Your partner in real estate across the South Bay and East County.

Edgard Espinosa has held a California real estate license since 2001 (DRE 01321476) and works out of Premier Properties at 2400 Fenton Street in Chula Vista. He works in English and Spanish, with first-time buyers, sellers and investors across the southern half of San Diego County.

Chula Vista is the second-largest city in the county, and it is really two places. West of the 805 are the older neighborhoods closer to the bay. To the east are the master-planned communities — Eastlake, Otay Ranch, Rolling Hills Ranch — built from the late 1980s on, with newer houses and schools, HOAs, and the Mello-Roos special taxes that paid for the roads and parks.

East County is a different conversation. El Cajon sits in a valley ringed by hills; Rancho San Diego runs out toward Jamul past the Cottonwood and Steele Canyon golf courses. The lots are bigger, the houses older, and many come with canyon views, gated entrances, pools and solar — along with questions about slopes, roofs and home insurance that a house in a flat subdivision never raises.

Neither side is better. They suit different people, and the useful first conversation is often about which one you are actually shopping for. That conversation costs nothing.