"In every community, even in the crew of a pirate ship, there are forced actions and prohibited actions, laudable actions and reprehensible actions. A pirate has to show courage in combat and justice in the distribution of loot; if he doesn't, he's not a 'good' pirate. When one man belongs to a larger community, the scope of his obligations and prohibitions becomes greater; there is always a code to which it must conform under penalty of public dishonor" (Human Society: Ethics and Politics.
Bertrand Russell
There are a good number of codes of ethics (such as, for example, the European code of ethics for real estate professionals, or the code of ethics and professional conduct of the API) and ethical decalogues related to the real estate profession (promoted by associations and companies in the field, which are usually associated with the "reasonable" behavior of agents). Reading, however, these texts leaves us... a bit cold. And it is that there is talk of small virtues, of reasonable virtues, of avoiding envy and cursing, of being professional, of not deceiving, of not vilifying, of making one the interests of the client and, in the end, of the practical and the argumentable, and, therefore, of something usually distant from the client and of his behavior in the sale or lease of real estate. That is why when a citizen reads these codes he can be scandalized. That is why, perhaps, they are merely internal codes.
Alas! At mariatomasa.com we take ethics, personally and socially, very seriously as the basis of our own behavior. But in order to develop our work in such a framework, we need to put ourselves in the place of our customers ... and our colleagues. And for this we need to look at the important things: those that make a difference.
That is why we flag the great virtues against the small reasonable truths (which of course we respect, like any well-educated neighbor's son, but which seem insufficient to us for the daily practice of a profession in which it is, above all, the client, with its diversity of behaviors, who conforms). We like, thus, the tone and look of The Little Virtues described by Natalia Ginzburg:
"As far as the education of children is concerned, I believe that we should not teach them the small virtues, but the big ones. Not saving, but generosity and indifference to money; not prudence, but courage and contempt for danger; not cunning, but frankness and love for the truth; not diplomacy, but love of neighbor and self-denial; not the desire to succeed, but the desire to be and to know, but we almost always do the opposite. We hasten to teach them respect for the small virtues, founding our entire educational system on them. In this way we choose the most comfortable path, because the small virtues do not contain any material danger, moreover, they protect us from the blows of luck. We forget to teach the great virtues and yet we love them, and we would like our children to have them, but we hope that they will sprout spontaneously in their spirit, one future day, because we consider them of an instinctive nature, while the others, the small ones, seem to us the fruit of a reflection, of a calculation, and that is why we think it is absolutely necessary to teach them"
Natalia Ginzburg
We like to take the floor to those who give it with naturalness, commitment and diligence, and for us there is no better treatment than that which is based on the irreducible will to keep the word given. We love punctuality, and at the same time we assume the imponderables of the daily life of our clients and, above all, that they are not usually companies, with automated agendas or employees who watch over their appointments, so we are ready to help them with that management. We rebel against the practice of meeting clients, to visit a farm, in areas different from those of the property, in a crude attempt to guarantee the operation. We congratulate ourselves on the trust placed in our company by our clients who own real estate, who provide us with daily signs of respect and bonhomie. We lament people with no word to keep and therefore no word to expect. We are pleased that in this sector, real estate, there is work for everyone.
What is the difference between small virtues and big ones? Let's go back to Natalia Ginzburg:
"Actually, the difference is only apparent. Also the small virtues come from the depths of our instinct, from an instinct of defense, but in them reason speaks, sentences, dissertates, brilliant advocate of personal incolumidad. The great virtues come from an instinct in which reason does not speak, an instinct that I would find difficult to name. And the best of us is in that mute instinct, and not in our instinct of defense, which argues, sentences, disserts with the voice of reason."
Natalia Ginzburg
When in mariatomasa.com we talk about "Ethical Real Estate Services" we refer, precisely, not to the defensive-professional-corporate instinct, but to the other, to the ethical intuitive sense that accompanies the important things and that, in the long run (as it has to be) defines, step by step, our character.
