Inside Zia Realty Group’s new office at 1A Camino del Ojito in Pojoaque, from left, Associate Broker Nancy Mercado, Associate Broker Brock Salazar, Owner/Broker James Chrobocinski, Broker David Horpedahl and Associate Broker Lynn Cravens. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Zia Realty Group‘s new Pojoaque office. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Top Espanola Valley Realtors Nancy Mercado and Lynn Cravens have joined Zia Realty Group and are working out of the new office at 1A Camino del Ojito. Associate Broker Brock Salazar has been working in the Los Alamos office and now joins Mercado and Cravens in Pojoaque. Broker David Horpedahl is dividing his time between the Los Alamos and Pojoaque offices.
“We want to continue being the locally owned real estate company where customer service is our number one priority,” Chrobocinski told the Los Alamos Daily Post during an interview in the new location. “We are real glad to have two of the top real estate brokers from Espanola join our office here in Pojoaque and we look forward to serving the residential and commercial needs of the folks here in the beautiful Espanola Valley.”
Mercado and Cravens spoke about joining Zia Realty Group. “I’m delighted to join this new team,” Mercado said. “After working with a franchise for 10 years and after meeting James, it’s good to be working with a local office. I specialize in first time home buyers and I’m certified in short sales and foreclosures and I’m really looking forward to getting going.”
Cravens said, “I’m excited to be working with this wonderful team of people. I specialize in rural transactions and am happy to bring that expertise to the team.”
Salazar and Horpedahl bring some Zia Realty Group history to the newly formed Pojoaque team.
“It’s great to be a part of the new Pojoaque office serving the Espanola Valley and north,” Salazar said.
Horpedahl said he is glad to be working with the new team out of their office at the corner of US 285 and Nambe Road. “This is a well-organized office that will serve the needs of the people in this area,” he said.
The grand opening for Zia Realty Group’s Pojoaque office will be announced next month, Chrobocinski said.
Chrobocinski founded Zia Realty Group in 2012 and has since purchased REA Realty Company and Los Alamos Properties. He also opened an office in Santa Fe and last November, purchased a suite of offices at the corner of Central Avenue and 15th Street in the ground level of the Community Bank Building in Los Alamos, which now houses his corporate headquarters.
A combined staff of 28 brokers now works for Zia Realty Group and his next target for expansion is Taos or Rio Rancho, he said.
Chrobocinski, 42, spent 26 years living in Corpus Christi, Texas. He moved there from Los Alamos with his father Tom Chrobocinski after junior high school. He has deep ties to Los Alamos. His grandfather and namesake James Bramble, 94, has lived in Los Alamos since the Manhattan Project era of the 1940s. His grandmother Pat Bramble died in March of 2010.
“I decided it was time to return home after losing my mother in February 2012 and my grandmother in 2010,” he said.
Chrobocinski’s stepfather John Foster works at Los Alamos National Laboratory and his brother Randy Chrobocinski Foster is a Santa Fe sheriff married to local veterinarian Shayna Whitaker. His sister Jennifer Foster King is the physician market manager for Los Alamos Medical Center. Chrobocinski’s younger brother Joe Foster works in IT at LANL. Both Chrobocinski’s mother and uncle Bill Bramble graduated from Los Alamos High School. His mom worked many years as a registered nurse in Los Alamos and was a real estate agent for well-known broker Pat Rogers.
Chrobocinski earned his nursing license and went on to work in healthcare management for 15 years. He met his wife Jacqueline while working in a large hospital in Corpus Christi. He was a registered nurse and she was the charge nurse and his boss. They married 10 years ago and have a son JJ, 7, who attends Mountain Elementary School. Jacqueline is the manager of Dr. Barbara Van Eeckhout’s Northern New Mexico Women’s Health Center at Los Alamos Medical Center. To keep his hand in healthcare, Chrobocinski works a couple of days a month as a house supervisor at LAMC where he oversees the clinical side of the hospital during his shift.
Chrobocinski is a candidate for Los Alamos County Council. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, the Los Alamos Housing Partnership and serves as president of Los Alamos Little League. He can be reached at James@ZiaRealtyGroup.com or 505.662.8899.
