Good Neighbor Podcast: Orange County

Inside Commercial Real Estate With Christian Espinoza Of Greysteel

• Rachel Fyffe & Christian Espinoza

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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 (949) 307-9469

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.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Rachel Five.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Now, if you are looking to buy or sell an apartment building here in Orange County, well, help is on the way. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Christian Espinoza, with Grey Steel. Christian, how is it going?

SPEAKER_00:

It is going very, very good. I'm glad to be on here. Thank you for having me and looking forward to providing a little bit of background on myself.

SPEAKER_02:

Awesome. Well, with that said, we're excited to learn about you and your experience in real estate and with Greysteel. So tell us about the company and you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so the company is hyper specialized in commercial buildings. I myself have been in the industry for seven years and have been selling apartment buildings since. So we are, again, very specialized when it comes to commercial properties, investment properties representing buyers and sellers of real estate, investment real estate, more particularly.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful. Well, how did you kind of get into this business?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so my journey was very unique in comparison to most in this business. I don't have a family background when it comes to commercial real estate or uh too much on the investment side, but you know, most of my family do run their own businesses, have very high-level business acumen. And um really the journey started since I was a little kid. You know, I knew at a very young age that I wanted to be an entrepreneur and specific field that I wanted to get into, but I just wanted to be in business. You know, I knew it was something that I was meant to do and something that you know I would probably be very good at. So, you know, through my journey and you know, the ups and downs, like many people have, it kind of led me into this industry. And it's something that one with business, I wanted to really reach my full potential and maybe even have an opportunity to exceed it. And I knew this business was gonna be very tough, but it was gonna get the best out of me, but ultimately provide me a life where I could really not just myself benefit, but ultimately my future generations and my my current family with all the work and all the sacrifices that they that they made. That you know, this business is very fruitful, but it's very tough. So, you know, I'm very uh very much battle tested, and it has you know done very well for me and my family uh thus far. So um you know, really it's really the beginning of why I wanted to be in business, but ultimately led to commercial real estate.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful. Well, what are maybe some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_00:

That there's freedom. I think that's one of the big biggest misconceptions that um that you set your own schedules, that you kind of are in and out of the office. And you know, generally, you know, I guess that's that's the best word. It really is freedom. You know, if you want to be at the pinnacle of your career, especially in this business, you really have to put a lot into it. You know, there's a lot of sacrifices that need to be made within family and within your own time in order for you to be the best of the best and get to that point. So um you really need to spend a lot of time with it, time with this. In addition to, I really relate this industry and the mechanics in order for you to get to that level is you know very similar to professional sports. It's a constant grind, it's a constant training, it's always seeking out improvement, but also being part of just the ever-changing business. You know, you have to be a hyper-specialist, you have to be an expert, and you have to always be available. I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions of this business is um your schedule is definitely based off what you're doing and ultimately and how good you want to be at this career, and if anything, to be the best. You know, you really have to put your all into it, and it's an investment of time and it's a sacrifice of time as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, we know marketing is really at the heart of every business. So, how are you finding clients?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I mean, it's very old school in my approach. You know, I I use the phone as a ways to get in front of owners, you know, ultimately. So definitely make a good amount of calls and use the phone as a tool to get in front of to get in front of people. So a lot of meetings as well. And yeah, I mean, generally there's no other way to it. I mean, you could do the social media type marketing, you know, referrals are a big part of our business as well, word of mouth. But generally, it's really the old school approach, is picking up the phone and making calls in order for you to get in front of owners.

SPEAKER_02:

Have you ever thought of doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I have, and there's many people that have told me that I should eventually, but I guess it's going back to the the one of the original questions where is, you know, where is my time better spent? You know, I want to make sure that I become the best, and I actually have a platform uh to create my own podcast and start my journey like that. So I do have visions within my career, and eventually when I'm fully retired, is to do public speaking, to eventually uh be, you know, probably do a prop podcast as well. Um, but I definitely want to make the podcast a little bit different than most people in the industry. I know a lot of people in the industry focus on real estate, uh, but I am a plethora of knowledge 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 my faith as well. So incorporating that and um having individuals that you know want to get on, obviously speak business because that's the industry that I'm in, but uh have fun with it.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful. Well, outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean, um, you know, definitely spend my time with friends and family. I mean, that's first and foremost. Um also I'm very big with sports, you know, so I go to a lot of sports games throughout the year and watch sports, but you know, generally with the how hectic my daily schedule is, I I like to keep myself very uh low-key, you know, on the weekends or just outside of the business. Um, you know, for the same sacrifices and time that it takes to do what we do in this business is the same time that I want to spend with my family because they're the reason why I do it. Uh so um I don't I don't do anything crazy generally. You know, I uh I really value quiet and um just value just quality time with my family ultimately.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Christian, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Graysteel and your your work with them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, well, I mean ultimately it's just the hyper focus that we have in our in our industry and our respective product types, in addition to the full service nature that we apply to our businesses and our clients to ensure that there's no holes in what we do for them. You know, it services everything. I mean, we're a service-based industry, uh, but we generally have a very relentless approach in the way we serve and the way we represent our clients to make sure that we can accomplish the assignment that they entrusted us with, but ultimately for them to continue coming back. So, you know, that's very important to us, and making sure that the investment is not just with our clients, but the company really put investment uh in myself and the professionals to make sure that we could adhere to everything that we actually say verbally to our clients that and how we're gonna represent them and the kind of value that we add, that we also have a company that's gonna reciprocate that back to the professionals as well. So um very, very high level on all fronts.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful. Well, how can our listeners learn more about Christian Espinosa with Grace Deal?

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. I mean, uh, I mean, generally a phone call. You know, I'm always willing to get on a phone call. Um, I could provide my contact information. You know, I do have a LinkedIn if you want to reach out through there, but I'm very, very old school when it comes to communication. I like meeting individuals as well, you know, providing any wisdom that I could provide. You know, my my experience that goes way beyond business, that could definitely coincide with what people are going through and ultimately if they even want to get into the business. So, yeah, I could provide my contact information, but you can find me on LinkedIn and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Perfect. Well, Christian, I really appreciate you being on the show, and we wish you and your business, gosh, the very best moving forward.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Rachel. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

My pleasure.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnporangecounty.com. That's gnporangecounty.com or call 714 941 8862.