The Power of Cookies

One of our current projects is infill development, meaning we’re building houses in an existing neighborhood.  

Imagine a donut.  

On the outside, there are a couple of dozen houses that were built back in the 60’s and 70’s.  

On the inside, where the hole would be, there’s a park.

Kind of. 

I mean, it’s not exactly a park, but it is a big natural area with mature trees - it’s “green space.”

And because it’s “topographically challenged,” nobody has ever built any houses on it, even though it was long ago divided into lots. 

But since I’m always up for a good challenge (like 4:30 AM ice baths), I bought it. 

One of the biggest challenges for a project like this is managing the expectations of the folks who’ve lived there for all these years and who’ve gotten used to the donut-hole park in the neighborhood.

For some, it’s literally their backyard. 

And won’t like the idea of me building a house there. 

Some will worry that I am going to build a bunch of rental houses.

Or, worse (in their mind), they worry I’ll build apartments.

Since I want people to like us and love our project, I wrote a letter explaining what we were doing. 

And while I could have mailed it, I decided on hand delivery.

With cookies.

There are 18 houses immediately adjacent to the first phase of this project. So I stopped at Crumbl Cookies and bought 18 six-packs of assorted sugary goodness. 

At the first door, a stoner said, “maaaaaan, thanks doooooode!”

At the 2nd door, nobody was home.

And at the 3rd door, Jim cried. 

Jim is 73, and he’s lived in his house for the majority of those years. He’d heard we bought the land, and he’d also heard we were going to build a big apartment complex.  

When I told him we were building single-family homes, he teared up.

“Thank you,” he said. 

“And thank you so much for coming by. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you would take the time to let us know what’s going on. You know, this street is home for us.”

In the next hour, I caught 9 more neighbors at home, and to my delight, they were all excited about the project and wished me all the best.

The rest, of course, would find their cookies when they got home. 

From now on, we’re doing this for every house we build or renovate, and not just because it felt good to get out and connect with people, although it was fun and it did feel really good.

But it’s also a potential gold mine.

The guy who teared up - Jim - also said this:

"By the way, I own a house around the corner that I'd like to sell.  Would you like to see it?"

Yes, Jim.

Yes, I would.

If you want to give this strategy a try, I’ve included the full text of my letter below. Copy it, use it, and good luck with it. 

And if I can help you with anything else, just holler.

Here’s that letter:

https://www.rwprice.com/s/Letter.pdf