Remembering Joe Foster: Mentorship and Legacy in Dallas Real Estate

Wes (00:00.654)
you

Wes (00:08.043)
to you from 2nd Floor Studios in Dallas, Texas. It's the Small Business Living It Podcast with

Wes (00:19.874)
Welcome back to the small business living a podcast with Dean Castelhano. I'm a producer of West Castelhano, but of course the host, my father, the Papa bear Dean. How are you dad?

Hey, Wes, good to be back up at second floor studios. I think our our last deal with Bruce and Sean had a lot of fun. lot of people listened. I got a lot of comments. I also shared that on Facebook and you know, the even guys were were business networking around that one. So that was kind of fun. I think what are we going on YouTube now?

was a lot of fun.

Wes (00:59.31)
Yeah. So officially, so for second floor, Dallas has its own YouTube channel. Okay. We're technically recording video now, but what I like most people seem to get their podcasts. They don't go through Apple or Spotify. If they do, they go through that, but it's a lot easier if you have a YouTube open, click it. So good. Drove a lot more traffic.

Well, yeah, so I'll do that and I'll post a link on Facebook. However I do that, you'll coach me up, but I'll, see if we can expand the audience that way. I think we'll have a big response to this one. Part of the theme of this is business networking and it's all been driven by the loss of one of our, you know, the pillars, if you will, of the Dallas commercial real estate community, Joe Foster.

He died March 1st, he was 89 years old.

Would you say he's the godfather?

You know, for sure. I'm going to call him the best networker. what he did is so anyway, I'll kind of get into that. But we've all been all of us in the commercial real estate side of things, particularly what I would call the small business guys, the guys that own their own shops or independent brokers, money guys and some institutional guys, but even had lawyers come and

Wes (02:02.286)
Okay.

Dean (02:27.79)
developers and we all it was always a breakfast.

Right. That's the men's group you were talking

So we continue to, I mean, it evolved. I can't even remember at the end what morning we were going, whether it was Tuesday or pretty sure that was Tuesday. But Joe, as far as Graham mortgage is concerned, relationship with Joe Foster goes back to, we think the late 60s when he met Joe Graham.

Okay, so you got the two Joes.

Yeah. And there wasn't even Graham mortgage yet. was Joe Graham was working at IDS mortgage or no, probably even before that it was, no, that was a REIT, no, but I believe it was more the life company out of North Carolina and I'll get there for some pilot life. Joe.

Wes (03:15.532)
Are those guys still around?

Dean (03:30.57)
was a branch office for Jefferson Pilot Life. Joe Foster was a broker, mortgage guy, did pretty much everything. I think they met in the late 60s. Jerry Donahue worked here, would go to the breakfast. And then when I came on, I would go to the breakfast. And the reason that I mentioned this is because what Joe Foster was able to do was create this

I would call it lane of networking, right? Or are the guys of us in the industry and particularly when I came to Graham mortgage from Northmark, right? think going to those breakfasts really plugged me into what the people I needed to know.

It was almost like the LinkedIn, but would you say that, but in person in specific in the niche? Yeah. my, my first question though, I, where was the breakfast at?

the old fashioned.

Dean (04:30.638)
Oh, it was a Dallas country club. So that was always fun. Okay. We went through some iterations of the clubhouse, some places, but toward the end we were in a bigger room. We still go by the way.

No, this was good. Yeah. No, he's Dallas country club. know, Joe, Joe Foster is known for a lot of things. Well, first of all, it was always fun to go to the country club. The food was great. The view was great. He was always a gracious host. His daughter Angelique would arrange it. Oh, cool. And we'd go at seven 30. We'd stay an hour, maybe the nine o'clock. And there was a

kind of a rotating roster, but there's so many people there and I'm going to name some of them. Jim Struble. I met George Watson there. George Watson's one of the most influential group, know, six to 10. You know, and when I'm sitting here thinking about him and those breakfasts, I think about people I haven't seen in a while. Dan Levitan, Jill Kotvitz.

So how big was the

Dean (05:46.466)
We all kind of knew each other through the breakfast and created friendships, business relationships. Again, was George Watson became one of my best mentors and clients.

So it sounds like, you went in and starting off as, you know, business minded, but then it developed as more than just, like you said, it's a win-win. Your philosophy with Northmark, or not Northmark, I'm sorry, Graham, the win, you know, everybody benefited.

We're calling that old-fashioned relationships. These are deep relationships. They were personal.

Start off his business and then his friends. So then it kind of those mix well together.

Yeah, you know, I would say it's mostly business, the close, the trust is developed when you're there. It's not necessarily over cocktails. It's not kind of like guy talk, if you will, or girl guy talk. It's more like business talk, helping someone where they need it to be helped.

Wes (06:40.29)
Not that old school. Yeah.

Wes (06:50.894)
Okay, cool. So like as in, you know, so if, you know, in radio we would call them music, comp apps, we were all the artists and DJs and we would all meet up. You know, there was one in Charleston that we'd always meet up and that's how you networked where it's like, yeah, they were friends, but it's like, Hey, I got a guy in Atlanta, you know, give him a call or something like that.

So I think that this was a little bit more. It wasn't as broad as that. It was a little more targeted. Say there were 10 or 10 or 12 people who were always there supporting each other. OK, we're sharing ideas or how how are things going in the market? I think the magic of it was the longevity of it.

Yeah, because if you're going all the way from the late sixties and that's, mean, well,

That's 50 years plus. I don't know if he was doing the breakfast, but certainly he's been doing the breakfast. He was doing the breakfast for 20 to 30 years.

That's awesome. And I think there's something about you with in Dallas, especially between your fantasy football has been going on since. I it. I'm just saying it's cool. if it seems to be in Dallas, there is a group there. There seems to be the interpersonal relationships over then just, Hey, I liked your LinkedIn profile type thing.

Dean (08:17.198)
Yeah, I've always when I got here in 1982, I always felt like the business culture was, although it was competitive, everybody was always trying to help. It was always very collaborative and everybody was rooting for everybody, if that makes sense. So it didn't feel that way to me. Well, yeah, or other. Sure, other.

not cutthroat. Not like in New York.

other stuff.

Maybe it's other businesses or other markets, but you know, when Philip and I, I went to work for him in 83, we had competitors, know, the William Ross and his guys, Charlie Robinson, I'm bringing up all these old names because it's fun to remember. We would share deals. We would help each other out. Yeah. So I would call us more. We were competitors, but we all had our

Almost as like collaborators at the same time.

Dean (09:17.688)
Yeah, now we all wanted, we all were the same age, we wanted to do everybody's families to do well, you know, at some point, our wives knew each other, we knew how each other's kids are now we're all kind of, you know, Joe was 89, Joe Foster. Yeah, Joe Graham is in his 80s.

But he's got the spirit of a 40 year old.

He He does. He just celebrated a birthday and he's doing, I think he's doing as good as ever at this point. And we see him every day lucky us. But I do want to really, really emphasize that Joe Foster and the consistency that he bought to those breakfasts and connecting people.

really meant a lot to me. And I think it meant a lot to everyone else yet. And he was very, he was a unique guy. there's some stories about him that I'd like to tell.

gave me the bullet points. go, this guy is the Doseck. He's most interesting man in the world type of thing. And I mean that like, but the things that he did, I go, okay, go say more words.

Dean (10:34.958)
That's really cool. What's funny is that he was more think his army background was more what he might be. It might inform his style because it could be rigid. We could, you know, if he was to start a meeting or to end a meeting, I have some stories about some trips that I'll tell that a lot of people do. But I think he's most known other than for his breakfast.

He's known for a green Carmanguilla convertible. He had that green. Have you seen it? It's around town. think his family may still have.

You the current gear?

Wes (11:15.266)
seen one in Turtle Creek, I know I fell in love with it. That's what Brad Pitt drove in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And I saw it, he had a green Karma Ghia and I was like that up there with my original Austin Mini Cooper. The Karma Ghia was gorgeous. I really do. think I've seen it around Turtle Creek. that where? Yeah.

And it might be his family member that has it and is driving it now. So one of the interesting things about that, and we all loved him and God bless, that he believed that because he owned the car for so long, it had to be a 50 year, that opening and closing the door, he believed that you would wear the latch out. So he would...

Right.

Dean (12:04.79)
never close the door all the way.

You

And when he would park it, valet park it, if he ever valet parked it. I'm not sure if someone can.

I trust a 20 year old with a Carmen Ghia.

So he would either tell the valet, don't slam the door or he would park it himself. And he would just nudge the door closed, but not all the way. You could always walk up to the car and you could see that little gap on the driver's side door. that was his personality.

Wes (12:35.884)
really?

Wes (12:41.792)
Yeah, so the carbon gear wasn't convertible though. Yeah, I'm surprised you just hopped the the younger. Yeah, that makes sense.

That one was. Yeah, maybe when he was a little. So, no, that was one thing. then, you know, later, you know, I looked at his part of his opit and there were some things that were mentioned that are very, that I participated in. He has a lot of.

There's so many things that were mentioned here, breakfast clubs, but the other one was Cloudcroft Golf. those, that's New Mexico.

Okay, I was going say, is that a type of golf or is that...

That was like a weekend away in the mountains of New Mexico. beautiful. And you would go to Cloudcroft, but then you would go to the Mountain Gods. Right. And they were high altitude. The way we do it is fly to... Where did we go? Okay, we'd fly to El Paso. We'd have a bus and then the bus would...

Dean (13:57.058)
take us up into New Mexico and we'd play golf or gamble or and have a nice dinner a couple nights. And so one of the other things, it was great. It was really good. And at the end there, old Joe really wasn't able to play golf, but he loved to organize it and have the fellowship.

This is Woodstock.

Yeah, well, so the part of so when he got a little bit older he got a little bit more rigid and you know, sometimes You know, we're guys we're at the bar. We're kind of if the bus was leaving at 6 to go to dinner 6 o 1 You're gone it's gone. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway eminently lovable

It's leaving at six. You're on time, you're late, time to think.

Dean (14:49.996)
really grateful for the people I met and just want to pay, you know, say some, think I said Candice, Ruben, Lee Richter, Charles Hicks, Michael Reynolds, certainly Brian O'Boyle who took over the hosting at Dallas Country Club. And now we have a once a month Thursday breakfast that's quite a robust group of people. it's

chaired by George Watson, but Jim Struble, his moniker is the man with the square feet. He does industrial stuff.

like square feet is in like real estate square. Yeah, I didn't know that was like because he had a weird golf stance or something like that.

No, that's funny. I know Jim took it over and then Jim retired and he moved up to Fairview actually for a while he was driving all the way from almost Frisco or McKinney to breakfast. And then, you know, the best title company guy in the whole world, Bill Kramer, who's still working is of that generation, met him through

Joe Foster breakfast Republic title. Shout out to Kramer.

Wes (16:09.752)
So these are, it's funny cause I, I hear these names like I've either seen them or heard like, not only just cause I'm your son, but I I'm like, yeah. I've, I know that I've seen that name or heard that before. So these are some, some hot shows. So

Yeah, giants, I would say Republic titles, probably the most well known commercial title underwriter in Dallas. We've all, know, title companies solve problems in real estate deals. And Bill Kramer is one of the best title legal minds in Dallas and probably maybe in the state. We've had solved

tons of problems for us when we're selling properties or buying properties, lending on properties.

He just like gets it. just. Yeah, he doesn't say, let me ponder on this for a week. just.

Yeah, you got very creative.

Dean (17:07.214)
Yeah, and title insurance is literally that. It's insurance. So you're making a bet that something will or won't happen. Right. So your risk management brain is at play all the time and he has a great risk management.

His formula in his head is pretty solid.

Yeah. No, he, so like I said, so if you add this world, if you will, it's kind of close in Dallas, I'll call it uptown Turtle Creek, all that kind of stuff. We were all close knit. We're still pretty much in contact. We're all senior. We all qualify for Medicare now. Most of us. Right. Sorry. No, legacy though carries on.

Yeah, well, it's still around.

Dean (17:58.262)
at the breakfast at the country club, it's been elevated to a kind of a new, a higher level.

Mark Noble, is that the same?

No, that's the Dallas Roundtable. I'd love to talk about that again. That is once a week networking, That's like hardcore in a way. It's every week. And it's guys in different verticals. So you're not necessarily there with your

Okay, yeah, no, I'm just.

Wes (18:20.378)
Okay

Wes (18:26.466)
Right.

Dean (18:34.69)
the people in your business, it's complimentary businesses. So you're trying to use your networks to leverage business for others. yeah, that's another one. Adam's now a member.

Yeah, was gonna say congrats to Adam on that. That was just recent.

I he's doing a great job there. anyway, sorry. Yeah, this is this. This is as much just a. You know, an homage, if you will, or a tribute to Joe Foster, I'm going to let me just kind of double check on. Joe Joseph Holt Foster, Jr. Want to say he was where was I thought?

I I saw his, his birthday. I know it was 1935. Okay. He passed March 31st 2025. So long life to him. Again.

was a mountain biker or you say, remember you just saying stuff on the mic check that

Dean (19:42.292)
leader, mentor, salesmanship club, which is a big deal here. He had his own company, belonged to the country club, a grandfather, he loved World War II history. It's, know, Island Park wrestling team, maybe he was a wrestler at some point.

So I haven't pulled up on legacy.com. Is that what, and his, as I would say by art, they have father, husband, mentor, salesmanship, marathon,

Yeah, that's the same one. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Wow. You see that's interesting there breakfast club

Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Wes (20:26.33)
Star Masters swimmer, Star Masters swimmer. Let's see. He's in the North Texas Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame.

Yeah, that's cool. So look what's after that one.

Was it RUDOSA?

...which is where we went to play golf, but what's next to that?

green carbon, carbon gear convertible. thought it said dirty martinis, but it says dirty Martins. cause he was known for his belt buckle, the B1 bomber belt buckle.

Dean (20:48.942)
There it is.

Dean (20:57.582)
I never saw it. That's pretty interesting.

He like Dickies. I'm wearing Dickies right now. That's where to go. And,

I that might be Dicky's Barbecue.

Regardless, they're both great. But yeah, never, never, never quote, never, never, never, never. That's capitalized. Give up. Yeah. So yeah.

Only child.

Wes (21:20.366)
Yeah, this is a yeah, I've for those who can't see this, I'm like flipping my phone scrolling and it keeps going and going and going, which is pretty cool.

One of the things that would be fun to consider is I did get a call from another friend, Candice Rubin, who and I reached out to Jim Struble and we just briefly mentioned maybe having some sort of happy hour for honoring Joe. And I think that's something that we can do here maybe in the next couple of months where we get folks together.

at the Dallas Country Club with that. That seems to be that's the.

That would be awesome. Talk to one of the members there that maybe help us arrange that.

I I would say you're invited up here to second floor, it might be a little tight, a little too small.

Dean (22:17.718)
It's a little too small, yeah, we'll figure that out. That's something that's on my mind. anyway, Joe Foster, rest in peace. know, again, the theme here is that a lot of the success that we've all had that were part of those breakfasts were due to the fact that they were hosted. It's kind of like family dinner, right?

Yeah. You knew it was coming. You knew you wanted to share something. You knew you had something to ask. Right. We all kind of we supported each other.

So you you go in with willing to give and receive help. Yeah, it wasn't it wasn't you weren't you weren't afraid to ask for help. And like, that's what it was there for.

Well, yeah, that's it was, you know, it was I'm going to say it was mostly business. Some of it was personal.

I'm saying just telling business of hey, I'm going. Yeah, because you know the like my hardest thing is to ask for help. It's kind of in the work world.

Dean (23:23.414)
Yeah. so that's what I think networking groups provide that easy access to other professionals. Right. And longevity. mean, he was he did that for I don't know how many. So I'll get some more information on that. But are you how long we've been going here?

We're probably hitting right around 30. Yeah. So a little teaser, a little bonus.

Yeah, I think that's cool.

Let's just say to everybody out there, if you're interested, think a lot of you know how to get a hold of me. Of course, through LinkedIn or otherwise, maybe we can organize something here to celebrate. And by the way, make it a big old networking event.

Yeah

Wes (24:18.036)
Exactly. And then also kind of what we did with pop. I'm more than happy to take second floor on the road and people want to record. So a like a little tribute, what they wanted to say and we give it to the family.

Maybe we can do some.

Dean (24:34.274)
The last thing I'll say, and I almost forgot this, is that he helped me sell one of the most difficult pieces of land we ever sold. And I do want to, there's two, there's two quick stories. Maybe we can edit these in the middle, I don't know, but I'll put a PS on this. Joe Graham, representative of UT Southwestern, they bought a building from Mutual of Omaha.

Yeah.

Wes (25:03.01)
Love those guys.

Joe Foster was the broker.

Okay.

Joe Graham flew to Omaha to do the terms of the deal and he's not sure how Joe Foster got there. What we think is, the Carmen Gaya to Omaha. Maybe not the Carmen Gaya, but it's all a mystery.

So

Wes (25:27.96)
Yeah, what year was this?

All right. It was, it had to be the late seventies, early eighties. That is a trick. So I did ask Joe and he's like, I don't know how we got there. He just, he met me there and he never mentioned flying. And then there was another, we had this piece of property, it's an old golf course in Friendswood, Texas down in Houston area. And it had all kinds of issues, all kinds of problems.

Good.

Wes (25:43.31)
That's all you know.

Dean (26:00.61)
Joe Foster drove down to the friends would city hall. I I'm not sure if he had an appointment or not, but he got the names of developers in that friends would knew and might be able to tackle this problem of developing this property. And by golly, he found the one what I mean, maybe it's the one guy that could pull it off. Yeah.

His name is Harvey Doring and he's still a customer at Grand Mortgage. So thank you Joe Foster for that.

Yeah, Joe. Yeah, that's a, got, he got passed the bureaucracy and the nightmare just went right to him.

He was the consummate salesman. No fear. No fear. Just go in there, ask for the business. And it produced an amazing result for us. One of the biggest pieces of land that we owned and one of the hardest to sell.

Yeah, well, I kind of like, I guess the one thing I relate how I got into radio was just showed up. Everybody asked me how do I just walk right in. I said was I want to work here. They're like, we can't pay. That's fine. Yeah. So yeah. Cheers. Salute. Rest in peace. again, dad, always a pleasure. Thanks for coming up.

Dean (27:04.6)
button to see

I do this.

Working on it.

Wes (27:23.246)
Up to 10 steps, 15 steps to second floor.

Love you. Love you. See ya.

The SVLI podcast is independent production published monthly on the first. We are broadcasting from the second floor studios located in.

in

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Wes (27:42.284)
the Graham Mortgage Home Office in Dallas, Texas to site gm.

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