Cheryl McFall loves the view from her new office.

For the last 17 years she has worked out of and managed a RE/MAX office on Cherry Lane across from the DMV – tucked away behind Manteca’s civic complex and a variety of apartment complexes.

And for nearly two decades the office served its intended purpose. Buyers and sellers of real estate came through the office, and both property and homes were sold and exchanged.

But as technology evolved and the need to upgrade became more pressing, the concept of renovating a space that had already been altered and changed so many times just didn’t make sense – especially when their lease was up.

So they looked around, found that there was a suite in one of Manteca’s newest and nicest commercial office buildings – The Hensley Building – and had it built to suit their respective needs over a three-month period.

McFall – a Broker who manages the RE/MAX Executive Manteca office – now looks out of her office through a huge window that overlooks a grove of lush green trees that provide some coverage from the setting sun.

“One of the biggest reasons was that this building here at the corner of Union Road and Center Street gets a lot more traffic and it makes us a lot more visible than where we were before,” McFall said of why the change of scenery seemed right. “The other big reason is that it provides a shot in the arm for my agents. It’s a good, positive message to send not only to the public but also to the people who work here.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people and a lot of them question why we would do this in the middle of a recession, and I think that this is a sign of where we’re headed.”

It doesn’t hurt bringing customers into a shiny new office either, McFall said.

And while some might think that the foreclosures and the housing market in the area is still dropping, McFall believes that it’s still a great time for the realty business and it is truly a buyer’s market.

She’s currently working with a 20-year-old Home Depot employee, she said, that is buying a home and will be paying less every month than he is currently paying in rent. Other buyers are taking money out of the stock market and coming in to purchase move-in ready homes with cash – taking advantage of prices that haven’t been at this level in nearly two decades.

“It’s really a great time right now because we’re able to get people like schoolteachers into homes right here into the community,” she said. “Our sellers right now are banks and short sells, but there is a big opportunity for people that qualify that couldn’t afford one before.”

Then there’s the partnership aspect.

Academy Mortgage already occupies one of the suites in the same building, and McFall says she’s expecting a vacant suite to possibly be another tenant that could benefit the business as well.

At the end of the day, she says, it’s all about the comfort of the customers and the happiness of the agents that serve them.

“We’re thrilled to be here,” she said. “We plan on being here for another 17 years.”