Christian Harris
In real estate since 2007. Licensed broker since 2014. Commercial brokerage owner, licensed real estate instructor, and founder of Elevate OS, licensed in four states.
Most people who teach tenant rep have only ever sat on the tenant side.
Before brokerage, I managed a retail mall over a million square feet in Chesapeake, Virginia, and later oversaw a shopping center portfolio in Raleigh, North Carolina. That is landlord representation learned from the inside.
I know what a vacancy actually costs an owner, how landlords weigh a shorter term against a stronger tenant, why some concessions get granted immediately and others never do, and what happens on the other end of an LOI after you send it. That perspective is most of what separates a commercial agent who gets deals done from one who submits offers and waits.
- Asset types worked: retail, office, industrial, multifamily, owner user, property management
- Service types: tenant representation as the core of the business, landlord representation, leasing, property management
- Licensed broker in Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina
- Licensed real estate instructor since 2025
Nineteen years, and no straight line
How a residential agent ended up building a commercial education program.
Started in residential
I began my real estate career in residential and spent five years building it. I was good at the work. Helping people buy and sell homes is a real skill and I do not diminish it.
Wanted more, found no door
Five years in, I wanted more than the residential transaction cycle. Commercial was obviously there in my market. What was not there was anyone teaching it. No course, no path, and no one in the office who could explain how a commercial deal actually worked.
Two mentors, and a mall
I got lucky. Two people decided to teach me, which is not how most agents' stories go. Alongside that I managed a retail mall over a million square feet in Chesapeake, Virginia, and later oversaw a shopping center portfolio in Raleigh. Landlord representation stopped being theoretical.
Licensed broker
I earned my broker license and kept building commercial experience across retail, office, industrial, multifamily, and owner user property, eventually holding licenses in Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina.
Opened the brokerage, founded Elevate OS
I opened my own commercial brokerage and founded Elevate OS the same year. One is the practice. The other is the consulting company that builds the systems underneath a practice.
Licensed real estate instructor
Teaching stopped being something I did informally for agents who asked and became something I was credentialed to do.
Elevate Commercial
Years of owning a commercial brokerage made one gap impossible to ignore. The missing piece in this industry is hands on education. So I built it.
I got in on luck. That should not be the system.
Two people decided to teach me commercial real estate. That is the only reason I have the career I have.
Nothing about it was designed
If those two had been busy, or I had been in a different office that year, I would likely still be doing residential and wondering what commercial was like.
I watch it happen constantly
Capable, producing, professional agents hand commercial business to someone else because nobody ever showed them what to do with it.
The missing piece is hands on
Not vocabulary and not a webinar. Actual practice running a consultation, reading lease economics, preparing an LOI, and working a prospect list.
So nobody has to get lucky
Elevate Commercial is the door I could not find in 2012, built so the next person does not need somebody to decide to help them.
A consulting company, not a coaching brand
Elevate OS provides business consulting, project management, business growth strategy, and professional development. Elevate Commercial operates as a program under it.
Small business into smart business
The work I do through Elevate OS is getting policies and procedures in order and building the operational structure that lets a business grow without breaking.
Built like a growth plan
The accelerator is structured the way a consultant builds a growth plan: prospecting systems, pipeline, follow up, revenue goals, and accountability, with commercial real estate as the subject matter.
Cohorts, not a video library
Systems only get built if someone builds them. That is why the program has weekly deliverables and tracked activity instead of a folder of recordings.
What I do not claim
A lot of real estate education is sold on implied promises. This is not.
What I can do
- Teach you how commercial real estate actually works
- Show you how commercial business gets found
- Work through the situations you will actually face
- Give you systems, templates, and a written plan
- Tell you honestly when something is not worth chasing
What I do not do
- Act as your supervising or managing broker
- Give legal, tax, or accounting advice
- Manage your transactions or review every document
- Negotiate on your behalf
- Promise income, commissions, closings, or any specific result
- Offer continuing education or licensing credit
About Christian
What people ask before working with me.
What makes your commercial background different?
+Most people who teach tenant representation have only ever sat on the tenant side. I managed a retail mall over a million square feet and oversaw a shopping center portfolio, which means I learned landlord representation from the ownership side of the table.
I know what a vacancy actually costs an owner, how landlords weigh a shorter term against a stronger tenant, which concessions get granted immediately and which never do, and what happens to an LOI after you send it.
Are you licensed in my state?
+I hold broker licenses in Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, and North Carolina. That does not make me an authority on the rules where you practice. The training covers commercial business practice, deal structure, and business development, which travel across markets. Verify state specific requirements with your licensing authority and your managing broker.
Do your programs count as continuing education?
+No. I am a licensed real estate instructor, but the Accelerator and the other Elevate Commercial programs are not continuing education. Certificates of Completion are professional credentials from Elevate OS, not CE or licensing credit.
Will you be my supervising broker?
+No, and no Elevate Commercial program replaces one. You remain responsible for following your brokerage's policies, applicable state licensing laws, and state specific transaction requirements, and for getting broker approval where it is required.
What does Elevate OS actually do?
+Elevate OS provides business consulting, project management, business growth strategy, and professional development. The work is taking small businesses and making them smart businesses: policies and procedures in order, and operational structure that lets a business grow without breaking.
Elevate Commercial operates as a program under it, which is why the accelerator is built like a consultant's growth plan rather than a course syllabus.
Pick the one that fits
Three ways into commercial, depending on where you are starting.
The Accelerator
A virtual cohort capped at ten licensed professionals. Sixteen hours of live instruction, four Deal Labs, weekly deliverables, and a written 90 day plan. $1,500. Next cohort starts October 5, 2026.
Monthly and Deal Review
Monthly group training at $199 a month, or a private one on one Deal Review from $350. Open to any licensed professional, no prerequisite.
Brokerage training
Private commercial training delivered to your whole firm and customized to your market. Engagements start at $5,000.
Luck is not a training program
It is just what happens when a training program does not exist. Elevate Commercial is the version that does not require getting lucky.