KGCI: Real Estate on Air - The Power of Personal Connection: Beyond Automation in Real Estate

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

Summary:In this episode of Real Estate Riches, host Kathy Burns sits down with top-producing Canadian agent TJ Monzo from British Columbia to discuss why genuine human relationship beats pure database automation every single time. TJ shares how his boutique team avoids industry burnout through a collaborative split structure while prioritizing high-integrity client care over vanity transaction volumes. Learn why the "secret sauce" to real estate longevity is becoming your client's lifelong professional resource and how to leverage free online reviews to land multi-million dollar listings organically.

Still so much power in picking up the cinder block phone and connecting with people versus shooting automated text, automated followups, automated all these things. It's like people will start to lose the touch and you won't be that relationship person. When they think real estate, they need to think you. They're not going to think, oh, that guy sends me an email every guy. I haven't talked to him in two years. I don't even know what he's up to. There's a huge difference to that.

Hey, everybody. It's Kathy Burns here with Real Estate Riches. And today I have a guest from British Columbia, T.J. DeMonso. Did I say it right? Thanks for having me. You did. DeMonso. It's a tongue twister. It's great. Well, I was really concerned. I was going to handle that one, but I was so close. Anyway, you got it. So, welcome to have you here. And I'm excited because you're, I think, my second or third person that I've interviewed in Canada, which is a different market than the states, of course. And I do business globally. So I love having a different perspective. I don't even know where British Columbia is. Is that on the right-hand side if I'm looking at a map?

Pop left. Oh, top left. Just above like Seattle area pretty close to there. Okay. Washington. Okay, good. Now I can relate to it because I have a classic car that I got right up there in Washington State. So anyway.

You were close. We're close. Right. All right. Good. You're on the cold side. Well, all of it's cold up there, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. We got snow on the ground already. But I'm a big winter guy, so I don't mind at all. But our summers are like we're like the California of Canada, I would suggest. It's the summers here. Amazing. Great. All right.

So today we're here to talk about you. You've got your own firm. I've got a business partner there and won all kinds of awards. And you want to tell us a little bit about you, how you got into it. Kind of what's your model for your team? Yeah, absolutely. So I'm born and raised in Kelona. One of the few who kind of has remained, been in the industry for about seven years now.

growing up, we moved 16 times all around Colona at West Colonna. My family was flipping houses. My dad was a age back contractor and had a business. So we were always moving around, which from an early age, I was on the back of this truck helping out, understanding renovations, how construction all worked. So I always had this inkling that I'd get into some sort of capacity in real estate. I didn't know that it'd be sales or building or what have you. But fast forward, yeah, I got in in 2019 and started a smaller boutique brokerage with who, who's my now business partner staff. And we just started organically kind of crossing over,

helping each other cover each other's business so that we could kind of unplug and take a day to recharge. As we all know, that's one of the big things in this industry, as burnout is very real, 24-7, 365. So, yeah,

since then we've been on our own, kind of started our own team back five, going on six years ago. There's six of us on our team now. So yeah, we've just kind of every day, we're looking for ways to improve. We meet as a team every morning.

And we both come from team backgrounds, which I think is a huge thing. I played hockey growing up up to NCAA Division I level. And then she played soccer all the way up to a very high level as well. So having a collective group all rowing in the same, in the same direction is extremely important for us. And it's been, it's been awesome. It's been a lot of fun. We've got, yeah, go ahead. Well, I was thinking it's discipline.

It taught you discipline. Yeah, discipline, consistency, organization. Yeah, those are weaklings for me. darn it but very very important tools in business right absolutely so um and i saw all kinds of awards that you've gotten on your website which is great so even in that short period of time although you got into the market probably at a really good time um yeah 19 i started in 2006 where it was up and then it died but yeah yeah it was it was pretty wild i remember even i bought my first property in 2019 as well. And COVID, when COVID happened, there was kind of a two month

shutdown here. And I was in full reno mode. So it actually worked out well for me. But it was very much like, what is this all going to look like? So thankfully, I was able to get the renovation finished and do all that and learned a ton through that process because we do like real estate investing is also a huge part of what I do and what a lot of the clients that we work with. And yeah, coming out of that, it was just like the fire hose turned on. Yeah. But I honestly prefer not necessarily this market, but I prefer a more balanced market.

That was, it was honestly insane. Like we did 100 transactions in 20, what was it? 21, I believe. Yeah, 21 or 22. And it was just me, Steph and one assistant. So it was,

it was insane. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was the most offers I saw in house was 36. Like it was crazy. How about the lines wrapping around the house to come.

see it. I never saw anything like it and ridiculously overpriced that they were paying to get into the properties. Yeah, you couldn't properly advise and people were so pressured and rushed and it's just this whole fear like fear of missing out was what was really pushing people. And we had to add the conversation so many times to talking people out of doing it because we're just like, you're just doing this because there's six other people doing it. Like this didn't even feel like a fit for you. So it was it was not very enjoyable. Everybody thinks it was all, what a heyday. You can make a pile of money, but it's like. Oh, it's exhausting.

It was, yeah. It was mentally and physically exhausting. And you know, what you just said trying to talk clients out of making a mistake, that goes to your integrity. And which is a big piece in this industry, you know, because a lot of, there were agents that that didn't have that integrity. They needed the sale. They'd been COVIDed, you know, shut them down to a large degree.

And now, boom, they could really make, hey, well, well, they could. and clients did suffer from that. You know, I had one where my client, she wanted to pay $100,000 over list on an 800,000 plus home. And I said, I said, I can't tell you in good conscience, this is the wise decision. I said, if you want to do it, it needs to be up to you, but I'm going to hope that you're going to stay there a while so that you can get some recoup on it. You know, I said, this feels uncomfortable to me. Now, they went ahead and did it. and then they wanted to sell three years later,

and they'd put another 132 into it. And I said, oh, guys, I said, I'll comp it and we'll see where we're at. And fortunately, they still made $100,000 on it, which was surprising. But they were fortunate to have been in a target, a market where it was exploding even well after that. Thank God. Yeah. And that was amazing. But you're right.

So integrity is a big piece, and balance is a big piece. that's something that you had put in your profile that, you know, you take time for yourself, you're taking time for working out. And tell us a little bit about that, because that's an important element. Yeah, that's a huge pillar for our team is actually, actually functioning like a team, like all of us shared in the wins, whether I write the contract, get the offer accepted, officially sell the property. Like everybody, we kind of pool our resources together where everybody celebrates in the wins, which is extremely important. And then we also have staggered days off. And we just set expectations with clients.

You know, we meet every morning at 10 a.m. as a team. Everybody's plugged into what's going on. We're not a massive team. We've genuinely kept our team small for that purpose and reasons. You don't feel like you're getting passed off, but allowing us to recharge, we're human. And in order for us to perform our best for you, we need to be at our best. So that's been a pillar for what we do now and just actually added another agent to our team that we've been working on for a couple of years.

And I think we've kind of got the perfect mix now. But it's extremely important. Like, I remember my first even two years in the business, I didn't take a single day off, which I was young, I was hungry, I was ready to go, which is amazing. But I didn't realize the burnout that was in me because I just saw, I always used to say, I'm just built different. I can go. I can keep going.

But once I took time to unplug the way my, even the way, the thoughts and the things that I had that I just didn't have time to think on, that old adage of working on the business and not in the business. So yeah, it's been extremely important for us. and clients don't suffer, if anything, they get actually a better service because there's always somebody on who's fully plugged in, whether it's a weekend or a Monday or whatever day of the week it is. So it's been huge for us. I think everybody really appreciates, especially working on other teams or being a single agent, it's a Sunday afternoon and you're at, you know,

one of the guys that works with us, he's having a baby today. And he's at the hospital. And so all his clients are well looked after. Like I'm going out for showings with his clients right after this. and he just gets to fully unplugged to be able to do his thing. And I think that's a missing thing in this business. Everybody looks at the dollar amount and they don't want to cut up the pie and they're getting into it for the wrong reasons. But as we always say, like, it's always client first. And you touched on it too where it's like, especially in the heydays when COVID was going

on, everyone's just thinking about the paycheck versus like, this is it going to be my client for life. Yes. And you always have to view it through that lens and what's genuinely best for them. Right. And it's like the paycheck is a byproduct of doing that. and everybody has these lead generation systems and this and that to try and funnel new people in their hopper.

If you focus on the people that you're actively working with or you've worked with and you do a really damn good job, that person, the average person transacts every four to five years. They have friends. They have family. They have coworkers. Like that is the web. That is the secret sauce, which is no secret. It's so true.

People lose track of that. I've got a family that I've done 14 sides with them over probably the past eight years. big sides too big and little all different because it would be the daughter the son or now we're going to move or want us by and it was so much and now they're all kind of settled in but but it doesn't matter like the other day I saw that the primary woman her name popped up on Instagram and it looked like a spam to me and I screenshot I said it to her I said is this your new profile that you got going on on Instagram and she goes, no. I said, all right, I'm going to report it and shut it down. So I did. But that little thing like that, just helping your client, now I haven't done a deal

with them in probably three years now. But it doesn't matter because they're still my client. I'm still going to do the little things, right? And they're like because what happens when you do business like you're talking about, that becomes a family, a family that you're part of. And that's the difference. You know, I had a friend who he was a Mike Ferry maniac, always on the phone, beating the phone to death every single day. And I said, what do you do with these people now that you've sold them? You do big business, clearly. I said, but you're starting over every single day.

I said, are you nurturing any of these people? Because that's what you want is the repeat business, the constant dialing for dollars. Oh my gosh. Yeah, 100%. And we noticed that big when we did when we had the year where we did 100 deals, we were like, okay, that's not sustainable. And we could we are we handling and doing the same level of service that we should be? Are we adhering to that? So then we've actually slowly started to taper it back and it's much more of quality over quantity. We had situations where we had a, we have a family just like you're talking about. I think we've done. That's probably 14 ends with them and probably in the last five years. They're still doing stuff. One of the of them's a builder, all sorts of things. But, you know, we'd be very busy. We'd have 20 listings. And then he would call. And I always was like, why did we say yes to this other thing where I know I need to leave a door open for these types of people? So it's just all about finding out what that line is and just like sticking to that. So you don't get into a situation of over promising and under delivering. So there's even, you know, in the peak markets for us, usually like March, April,

May is our busy season of the year, historically over the last like four or five years. So we'll hit a cap and we just, we won't take on new business. And it's, we just, we have to. Our team's small. We only can do so much and we have a certain level of service that we know we all have to adhere to. Meeting every day, we're always continually talking about, okay, how is everybody's bandwidth, where are we at, like open lines of communication on that?

Because it is important. Like people, other people, if I'm not burning out because I'm taking time off, but our support staff is starting to burn out, it's like we all need to be at our best. Yes. So it's, again, getting into the industry, I think a lot of people get into it for the paycheck versus like I want to service people. I want to create long lasting relationships. And you hit the nail on the head when you said family.

We have group chat with our clients and we always chime in and just say, hey, welcome to the TJ and staff real estate group family. And that's what we're creating. Yeah. Well, and people want to be a part of a family. You know, they don't, I mean, not everybody does. You'll get some grumpy people out there. But that's not my client.

I don't know about you. No, yeah. I have no problem to say no to that anymore. more. Yeah, you know, and I think that's an important lesson. We should talk about that. You know, some people are so hungry, they'll take anybody on and overpriced listings or really discounted commissions. No, stop it. You know, have a confidence in what you're bringing to the table and your skill, even if you're new. Because, you know, most people, I think a solo agent starting out not on a team is just basically foolish. They need camaraderie and they need guidance. And,

on your kind of team, it's really unique to me. So you're saying, how do you meet? Do you do it on a Zoom? Do you do it in person? No, in person. Yeah, we have, I was able to buy a commercial space downtown in Colonna here. And so all of us are in the office every day. And then depending on if there are, there are agents who are off specific days of the week.

But even today at 10 a.m., we meet as a full team. We pull up on, we have a boardroom and kind of put everything up on the screen. We're very systematic in how we do everything. So like we've got a very active board of like all of our active clients, active buyers, active sellers, accepted offers, coming soon, all that stuff. So we kind of comb through everything top to bottom. And then once a week is a bit longer meeting where we talk about like successes, high, lows, ways we can improve upcoming events or things we have planned, stuff like that. So it's very collaborative. And it's important when you're on a team because I know a lot of teams like you say they meet once a week maybe over Zoom.

but like how are you actually understanding what's going on, especially if there's crossover with multiple agents being involved, where our clients, like if I'm going to do these showings after this, and I already know we have our CRM all dialed in with like their kids' names, their birthdays, like absolutely everything. So I feel like I go into these types of meetings where I haven't met these folks yet, but eyes wide open.

It's not like, oh, you just, they just feel like, oh, God, you're just going to open the door for me, right? There's so much more value that is there. So yeah. So tell me this now when you like doing this for him is this just like the a favor or are you Making it financially where everyone wins because you're spending your time? How do you do that? So we have like it's his client his center of influence or COI so we have different split structures if it's like a team generated lead versus a center of influence lead Gotcha, but no matter if I do every single showing with them and he again he's going to be away for probably a month having his baby and getting settled to dad life.

If I do the whole process start to finish, that splits doesn't stay, doesn't change. Wow. And it's, yeah, it's, it's important because like if I am away, I'm a big snowmobiler, that's my, that's what fills my cup. So we're getting into snow season. I know I've got a couple days penciled in to go on some trips and stuff. And it comes full circle when you look at it from a 12 month span versus like each individual specific deal. Yeah.

And we're meeting with, we have kind of like leadership meetings once a month with one-on-ones with each of the members of the team as well. So making sure everybody's, you know, feeling good about things or if, hey, like I felt like I've put more into this deal and this thing, these things haven't panned out. There's a very open line of communication on all that. But it's not about the bottom dollar. It's about like creating the true family from within our organization. And that then kind of leads out to our clients and to how we, we go about things day to day. It's a very unique split structure. for sure, for sure, though. It's very unique model of a team. Yeah. And so that's probably why you won all

these awards. Yeah, yeah. Because it really is a good system. So tell me about how you're doing AI into your business, because you and I talked a little before about you're being very careful that it's not over AI. Talk about that. Yeah, I think, as we both discussed, too, like real estate is such a relationship-based business, and people won't want to do business with people. So AI has definitely streamlined a lot of systems, a lot of processes allowed us to find and access information a lot quicker where looking at zoning codes and breakdowns and OCPs and all that stuff, you can get the access to the information right away. But we are very vigilant that we don't want to over automate everything where people feel like they're talking to a robot. The systems are continually improving. So we're staying on top of like what

these automations are and how we can integrate them. But we don't see something and then implement it. we see it, we play with it, we talk about it, how is this going to impact the consumer or the client? And is that going to have a good or negative impact? Even if it takes a little bit of time off our bandwidth, but people are going to feel like they're talking to a robot, okay, let's, how is that going to work? So it's, there's a lot of, it's amazing. It's very scary. Like, AI genuinely scares me. And as we discussed, too, a lot of times, I feel like people right now, they're using it as their backbone and they're just fully heavily relying on it, where the information is not always correct. You cannot use that as your backstop. You still have to verify what it's

spitting out to you. Yeah. So it's, it's, I don't ever think it's going to replace the actual agent. I don't need. And I think that there's so many ways we can show value beyond those things. We should use those tools to kind of amplify our business. But at the end of the day, like, like I always use the analogy for myself, like moving around 16 times. I know neighborhoods that are built on clay because we did full renovations. I know the school systems. I know the catchments. You know where the sun rises and sets.

Like there's just so many things that you can't get off of through AI. Or if I live in a neighborhood called Glenmore here locally, and I can, you know, we just sold a few houses over in that neighborhood and be able to tell people about everything that's going on in and around there. It's, there's such a human component to it too and like that relationship aspect that I think so many people are missing.

Still so much power in picking up. the cinder block phone and connecting with people versus shooting automated text, automated follow-ups, automated all these things. It's like people will start to lose the touch and you won't be that relationship person when they think real estate. They need to think you. They're not going to think, oh, that guy sends me an email every month, but like I haven't talked to him in two years.

I don't even know what he's up to. Right? There's a huge difference to that. Yeah. And they're stiff. They're not warm and fuzzy. Yeah. And yeah, I totally agree with that.

I think you've got to stay in touch with your clients. I did something started years ago with send out cards. Have you ever heard of it? Yeah, we do. We do a ton of send out cards. And we did, that was one thing. We automated. And then it just doesn't look like a handwritten note.

So we actually spend a lot of time every week doing handwritten notes. Like I'd have to talk to Sidney who sends them all out. But I would guess we do 30 to 50 a week. So what do you mean? How are you doing them handwritten within send out cards? So we did automated send out cards. But now we just send out handwritten cards. Oh, gotcha.

Yeah. But like birthdays, anniversaries, home anniversaries, Mother's Day, Father's Day. We have a Christmas newsletter that goes out. Like there's so many different touches and more personalized. Yeah, yeah. Or like random stuff that we see on social media. Like somebody's recovering from surgery.

We send them a card and just say, hey, we just saw that you got out of surgery. We're thinking about you, send love. Like the amount of texts and messages and like that's the day. difference. Yeah. So what I did with send out cards is they're an online platform, but you can send it U.S. mail. So I would, I'm connected with all my clients on Facebook, right? So I would see like, here's a new baby or a new puppy or something. I grab that. And because they have an app, I would grab that picture on my phone and I would do a card where that's the cover of the card, that picture of the new baby or whatever. And then on the inside, I would basically say, you know, I thought you might enjoy this physical picture of that happy moment because all our pictures are in our phones now and this one you can keep.

And then I would do some sort of saying or quote on the back of the card. I wouldn't have any branding on it at all. They would know it was me. And I got more. I was telling you earlier. I got a $5 million. Was I telling you $5 million deal from this one woman that I stayed in touch with for years? She had a little store and I would do little things for her throughout the years where I would promote that store.

And I knew the house that she had was a multi-million dollar home on the water here. And she had just got it when I met her. So 12 years of sending cards of different things where I was doing things for her. I got a few sales here and there with her son, her sister, things like that. And then one day she said, I'm selling the big one. I'd like you to do it. I'm like, oh, that works. $5 million home.

And that was right. Was it right before COVID? Or it was in a tough market. But I had it sold in 11 days too because of the type of connections that I also have. That's another important point. You talked about you're always on a mission to get connected with different people of influence. And I think that's so important. Yeah, that was a huge thing. I watched my father had a HVAC company, as I was mentioning, and just his

Rolodex and with doing renovations in this, like a tile guy, a painter, an electrician, like absolutely everything. So especially when I got started, it was like mandatory for me to have at least a coffee a day with someone to create my Rolodex. And I'm big now on like, you know, I've got a few rental properties in Colona, West Colonna, our office. So we've done a lot of renovations and stuff as well. also I personally use and vet the people that I put my clients in touch with. It's not just painter that I hope it works well. It's a guy I found on Instagram or Facebook and he's the highest reviewed. And there are situations where it's some off thing that someone needs and I'm like,

hey, I don't have someone specific for this. I've called this person. I've looked them up on Google, blah, blah, blah, blah. But the importance of having your rolodex of professionals because that's your umbilical cord to your business. So these people need to have a similar standard to the way that you operate. literally down to like an electrician. Like our electrician is my buddy,

we've got this really cool monopoly wall in our office. And instead of like the monopoly logos, we have a bunch of like very cool properties that we've sold or good stories. And even for the electrical company, instead of having an electric company, his logos up there. So that's our electrician that we send out to everybody and lawyers, mortgage brokers, of course,

but down to like car salesmen, literally anything somebody would need. You want them to be your, or you to be their resource. Yes. So that was extremely important. And I think a lot of times you could send, you can call a lawyer. You could send him an email.

But like when you get face to face belly to belly with them, you create an impression. They'll have more incentive to be like, yeah, I remember that kid. He's a hustler. And like he's, yeah, I'm going to knock this one out of the park. Yeah. And then you slowly start to build that web. I love that. So that's, yeah.

I use the send out cards for that. And I would do it once a month and it'd say on the cover, it said, I got a guy and a gal too. So I never gave my whole Rolodex. I never wanted that. I would give one and I would feature them with all the information that they about their company on the left hand side. Then on the right I would basically say, here's my monthly card where I'm sending my favorite clients of which you are one. The information about this particular guy because I know them, I trust them, you'll trust them. Whether you need them or not right now, save his name and number, feel free to share it with anybody.

I get nothing for this other than the satisfaction of doing a good job for my clients. And I would brand the back of that card. And that's really how that card, along with promoting her business, that woman with the $5 million, that's how I stayed in touch. And people would call me up every single month and say, I don't need what you had in the card cath, but I need this because I know you got a guy. And if I didn't have it, I was tracking them down like a junkyard dog. Yeah.

Like you're, yeah, it's important. And it's, and I have so many, I can imagine you as well, you get, whether it's electricians, plumbers, sign guys, you name it, people call us and they say, hey, like, you put me in touch with your client. I'll give you 100 bucks. And I always stop them and I say, hey, look, like, that's not a thing that works for me. Like, yeah. If I put you in touch with somebody, the referral back to me is you doing a 10 out of 10

job where they call me and say, thank you so much. This guy was amazing. Yes. That means more than the hundred bucks. you're going to kick me or a bottle of wine, like just do a damn good job. That's all I need you to do. I never want that little bit of pittance. It's no value to me because I think my clients and yours would feel a slack of integrity

on who you just referred. Yeah. No. Especially if they find it out and then it comes up and you're like, oh, you're backpedaling. It's like, no, there's no gain for me here other than you're going to be looked after. That's the gain for me because I know my people are in good hands. Yeah. Well, this was great.

I really appreciated you being on here today. I know you've got to get to your next meeting and I appreciate you so much. So any less little words of advice? I think when getting into the business, I like I meet with a lot of younger agents because again, I've only been in the business for seven years and like you say, some of the accolades and stuff,

which are amazing. But I think the biggest thing is, and I've said it 10 times, but just come at it with a genuine perspective of wanting to help people and do a good job. Like our business is literally, built on reviews, word to mouth and repeat business and referral. It's reviews are such a hidden link as well.

Like when you do a good job for somebody and they feel it and you ask them to do a review, they'll pour their heart out. And that is the easiest way for people to find you online. Yeah. We just did a deal for $17.5 million and the guy found us online through reviews. Wow. Which is free. There's no dollars that gets spent on that.

It's just doing a good job for clients, leaving a review. about their experience. We always set expectations day one. We just say something along the lines, the initial meeting, like our genuine mission is to create a 10 out of 10 experience for you. And if we're able to achieve that,

which we're very confident, we'll be able to, we're going to ask something of you. And that's for you to take two minutes to leave us a quick review, which is the best way to help our business grow. Would that be okay? Would that be something you're open to?

Absolutely. Who isn't going to want to do that when you knock their socks off, best experience? And then when that time comes at the end, they're like, yeah, you guys did a great job. I'll keep my end of the bargain here

and leave a review. You're asking for it up front. You're saying, here's what I'm going to do. Here's all I need from you. Yeah. I love that. That's that principle of reciprocity where people are like, and for me, if anybody ever does a great job for me and they ask for review, I'm like, absolutely.

Because I know how impactful that is for my business. And you obviously end up working with lots of business owners or people or you just explain to them how it helps your business or examples like a $17, 18 million listing and how that came from something like that. Yes. So there's no secret. It's just, again, doing a good job, setting expectations that when you do a good job, that there's a quick little favor you're going to ask with them.

Yeah, I love it. I absolutely love it. Well, this has been awesome. Thank you so much, T.J. I appreciate how to you on here. And so, everybody, that's a wrap on this one. If you're interested in getting in touch with T.J. Up in his area of the world, all his contact information will be below, and you can reach out to him.

So thanks again, everybody. Then let's book a strategy call and see how it would look. your eyes. And if you're thinking, man, I'd like to have a conversation with Kathy Burns. Maybe I'd like to be part of this EXP company and see what it's all about. That sounds good to me. Let's book a strategy call and let's have a talk. No pressure, but man, it's worth a conversation. The links in the description.