How Real Estate Investors Find Off-Market Deals Others Miss | Monica Kimutis

Monica Kimutis (00:00)
So definitely motivated to do things differently, right? Write better contracts, get more people with eyes on it. I think I had gotten a little yeah, a little maybe over how do you say it? a little overambitious. But that yeah, I’m that’s not gonna be the last deal I do for sure. So we’re still on the on the lookout, but I will do things differently. For sure.

Joseph Crooms (00:23)
Right.

everyone. Welcome to Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. And I am your host today. I’m being joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with.

Her name is Monica Kimutis. She said I got it right. So I feel good about myself. But she’s making some serious moves as an independent proprietor in the investment field. I’m gonna let her speak more about that. Monica, say hello to everybody. Hey.

Monica Kimutis (02:13)
Yeah. Yes, for sure.

Hey, I’m

so glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Joseph Crooms (02:32)
Great. I think our listeners are really going to take away something from the way how you’re approaching business. You you seem like you build a lot of great networks. So let’s dive in there. So first of all, for people who may not be familiar with you, give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days and what markets are you operating in?

Monica Kimutis (02:52)
Ooh, good questions. I am mainly focused on building partnerships in for for real estate investor communities. However, on a personal side with my own investing side, I am focused on running a short term rental currently that I have and looking to expand further in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Joseph Crooms (03:11)
Okay, great. What is the name of your company?

Monica Kimutis (03:13)
So from a from a partnership building, sponsorship building standpoint in the real estate investment industry, it’s Bridges and Buzz. And it’s essentially building bridges between companies that are serving real estate investors and the the investor networks.

Joseph Crooms (03:29)
Very nice. I love it. Yeah. All right. What caught my attention was when you said that you still are flipping homes or you started as a real estate broker. Am I correct?

Monica Kimutis (03:39)
So no, I have not been an agent. I have I am an investor. There have been times I’ve been more active. Right now it’s a bit on it’s been a bit more passive recently. I am a passive investor with a couple apartment deals in Texas area. But I am running a short term rental here in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I have done a few flips in this area as well.

Joseph Crooms (04:02)
Okay, let’s talk let’s start there. Let’s talk about how many homes have you flipped?

Monica Kimutis (04:07)
Well, one of them I don’t know if we can count because it was a home around the corner that had burned down and we purchased it, essentially bulldozed it and sold the land to my grandparents who then built a brand new home. So if that one counts, that’s one. And then another one that I’m not sure if this counts is the home right behind ours.

Why my my parents were moving from Idaho but to Tennessee and I really wanted to have them close. And so I went around, knocked on my neighbor’s door, asked if they would sell, and they said yeah. So we helped them, my kids were really young at that point. They’re like five and four. And so we just helped them do everything. They stay they touched every square inch, even replacing some joists. So that was that was one that wasn’t necessarily from a a pure investment standpoint, but certainly it is

paid so many dividends over the last few years. And then there’s the one that actually where I am right now is our short term rental where I have an office during the week and we rent it out on weekends and I we had we had to touch every square inch of this house as well.

Joseph Crooms (06:00)
Okay. So what would you say your monthly book of business of or buy them or revenue from flipping business, from flipping homes? And then we’re gonna go into your b your business.

Monica Kimutis (06:12)
Yeah, so the the flipping flipping wasn’t really an es I never really got to an established business. I will say there was there was a deal that went south about a year and a half ago where lost I only lost seven thousand. So that wasn’t bad because I’ve heard of investors losing hundreds of thousands. But it from then I kinda took a step back and and put my focus more on the business that I’m building now to

To learn a bit more, get strengthen my local connections a bit more, build up more capital and get ready to get back on the saddle.

Joseph Crooms (06:43)
So so now you’re in the investment in it, am I correct? Now you’re in in the investment side of business.

Monica Kimutis (06:47)
What’s that?

Well I mean I am still a real estate investor, yeah.

Joseph Crooms (06:53)
Okay, so when did you when did the idea pop in your head, this is what I want to do?

Monica Kimutis (06:59)
Man, probably it’s probably 2021 ish time frame. I have so I have four kids. I did a lot of homeschooling when they were younger and I wanted a way to do something on the side and still include them whenever possible. And so that’s f for whatever reason I just thought that’s what I needed to do was become a real estate investor, learn learn about that bus the like how to get to income.

And and essentially that that’s where that started and then I had read Rich Dad Poor Dad I feel like everybody has talks about that book. I had read it when I was younger and then read it again in that 2021 time frame and understood the concepts more like even differently and that’s where we it’s put more focus and effort onto finding the assets that bring in income.

Joseph Crooms (07:49)
You said we, so who are you partnering with?

Monica Kimutis (07:51)
My husband and I.

Joseph Crooms (07:51)
Okay. Yeah. So what is it that you would like most about the investment?

Monica Kimutis (07:56)
Yeah, I really like being able to find things, especially off market, that other people aren’t seeing necessarily and especially being in a Knoxville area, if I’m driving around, if I had my kids, we’re going back and forth from in all the different activities that they have now they’re middle school and elementary age, looking for things, finding things that other people aren’t necessarily seeing. I really like being able to see the opportunity and then approach people off market and create deals like that.

Joseph Crooms (08:25)
What are you looking at primarily? More apartment buildings or a combination of commercial as well as residential?

Monica Kimutis (08:33)
The so I really do enjoy taking something that is needing attention and needing to be renewed. I really enjoy those types of projects. And so it whether that’s a single family or even a small multifamily, that’s what I would be I do have my eyes peeled. That’s what I’m looking for currently. And projects to where my kids can participate where they want to. I mean they’ve

They know what it’s like to hammer down some drywall when it’s fun for them and just teaching them how just parts of building like what how does a house built, what is it like and including them in that is really fun for me.

Joseph Crooms (09:07)
When did you sort of start your business?

Monica Kimutis (09:44)
That it was man, I don’t know, the years are running together. It it was, I mean, probably around that twenty twenty-one time frame, if not earlier, I might have my years mixed up. But it essentially I said, Okay, I really want to do this. I wanna buy an asset that’s gonna generate income. And that’s where we found like that’s where our we didn’t really find this deal. We were we would go on walks in the neighborhood.

Every day and then we could see, okay, this house has some fire damage. It was been sitting untouched for a year. They would keep up the yard. So if anyone’s driving for dollars, you know, driving by quickly in the neighborhood, they would not be able to see it. But because we were slowly walking by daily, eventually recognizing that this house needed some attention and through connections with neighbors, we’re able to find the owner and we made an offer and it was too high. They wanted the their counter was too high for it to make sense at the time, but waited another year.

Made the same offer and they accepted it and the rest is history there.

Joseph Crooms (10:42)
How many how much business have you done since 2020?

Monica Kimutis (10:45)
Since twenty twenty one or twenty twenty five? Twenty twenty five. So that that’s been a I think the business has been more focused on the short term rental aspect that we have and running that. Okay. And so we’ve I’ve been putting the active real estate on hold, but while building the connections in the real estate investor education space. So that’s been more my focus the last couple of years.

Joseph Crooms (11:08)
So you you you do real estate investment education as well. Are have you combined both businesses? Are you doing anything specifically in the educational field?

Monica Kimutis (11:17)
There so I have not combined businesses yet, but I do I am supporting other real estate investor communities that are looking to expand their partnerships. And so in some ways I am involved in the education piece just from helping partners that can serve investors nationally craft their messaging and their own marketing into these investment groups. And so from my personal experience, I can like I can coach some sponsors that

May or may not have active inspir like what should I say they may or may not have the experience themselves and so we talk about what’s gonna land well with the community, with i the active real estate investors in that community and what do we what do we promote, what do we talk more about and what problems can be solved.

Joseph Crooms (12:07)
What do you think is unique about your approach to

Monica Kimutis (12:10)
I probably the the man, how do I say this? The ’cause I really enjoy having my kids around when it’s safe and possible for them to do that. And so it probably is making it more of a family affair. I know I’m not the only one to do that, but essentially bringing the kids in, giving them like the kid sized hammers and showing them how to lay flooring or what to do with the paint over here or how do we fix the the siding over there.

So I really do enjoy br making that a family process.

Joseph Crooms (12:41)
Monica, let me ask you this.

What’s been the key to the motivation that’s gonna keep your machine running smooth?

Monica Kimutis (12:49)
Ooh, the the I just I really love a good goal and I really love that feeling of achievement. But also it is creating a a life that my myself and my family can really enjoy together. And so not overworking, but then also just y utilizing the gifts that we have, the talents and the the network we have, just building other people up and enjoying the ride as we go.

Joseph Crooms (13:15)
So let me get this right. So you have one house now, right?

Monica Kimutis (13:18)
So there’s is so there’s one active short term rental that I’m managing, yes.

Joseph Crooms (13:23)
Okay, and you have some that you flipped in the past.

Monica Kimutis (14:07)
I have some that we flipped and then I am currently a an LP on a couple apartment deals in Texas. Yeah. A limited partner. So we invested passively a couple of years ago.

Joseph Crooms (14:13)
Okay, when you say okay, what does that mean?

All right. And what would you say your book of business is?

Monica Kimutis (14:24)
My book of business would be the well, we have the all the people that have stayed at our short-term rental. We have I just locally and Knoxville a lot of connections in the real estate industry. So whether it’s contractors or people that are active in in real estate here in this area. And then on a national level for my sponsorships, that’s there’s a many, many companies that are serving nationally.

So insurance providers, CPAs, lenders, all the software is there’s all the connections there too.

Joseph Crooms (15:00)
So I’m gonna actually qu this sort of similar question. What would you say your volume of business is?

Since last year. What are you doing month?

Monica Kimutis (15:08)
That one’s I guess I have different ways of measuring that. So in spa are you talking about like sponsorships I sell per month or ’cause it’s different than

Joseph Crooms (15:18)
Yeah, what is your book or business? Like what are you doing?

Monica Kimutis (15:21)
The not as much as I want yet. We’re still getting there. We’re still getting there. Probably it’s about five only five thousand for mine. The however I am securing sponsorships that are I will say in a year, three hundred and fifty thousand. So there’s I mean there’s different measurements that we’re we’re doing, but they’re I don’t know if that would answer your question there.

Joseph Crooms (15:42)
Yeah, yeah. So how long have you been at that level of five thousand probably a month?

Monica Kimutis (15:47)
The it’s been a f it’s probably several years, so yeah, we’re we’re are making moves to step up to the next level, for sure.

Joseph Crooms (15:57)
Okay. All right. So now you were already talking about a moment when when things got really I guess it really was pretty devastating. Can you go into more details about that? Can you mind sharing that that that that what happened?

Monica Kimutis (16:10)
Ha ha ha.

Yes, yeah, yeah. So I I was getting antsy. I really it’s been had been a little while since I’d done a deal. I had cash, I wanted to use it, I wanted to buy something that was going to be a fun project, but then also again to get our family to that next next level. So there was numbers were really hard. We were we’re trying to do the due diligence and run numbers and it was very difficult to find anything that was making sense.

So there was an older home that was kind of close to campus in this area, and it it seemed like there were a lot of opportunities that people were missing. We my my idea was to take it and flip it, add a bedroom, and turn it into some student housing. And so first of all, I wrote it was a bad contract we had. Did not use an agent, so that was a a lesson that

But would recommend using a good agent. And then so we the b the contract was not great and then the the estimation of repairs also was off at the very beginning. And then the what I was hoping we would do for access into the home ended up being, you know, that estimate was way off. So I learned that to build a road would be like a d a b bigger driveway, it was gonna be a hundred thousand dollars and

Had to get through some red tape with the city. So there were a lot of things that were were difficult with that and ended up just backing out the deal and losing earnest money. So wasn’t so bad.

Joseph Crooms (17:43)
Thank you for sharing that. All right. So that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about. Honestly, it what separates the folks who are just dabbling from the ones who stay in the game. And I think that that was a motivator to keep going.

Monica Kimutis (17:48)
Yeah.

So definitely motivated to do things differently, right? Write better contracts, get more people with eyes on it. I think I had gotten a little yeah, a little maybe over how do you say it? a little overambitious. But that yeah, I’m that’s not gonna be the last deal I do for sure. So we’re still on the on the lookout, but I will do things differently. For sure.

Joseph Crooms (18:25)
Right.

Good. That’s shit now. Let me ask you this. What’s your mo what are you most focused on scaling or solving next? What’s the next real goal?

Monica Kimutis (18:34)
My next goal is to get my business running, hiring hiring more, but then taking on more, just getting having more capacity. So probably learning to delegate better, but then also growing growing by more leaps instead of tiny steps is just approaching things differently. Also incorporating AI for systems more smoothly.

Joseph Crooms (18:59)
That’s big. So when you when you’re ready, what’s the next move that either can compound things or the next move can either compound things or create chaos depending on how you play. But let me ask you just real quick. How are you planning on what is it that you feel AI will do to benefit?

Monica Kimutis (19:19)
Yes. So because I am not naturally inclined to dot all my I’s, cross all my T’s, my AI, I’m training it to better essentially serve on a platter things that I might have missed or things that we need to make sure get solved. So the reminder’s there. From a a human connection standpoint, I won’t be using AI in my sales calls. But also for looking to take on another

Sponsorship salesperson would be the next step there to just hiring an additional person. What’s that?

Joseph Crooms (19:53)
When you say sponsorship, what does that mean to you?

Monica Kimutis (19:57)
Yeah, so that does me have that word has a couple of different meanings in this industry. I’m talking about marketing campaigns. So when you have a company sponsoring an sponsoring a podcast, sponsoring a a YouTube video or a newsletter, so that’s the kind of sponsorship that I’m talking about.

Joseph Crooms (20:12)
Yeah. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s made the biggest difference for you?

Monica Kimutis (20:20)
I would say leaning on the warm introductions, so being introduced by people that already know me, that’s a very easy way to gain trust.

Joseph Crooms (20:29)
Yeah, you can’t fake that. Relationships are everything in this space. All right, before we wrap up, if someone wanted to reach out, connect with you, maybe collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way to reach you, man?

Monica Kimutis (20:44)
Best way I am on LinkedIn all day every day. So Monica Kimutis on LinkedIn or bridgesandbuzz.com is my website. Email [email protected] as well.

Joseph Crooms (20:55)
So you know what I was doing, right? So I was probably looking for a pen. So I know our listening audience is probably also give it to them one more time.

Monica Kimutis (21:02)
Yep, so Monica Kimutis on LinkedIn. That’s K-I-M-U-T-I-S. And so find me on LinkedIn, I’m there all the time, or [email protected].

Joseph Crooms (21:14)
Perfect. Yeah. Well, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective, your philosophy, which is developed. I can see that. And and your warm smile. You have a warm smile. May the Lord continue to guide you and your husband. We need more people in this space who are doing the right thing, doing it the right way, helping people build in their community. You heard from Monica today. You heard what she said. Thanks again for being here, Monica.

Monica Kimutis (21:41)
Yeah, thanks Joseph.