Is “Kindness” Real Estate’s Next Big Amenity?

The developer of Silverwood, a new master-planned community in Southern California, envisions a community governed by a culture of kindness.

When John Ohanian, general manager of DMB Development’s Silverwood community, finished acquiring and titling a 15,663-home development in Southern California, he sat with the development team to develop the details of the community. One idea that took root was that the community should be a City of Kindness.

“We were excited to be able to do something elevated for the Mojave River Valley. And I believe the market is ready for a community that focuses on kindness, particularly if you can deliver attainable housing with it,” Ohanian says, who defines attainable for the area as mid-$400s. “The group thought that we should try our best to live in a manner that treats people with dignity and respect—and to make this a tenet of the community.”

Thoughtful words but how does a developer create and enforce kindness? Ohanian agrees that moving the concept from dream to reality is a work in progress. “First, we created a Kindness Pledge, and then we explained this idea to all of our consultants, contractors, and builders,” he says.

While the cynic in most of us—and to an extent Ohanian himself—wonders how “kindness” can be enforced, please push out of your mind images of white-uniformed patrols proselytizing peace while rolling through the community’s streets on segways. The kindness concept is a far more subconscious play.

“You know, it’s hard for someone to say you shouldn’t be kind,” Ohanian reminds. “Every person has dignity and value. We just need to be respectful of differences of opinion, foster acceptance of different outlooks and opinions, and don’t become disagreeable.” By even broaching the idea of how a City of Kindness would play out, the development team asked itself tough questions: “What would a kind city do for homeless people? Drug addicts? Helping them is the kind act and not compromising the values you have and doing it in a manner that is loving and kind,” Ohanian says. “Our team talked about how to act kind. You walk by someone landscaping, and you acknowledge them. Did you bring them water? Small acts have a very significant impact.”

The community will have five elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. “In the schools, we will provide some sort of reward for acts of kindness,” Ohanian says. “If you do things like this sincerely, it becomes part of the community DNA and will result in a very engaged community of parents and teachers.”

Being Kind Includes the Planet

When you plan to turn a historic 9,366-acre cattle ranch into a mega-community, the first goal is to leave as light of a footprint as possible. To date, the most sustainable thing about this community is its wastewater system. Roughly 9,000 homes will be dual-plumbed so that graywater can be recycled for irrigation.

“We’ve done this in another development and not only is it the right thing to do and the smartest way we can build, but it also means we don’t have to acquire as much water,” Ohanian says.

The community’s water catchment concept is designed to retain rainwater in heavy rain years and store it in the aquifer for later use. “You can take in water during good years and recharge the basin,” says Ohanian, who adds that California is currently trying to expand ways recycled water can be used, perhaps for clothes washing and toilet flushing. In terms of sustainable house building, the developer is largely leaving it up to the builders. Currently, Lennar, Richmond American Homes, Watt Capital Developers, and Woodside Homes will be building homes in Silverwood.

Solar will be on every house because it is a California mandate. “Green is important to us,” Ohanian adds. “And we think Millennials—both first-time and move-up—value it significantly as well. We hope to step up green a notch and do more. It will translate to an increased sense of pride in the community—and it will make people want to live here.”

Marketing Duo: Kindness and Outdoor Living

Nestled between two mountain ranges at the foot of Silverwood Lake—mere steps from the Pacific Crest Trail—the Silverwood neighborhood is a visual celebration of nature. More than half of the community’s land has been reserved for parks and natural open space. This tie to nature may aid the community in becoming a City of Kindness. According to many experts, simply viewing beautiful natural scenes can result in people being more cooperative and generous to others, even in the presence of strangers.

The community’s goal of 166 miles of trails and paseos connected between open spaces means everyone’s front porch is a personal trailhead. “The selling point is the beauty of seeing Big Bear and Mt. Baldy in the distance,” Ohanian says. “Every neighborhood will have a park within a five-minute walk along with opportunities for bike riding, hiking, and just getting out in nature.”

Amenities, such as these outdoor options, abound in the community, so it will be hard to quantify what impact the Pledge of Kindness may have on home sales. However, it has already proved to be a differentiation point that appeals to prospective home buyers joining the Residence Club pre-sales information list.

“We are launching a community that is aspirational,” Ohanian reminds. “We don’t know what the market will say to us. Our plan is to release the first 500 homes and then adjust, if necessary, as we respond to real market conditions.”

Lennar, K. Hovnanian, Richmond American Homes, Watt Capital Developers, and Woodside Homes plan to build the first 650 single-family houses in Silverwood, priced from the mid-$400,000s to the $700,000s, with the first residents expected to move in by the middle of 2025. The Silverwood development, in the Mojave River Valley, is about 20 miles from major employment centers in San Bernardino and nearly 65 miles from Los Angeles. A planned high-speed rail eventually could make a commute to Los Angeles viable for Silverwood residents, according to Ohanian.