Realtor Gayla Brumfield sells Colonial Real Estate

link Staff photo: Kevin Wilson

Holly Stockstill, left, has purchased Colonial Real Estate from Gayla Brumfield, who was owner since 1985. Brumfield will remain in the agency, and will focus on commercial real estate.

Holly Stockstill just wanted to do some marketing work, and never had grand plans to take over Colonial Real Estate when she joined the firm about nine years ago. She didn’t even have plans until a random day at the office with owner Gayla Brumfield.

“One day I was just doing my job,” Stockstill said, “and Gayla said, ‘I have an idea.’”

The idea took off, and Stockstill officially took over the city’s largest real estate agency on Dec. 1. The business, which first started in 1973 to primarily promote the new Colonial Park addition, has retained all of its 18 current employees, including Brumfield. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively planned for January.

Neither Stockstill nor Brumfield would disclose terms of the sale.

The sole owner of the business for more than 20 years, Brumfield plans to focus on commercial real estate and do political consulting.

“I’ve been in real estate for 40 years, but I’ve owned the business since 1985. In 1985, Walter Bradley and I bought it together.”

In the early 1990s, Brumfield bought out Bradley, who had political aspirations and served two terms as lieutenant governor. Throughout the years, Brumfield said she has loved the job because she’s able to help people find a home; while she’s always on call she’s never been tied to the office, she said.

“For the most part, it’s a great business,” Brumfield said, “and you feel like you’re accomplishing something. I was able to do all of my kids’ activities and my husband was really supportive. Plus, I think it’s fun.”

Brumfield’s education was all over the map, including online studies at the University of Phoenix and on-campus work at Eastern New Mexico University, Wayland Baptist University and Clovis Community College. It was at CCC that Brumfield graduated in 1993 with an associate’s degree in real estate. She was the program’s only graduate during the 1993 spring ceremony, and she said no other CCC student ever completed the program that was a mix of business classes from other concentrations.

A few weeks after Brumfield’s CCC ceremony, Holly Glenn was graduating from Clovis High and moving on to Oklahoma State University. She later married Dennis Stockstill, and joined Colonial as a marketing specialist nine years ago — only to discover you can’t do much in the real estate business without a real estate license.

Now, Stockstill expects to earn her broker’s license in the next 90 days, and Brumfield will keep property management duties until Stockstill is acclimated to her new position.

“She said she thought it would be a good step for me and Dennis. I think it was a good next step,” Stockstill said. “She’s absolutely been the most forward-thinking person in real estate. That’s why the business has been successful. I just want to keep that going.”

Stockstill noted that Brumfield is the only real estate agent in Clovis to serve on the New Mexico Real Estate Commission, and had served under four different administrations.

“She has a huge impact, and so much respect on the state level, too,” Stockstill said. “I hope at some point, people have the same respect for me.”