Choosing an Irvine neighboorhood

A

Artesh

New member
My wife and I are moving to Irvine from NYC and I will be working/commuting daily to Riverside.  We are both originally from los angeles but are not as familiar with Orange county and were now searching for a new home in the area that will be relatively close to my work in riverside while still in a lively part of irvine with potential for increasing home values.  I've looked at Yorba Linda which is nice but we were wondering if anyone had any suggestions of areas we should be looking at in Irvine that fit our needs.  Ie. Orchard hills.....

Thanks for any help
 
I don't recommend Irvine.  You will die in traffic each day.  Yes, Yorba Linda, Brea, Anaheim Hills would be more ideal.  You could also look into Eastvale as others have mentioned on other threads.
 
In term of home prices Irvine will retain value and appreciate the fastest due to high demand of Chinese buyers. More people will be fleeing China in the near future. Traffic is smooth as you are leaving Irvine going to Riverside. 40 minutes max from Irvine to Riverside City Hall during the morning and 45 minutes back in the afternoon. It is faster to go from Riverside to Irvine than from UCI to Tustin Ranch leaving work. The key is stay away from all North-South Irvine City arteries.
 
Noland is right on with his selection of products in various price range. As Beacon Park rolls out this summer you will have a wider selection and likely more space between homes and larger yards. Five Point so far has not squeezed every drop out of the land and totally evident with Pavillion Park. All streets have a curve and inefficient. Bad for the developer but good for the consumers.
 
A lot of people do the irvine to riverside commute. It's actually pretty painless. Just a lot of miles. The key is to live close to the toll road access points whether it's the 241 or 261 to cut down on local traffic. If you are from NYC, you'll hate living in the inland empire. I know a number of families who tried out riverside county (corona, riverside, etc, etc) bc they work there and ended up moving to Orange County.
 
I have never seen your posts about why Yorba Linda is ass.  Please direct me to them, or actually post about it here.

By the way don't live in Irvine.  Let me put it this way.  I have talked too much already about why Irvine is one of the worst cities I have ever lived in, but if you decide to move there, I won't be sorry for you if anything happens there and you want to move out, but for some reason can't.  All I will say is "I told you so".
 
zubs said:
I have never seen your posts about why Yorba Linda is ass.  Please direct me to them, or actually post about it here.

By the way don't live in Irvine.  Let me put it this way.  I have talked too much already about why Irvine is one of the worst cities I have ever lived in, but if you decide to move there, I won't be sorry for you if anything happens there and you want to move out, but for some reason can't.  All I will say is "I told you so".
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So I am curious... If you dislike Irvine so much, why do you feel so compelled to stalk an Irvine chat room?
 
zubs said:
I have never seen your posts about why Yorba Linda is ass.  Please direct me to them, or actually post about it here.

By the way don't live in Irvine.  Let me put it this way.  I have talked too much already about why Irvine is one of the worst cities I have ever lived in, but if you decide to move there, I won't be sorry for you if anything happens there and you want to move out, but for some reason can't.  All I will say is "I told you so".
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Everyone has some like and dislike. Irvine has too much positive against negative for me. I've been to alot of places since my work offer me that opportunities. Everytime I am on the road even at the some of most sought after location around the world. I always compare this to Irvine and the surrounding area. Some are close many are not. And I feel so bless to be able to live in Irvine and have my kids go to a finer school than any other that I know.
 
I like short commutes so if I worked in Riverside I'd live in Riverside. Plus you'lll get 2-3X the home for the money there. If you are set on Orange County, look at Anaheim Hills. If you are set on Irvine, Orchard Hills is on the close side to the toll roads if you want new construction.
 
If I worked in Riverside I'd also consider Eastvale. The 91 is a parking lot but I believe you'd be going against traffic.

Irvine is a little far, my other choice would be to buy an Eichler in Orange.

 
Swordfish said:
zubs said:
I have never seen your posts about why Yorba Linda is ass.  Please direct me to them, or actually post about it here.

By the way don't live in Irvine.  Let me put it this way.  I have talked too much already about why Irvine is one of the worst cities I have ever lived in, but if you decide to move there, I won't be sorry for you if anything happens there and you want to move out, but for some reason can't.  All I will say is "I told you so".
Click to expand...
So I am curious... If you dislike Irvine so much, why do you feel so compelled to stalk an Irvine chat room?
Click to expand...

You actually have to read this entire thread to understand.  But just in case you don't understand, I'm just copying the post above.  Context matters...but if you think I'm anti-Irvine..that's ok too.
 
Do you all think from an appreciation perspective that these planned communities are the way to go?  it seems that you get a lot more for your money if you were to purchase a home that is not a brand new build in one of these communities ie. something from Great parks neighborhoods.  Being from NY this is all new to me so please correct me here if you can.  As for my range i'm really looking for something in the 900-1.2 ballpark
 
Artesh said:
Do you all think from an appreciation perspective that these planned communities are the way to go?  it seems that you get a lot more for your money if you were to purchase a home that is not a brand new build in one of these communities ie. something from Great parks neighborhoods.  Being from NY this is all new to me so please correct me here if you can.  As for my range i'm really looking for something in the 900-1.2 ballpark
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Hard to predict appreciation. In theory land close to the beach appreciates the most since population keeps growing and land does not.

Best chance for appreciation is to buy low and sell high.
 
paperboyNC said:
Artesh said:
Do you all think from an appreciation perspective that these planned communities are the way to go?  it seems that you get a lot more for your money if you were to purchase a home that is not a brand new build in one of these communities ie. something from Great parks neighborhoods.  Being from NY this is all new to me so please correct me here if you can.  As for my range i'm really looking for something in the 900-1.2 ballpark
Click to expand...

Hard to predict appreciation. In theory land close to the beach appreciates the most since population keeps growing and land does not.

Best chance for appreciation is to buy low and sell high.
Click to expand...

I think most people (including myself) are suckers for new construction. It's an exciting process watching your home being built from start to finish and being able to select all your finishes.

If you are looking for new, or newer construction homes in the $900k - $1.2M range in Irvine with the best chances for appreciation, I would look in OH the non-gated side, or Laguna Altura.

Commuting from Irvine to Riverside will be a long commute. I hope FasTrack lanes are part of your route.  :)
 
Take it from someone who does the commute regularly, Irvine to riverside is not bad as long as you are willing to take the toll roads. Traffic gets bad along the 91 at the Madison exit, but they're widening the road so that should help. IHS is right, 40 min to riverside center in the morning, 45 min coming back. If you lived in NYC you'll think it's easy.

You'll want to live somewhere with easy access to the 241/261.  Basically any Irvine development near portola parkway will work. You could even live in foothill ranch and it wouldn't add much more time.

As for appreciation, new vs old, etc,, there are plenty of other threads here on that. Buy a house where you want to live.  There are nice parts of riverside and corona areas, but overall Irvine and surrounding are much nicer, hence the cost. To me, it's worth the added commute time. It's actually the only "me" time I get.

I would also buy a high MPG car  :D
 
I commute to NYC on a regular basis and I live here. Irvine to Riverside is nothing. 45 minutes is cool when you see opposite traffic at 15 mph while you are going at 75mph. Make sure you do lunch at Mission Inn. Riverside is not really an armpit contrary to many people think.
 
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