Hidden Canyon or Orchard Hills?

I've made endless visits to the sales office at tnhc in orchard hills.  I was pretty set on buying a home there.  Both Trevi and Amelia have nice floor plans.  Personally I prefer floor plans from TNHC over Hidden Canyon.  Having more homes at the grove means they can build larger and better amenities for the residence there.  We decide on buying in HC in the end because we liked the location better and the zoning for the schools are in the IUSD.

I honestly don't get why anyone would complain about either orchard hills or hidden canyon.  No community will be perfect.  Sure there are better ways to spend your $2M.  But if you want to buy in Irvine and in a new development, there aren't many choices at this price point.
 
happios said:
I've made endless visits to the sales office at tnhc in orchard hills.  I was pretty set on buying a home there.  Both Trevi and Amelia have nice floor plans.  Personally I prefer floor plans from TNHC over Hidden Canyon.  Having more homes at the grove means they can build larger and better amenities for the residence there.  We decide on buying in HC in the end because we liked the location better and the zoning for the schools are in the IUSD.

I honestly don't get why anyone would complain about either orchard hills or hidden canyon.  No community will be perfect.  Sure there are better ways to spend your $2M.  But if you want to buy in Irvine and in a new development, there aren't many choices at this price point.
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It's all personal preference.  We bought in Orchard Hills cause it is closer to work, friends, etc.  Hidden Canyon is down there.  Yes Orchard Hills is TUSD but Beckman HS and Orchard Hills School is better then most IUSD schools.  No kid in Orchard Hills will be attending Tustin HS.  I am not going to argue that Orchard Hills is better or worse than Hidden Canyon.  It's personal preference.

 
happios said:
I've made endless visits to the sales office at tnhc in orchard hills.  I was pretty set on buying a home there.  Both Trevi and Amelia have nice floor plans.  Personally I prefer floor plans from TNHC over Hidden Canyon.  Having more homes at the grove means they can build larger and better amenities for the residence there.  We decide on buying in HC in the end because we liked the location better and the zoning for the schools are in the IUSD.

I honestly don't get why anyone would complain about either orchard hills or hidden canyon.  No community will be perfect.  Sure there are better ways to spend your $2M.  But if you want to buy in Irvine and in a new development, there aren't many choices at this price point.
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I totally agree with you. I am new to this website and start noticing people are so negative about everything. Their comments are beyond the level of personal preference but they are attacking each other. The community they are comparing are both good and each one has pros and cons, nothing is perfect! To me, the residents or buyers in OH are more negative about other communities (HD) 
 
I would be happy living in either community. Guard gated homes with >3K living space, brand new, in Irvine of all places. I guess these must be legitimate rich folk issues.
 
I think generally speaking, many will agree that amenities-wise and neighborhood feel, OH has an advantage over HC.

Location is subjective but I do prefer being closer to the 405 than the Foothills.

As for schools, that's also subjective, but perception-wise, IUSD is better than TUSD, although in reality, the TUSD schools that OH is zoned to are the same.

Price-wise, not sure HC is worth $3m (after upgrades), whereas the high $1m homes in the gated part of OH seem like a bargain comparatively. I just don't know if there is a $1m benefit between the $2m homes at OH vs the $3m ones in HC.

It is personal preference, neither is "better", just what is "better" to you.
 
Agree 100% with the previous post. And, if you're looking at API scores, Beckman HS should get a nice bump once Orchard Hills Community sell out and Tustin Legacy HS is opened and the schools are realigned.
 
HC is a niche product.  There are a lot of business owners and executives in the Irvine Spectrum and Lake Forest-Aliso Viejo area where living at HC would be very convenient.  As IHO said, the Spectrum is the new downtown: from HC you may even be able to walk down Bake Parkway to your office on Research, Irvine Center Drive, or Technology.  HC is surrounded by businesses and car dealerships, you can get your car serviced at the Toyota dealership on Bake and Research and walk back to HC.

OH is a classic TIC self contained village about equidistant from Irvine's 2 commercial centers: Spectrum and IBC.  No walking to work from OH.  The problem I have with HC is it is not very family friendly.  If you live at HC and you need medicine for your kid at night, you need to go to CVS at Quail Hill; if you need groceries, you need to go to Albertsons in Quail Hill or TJs in Laguna Hills, if you want to play tennis, shoot some hoops, or fly a kite, you need to go to Quail Hill.  Frankly, I'd rather live at Quail Hill. 

 
how far is quail hill from HC? is this another Pavillion Park/Woodbury town center situation where it takes 15 minutes to get to?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I think generally speaking, many will agree that amenities-wise and neighborhood feel, OH has an advantage over HC.

Location is subjective but I do prefer being closer to the 405 than the Foothills.

As for schools, that's also subjective, but perception-wise, IUSD is better than TUSD, although in reality, the TUSD schools that OH is zoned to are the same.

Price-wise, not sure HC is worth $3m (after upgrades), whereas the high $1m homes in the gated part of OH seem like a bargain comparatively. I just don't know if there is a $1m benefit between the $2m homes at OH vs the $3m ones in HC.

It is personal preference, neither is "better", just what is "better" to you.
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Between $2mil homes in OH and $3mil homes in HC, I think what you get from HC is a view, bigger living spaces, lots and 3 or 4 car garages, convenient location. OH is like a bit upgraded Portola Spring to me. It is far east.
 
qwerty said:
how far is quail hill from HC? is this another Pavillion Park/Woodbury town center situation where it takes 15 minutes to get to?
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All the places Happiness mentioned are on the west side of QH and HC is on the east side across the 133 and then over Lake Forest.

By "family friendly", I think Happiness is alluding to it not being walkable/bikeable. Driving isn't that far but you'll either have to take the slower Quail Hill Parkway and deal with lights or the freeway.

But at $3m+, don't you just send your butler to do those things? :)
 
snowball said:
irvinehomeowner said:
I think generally speaking, many will agree that amenities-wise and neighborhood feel, OH has an advantage over HC.

Location is subjective but I do prefer being closer to the 405 than the Foothills.

As for schools, that's also subjective, but perception-wise, IUSD is better than TUSD, although in reality, the TUSD schools that OH is zoned to are the same.

Price-wise, not sure HC is worth $3m (after upgrades), whereas the high $1m homes in the gated part of OH seem like a bargain comparatively. I just don't know if there is a $1m benefit between the $2m homes at OH vs the $3m ones in HC.

It is personal preference, neither is "better", just what is "better" to you.
Click to expand...

Between $2mil homes in OH and $3mil homes in HC, I think what you get from HC is a view, bigger living spaces, lots and 3 or 4 car garages, convenient location. OH is like a bit upgraded Portola Spring to me. It is far east.
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Doesn't OH have views too? And I thought OH has 12k lots and larger rooms.

Amelia and Trevi have pseudo 3CG with the tandem spots. Amelia at below $2m topping out 5100sft seems to match square footage wise to HC homes selling at mid to high $2m.

And Trevi's largest plan is 7000sft compared to HC's largest at 5500sft.

I think the draw of HC is all the homes in the entire hood are "luxe", while OH is mixed.
 
Beckman high school is just as good as any hs in the IUSD.  Scores are going to vary every year and a few points difference between schools means nothing.  I picked a home zoned for Uni because I went there in my younger days.  So it's really just a personal preference.
Location is also subjective.  I know someone who just move from turtle ridge to OH And is perfectly happy with her purchase.
I have 2 friends that recently moved to Irvine from the ghettos of China town.  Since I grew up in Irvine they asked me where the best part of Irvine is.  I told them you can't go wrong with any community in Irvine.  Just buy in the community that suit you. 
 
irvinehomeowner said:
snowball said:
irvinehomeowner said:
I think generally speaking, many will agree that amenities-wise and neighborhood feel, OH has an advantage over HC.

Location is subjective but I do prefer being closer to the 405 than the Foothills.

As for schools, that's also subjective, but perception-wise, IUSD is better than TUSD, although in reality, the TUSD schools that OH is zoned to are the same.

Price-wise, not sure HC is worth $3m (after upgrades), whereas the high $1m homes in the gated part of OH seem like a bargain comparatively. I just don't know if there is a $1m benefit between the $2m homes at OH vs the $3m ones in HC.

It is personal preference, neither is "better", just what is "better" to you.
Click to expand...

Between $2mil homes in OH and $3mil homes in HC, I think what you get from HC is a view, bigger living spaces, lots and 3 or 4 car garages, convenient location. OH is like a bit upgraded Portola Spring to me. It is far east.
Click to expand...
Doesn't OH have views too? And I thought OH has 12k lots and larger rooms.

Amelia and Trevi have pseudo 3CG with the tandem spots. Amelia at below $2m topping out 5100sft seems to match square footage wise to HC homes selling at mid to high $2m.

And Trevi's largest plan is 7000sft compared to HC's largest at 5500sft.

I think the draw of HC is all the homes in the entire hood are "luxe", while OH is mixed.
Click to expand...

I don't think you are comparing apple to apple. If you want to have everything you just described, you would spend close to $3mil after upgrades as well in OH.
 
OH view home face water with hill behind. ideal feng shui right?

HC view homes have water (pac ocean) behind. Isn't that bad feng shui?

 
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