Sydne Garchik, founder and president of MRK Partners joined Omar Morales on the Real Estate DealMakers Podcast to discuss her career and how the finances behind affordable development work.
Real Estate DealMakers, is hosted by Omar Morales, a successful commercial real estate broker working in South Florida. Morales uses his platform to interview and speak with other experts in the field of real estate both in his backyard and across the country to gain insight into how they are approaching this ever-changing and growing field.
In the interview, Garchik muses on how she got started in the real estate world as the daughter of a successful real estate developer, and how she managed to carve out her own path in a world she knew so well from a young age.
“I love the concept of family business, I love my dad to pieces, but I think that what I did realize was that the age and knowledge differential between me being a 23, 24-year-old kid and him being a very successful entrepreneur and me trying to learn from him with that big of a knowledge gap, honestly, was very difficult,” said Garchik. “So I am a big proponent of if you want to be in a family business, go out and find your own skill set.”
Having the desire to do good in the world and help people is a major component of being successful in the affordable housing space, Garchik notes, but it’s far from the only skill needed to succeed. Garchik leverages her knowledge of financial structures and what it takes to build a successful financial model to ensure that MRK’s developments are able to succeed and thrive.
“In many states, it is a competitive process [to secure the necessary funding to build affordable housing],” said Garchik. “And that has been really hard because there are a lot of deals that need allocation because in the 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, as long as you get an allocation of tax exempt bonds, you are guaranteed an allocation of low income housing tax credits.”
Garchik’s attention goes beyond the affordable housing world. She also sits on the board of BLOOM, a nonprofit foundation focused on scholarships and financial literacy.
“Some of the most fun I’ve ever had is calling someone and being like, ‘hey you got a scholarship for school,’” said Garchik. “It’s super, super awesome.”
Curious to learn more about different facets of the real estate world? Be sure to check out this episode of Real Estate DealMakers on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else podcasts can be found!