Baker Ranch in Lake Forest / Foothill Ranch

[irvinehomeowner]

Thank you to everyone for your responses! We'd love to live at the Great Park but we are concerned about the possible contaminated soil there (I guess we are pickier than I thought?)

So what was on the land before at Baker Ranch?

 

[Kangen.Irvine]

I think the community of Baker Ranch is great, but they do have the elementary school issue and the lack of a true shopping center. If I were buying today, I would strongly consider Delano as well and I have no incentive involved.

 

[Burn That Belly]

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[Ready2Downsize]

BUMP

Hello everyone! After a long search for homes in Irvine and having been effectively priced out, it looks like we will be going with a new townhome at the Rowe. Does anyone have any updates on any new developments at Baker Ranch? Do those of you who live there still enjoy it/recommend it?

Thank you!

Baker Ranch is the Buick. You are doing a disservice to all Bruins by reppin' a Buick. If you're priced out, consider getting married and have the FCB wife pay for that house.  ;D

Recently married - both of us making six figures. We do not come from money though so we have no family/relative help for down payment etc. At all. We can't compete with FCB buyers - we put in an offer on a stonegate townhome a few days ago and ended up hearing back from the agent that they received 13 other offers.

A couple, no kids both six figure salaries and can't get a townhome in Irvine.

Sickening what has happened in Irvine.

Now I see why my kids moved out of state.

 

[Burn That Belly]

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[eddieuclabruin]

Thank you to everyone for your responses! We'd love to live at the Great Park but we are concerned about the possible contaminated soil there (I guess we are pickier than I thought?)

So what was on the land before at Baker Ranch?

It seems I may be wrong, but we were under the impression that the land that Baker Ranch was built on was not part of the plot of land that potentially contained TCE remnants? Am I being overly paranoid?

 

[Burn That Belly]

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[upon9k]

A couple, no kids both six figure salaries and can't get a townhome in Irvine.

Sickening what has happened in Irvine.

Now I see why my kids moved out of state.

I would say that this is more of a budgeting/saving issue than an actual narrative about Irvine or Socal real estate being unaffordable to non-FCB's as a whole.  Case in point - Only one of us makes 6 figures (and it's low 6 in case you imagine that means 200k+), we have one child, definitely had ZERO down payment support to get here, and even had to financially support one set of our parents the whole time.  Our down payment for our first house came from me taking one for the team and selling my car to drive her old 2003 Camry for 3 years.  So if eddieuclabruin really wants Irvine/Baker Ranch at a higher price point that is less contested, I'd say just put your energy towards saving more of that dual 6 figure income and you will get there one way or another.

 

[Ready2Downsize]

A couple, no kids both six figure salaries and can't get a townhome in Irvine.

Sickening what has happened in Irvine.

Now I see why my kids moved out of state.

Agree. But. Nobody puts a gun over their head to buy in Irvine. Remember, nobody NEEDS a BMW let alone the Buick (Lake Forest). Anyone can get by with a Kia Rio. But life is all about struggling and reaching as high as we can go in that moment. For some, that means Irvine. We don't wake up every morning and tell our kids that a Kia Rio is the best car and the only car they should strive for and it should just stop there do we?

Otherwise, what is the purpose of life if death is imminent and all the fruit of our labor cannot be taken with us?

Moving out of state is a cop out IMHO. We need to train, motivate, and inspire our generation to fight pain, to counter all obstacles, to let every failure make us stronger, and to charge head on, even in the odds of all FCB cash buyers. We will prevail.  ;D

When I bought my first home many years ago in the bidding war days, I wrote a letter to the seller with a picture of my then-girlfriend at the time.  I gave her a sob story that I was broke AF and this was all I had. She quickly accepted our offer even when we went through many rounds of back-n-forth negotiations thereafter.

If I were to ever sell one of my homes and two of the same offers came in, one is an all-cash offer by a FCB rich kid, and the second is a young couple that has only 20% down with 80% loan, I will no doubt sell it to the younger couple knowing that they've made it this far. I would leave a bottle of Champagne for them on the counter and a card and congratulating them on their successes. At closing, money is money anyways.

My oldest daughter just bought a house in AZ for $500K and in AZ that buys a pretty decent place.

My youngest daughter moved to AZ when she got out of college because no one was hiring teachers here. She had to move to Page to get a job, put in her time and moved down to Phoenix. She was the one with the learning disability. I was told she was worse than the worst ESL kid (Spanish in those days even in Irvine) and would have trouble making it out of high school, let alone get into or graduate from college. AZ is one of the worst paying states for teachers. Despite that she has held in there and is one of the most loved teachers. She COULD move into my house, have the entire upstairs to herself and her fianc? for no rent but she's working on getting her masters in speech therapy.

The only help they had from us was their four year degrees paid for and help in buying their first car (no loan, no freebie).

Maybe moving to AZ was a copout, but I'd say they both did ok thru their own hard work. And they don't have to whine about Trump's tax reform taking away all their mello roos deductions.

 

[Burn That Belly]

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[SoclosetoIrvine]

@Burn That belly, Sorry to step in but just curious what's the monthly payment look like for a plan 1 Delano right now with 20% down?  Including insurance/property taxes?

Someone said $750k as a base cost, so assuming barebones around purchase price around $775k-$800k?

Eddie's financial situation looks a lot like mine (he actually sounds better off than me) but I'm surprised he's having that much trouble finding a home with both people making 6 figures.  Is it just FCB hurting the market?  People with more down payment?

 

[someguy]

Is it just FCB hurting the market?

I'm counting on BTB disagreeing with me here.

FCBs are distorting Irvine housing prices upward.  They don't seem to be as price sensitive as locals.  Many locals rely on earning income within commute distance and borrowing at gradually increasing interest rates.  As house prices rise faster than wages and borrowing becomes more expensive, it's continuing to push home ownership out of reach for people on the margin.  And it's kind of a bummer to see hard working locals priced out of their own market. 

FCBs on the other hand seem more than willing to buy an entire alley of houses with cash for whole extended family.  This actually happens enough for it to be discussed as the "new economy" at a recent Orange County BIA meeting.  Earning money within commute distance and the cost of borrowing doesn't seem to be a factor for FCBs.

I know there's homeowners out there who cheer-lead these rising prices as if it's the most important thing in their life.  I don't really buy into that, but then again, Irvine isn't exactly the place to look for anything but 'masterfully planned' "elevated lifestyle" "resort style living" culture now is it? 

Sorry gotta go buy more luxury goods at 11am on a Tuesday so everyone knows how comfortable my life is. /s

 

[Burn That Belly]

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[Burn That Belly]

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[fortune11]

Is it just FCB hurting the market?

I'm counting on BTB disagreeing with me here.

FCBs are distorting Irvine housing prices upward.  They don't seem to be as price sensitive as locals.  Many locals rely on earning income within commute distance and borrowing at gradually increasing interest rates.  As house prices rise faster than wages and borrowing becomes more expensive, it's continuing to push home ownership out of reach for people on the margin.  And it's kind of a bummer to see hard working locals priced out of their own market. 

FCBs on the other hand seem more than willing to buy an entire alley of houses with cash for whole extended family.  This actually happens enough for it to be discussed as the "new economy" at a recent Orange County BIA meeting.  Earning money within commute distance and the cost of borrowing doesn't seem to be a factor for FCBs.

I know there's homeowners out there who cheer-lead these rising prices as if it's the most important thing in their life.  I don't really buy into that, but then again, Irvine isn't exactly the place to look for anything but 'masterfully planned' "elevated lifestyle" "resort style living" culture now is it? 

Sorry gotta go buy more luxury goods at 11am on a Tuesday so everyone knows how comfortable my life is. /s

I agree with everything you said up there, in fact I can fully attest to the FCB situation that is rather ubiquitous now in new construction Irvine homes because they are all my neighbors.

Essentially there are different kinds of FCB buyers and I've met them all during the builder luncheon and also just talking with them.

Here they are:

1) The first FCB buyer is a family. They bought a home here but for the most part the home will sit empty 80-90% of the year. They are mostly adults and no kids. This is just a vacation home to them. No way they will qualify for a loan. The home was outright paid in cash for sure. Lights are never on at the home any more. There are several of these, just drive around and you'll see what I mean.

2) The second FCB buyer is also a family but they have a son. The parents first moved in with the son (or so I thought) but later I found out the parents returned to China, leaving the son here. The son is an average mid-20s guy working an average job in a sub-$1m home. Most likely paid for by mom and dad.

3) The third FCB buyer is yet again a family. But this time, I had a nice chat with the mother and her three young daughters. She was very reluctant to open her door because it turns out that she lives by herself with the 3 girls. The husband is always away in Shanghai and works there. The reason I knocked on her door was because I found out she had landscaping work done and I wanted to take a look.

4) The 4th FCB buyer, probably isn't really a FCB buyer but we'll call it a FCB buyer anyways because she's Asian and quite rich. This house also sat empty until I saw a Mercedes pull up. I asked her, do you live here? She told me she lives in another part of Irvine and this is just a rental home and that she's going to rent it out. Sure enough, a week later the tenants moved in.


This is not fiction. This is my personal experience that I've encountered. 

Personally, I don't mind living next to these folks. Why? Because they are quiet, keep to themselves, their financial balance sheet is probably quite strong since the homes are outright paid for in cash, and they're not likely to foreclose bringing down my property values. But yes, if you're one of those people that love to invite your neighbors Bob and Martha over for dinner frequently and have small talk, this isn't the place, in fact it probably isn't the place for any of the new construction homes in Irvine.

The new Irvine construction community homes have become quite sterile. The focus now has been about money, appreciation, and giving children (if any) a chance at good schools, learning english, and getting citizenship so DHS/ICE doesn't kick them out. Everything else doesn't matter.

my .02cent

+1

Best post describing FCBs ,  that I have seen on this forum

 

[Ready2Downsize]

Only one. He used to work for a tech company here in Irvine that also had an office in AZ. Same pay for both places so they moved.

They both have a six figure income.

The other one isn't married. Her fianc? is the superintendent for one of the school districts that serve mostly Native American students and given how poorly teachers in AZ are paid, I doubt he earns six figures. The reason they are renting rather than buying though isn't the money. They want to move to Whitefish, MT when my daughter is finished with school and don't want to hassle selling something in AZ when they are ready to move.

 

[Ready2Downsize]

Is it just FCB hurting the market?

I'm counting on BTB disagreeing with me here.

FCBs are distorting Irvine housing prices upward.  They don't seem to be as price sensitive as locals.  Many locals rely on earning income within commute distance and borrowing at gradually increasing interest rates.  As house prices rise faster than wages and borrowing becomes more expensive, it's continuing to push home ownership out of reach for people on the margin.  And it's kind of a bummer to see hard working locals priced out of their own market. 

FCBs on the other hand seem more than willing to buy an entire alley of houses with cash for whole extended family.  This actually happens enough for it to be discussed as the "new economy" at a recent Orange County BIA meeting.  Earning money within commute distance and the cost of borrowing doesn't seem to be a factor for FCBs.

I know there's homeowners out there who cheer-lead these rising prices as if it's the most important thing in their life.  I don't really buy into that, but then again, Irvine isn't exactly the place to look for anything but 'masterfully planned' "elevated lifestyle" "resort style living" culture now is it? 

Sorry gotta go buy more luxury goods at 11am on a Tuesday so everyone knows how comfortable my life is. /s

This is what I see......... Irvine Company, Five Points and some realtors travel to and market in China to sell new homes in Irvine (safe city, good schools, weather, etc). There is basically an unlimited supply of rich people who will buy anything in Irvine.

Other cities don't do this (of course because they don't have the same attributes) but the prices are going up in Irvine BECAUSE of the foreign influence, not locals who's salary cannot possibly keep up with how fast prices have risen.

Heaven forbid mortgages get back to 6% (how I don't know but just saying... it's under historic norms), a million dollar mortgage (along with mello, HOA, etc) is going to require someone to earn $250 - $350K per year. FCB of course could care less if they have no mortgage but for locals that is absolutely ridiculous.

When Irvine is built out, then no more need for Irvine Co and Five Points to market in China. Supply would still be tight since FCB probably aren't going to sell but don't count on the endless supply of FCB coming over to keep buying.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

... don't count on the endless supply of FCB coming over to keep buying.

As the self proclaimed coiner of the term "FCB", I'd just like to say that people have been nay-saying the power of the FCB for decades.

There is still a ton of land to build out in Irvine... and places that have no more land to build new, still get the FCB boost, so why not Irvine.

It will just keep churning, and hopefully places like Baker Ranch and Tustin Legacy get some spillover effect.

 

[Burn That Belly]

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[paperboyNC]

$750,000 base price
$150,000 20% down
$600,000 loan 30 year @ 4.25%
---------------------
$2,951.64 principal interest
$326.00 HOA fees
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$7,725.00 1.03% base property tax
$3,019 Mello Roos
----> $895.33/mo
---------------------
$4,172.97 total monthly cost

Thanks for this. FYI - DTI is calculated before considering taxes.

Considering you can rent nicer homes for so much less than the $4,200/mo tells me that Real Estate is starting to get into bubble territory in Irvinehttps://hotpads.com/64-tallowood-irvine-ca-92620-1qmn48a/pad?beds=3-8plus