How AI Rebuilt a 30-Year Mortgage Business With Tunita Bailey

Tunita Bailey (00:00)
Well, you know what? I embraced it, right? I got an opportunity in January to become an AI certified specialist. And so I took the opportunity, took all the courses, started building apps and tools. And the goal was really to go out and help other business owners, you know, implement AI. And I had this brilliant idea. And I said, “Well, instead of going out helping everybody else build their business, I need to rebuild my own.”

Issa Hanna (02:04)
Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pros Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today I have Miss B the Money Lady, Tunita Bailey. Tunita, welcome to the show. How you doing?

Tunita Bailey (02:14)
Yeah, Issa, glad to be here.

Issa Hanna (02:17)
I’m glad to have you. And for people at home that don’t know why they call you the money lady, could you please explain a little bit about your business and run it down for us?

Tunita Bailey (02:26)
Absolutely, absolutely. Well, people call me Miss Bailey the money lady because I help people get access to capital, right? Everybody needs it, right? I don’t care if you’re buying a home or— or you’re buying a business, you gotta have some capital. So what do you need? You need money. So call Miss B the money lady.

Issa Hanna (02:47)
Definitely. And capital makes our game go around. So, you know, you got Miss B, it’s gonna keep turning for you. So not everybody got started— and we talked before and you mentioned you have 30 plus years in the— in the mortgage business. You started off in real estate, so you’ve been doing this your whole life. Give me how you got started. How did— how did a young Miss B get started in this?

Tunita Bailey (03:11)
Well, actually, funny story, when I was in college, you know how you go to college and you, you know, you have all these ideas about things you want to do— well, the way I got into the real estate business, I took a real estate principles class. And my instructor walked in with a full-length black mink coat on. Okay. And I said, “Whatever she’s doing, that’s what I was doing.” And just so happened, it was real estate principles. And I took the class, actually ended up majoring in real estate finance and got a bachelor’s degree in business and— and got my license before I graduated college. So that’s how I got into the real estate business. I love sales, I love people, I love, you know, just, you know, selling things, and so it was just a natural transition for me. So yeah, I started my career in the— in the on the real estate sales, went to property management, learned how to do investing and owning property. That’s when I discovered, as we— we talked about it earlier, it’s not about selling real estate, it’s about investing in it. So that’s kind of how I got started in the real estate game. And then I realized that, hey, you can sell all the houses you want to, but if you don’t— if the people don’t have the money and they can’t close, then you don’t get paid, right? So I had to kind of make a switch. And then I got on the finance side, started working for some of the banks—well, you know, some of the big box banks I’ve— I’ve worked for, and decided in 1995, okay, that I like the broker world because the banks, if you’re in one box and you don’t fit that credit profile, you’re not getting a loan. Whereas on the broker side, I got options, right? So I can create the options, I can help you with your credit, I can do— I can do so many more things for my clients. So I’ve been literally on the mortgage broker side since 1995, and I absolutely love it.

Issa Hanna (06:12)
And somebody who’s as experienced as you and knows the guidelines and knows credit, can really be a useful tool. Not every loan originator, RMLO, whatever you want to call them, are the same, y’all. Exactly. So somebody with— with Miss B’s knowledge, you can’t, you know— you— you can’t replace. 30 plus years in the game, she’s probably seen everything.

Tunita Bailey (06:25)
Absolutely. Everything.

Issa Hanna (06:39)
I wanna ask you because you have been in the game for such a long time, and we did talk about how our industry shifts a lot, right? So we had the internet shift and the Zillow and the— then we had the COVID, like you mentioned, where— where people started meeting on Zoom. Now we’re in the tech, the AI revolution. So how have you pivoted your business to this AI revolution?

Tunita Bailey (07:02)
Well, you know what? I embraced it, right? I got an opportunity in January to become an AI certified specialist. And so I took the opportunity, took all the courses, started building apps and tools. And the goal was really to go out and help other business owners, you know, implement AI. And I had this brilliant idea. And I said, “Well, instead of going out helping everybody else build their business, I need to rebuild my own.” So I literally embraced AI, became a certified consultant, and I rebuilt my entire company. I even changed the name from Capital City Mortgage to AI Capital Lending. And I put AI in— in every aspect of— of the lending process. So yeah, that’s what I did to pivot. Is that I— I used it, embraced it, and— and created a whole new concept, and— and using AI to really grow my business.

Issa Hanna (08:08)
Definitely. And that’s how people last in the game, when they’re able to adapt, adjust, pivot. Also, we also talked about how you’re a visionary, how you can visualize a plan in your mind and execute it. Then you wanted to give me an example. I said, “Let’s save it for our viewers.” So give me an example of— of a time where you— you visualized the plan and then executed it.

Tunita Bailey (08:34)
Well, I— you know, and— and this is the trouble about being a visionary, right? You always have a new vision. Every day you wake up is— is something new, which is a great thing, right? And so you kinda have to hone in. So I was thinking, you know, what can I do to expand, you know, the capital business? So just yesterday I came up with this idea of AI Capital Business Partner Network. Right. So I literally put the program together. I have a website for it already; it’s an operating system. And what it is, is— is for individuals that’s— you don’t have to have a job. Okay. Nothing wrong with a job, but this is an opportunity. If you had an opportunity to plug in to a company that’s already set, you have all of your lending tools already set, all the marketing tools, access to every one of the loan programs that’s available, would you become part of a network?

Issa Hanna (09:37)
Definitely. Absolutely.

Tunita Bailey (09:39)
Yes. So that’s what I created. It’s called the AI Business Capital Network and it’s for business partners. And so we’re opening it up to individuals. I’m looking for a hundred people to basically be the founders of the organization, of the network, and we’ll be starting to promote that this coming Tuesday. We’ll have a live, yeah.

Issa Hanna (10:03)
So from AI pivot. From AI— that’s amazing. From AI pivot to AI certified to now, here you go. You got your own platform. That— that’s amazing. So I like to ask everybody that comes on my show, because everybody, including myself who’s in this game, has a real estate nightmare. But because you’re a lender, and these tend to be even funnier and are— are more fun to listen to, can you give us a— a lending nightmare? A time where something went off the rails?

Tunita Bailey (11:10)
A good one for you, and it— it does still happen on the lending side as well as on the real estate side, you know, and I think in any business, right? You always have something that goes wrong that you got to deal with. But we have a— we had a client actually been approved. She was buying investment property, and what we normally do is if somebody comes in and they want to buy investment property and they don’t have the money, but they have a property, right? So we ended up doing a HELOC for this client. HELOC is a home equity line of credit, got her the money she needed. She had two— three hundred thousand dollars worth of equity in her home. And so she— we did that and we said, “Okay, now you can go buy another property, right?” She went, put a property under contract. She did this in— this is we’re in July. She did the— put the property under contract in April. And believe it or not, she— the loan was approved, everything was done, but there were some repairs that needed to be done on the house. We have literally been waiting three months to close on her transaction. I mean, three months. I mean, the file got canceled, appraisal had to be redone, everything all from scratch. I mean, three months. But fortunately, we’ll be able to close on her loan over the next couple of days, hopefully before the holiday. But things happened completely beyond her control. She— she tried— she got frustrated, right? Because I mean, who takes three months to close on an investment property, right? So things like that happen, but we work through it with our clients. We— we make sure they’re, you know, they understand what’s going on. We communicate. You know, we just stay on top of it, right? So hopefully we’ll get her closed, but it happens all the time.

Issa Hanna (13:04)
It definitely happens. Financing— well, financing issues definitely come up, and that’s where a good realtor and a good loan officer will hold that deal together because not a lot of people will keep it together for three months. So kudos to you on keeping that deal together for— for your client, you know, because you’re looking out for the best interest of them. You didn’t let them lose their investment. So absolutely closes, no harm, no foul. So definitely. So in five years you got this platform building, you know, you’re— you’re doing— you’re rocking the— the— the loan world. Where are we gonna see you at in five years, Tunita?

Tunita Bailey (13:33)
You’re gonna see me somewhere on the beach traveling. Traveling around the world. I’m in a season of my career now where I want to give back a little bit more. I wanna do a little bit more volunteering. I wanna teach and train and certify other people to do this business. It’s— it’s been a great career for me. I— you know, it was the best decision I could have ever made in my life to, you know, in the real estate and and—

Issa Hanna (13:49)
All right.

Tunita Bailey (14:14)
—financing side. So in five years, I— I want to be helping people with our, you know, business network operating systems. I want to be speaking, coaching, training, and helping people to get certified in— in their careers. That’s where I want to be, what I want to do. I don’t want to be every day. I’m telling you don’t call me if you want a loan. I can— I can point you in the right direction, though.

Issa Hanna (14:41)
You’re gonna train the next generation of people and— and— and ride off in the sunset. Nice, nice. And with your knowledge, you would be a great teacher for the next up-and-coming generation of loan offs. I’m excited for that chapter you’re— you’re planning up. And I know you could visualize it and you will definitely execute.

Tunita Bailey (14:45)
What I wanna do, yeah. Thank you so much. It’s already done. It’s already done.

Issa Hanna (15:03)
So for these new people that are— are just coming up and you know, maybe just got their license and they’re like, “Okay, I got my license. What do I do now? I— where am I going to get these clients from?” Because they don’t just hand you clients, everybody. No, they— what is your advice on fostering, building, growing your network?

Tunita Bailey (16:04)
Yeah. You know what? I’m glad you mentioned that because I do have a— a system. It’s called the net worth card. And it’s a system where, you know, you go to an event, right? You meet somebody, you get their card or you exchange your digital QR code, and then you go back to your office or your, you know, and you forget to follow up. Right. So basically, you wasted your time going to that event, hanging out, networking, talking to people, trying to build relationships. So the key is to be able to follow up. So I built an app, okay, again, on my AI capital certification, where you can literally follow up with people automatically using AI up to seven to 14 times, building relationships. Because in this business and any other business that you go into, you have to build relationships. Your net worth is in your net worth, right? Or your network is in your net worth. Either way, it works together. So in order to be a good person that sells and helps more people, you gotta know people. And in order to build relationships, you gotta follow up and you gotta follow through. And AI helps that process. So that’s what— that’s what I’m excited about, the— the AI network card. And we do have a free version of that card for people to try. So that’s one of the things that I’m excited about that we’re promoting.

Issa Hanna (17:40)
Nice. So if people wanted to get a hold of you because they heard about how great this new AI platform that you’ve built is, or they want a good old-fashioned loan while you’re still in the business and you can give them the best services in town, where could they reach you?

Tunita Bailey (17:55)
Well, actually they can reach me on my website, which is AICapLending.com. Okay, so you can always reach out there. There’s a place on the website for you to book an appointment with me. We also have AI consultants on the site. So if you want to ask a question, if you want to get pre-approved or, you know, right on the spot, all of that’s on the website. But yes, that’s how you would reach me to— you know, to get a loan. And by the way, you— I still do loans today and I also have a team that actually helps me execute on those loans. But my— my job right now is just sharing, you know, sharing the vision, sharing what we’re doing.

Issa Hanna (18:41)
Nice. Well, I’m definitely sold into your vision. I believe in it. I believe in you. It was a pleasure having you on the show today. I gained a lot of knowledge and I think our viewers are gonna gain a lot from you, too.

Tunita Bailey (18:55)
Yes, thank you, thank you. I appreciate that.

Issa Hanna (18:59)
Awesome. And if you guys did enjoy this conversation with me and Tunita and want to see more just like this, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that could give us different knowledge on every facet of the real estate industry. Until next time, the real estate pros are out.