Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another episode of Housing for Good, where we talk about that intersection of real estate and community service with these agents that are out there just doing remarkable things to make Tucson wonderful. And I don’t like that you laughed at that part. That’s not the funny part. So we are with Tracy Castell. He was a real estate agent, but I understand also you just got a promotion of sorts, didn’t you?

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, I’m now the managing broker, the onsite managing broker here at Keller Williams.

 

Tom Heath

Okay. So how long have you been in the business then? This hasn’t been that long of a career.

 

Tracy Castell

No, I’ve been in the business I’ve been licensed for going on six years and active probably four going on five and just having a lot of fun.

 

Tom Heath

Excuse me while I just the microphone here. I know when we first met well, we met before your real estate career, but when we first met as professionals in the real estate industry, I was very impressed with your methodical approach. You were, like, goal driven, checklist driven.

 

Tracy Castell

That’s my personality, that’s for sure. On the disc profile, I score very.

 

Tom Heath

High on a C. Which C is for checklist.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, C for checklist. Perfect.

 

Tom Heath

The six years, though, you’ve seen kind of like a microcosm of boom and bust. It’s just been really interesting for the time frame you’ve been in.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, we’re definitely in a different market than when I started, that’s for sure. Much more skill based at this point.

 

Tom Heath

Yeah.

 

Tracy Castell

So when you started, you had no skills? Yeah, I had no skills to begin with.

 

Tom Heath

What got you into real estate? What were you doing before?

 

Tracy Castell

Before, I was in contracting. We were doing sewer bypass work, that type of stuff. I’ve always been in the underground contracting world, probably.

 

Tom Heath

Underground, meaning, like, the equipment is underground? Not like some hidden network?

 

Tracy Castell

No, nothing like that. But underground utility work. How’s that? Sewer lines, water lines, that type stuff seems safer.

 

Tom Heath

And then what led you to real estate, then? What was that?

 

Tracy Castell

Actually, a couple guys that I’m friends with, james Workhiser and Aaron Wilson, they helped me sell a house that I had, and I thought, this is nice. They can do it. I didn’t say that, but yeah.

 

Tom Heath

Well, Aaron, if you’re watching, we’ll get you on next, and you can do some rebuttal.

 

Tracy Castell

Exactly.

 

Tom Heath

Seriously. So you went through the process with them and you just felt like this.

 

Tracy Castell

Was yeah, I thought, hey, this was a good career, and I liked it fit my personality. I wanted to help. I saw that they were able to help me in the situation that I was in, a very unique situation, and they got me out of it, and I went, you know what? I like that part of the business that helping people achieve what they’re trying to get to their goals. If there’s a special situation, I like helping.

 

Tom Heath

Good. Aaron’s got a pretty prolific team here in Tucson. But you chose not to join that team.

 

Tracy Castell

No.

 

Tom Heath

You went on your own.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, I was an independent agent for a long time, and then I created a small team, and we still have that going, but

 

Tracy Castell

I’m too hard headed. And my processes I wanted to set my own processes up and everything like that and create my own models and move through the process that way. I think I’ve been successful, but you.

 

Tom Heath

Don’T get moved up into onsite managing I forget all the words.

 

Tracy Castell

On site managing broker. Okay.

 

Tom Heath

That was what it was. You don’t do that if you’re not successful. So there’s definitely been some real estate success as well as when we first met. You were actually training for an Iron Man.

 

Tracy Castell

Yes, I was.

 

Tom Heath

You still doing those?

 

Tracy Castell

I know. I no longer do those due to a whole bunch of different reasons, but yeah.

 

Tom Heath

Is that kind of like a goal oriented thing?

 

Tracy Castell

Like, do this very goal oriented. I mean, in order to do that type of long distance activity, you have to train for an Iron Man for almost a solid year. You know you’re going to do it. So you sign up actually a year before, and then you start your training for that.

 

Tom Heath

That’s intense. I know. I did a very short, very short sprint triathlon, and we were doing swimming training. My entire training for the day. Was your warm up. All right, see you later. You’re like, okay, I’m warmed up. I’m going to start training now.

 

Tracy Castell

You did great.

 

Tom Heath

I didn’t drown.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, you survived.

 

Tom Heath

That was my goal is to not drown. The other passion in your life, though, you’ve got some affinity for dogs.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, we have dogs.

 

Tom Heath

Not just having dogs. Tell us a little about so you have how many dogs now?

 

Tracy Castell

We have ten in the house right now.

 

Tom Heath

They’re all ours.

 

Tracy Castell

There’s no fosters in the house right now.

 

Tom Heath

Can you have fosters when you have ten dogs?

 

Tracy Castell

Yes, you can. You just have to manage it properly, but you absolutely can.

 

Tom Heath

Were any of these ten originally fosters?

 

Tracy Castell

Yes, three of them were. We used to call them foster failures, but no, we’re calling them now foster upgrades.

 

Tom Heath

Okay, that’s a little better terminology. I like that as well. And are they all border collies?

 

Tracy Castell

They’re border collie ish. Okay. There’s some sort of border collie in them. Not all ten, but the ones that we do all the activities with our ten. We have a couple of dachshunds Chihuahua that needed our help. She was a foster upgrade. And then we got two of the.

 

Tom Heath

Border collie mix, and then you border collie rescue. Is that the name of the group.

 

Tracy Castell

Or is that Arizona Border Collie Rescue?

 

Tom Heath

Okay.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, my wife and I are board members of the Arizona Border Collie Rescue, and

 

Tracy Castell

we started that gosh a long time ago. We’ve been involved with that probably going on longer than I’ve been in real estate. And

 

Tracy Castell

the breed itself, the Border Collie, is a high drive. Typically, it’s a high drive, high energy type of dog. So you got to have a specialty rescue that understands the breed. That way we can help rescue them, bring them in, evaluate, and then put them in good homes in a proper home.

 

Tom Heath

So that was going to be my next question, is why? It was specific to border Collie, but their temperament is such that you need a certain type of right home, the right understanding, the right home.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah. And really right expectations for the adopter so they know what they’re getting into, depending on the dog. With border Collies and the border collie mixes, they come in all sizes and temperaments and whatnot. So we do a really good evaluation on them. That way we understand the dog and then we place the dog based on that evaluation. And we always talk to the adopters and we interview them and then we screen them to make sure that, hey, this is going to be a good fit for what they want for the dog. And that can range anywhere between sport dogs, doing agility, flyball, dock diving, all of those typical sports to, hey, I just want a companion today, or a companion for life. And there is a wide range of those border collars. There’s a border quality that fits everything. But you got to understand that and you got to understand the breed. A lot of people get in and over their head quick with a border collar.

 

Tom Heath

Yeah. Just as you’re explaining, I’m thinking, I’ve never thought through that much when adopting a dog. You just been, oh, he’s cute.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, he’s cute. There we go.

 

Tom Heath

Bring him home.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah. Unfortunately, most border collies are very cute and they get adopted and put into homes because they’re great looking dogs and everybody oh, they’re smart. So they’ll take care of themselves. No, that smart comes with a price.

 

Tom Heath

They’re smart, which means that you need to do extra to take care of them.

 

Tracy Castell

Yes, that’s exactly right.

 

Tom Heath

Figure out all those little tricks that.

 

Tracy Castell

You’Ve got to keep them active, keep.

 

Tom Heath

Them secured in that dungeon in that prison that you keep. Yeah, the prison they like to break out.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah. We like to tell people that if you don’t find a job for a high drive border Collie, the border collie is going to find a job for themselves. And typically it’s not something that you’re going to want them to.

 

Tom Heath

Then as you’ve been doing this for a while. And when you met Carrie, your wife Carrie, was she involved with this?

 

Tracy Castell

No, we got into it at the same time.

 

Tom Heath

Okay.

 

Tracy Castell

At the time, I had an Aussie, which we still have, cornelia, we call her Corn Dog. She’s 14 now. She was my companion dog. She would go running with me, and we do go out on the trail together carrie would come with us, and then she said, yeah, I need a dog that can do that. She had the Dachshunds, she had the smaller dogs, and one popped up, believe it or not, in Malinois Rescue, and that was Onyx. She popped up to be available, and Carrie fell in love with a picture. We went and met the dog. We met the trainers, and we adopted her. We call those two Cornelia, corndog and Onyx. They’re the OGS. They’re the ones that started it all.

 

Tom Heath

So you fast forward a little bit, you get into real estate. It’s a career that obviously has some flexibility with it and different challenges. But has that impacted your availability or your time with the rescue community?

 

Tracy Castell

It does. It actually helps because, again, I can set my own schedule. I can do what I need to do. Like, we’ve had almost last count, I believe, 87 fosters come through our house, and that’s going on six years now? Six, seven years. And

 

Tracy Castell

they’re, again, all different types of dogs, so they all have different needs, so I can make myself available for the vet appointments and any necessary special thing that the dog needs or the foster needs. I can handle that while Carrie’s at school. She’s a teacher.

 

Tom Heath

I didn’t realize 87.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, 87 through our what’s the typical.

 

Tom Heath

Timeline for a dog to be in foster care?

 

Tracy Castell

Well, the shortest time for the Arizona Border Collie rescue is usually about two to three weeks. Two weeks minimum with the foster, so we can evaluate it. And then if there’s no issues, no medical stuff, then we put them up for adoption and they go pretty quick all the way to we’ve had hospice fosters that stayed with us until they passed. We’ve had it from literally, I think the fastest was 13 or 14 days to the longest, which was six months. Eight months in our house? Yeah.

 

Tom Heath

Wow. And then I understand you’re running a special buy a house, you get a free dog. Is that what you’re doing these days?

 

Tracy Castell

I wish I could do that. We definitely need more fosters, that’s for sure.

 

Tom Heath

More foster parents. Yeah, more foster parents on that. How do people get involved? What’s entailed being a foster?

 

Tracy Castell

It’s pretty easy. Go to Arizonaborticallirescue.com or it’s Azbcr.org, click on it, and then, hey, I want to become a foster parent, and click on the application, fill it out. We’ll contact you, do a home evaluation, talk to you about what things to expect with fostering and see if it’s a fit for you and see if it’s something that you like.

 

Tom Heath

What kind of guidance to someone. I mean, that’s going to be an extremely emotionally challenging it is.

 

Tracy Castell

When you have dogs come into your life. My wife and I, we cry every time we get a dog adopted, and even sitting here thinking about, like, the last dog that we had, it drives emotions in me now, but we know that if we don’t make room in our house, we can’t rescue and save the next one. Right. At some point we’re going to get super saturation. We can’t go past we mean, at.

 

Tom Heath

Some point you have ten dogs past.

 

Tracy Castell

That point, like six dogs ago. Well, there is this threshold. We realize this when you get to a point of five dogs. Once you start adding dogs after that, there’s no real difference. You don’t realize it.

 

Tom Heath

I think you wake up and there’s ten dogs. You got to realize that you doubled your dog population. But I would imagine the vetting process helps people go through that and understand if they’re the right fit. Yeah, because not everyone has the flexible schedule. You don’t have to have a no.

 

Tracy Castell

You don’t have to have a flexible schedule to do this at all.

 

Tom Heath

You might need to do 87, but adopting and fostering do a lot of fosters end up as adopters?

 

Tracy Castell

Yes, again, we call it foster failing or foster upgrading. You get a dog in and it’s happened to us. Right. So you get a dog in and the dog’s just a perfect fit. You fall in love with the dog, it’s exactly what you’re looking for, and you keep it. Right. You adopt it yourself, and that happens a lot. And we even have a program where you can foster to adopt.

 

Tracy Castell

There is no tryouts, but that’s the only tryout program that we do have a foster to adopt with theirs on a border collie rescue.

 

Tom Heath

And I think that makes sense, given what you’ve talked about with the temperament of the dogs and that connection with their human companion. Yes, I used to call them owners, and my dog got really upset with me and says, no, you are my companion.

 

Tracy Castell

Exactly. All right.

 

Tom Heath

I talked to my dog as well. So you’ve been in real estate for six years. You’ve made some significant strides. You’ve been in the border collie rescue community for longer than that.

 

Tom Heath

Do you find yourself working with dog owners and dog lovers on your real estate side?

 

Tracy Castell

There’s always that connection, right. That you find someone that has a passion for dogs, and it does, it helps because there’s cat people and there’s dog people, and then there’s the people that have all kinds of animals and different you make that connection. And when finding the perfect home for my client, those are all considerations. Right. Where are you at now in life? What do you expect in life? And how are you going to grow, going to grow for kids and that type of stuff? We still have those conversations the same in real estate, but we can add on, hey, what about dogs? Do you need a big yard? Do you need more room in the house? Is there a special dog room? Those kinds of things we have because.

 

Tom Heath

Once you get up for five, you won’t even notice.

 

Tracy Castell

You won’t even notice exactly right. Get the five and you’re all set.

 

Tom Heath

And then that’s when they walk out the door.

 

Tracy Castell

There you go.

 

Tom Heath

Any upcoming events with the rescue community that this will probably be airing in the Falls of things coming up? Do you’re in fundraisers?

 

Tracy Castell

Do you do events? We do fundraisers and events. Most of them. We don’t have anything planned right now. We used to have an event up in Flagstaff, but the contacts have gone away for that event. But we don’t have anything planned right now.

 

Tom Heath

Okay, so just stay in touch with the website.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, the website and everything there. Going to keep an eye keep you informed on what’s going on with Arizona blue collar rescue.

 

Tom Heath

Well, Tracy Costell one of these real estate agents making things happen in Tucson. I know it’s a statewide organization with your focus here in Tucson, and I think it’s just really amazing to me when you start to look at the thousands of real estate agents in our community and how many of them have these passions that are just driving such good things within Tucson. And I’m really excited that we get to share some of these stories.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, I appreciate you having me on. I really do. Thank you for letting me have the.

 

Tom Heath

All right, and then we’ll see you at the next Iron Man, right?

 

Tracy Castell

No, that’s off the list for a while. My knees won’t let me do that anymore.

 

Tom Heath

Once you do five, you just won’t even notice it anymore.

 

Tracy Castell

Yeah, exactly. All.