[IHB] A Review of the Casero Tract at Portola Springs

I actually like the Casero layouts... my only nitpicks are the squared corners and the master shower was tiny (well... for me).
 
I agree with Wendy...I honestly felt like StanPac "missed" with this development. My wife and I were originally so psyched when they announced the builder because we love other developments and thought Portola would be great in the future. The tot lot in the area was pretty fun at least.
 
How could Portola Springs be great when it is just right next door to the largest landfill in CA, and is considered one of the biggest in all of the United States? Buyer beware!
 
Casero is so bad that I completely lost faith with StanPac. StanPac had done better products in the past. IHO liking StanPac's Casero is just another one of his emotional things.
 
the downstairs of the casero homes are horrible.  the upstairs are good though.
 
Checked out Casero this weekend. These are zero lot line homes which utilize the side yard as the California room + yard space. Being zero lot line, the execution cannot be more poor - one side of the house completely is devoid of windows, and the layout being narrow and long only make this worse (i.e. the long side is the side that lacks windows). One benefit of detached is it should have more natural lights by having more windows; Casero's setup is really not much different from a duplex setup.

On the other hand, Sevilla is also zero lot line but it executes much better. There are more windows on the side but the windows of two adjacent houses do not face against each directly. Sevilla also got a more traditional interior layout despite being primarily motor court homes. No wonder Sevilla is almost sold out but Casero has so many standing inventory on the market.

I am interested to see if Wendy can review Sevilla next before it completely sold out (plan 1 all sold out, including the model).
 
I went to Casero this weekend, we liked residence 3 with the bonus room and found the floorplan to be spacious and inviting, not cramped like original review Wendy Larson had indicated. We liked the entryway of residence 3 (see attached).

The woman at the Casero office was very nice and lead us out to the build site and gave us a tour of one of the homes that was currently being built. Apparently they are building a few quick move-in homes and people can either just buy those with all the choices already made or buy from the dirt up. (We prefer dirt up)

The models are not where the homes for sale are....they sold all of those already. The new Casero homes are being built next to Los Colinas, and are walking distance from the pool. From the build site we noticed that you can see the toll road from the front yard but you can't hear it, which means that as they build closer to the toll road those homes are going to have to deal with the road noise.

We sniffed the air all day trying to see if we could smell trash (giggles) and it's true there is something funky in the air over there. We didn't smell it at the Casero build site but we did smell it near the tennis courts.




 

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If you can see the toll road... you can hear it... trust me.

I also like the Casero floorplans... in my opinion, they are more functional than many of the other detached condos in the same square footage. Maybe because they are rear garage, they have a space planning advantage but that also gives them the con of not having a backyard space (a sideyard is okay but less private).

I like the Plan 2 and Plan 3.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
If you can see the toll road... you can hear it... trust me.

I also like the Casero floorplans... in my opinion, they are more functional than many of the other detached condos in the same square footage. Maybe because they are rear garage, they have a space planning advantage but that also gives them the con of not having a backyard space (a sideyard is okay but less private).

I like the Plan 2 and Plan 3.

the casero office woman who took us on the tour to the build site informed us that there are no windows on the wall of the neighbor's house on the same side as the sideyard, so they cannot look down into your yard. I'm not sure if that only applies to some or all of the plans.

It's in our top 3 because of that spacious 3rd floor bonus room. Given what a nice feature that is, I'm surprised more floorplans don't have it.


 
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