❤ Embarking on a New Path: Regenerative Real Estate and the Art of Doing Good

I am embarking on a new path!

In August 2023,  a new calling has come forth in my life.

It’s a calling from the land, and a calling from the sea, a calling from theatres, churches, synagogues, and homes, gems of our culture; as well as a calling from the environment in which I live. They are all calling me to firstly safeguard and protect them and secondly to introduce them to the community so that other people witness them too, get to love them and enjoy them.

I was born into a family of merchants from both my parents sides. In my youth, I was offered the possibility to carry on the family’s textile business. But following a short period during which I worked along with my father Iakovos Nahmias and uncle Herbert Nahmias (who together run the Nahmias brothers textile family business on Aiolou Street in downtown Athens,) I knew that I would not follow in their foosteps and carry on their business legacy.

I embarked then in studies in Psychology and Jewish Civilization and was attracted to work first at the #Jewish Museum of Greece, in Athens in parallel with my studies in Psychology, at the American College of Greece. Later, in Israel, past my Jewish Civilization MA at the Hebrew University, I joined the staff of #Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem and since 2011, I have joined #The Israel Museum, Jerusalem where I am still employed to this day.

As I am writing these words, I understand that the common theme behind the three Museums I have worked for  so far is the preservation and dissemination of culture in general and Jewish culture in particular.

I am happy to realize that now, in the year 2023, something has matured in me. Today, I see the power of commerce, and grasp its tremendous potential to transform society and do good, which alas, back in my twenties I couldn’t.

From a young age, I felt a calling to protect and safeguard the environment, the land and the sea, as well as the animals living on the land and the sea, but other than doing my small share by composting, cleaning up the beach, and planting trees in our courtyard, as well as raising three eco-mindful daughters, I did not do much.

And hurray! This year I had an exceptional idea!

What if there was a way to connect commercial activity with the preservation of the natural habitat and dissemination of culture? What if a business were to give back from its earnings to the place and community it operates from to restore, preserve and regenerate it?

What if every client of mine in my-soon-to-be-established-real-estate-business were to pay a percentage towards the preservation of the place’s natural habitat and cultural environment?

What if I created a real estate business that would ask both the buyer as well as the seller of the property to pay an extra 0,5% which would be deposited in a fund that would give back to the community by financing projects safeguarding its natural and cultural beauty and uniqueness?

I am writing this article to document the process I am going through as I create this new #regenerative-real-estate-business of mine, initially in Greece, my homeland.

As I am writing these words, the first client has come along in Aegina, Greece. The client, an accomplised professional with family roots in the island happens to also be a friend of my parents Elda and Iakovos Nahmias, and most importantly someone who cares for the natural and built environment of the island in general, and the village Pahio Rahi in particular, where she owns a beautiful property for sale.

I will be meeting my first client this week, and discuss with her the regenerative real estate ideas I hold dear and see how she connects with my approach and worldview. If there is a match, I will be representing her property.

I trust that at this age of natural catastrophes in Greece and the world– wildfires are still burning forests and homes as I write these words–  there are enough people out there who connect to the regenerative real estate idea, benefiting the environment and the community.

Properties, in my regenerative world, won’t be passed on to an individual, couple or family for them to just integrate harmoniously in the village,  city, or country, but also to people who care to preserve, safeguard and promote the property’s special aesthetic as well as its surrounding natural and cultural habitat for future generations to enjoy too.

From Aegina with love,

Yvette Nahmia Messinas