market, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and hold them for the long term. There are so many amazing books, podcasts, even people like you and I that have done it successfully and are reaping the rewards. So, if you’re nervous or if you’re unsure if this is for you, really lean into the educational space, self-education, and network with people who are doing it, and understand their experience, and arm yourself with knowledge. That will really empower you to make the best decision for yourself.

Pancham Gupta

Great advice. Thanks, Amy. How can listeners connect with you if they want to reach out and find out more about the amazing work that you’re doing?

Amy Sylvis

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, we have an introductory video that I would love to point people to if you’re interested. It is sylviscapital.com. Hopefully, you’ll put that in the show notes because it’s spelled a little differently than you may think. So, sylviscapital.com/webinar. You can learn a bit more about what we do, how we do it, and what the process looks like. I would love to see you there. Of course, schedule time with me once you watch that webinar, and we can chat about your goals.

Pancham Gupta

Sounds great. Thank you, Amy, for your time.

Amy Sylvis

Thank you so much. Great to talk to you.

Pancham Gupta

Yep. Thanks for tuning in to The Gold Collar Investor Podcast. I hope you got some value after listening to Amy’s incredible story. If you have any questions, you can reach out to me at p@thegoldcollarinvestor.com. That’s P—as in Paul—@the gold collar investor.com This is Pancham signing off. Until next time. Take care.

(outro)

Thank you for listening to The Gold Collar Investor Podcast. If you love what you’ve heard and you want more of Pancham Gupta, visit us at www.thegoldcollarinvestor.com and follow us on Facebook @thegoldcollarinvestor. The information on this podcast are opinions. As always, please consult your own financial team before investing.