Advisors Living CEO Predicts Strong Housing Market Ahead

BOSTON—Veteran residential real estate broker Janice Dumont, who took over as CEO of Boston Realty Advisors' residential brokerage subsidiary Advisors Living earlier this month, believes both the multifamily and for-sale residential markets in Boston will continue to be strong for the remainder of this year.

“I think what we are seeing is that the multifamily side is still very strong,” Dumont tells Globest.com exclusively. “When you see what is going on with the new residential condo side with some of the luxury buildings coming in at about $1 million a bedroom from the price points they are selling at now, there is definitely an opportunity and a need for the multifamily side of it.”

The markets to be tapped by multifamily product include Millennials as well as empty nesters that have yet to make a decision on where and how they will downsize.

Dumont says that some new luxury products coming onto the market in Boston, including the 60-story Millennium Tower and the Twenty Two Liberty condo building at Fan Pier in South Boston, which is reportedly sold out prior to the completion of construction, are commanding average per-square-foot prices that have the units selling at $1 million a bedroom or higher. She says many of these units have sold off of floor plans.

“Boston's new construction projects are rebounding at an aggressive rate, which is projected to continue over the next three years. I'm eager to expand our full-service residential real estate business to service this growth,” she says.

The development pipeline is robust, she says, noting that developers are now trying to take advantage of the keen demand for multifamily and luxury condo space in the Boston area. “Previously buildings would start pre-marketing 18 months to a year prior, now we are seeing two, two-and-a-half-years in advance of buildings coming out to the public,” she says.

Dumont has 20 years of residential real estate experience and has managed more than $1 billion in sales over the past 10 years. Prior to joining Advisors Living, she was co-founder and managing director of sales & marketing at PrimeTime Communities LLC, a company she expanded into five states in 10 years.

In her first days as CEO of Advisors Living, the company reports she has already brought more than $150 million in listings to the new full-service residential real estate agency whose principal focuses are in marketing and selling new development projects, selling luxury homes and estates, buyer brokerage and consulting for investment entities.

Dumont says one of the goals for Advisors Living is to tap into the key contacts of its parent commercial real estate company Boston Realty Advisors and in fact that strategy has already paid dividends in just a few weeks.

“Fortunately a lot of the large entities and clients of Boston Realty Advisors have provided us with an opportunity on the Advisors Living side, the residential piece of the platfor,  to get in front and pitch some big deals that are now in the pre-marketing stages in Boston,” she says. Dumont relates that Advisors Living has a verbal marketing agreement on one major development project and is believed to be a finalist for the marketing assignment for another major development venture in Boston.

Advisors Living is also marketing the Montage, a 173-unit condominium community in Framingham. MA. The project was recently completed and approximately 500 prospective buyers visited the site at the development's grand opening earlier this month, Dumont says.