Breault Aims for RE/MAX Commercial Real Estate Growth

NATICK — At 52, Daniel Breault is not facing a mid-life crisis — he is seizing a mid-life opportunity. “I love it,” Breault says in an interview with The Real Reporter shortly after his appointment as Regional Director for RE/MAX of New England. The Connecticut native, who replaces Jay Hummer, had served in a similar role for the past 17 years at RE/MAX of Indiana.

A graduate of Ball State University, Breault has deep roots there, including serving in a directorship position at the Salvation Army of Indiana. The RE/MAX role also produced results, results, notes Pamela Alexander, CEO and Managing Director, North American Operations, citing a 25 percent gain in Indiana market share and a jump in agent productivity by 38 percent, despite the down economy that battered the Midwest. Breault’s “decades of leadership, sales and major brand experience will be an asset to the New England market,” Alexander says in explaining his selection to oversee one of the firm’s most important US markets.

Breault has hit the ground running, already meeting on the ground with many of the firm’s 3,000 sales associates who operate in 220 offices across all six New England states. “I really like what I see so far,” says Breault, predicting the quality of the company professionals and an improving housing sector will enable RE/MAX to bolster a market share estimated between 9 and 14 percent for every New England state save for Rhode Island, where he pegs the figure at about 22 percent, the same level Indiana was at following Breault’s stint.

On the residential end, Breault says he is impressed by the volume of million dollar transactions occurring in Greater Boston, an element he says is exponentially larger than that found in suburban Indianapolis. “It’s incredible,” he says, as evidenced in this month’s Real Reporter listing of million dollar residential sales that had 129 seven-figure deals closed through May 18th.

Breault says he is also committed to supporting RE/MAX on the commercial brokerage front. Acceding the organization is known more for its residential breadth, he says the firm is actually seventh nationally for commercial transactions. “I think we are kind of a sleeper there,” says Breault. “We have been growing at a nice, steady clip, and as the economy comes back, I think we can look forward to even more growth in the commercial (market.)”

Visits to RE/MAX offices throughout New England indicate commercial is an important piece of the pie regionally, says Breault. A random search of the company database would suggest as much, with one targeted search showing more than 100 such listings in the Greater Boston district alone