Decision - Helena Res 3 vs Petaluma Res 1

T

themarketingguy77

New member
Hi everybody,

Hope you're all doing well. We are a young couple (first time homeowners) with a small dog trying to make a decision between Helena 3 and Petaluma 1 or even a cheaper attached condo in Woodbury\Stonegate. Forgive me if I sound ignorant for some of these questions - I'm inexperienced.

My main concern is in regards to the resale value of the Helena vs the Petaluma along with the HOA and taxes for each. After doing some research at both offices, it seems like the HOA at Helena is MUCH higher than the Petaluma (As there is a fee for Helena neighborhood whereas Petaluma doesnt have an additional neighborhood fee).

I'm wondering what some of you might think what may be the better option from a financial standpoint? We love the California room and extra yard space in the Petaluma, but it is going to be a near $100k difference when you factor in needed upgrades, landscaping of the backyard, closing costs and etc.

From your experience, which would you choose? I can afford the Petaluma downpayment, but I don't think either homes will be lived in for the rest of our lives (at least 5 years, however). Do you think the resale value of the Petaluma will be much greater than the Helena?

Hopefully it doesn't sound like I'm persuading myself to pick the Petaluma, but want some confirmation from someone experienced with the resale value of these tract homes. Thanks so much for your time.
 
Petaluma hands down...detached properties have and always will outperform attached properties in terms of resale value.  The HOA for attached properties will almost always be higher than for detached properties.
 
I'm with USCT and acf, get the Petaluma.

Detached product in general are more popular, potentially better price appreciation over time and without sharing a common wall with your neighbor, that's just priceless.  Usually the home price is a big factor for the detach home but if your budget allows it, take the detached Petaluma. 

I don't know if you are aware that currently Petaluma is the best selling new home in Irvine.  Petaluma starts selling in February of this year and already sold almost all the home at the first site (around 100 homes) and now they are selling the home at their extension site next to Jeffrey. If the sales continue at current rate, Petaluma will sold out by the next Summer.  If the home sell well now, most likely it will sell well in the future.  And especially if you are worries about the resale, take the Petaluma. 
 
Detached product without a doubt. We bought our first home in 2003. I was pretty adamant that we should buy a condo, but my wife (wisely) convinced me that we should stretch and buy a detached home. We did and when we sold to buy our second home 3 years later, our home had appreciated by 50%. The condo we were considering might have gone up 20-25%. So not only did we realize greater appreciation percentage-wise, but dollar-wise as well.
While we admittedly lucked-out based on our timing, the fact of the matter is that the detached homes nearly always outperform condos under most circumstances 8)
 
Grateful for these replies. Thank you very much. We will get prequaled and try our luck at getting a Petaluma 1 but also put ourselves on the Helena 3 list just in case.. The Petaluma yard I'm sure is going to be SO worth it.

Any recommendations or thoughts on the whole priority list process? Should we expect prices to go up?

Thank you!
 
themarketingguy77 said:
Any recommendations or thoughts on the whole priority list process?
Click to expand...

Once you got pre-qualified, you will be added to the priority list.  And once a new phase is released, the sale office will call people on the priority list to offer them a home.

However, a buyer's standing on that priority list is a total secrete and how the sales office pick their buyer for each release is a total mystery. :mad:

You can read more here:

The Mysterious Priority List

Eastwood Village Waiting List- How long before you got a call?

I heard Petaluma still has quite a list of people on their priority list and there will be bit of wait before they offer you a home.  So just get pre-qualified ASAP and good luck.
 
I personally just bought Helena and main motivation was that it was so close to detached SFR such as Petulama.
Floorplan is identical, yard space is similar (Petulama is sligthly larger). Helena has $178 of HOA extra but that covers front landscape and home insurance is about $40-50 less a month due to community having insurance. However, not having second HOA is worth a good 20-30k. The thing I liked the most is residence 2 and 3 only have the garage wall being shared.
Petulama doesn't have that much more space in between its units. However, for me, Helena made sense because in the budget I was looking for, it was really close to the feel of the lower end
SFR in Irvine. It wasn't much more than your average condo but does have an SFR feel to it. Petulama would have stretched our budget quite a lot so we didn't really consider it. But obviously, it's nicer to say you're completely detached. Not sure it's worth 100k but it would very likely be in resale.

One thing you can look into is Helena have some units with HUGE yards, bigger than all the homes I've seen in Eastwood - even the 1M+ ones. There's not that many. The premium for those are 35k I believe.

 
Yoyo2012,

That is a huge pro-tip! I will look into Helena 3 + premium yard. This is pretty smart since it's only our first home and we don't need to spend the extra xx-xxxK on it. I would be happy in either.

thank you very much for your response.
 
yoyo2012 said:
I personally just bought Helena and main motivation was that it was so close to detached SFR such as Petulama.
Floorplan is identical, yard space is similar (Petulama is sligthly larger). Helena has $178 of HOA extra but that covers front landscape and home insurance is about $40-50 less a month due to community having insurance. However, not having second HOA is worth a good 20-30k. The thing I liked the most is residence 2 and 3 only have the garage wall being shared.
Petulama doesn't have that much more space in between its units. However, for me, Helena made sense because in the budget I was looking for, it was really close to the feel of the lower end
SFR in Irvine. It wasn't much more than your average condo but does have an SFR feel to it. Petulama would have stretched our budget quite a lot so we didn't really consider it. But obviously, it's nicer to say you're completely detached. Not sure it's worth 100k but it would very likely be in resale.

One thing you can look into is Helena have some units with HUGE yards, bigger than all the homes I've seen in Eastwood - even the 1M+ ones. There's not that many. The premium for those are 35k I believe.
Click to expand...

Just a few corrections:

1. There are only 8 Helena's that are the duplex where 2 and 3 share only the garage. In the triplex or quadplex, 2 only share garage and 3 shares one wall
2. I'm not sure what you mean by "HUGE"  yards. There are only a few with large yards. One of them already sold which has the drive way and the one behind that one which has yet to be released. The other ones have larger backyards but I wouldn't call it HUGE :)
 
Ok i thought that all 3 and most 2 only shared the garage but I might be wrong.

It's huge by Irvine standards lol But yeah they're not that huge, is say they're 2.5-3x the standard yard you get at Helena. Larger than average Petulama yard
 
What are your guys thoughts on Petaluma and Legado at Portola Springs?

What is the general consensus of Portola Springs and Eastwood Village? PS seems SO far. Who are the people that are willing to live in that area?
 
Depends on where you go. PS is closer to the toll roads. Also cheaper than EW. 
 
themarketingguy77 said:
What are your guys thoughts on Petaluma and Legado at Portola Springs?

What is the general consensus of Portola Springs and Eastwood Village? PS seems SO far. Who are the people that are willing to live in that area?
Click to expand...

Ever since its inception, PS has been a less demanding area compares to other newer villages.  And the Irvine Co. knows this too therefore they sell the lot cheaper to the home builders and the home builder also mark the home price lower.

If you are OK with the location and don't mind that extra 5 min drive, Legado is really a great buy.  You got a Irvine home at a Tustin pirce, that's one good deal there.

However Petaluma is selling extremely well even with its premium price tag and there's still quite a waiting list going on.  I guess that's the thing with real estate, the location makes a big difference even if its just 3 to 4 miles away.


 
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