Inside Commercial Real Estate With Christian Espinoza Of Greysteel

Think apartment deals are all long lunches and flexible schedules? We sit down with Greysteel’s Christian Espinoza to cut through the gloss and get practical about what it really takes to buy or sell an apartment building in Orange County. From hyper-specialization to relentless preparation, Christian shows how a tight focus and a dependable process can mean the difference between a clean closing and a costly delay.

We start with his path into commercial real estate as a first-generation entrepreneur, where the lack of a family pipeline became fuel for mastering fundamentals. Christian breaks down why specialization matters in multifamily brokerage: hyperlocal rent trends, lender appetite, cap rate movement, debt maturity cliffs, and buyer risk profiles. He explains how treating the career like pro sports—daily drills, honest film study, and constant reps—builds a repeatable system for prospecting, underwriting, negotiation, and execution. Along the way, he dismantles the myth of freedom, making a case for structured time, clear tradeoffs, and consistent communication as the real levers of top performance.

If you’re an owner or investor in Orange County, you’ll hear exactly how old-school prospecting still wins. Christian talks through cold calling with value, turning meetings into trust, and preparing listings with clean financials and realistic expectations. He also shares personal anchors—faith, family, and sports—that keep his edge sharp without burning out, plus a future vision for a podcast that blends business with life beyond the spreadsheet. Greysteel’s service model comes into focus: hyper-focused expertise, full-service execution, and accountability that extends past the closing table.

Call Christian at [phone]

Subscribe for more candid, strategy-rich conversations with local experts, and share this episode with someone weighing their next apartment acquisition or sale. If you enjoyed it, leave a quick review and tell us what part of Christian’s approach you’d adopt in your own business.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Rachel Five.

SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Now, if you are looking to buyor sell an apartment building
here in Orange County, well,help is on the way.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
Christian Espinoza, with GreySteel.
Christian, how is it going?

SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
It is going very, very good.
I'm glad to be on here.
Thank you for having me andlooking forward to providing a
little bit of background onmyself.

SPEAKER_02 (00:42):
Awesome.
Well, with that said, we'reexcited to learn about you and
your experience in real estateand with Greysteel.
So tell us about the company andyou.

SPEAKER_00 (00:53):
Yeah, so the company is hyper specialized in
commercial buildings.
I myself have been in theindustry for seven years and
have been selling apartmentbuildings since.
So we are, again, veryspecialized when it comes to
commercial properties,investment properties
representing buyers and sellersof real estate, investment real

(01:18):
estate, more particularly.

SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
Wonderful.
Well, how did you kind of getinto this business?

SPEAKER_00 (01:25):
Yeah, so my journey was very unique in comparison to
most in this business.
I don't have a family backgroundwhen it comes to commercial real
estate or uh too much on theinvestment side, but you know,
most of my family do run theirown businesses, have very
high-level business acumen.

(01:45):
And um really the journeystarted since I was a little
kid.
You know, I knew at a very youngage that I wanted to be an
entrepreneur and specific fieldthat I wanted to get into, but I
just wanted to be in business.
You know, I knew it wassomething that I was meant to do
and something that you know Iwould probably be very good at.

(02:07):
So, you know, through my journeyand you know, the ups and downs,
like many people have, it kindof led me into this industry.
And it's something that one withbusiness, I wanted to really
reach my full potential andmaybe even have an opportunity
to exceed it.
And I knew this business wasgonna be very tough, but it was

(02:29):
gonna get the best out of me,but ultimately provide me a life
where I could really not justmyself benefit, but ultimately
my future generations and my mycurrent family with all the work
and all the sacrifices that theythat they made.
That you know, this business isvery fruitful, but it's very
tough.
So, you know, I'm very uh verymuch battle tested, and it has

(02:52):
you know done very well for meand my family uh thus far.
So um you know, really it'sreally the beginning of why I
wanted to be in business, butultimately led to commercial
real estate.

SPEAKER_02 (03:04):
Wonderful.
Well, what are maybe some mythsor misconceptions in your
industry?

SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
That there's freedom.
I think that's one of the bigbiggest misconceptions that um
that you set your own schedules,that you kind of are in and out
of the office.
And you know, generally, youknow, I guess that's that's the
best word.
It really is freedom.
You know, if you want to be atthe pinnacle of your career,

(03:30):
especially in this business, youreally have to put a lot into
it.
You know, there's a lot ofsacrifices that need to be made
within family and within yourown time in order for you to be
the best of the best and get tothat point.
So um you really need to spend alot of time with it, time with
this.
In addition to, I really relatethis industry and the mechanics

(03:53):
in order for you to get to thatlevel is you know very similar
to professional sports.
It's a constant grind, it's aconstant training, it's always
seeking out improvement, butalso being part of just the
ever-changing business.
You know, you have to be ahyper-specialist, you have to be
an expert, and you have toalways be available.

(04:15):
I think that's one of thebiggest misconceptions of this
business is um your schedule isdefinitely based off what you're
doing and ultimately and howgood you want to be at this
career, and if anything, to bethe best.
You know, you really have to putyour all into it, and it's an
investment of time and it's asacrifice of time as well.

SPEAKER_02 (04:35):
Well, we know marketing is really at the heart
of every business.
So, how are you finding clients?

SPEAKER_00 (04:43):
Um, I mean, it's very old school in my approach.
You know, I I use the phone as aways to get in front of owners,
you know, ultimately.
So definitely make a good amountof calls and use the phone as a
tool to get in front of to getin front of people.
So a lot of meetings as well.

(05:03):
And yeah, I mean, generallythere's no other way to it.
I mean, you could do the socialmedia type marketing, you know,
referrals are a big part of ourbusiness as well, word of mouth.
But generally, it's really theold school approach, is picking
up the phone and making calls inorder for you to get in front of
owners.

SPEAKER_02 (05:23):
Have you ever thought of doing your own
podcast?

SPEAKER_00 (05:26):
Um, I have, and there's many people that have
told me that I shouldeventually, but I guess it's
going back to the the one of theoriginal questions where is, you
know, where is my time betterspent?
You know, I want to make surethat I become the best, and I
actually have a platform uh tocreate my own podcast and start

(05:48):
my journey like that.
So I do have visions within mycareer, and eventually when I'm
fully retired, is to do publicspeaking, to eventually uh be,
you know, probably do a proppodcast as well.
Um, but I definitely want tomake the podcast a little bit
different than most people inthe industry.
I know a lot of people in theindustry focus on real estate,

(06:09):
uh, but I am a plethora ofknowledge and I have other
interests besides business.
So I want to incorporate sports,I want to incorporate you know
family life.
You know, I'm very big in myfaith as well.
So incorporating that and umhaving individuals that you know
want to get on, obviously speakbusiness because that's the
industry that I'm in, but uhhave fun with it.

SPEAKER_02 (06:30):
Wonderful.
Well, outside of work, what doyou like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
Yeah, I mean, um, you know, definitely spend my
time with friends and family.
I mean, that's first andforemost.
Um also I'm very big withsports, you know, so I go to a
lot of sports games throughoutthe year and watch sports, but
you know, generally with the howhectic my daily schedule is, I I

(06:57):
like to keep myself very uhlow-key, you know, on the
weekends or just outside of thebusiness.
Um, you know, for the samesacrifices and time that it
takes to do what we do in thisbusiness is the same time that I
want to spend with my familybecause they're the reason why I
do it.
Uh so um I don't I don't doanything crazy generally.
You know, I uh I really valuequiet and um just value just

(07:21):
quality time with my familyultimately.

SPEAKER_02 (07:25):
Well, Christian, please tell our listeners one
thing they should remember aboutGraysteel and your your work
with them.

SPEAKER_00 (07:33):
Yeah, well, I mean ultimately it's just the hyper
focus that we have in our in ourindustry and our respective
product types, in addition tothe full service nature that we
apply to our businesses and ourclients to ensure that there's
no holes in what we do for them.
You know, it serviceseverything.
I mean, we're a service-basedindustry, uh, but we generally

(07:57):
have a very relentless approachin the way we serve and the way
we represent our clients to makesure that we can accomplish the
assignment that they entrustedus with, but ultimately for them
to continue coming back.
So, you know, that's veryimportant to us, and making sure
that the investment is not justwith our clients, but the

(08:19):
company really put investment uhin myself and the professionals
to make sure that we couldadhere to everything that we
actually say verbally to ourclients that and how we're gonna
represent them and the kind ofvalue that we add, that we also
have a company that's gonnareciprocate that back to the
professionals as well.
So um very, very high level onall fronts.

SPEAKER_02 (08:43):
Wonderful.
Well, how can our listenerslearn more about Christian
Espinosa with Grace Deal?

SPEAKER_00 (08:49):
Sure.
I mean, uh, I mean, generally aphone call.
You know, I'm always willing toget on a phone call.
Um, I could provide my contactinformation.
You know, I do have a LinkedInif you want to reach out through
there, but I'm very, very oldschool when it comes to
communication.
I like meeting individuals aswell, you know, providing any

(09:11):
wisdom that I could provide.
You know, my my experience thatgoes way beyond business, that
could definitely coincide withwhat people are going through
and ultimately if they even wantto get into the business.
So, yeah, I could provide mycontact information, but you can
find me on LinkedIn and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (09:31):
Perfect.
Well, Christian, I reallyappreciate you being on the
show, and we wish you and yourbusiness, gosh, the very best
moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 (09:39):
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it, Rachel.
Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 (09:43):
My pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 (09:45):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on the
show, go to gnporangecounty.com.
That's gnporangecounty.com orcall 714 941 8862.