Score
Steve Economos of Economos DeWolf: How My Career Journey Has Shaped How I Lead Today
Steve Economos emphasizes the importance of adaptability and a positive mindset in leadership, shaped by his extensive experience in the real estate sector. His approach to brand strategy involves creating meaningful spaces that resonate with communities, highlighting the significance of understanding market cycles and maintaining core values in business operations.
Authority Magazine: Steve Economos of Economos DeWolf: How My Career Journey Has Shaped How I Lead Today An Interview With Jim Hamel -- Listen Share The lesson for me is simple: always be ready for anything. Keep dry powder and keep a positive attitude. The lesson for me is simple: always be ready for anything. Keep dry powder and keep a positive attitude. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure to interview Steve Economos. Steve Economos is the co-founder of Orange County-based CRE firm Economos DeWolf, where he has spent years building, advising, and investing in residential, commercial, and mixed-use real estate projects.
His work blends strategic discipline with creative vision, turning properties into opportunities that strengthen both markets and communities. Driven by a belief that real estate is about more than buildings, Steve focuses on creating spaces with lasting purpose. Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we begin, can you please introduce yourself? Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘Origin Story’ and how you got started? Making faces on the Xerox machine! My dad was a broker back in the late 1970’s and he’d bring me to the office on Saturdays.
As I got older, he’d have me research ownership using big parcel maps and microfiche. I’d also copy pages out of the Thomas Brothers map book and then tape them together to make driving-tour maps. Fast forward to the late 1980s, I went to Arizona State University, which was one of the few schools in the country with an undergraduate degree in real estate.
While there I interned for an independent brokerage firm in Phoenix before I moved back to Orange County and started at Grubb & Ellis in January of 1993 in the Newport Beach office. My firm, which we started in 2017, is based in Newport Beach just a block from that original Grubb & Ellis office. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story? As I mentioned, I got to Grubb & Ellis in January 1993 and started in the research department. I was basically CoStar for our office.
I called quarterly every office lease listing broker in Orange County and asked about every vacant suite and its asking rate. I’d then enter that property information into a Texas Instruments computer that looked like R2D2. After nine months of that (and learning the Orange County office market cold) I started working as my dad’s runner. At that time, my dad handled mostly leasing. For some reason, I gravitated toward sales and suggested I focus on that. I’m grateful my dad agreed, because as we spent less time leasing, we could focus on sales and eventually became the #1 sellers of office buildings in Orange County. Ok, fantastic.
Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you take us back to the beginning? What did your early career look like before you became a founder or CEO? What were the “forming jobs” that mattered most? Please tell us the stories. In the early- to mid-1990’s, we were still dealing with the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), created to deal with the Savings & Loan crisis. Office buildings were trading below $50/SF.
Article truncated for readability. Read the full piece →
The article provides insights from a leader in the real estate sector that can influence brand strategy, but it does not introduce groundbreaking concepts or practices.