T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Alta Vista Real Estate Broker/Owner Melisa Fonseca, center, celebrated the business’s new downtown location at 25 N. Center St. with a ribbon cutting and open house on Wednesday evening along with her REALTOR ® team of Rene Hernandez, left, and Antonio Carrera, right.

Alta Vista Real Estate Broker/Owner Melisa Fonseca, who also serves on the Marshalltown city council, takes pride in investing in her community and helping others do the same, and she and her growing team of REALTORS ® celebrated their new downtown location at 25 N. Center St. with a Chamber Ambassadors ribbon cutting and open house featuring authentic home cooked tamales and empanadas on Wednesday evening.

When she started the business, Fonseca was housed out of an office on 9th Street, but she jumped at the opportunity to purchase a downtown building, the former home of the Grife Law Office, and renovate the space, with more improvements and a new storefront facade still to come.

“Coming downtown was a big decision for me, and I made it because I really needed the space to grow the team. Where I was at before was only for me for the time being, opening up my brokerage and being a broker and getting licensed after five years of being at another brokerage,” she said. “It was the spot to get, and I knew that it came with a lot of responsibility. And I’m excited for that.”

Since she moved to the new location last year, Fonseca, has added two new REALTORS ® to her team, Rene Hernandez and Antonio Carrera. All three have local roots — Fonseca and Hernandez are both Marshalltown High School (MHS) alums, and Carrera graduated from nearby South Tama County (STC).

“Melisa’s pretty involved in the community, and she’s pretty young, too. And she’s always been so involved, and so trying to grow this community, it was pretty easy to work with her and try to help out,” Carrera said.

Hernandez added that he is thankful for the opportunity to join the Alta Vista team and learn from Fonseca.

“I’m just soaking up everything as we go, and I’m glad to be here and grow with the brokerage,” he said.

In a city where over a third of the population is Latino, it’s also a huge asset that the entire team is bilingual and can communicate with customers in both English and Spanish.

“It means a lot. Honestly, we are the first bilingual brokerage in the area and surrounding towns and communities too, so that really means a lot especially when the population is 40 percent diverse in Marshalltown of the 28,500 people we have,” Fonseca said. “It’s an eye opening moment for the community and those who can have services in their language and representation in their language, having trust and dedication and everything that we do for our clients.”

Her long-term vision is to continue growing her team, getting new signage up at the front of the building and working with her neighbor on replacing the awning.

“There’s lots to do still, but honestly, we’re here for the long run, and keeping it at a good pace is what we need to do,” Fonseca said. “I opened up the brokerage in 2024, and we’re having our open house in 2026 with the new location and I’ve been licensed since 2019. Real estate is a long-term commitment and a long-term career, and we’re here to help our clients along the way.”

Those who attended were invited to vote on three potential storefront design options, walk through both the main and upper floors and enjoy tamales prepared by Hernandez’s mother and empanadas and strawberry gelatin made by Carrera’s mother along with other appetizers and refreshments. Alta Vista Real Estate can be reached at (641) 758-0970.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.