New homes in Lake Forest

"The city's first new home development in nearly two decades will debut Saturday morning with three models in the Craftsman, American Farmhouse and California  Bungalow architectural styles."

"We are the most affordable homes on the market from Irvine south," Frazier said. "The same floor plans in Irvine would cost $250,000 more. You can't buy a new home with these upgraded features any where in South County."
http://www.ocregister.com/news/homes-241259-development-new.html

Does anyone plan to go check these out or already have?

I went there last weekend (been meaning to post this here).

I was excited when I first heard of it because the initial price points were $679k-720k but after going to the site (models were not open yet), I was very underwhelmed.

1. I forgot how far inland this area was (I had a relative live not 2 minutes away from this development)

2. The parcel of land they squeezed 29 homes into is fairly small and they had to use a lot of geostone retaining walls in the entire place.

3. The homes are very close together although some of the lots are pretty good sized (ranging from 3600-5500sf).

4. The HOA is $214 which is high considering there is no pool, gate or clubhouse (there is a small park with a tot lot).

5. The house designs are nice (I like the Craftsman style) and the floorplans look very functional.

6. The rest of the area is anywhere from 10-20+ years older.

7. Some have view lots.

I really like the price points as you can get a 3000sft house for about $700k which blows away Irvine pricing, I just don't know if the distance and layout of the neighborhood is worth it.

Good to know, thanks IHO. You didn't happen to get any pics while you were there did ya?

I can't place in my mind where "Pittsford Street and Osterman Road" is. Even though the adjacent neighborhoods are 10-20 years old, do they seem kept up well?

I'll probably be taking pictures this weekend (saving it for the models).

If you take Lake Forest all the way towards Foothill Ranch, when you pass Trabuco you'll enter an area that has businesses on the left and homes on the right, turn right on Pittsford and on the left hand corner is Summit Crest. William Lyon built a new enclave just 2 streets up from there in the late 80s. Another area was built in the 90s, it's a mix of older and new homes. The area is kept well but the way they put in those homes is just strange.

Also... I think there was some contention from surrounding residents not wanting that project to go through.

i posted this last friday on OCreader:

So on my way home from work i decided to see how far the drive was to the model homes. From the 5 & Jamboree it took me 16 minutes to go exactly 13 miles. Took the 5 to the 133 to the 241 and exited Lake Forest Drive. The toll was 2.75, it would have been 2.25 if I had the Fastrak. I got there at 5:50pm, the sales trailer was gone, there were some construction guys there, so i just went in to take a look. I saw all of plan 1, the kitchen/family room combo felt too cramped, the master upstairs was ok sized, the tub is one of those mini tubs, not a full size tub, a woman would fit just fine, IHO would have a hard time fitting in there (I have never actually met IHO, just going by how he describes himself, everything else about the master bathroom was fine, very big walk in closet, the shower had a bench in it. Overall, it was nice, except the kitchen/family room was too tight, that is probably a deal breaker for me.

I didnt go into plan 2, there was note on the door to keep out that the floor was drying, so i didnt want to ruin their floor, if in fact it was not dry and set.

Plan 3 was pretty good. The kitchen/family room was much better there, i must admit though that the kitchen itself did seem a bit tight, but was still adequate. There is a big carveout in the wall for your media center, they had very nice built in shelving. I was going to go upstairs but heard some folks up there so decided against it.

There appears to be a good amount of work to go on these, but apparently they are opening next weekend, good luck to them.

The area seems nice, but there were a lot of what appeared to be pretty large apartment complexes on Osterman as i was coming down from Regence. There should be some nice view lots as the area seems quite hilly. Another draw back to these homes is that they are very very close to each other. For example when i stood in the driveway to plan 1, the wall to plan 3 was right next to the driveway. So you can touch your neighbors house from your driveway. There did appear to be about a 6 foot gap from plan 1 and 2.

That is pretty much it. ill be checking out these next weekend but doubt we will buy anything. Ill stick with Serrano Heights or maybe some new construction in Yorba Linda (Vista del Verde, Shapell has some nice single story homes there, they had two single story homes available there when i called a couple of days ago, now im getting sidetracked but the lots shapell is offering are at least 6,000 sq ft, they are doing a 3% co-op and giving 30K in upgrades that must be used for upgrades, cant be used to reduce the price. the price was 729K for one home and 765K for the second home on a view lot).

The models are pretty nice. I took pictures with me cell phone but many are blurry.

Just the way they've put them into the neighborhood is weird as many are on retaining wall lots which makes me wonder how stable those will stay over time.

If they put these in Irvine and even added $50-100k to them, we would probably buy one.

We like the Plan 3 best.

I collaged the pictures (sorry about the quality):

Plan 1:


Plan 2:


Plan 3:

We checked these out yesterday, the plan 2 is our favorite. Driving up Lake Forest Dr from the 5 (took 8 minutes by the way at noon on sunday, im a little OCD when it comes to timing routes), the neighborhoods seem pretty nice.  We checked out all of the lot locations, there are only a couple of lots that will have some nice views. The plan 1 kitchen/living room was too tight for our taste. The plan 2, which i didnt see the last time i was there because the flooring was being put down, was nice and open. The first floor of the plan three seems to compartmentalized, too section off, not very open. However, the sales lady said an option was available to take down the wall between the dining and family room to open up the floor plan.

Looking at the site map, there are a couple of plan 2s we would probably consider if other things dont pan out. Most lot sizes are in the high 3,000's, 16 of the 29 lots, 10 of the 29 lots are in the 4,000's, typically on the lower side of 4,000 and 3 of the 29 lots are over 5,000 sq ft (5,311; 5,779; 5,278).

Oh... and I forgot to add... not many FCBs there... which was expected.

You could also tell the builder didn't take into account some Feng Shui / BK principles as Plan 2 had the master toilet over the nook and Plan 3 had front door lead straight to the back door.

I'm surprised so many have sold... when I went, they had only sold 4 and only had 4 on their release sheet.

Interesting, they must have changed their sales method because when I went there the week before the models were open, she showed me only 4 lots were for sale.

If you can pick and choose your lots now, I can see the value in that as you don't have to wait for a release and then can plan for when it's done.

new2irvine said:

They are selling all the homes at once although they will be built by phase.

Click to expand...

This is inconsistent with what the sales lady told us on saturday, i was inquiring about a specific lot that had a view and she said it was not for sale right now, that it was in a later phase, however, that i could sign up on the interest list for the related lot.

I think so. Maybe people would only buy if they can get the lot they want and right now... a sale is a sale.

In Irvine, they need to control the phases so that they keep pricing and inventory and a certain level so you usually see them go from least desirable to most desirable in a neighborhood to validate price increases.

For this particular neighborhood, I doubt they have any restrictions other than sell all of them as fast as you can (I got that feeling when I talked to them before the models opened).

For a plan this small, I think it's okay because if they do drop prices if it slows down, at least the people who bought higher know they got to choose their lot.

And for those who are unfamiliar with this area... it's really nice (despite the apartment perception). It's more of a South County vibe than an Irvine one (hence the lack of FCBs) so you have to keep that in mind. If you keep going up Alton (or Bake) you can hit the Costco/Walmart/Target/Food Courts oasis in Foothill Ranch.

Well... I spilled it over at OCR so I might as well share it here.

I may have to change my screen name to LFHO. After much discussion the last few days, we've reserved one of the Summit Crest homes.

It's a Plan 3 on a corner and the purchase price is roughly $710k (we haven't been to the design center yet so that might change). We've been looking for a while and although it's not in Irvine, as I've said I am familiar with this area of Lake Forest so it's not a stretch for us to live there. This was the lowest priced brand new that we could find that was fairly local and had most of the interior features we were looking for. The new tax credit doesn't hurt and their change in policy that let us choose the lot we want moved us to make the decision (and before someone else gets the lot we were looking at).

I think going back to Woodbury last Sunday and looking at Sonoma just made us question how much house we wanted vs. location. Nothing is set until escrow closes so we'll see (and I'll keep you guys updated on the process).

Congrats IHO!!!  Or LFHO...

Congrats IHO, 

You picked a fine day to buy a home.

That's great, congrats. Please stay active on the board! dont leave us after you become an LFHO.

Big congrats IHO.  Let me know if you guys need some help with some upgrades after you close. 

Just FYI: Here is an interesting write up on the Plan 3. Reviews on plan 1 and 2 are coming next week. And yes, IHO picked a very good day to buy a new home... and there must be something in the water they have there at Summit Crest.

irvinehomeowner congratulations. What does "reserve" mean. What are the terms of your reservation agreement?

Which elementary and middle schools does this complex feed into?

T2 said:

Which elementary and middle schools does this complex feed into?

Click to expand...

Their sales sheet says:
- Lake Forest Elementary(K-6), Serrano Middle School (7-8), El Toro High (9-12)