SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, MEXICO – Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colonial Homes San Miguel—the first and flagship Luxury Collection office in Mexico of the Warren Buffett-led eponymous brand—has only been open four months. And in a fly-in only market like this central-Mexico location, the pandemic brought business to a standstill.
“Business leaders tend to bemoan a financial bottom line decimated by this pandemic,” notes Broker Greg Gunter, an American expat who co-owns the brand’s first bicultural and binational office in Mexico. “But we can lose sight that non-profit organizations suffer even more dramatically, even though the need for their services is stronger than ever.”
Broker Gunter and co-Broker Alma Cecilia Ramirez invested in the 
Berkshire Hathaway brand for many reasons, not the least of which was an admiration for Warren Buffett’s international reputation as a business leader, but more importantly, as a giver.
Buffet and fellow billionaire Bill Gates founded The Giving Pledge in 2010, encouraging their peers to donate a substantial portion of their net worth in their lifetime to philanthropic causes. In 2020 alone, Buffett donated $2.9 billion in Berkshire Hathaway shares as part of his pledge.
“I’m a strong believer that getting involved in your community is beneficial for your mind and spirit,” adds Broker Alma Cecilia. “There’s a sense of connection, solidarity, and peace by sharing and giving back to our community and offering help to the ones in need.”
San Miguel de Allende supports about 130 NGO’s, or non-profit organizations in this village of 150,000 residents. And despite the economic pain of a depressed pandemic market in 2020, Brokers Gunter and Ramirez decided the day they were granted a Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchise that they would emulate Buffett’s Giving Pledge campaign as best they could.
“We’ve chosen five highly-deserving local charities to direct our year-end giving,” says Gunter, “many of them ones which we’ve personally supported over the years and understand the value of their community support.”
BHHS Colonial Homes San Miguel directed their 2020 charitable giving to local recipients the San Miguel Community Foundation, Patronato Pro Niños, Casita Linda, Pro Musica, and the Biblioteca, covering giving needs ranging from business women’s entrepreneurial micro-lending, to children’s health care, to educational scholarships.
“There’s a reason consumers voted Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices the ‘Highest Ranked in Trust and Love’ among real estate agencies in the 2020 Harris Poll,” notes Gunter, “and we think our community support is just one of those reasons. As our market rebounds in 2021, we look forward to helping even more!”
About Colonial Homes San Miguel
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Colonial Homes San Miguel, founded by co-Brokers Greg Gunter and Alma Cecilia Ramirez as the first and flagship Luxury Collection office of the brand in Mexico, enjoys 25 years of history in the UNESCO World Heritage city of San Miguel de Allende, named three time by Condé Nast Traveler as the #1 City in the World. Visit www.BHHSColonialHomesSanMiguel.com
About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is one of the world’s fastest-growing residential real estate brokerage franchise networks, with more than 50,000 real estate professionals, nearly 1,500 offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Middle East, and more than $119 billion in real estate sales volume. The network, among the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name, brings to the real estate market a definitive mark of trust, integrity, stability and longevity. Visit www.berkshirehathawayhs.com