Willow at Portola Springs by KB Homes

[eyephone]

Interesting...

Willow is an exclusive collection of attached condominium homes where residents will be able to take advantage of all the benefits of homeownership while also enjoying the lower-maintenance lifestyle offered by multifamily living. KB homes at Willow include an array of desirable design features including open floor plans with spacious great rooms, ample storage space, and master bedroom suites, and can also be personalized to suit each homebuyer?s unique needs and wants through KB Home's Built to Order? homebuying experience. With state-of-the-art energy-efficient features included at no added cost, homeowners at Willow will enjoy significantly lower utility bills than a typical resale home.

No separate shower and bathtub, too. KB has got it all wrong. Has PS become Central Park West 2.0 Except Worst? Next to 133 + homes stacked on top of each other on 4 floors + close to active landfill + not south of 405 = 

The condo i got has:

1.  9 ft high ceilings,
2. separate showers attached to each bedroom with private entrance (you don't have to run naked outside of the 2nd bedroom to go to the bathroom),
3. next to 133 might be an issue for the one's who will live in the upcoming new building that will be stacked just next to it, won't impact the already built ones that have quite a distance b/w them and the heavily criticized view of 133 fwy,
4. 4 floors well welcome to capitalism and industrialization and cash buying (still better than being buried on 1 floor with neighbors on top/bottom and NOT just left/right as in case of my condo),
5. Believe it or not but PS area is the only place in IR that doesn't come under hazardous zone
6. Active Landfill: Haven't sensed even a slight streak of pungent smell & not sure how close it is to the so called landfill, apparently others have complained about the same for StoneGate being close to one as well or i might be wrong
7.South or North of 405 is not a deciding criteria for 1st time home buyers

The tandem garage is a game changer to me.

 

[dream16]

Interesting...

Willow is an exclusive collection of attached condominium homes where residents will be able to take advantage of all the benefits of homeownership while also enjoying the lower-maintenance lifestyle offered by multifamily living. KB homes at Willow include an array of desirable design features including open floor plans with spacious great rooms, ample storage space, and master bedroom suites, and can also be personalized to suit each homebuyer?s unique needs and wants through KB Home's Built to Order? homebuying experience. With state-of-the-art energy-efficient features included at no added cost, homeowners at Willow will enjoy significantly lower utility bills than a typical resale home.

No separate shower and bathtub, too. KB has got it all wrong. Has PS become Central Park West 2.0 Except Worst? Next to 133 + homes stacked on top of each other on 4 floors + close to active landfill + not south of 405 = 

The condo i got has:

1.  9 ft high ceilings,
2. separate showers attached to each bedroom with private entrance (you don't have to run naked outside of the 2nd bedroom to go to the bathroom),
3. next to 133 might be an issue for the one's who will live in the upcoming new building that will be stacked just next to it, won't impact the already built ones that have quite a distance b/w them and the heavily criticized view of 133 fwy,
4. 4 floors well welcome to capitalism and industrialization and cash buying (still better than being buried on 1 floor with neighbors on top/bottom and NOT just left/right as in case of my condo),
5. Believe it or not but PS area is the only place in IR that doesn't come under hazardous zone
6. Active Landfill: Haven't sensed even a slight streak of pungent smell & not sure how close it is to the so called landfill, apparently others have complained about the same for StoneGate being close to one as well or i might be wrong
7.South or North of 405 is not a deciding criteria for 1st time home buyers

The tandem garage is a game changer to me.

Well its an unfortunate thing happened to civilization and just like hongkong malls with machine-rotated parking, Irvine is destined to get tinier and tinier

 

[dream16]

I was under the weather yesterday, so instead of jogging on JOST I decided to go indoors and visit Willow for some cardio burn. I was not disappointed. visiting all 4 models was quite a workout!

here are the low-lights about this monstrosity.

1. Every floor plan has tandem garage.
2. 1st story consists of garages only.
3. plan 1 and 4 are paired, plan 2 and 3 are paired
4. plan 1 is the only one with 2 stories.
5. plan 4 has no usable space in 1st and 2nd floors . 1st floor is tandem garage, 2nd floor is plan 1's living space. So plan 4's living space starts at the 3rd floor and master is in the 4th floor! imagine you come home from work, you have to walk FOUR stories from your garage to masters for a quick shower or change! or carry groceries over 3 stories.
6. similarly, plan 3 has no usable space in 1st and 2nd floors (plan 2's living area). at least the master is in 3rd floor and the unfortunate child is all alone at 4th floor.
7. plan 1 and plan 2, both l have your neighbors living on top of you

plus the close proximity to 133; if I cannot afford buying a new home in Irvine, I'd rather rent in a 2 BR IAC apartment than buying this monstrosity

LMFAO, i bought my 1st property: a Home --> Stucco Box (1600 sq ft condo) in this locality, multi-stories is not a concern (have strong knees) & i couldn't hear any traffic noise off 133 including weekdays+weekend rush hour visits to the property standing on the so called 100 sq ft deck/patio.

I don't have anyone living above/below me, mine is a stand-alone condo with neighbors on both sides (who will soon run away and sell their condo's) because i will play deafening music that will crack 2+ shared common walls.

Personally. hate the tandem garage and cramped bedroom size, but thats all i could afford footing a bill of 550k for this little space....never thought i will get so frustrated tying to get my 1st home in southern ca

Based on my online analysis and comps of last year, i have overpaid 20k as similar condos were being sold out for cheaper in 2014 and early 2015 in PS, i hope the increase in $ trend continues for other constructions or i am doomed for 10 years in this condo

 

[qwerty]

Dream16 - you didn't have to buy in Irvine. Did you consider other cities?

 

[eyephone]

I was under the weather yesterday, so instead of jogging on JOST I decided to go indoors and visit Willow for some cardio burn. I was not disappointed. visiting all 4 models was quite a workout!

here are the low-lights about this monstrosity.

1. Every floor plan has tandem garage.
2. 1st story consists of garages only.
3. plan 1 and 4 are paired, plan 2 and 3 are paired
4. plan 1 is the only one with 2 stories.
5. plan 4 has no usable space in 1st and 2nd floors . 1st floor is tandem garage, 2nd floor is plan 1's living space. So plan 4's living space starts at the 3rd floor and master is in the 4th floor! imagine you come home from work, you have to walk FOUR stories from your garage to masters for a quick shower or change! or carry groceries over 3 stories.
6. similarly, plan 3 has no usable space in 1st and 2nd floors (plan 2's living area). at least the master is in 3rd floor and the unfortunate child is all alone at 4th floor.
7. plan 1 and plan 2, both l have your neighbors living on top of you

plus the close proximity to 133; if I cannot afford buying a new home in Irvine, I'd rather rent in a 2 BR IAC apartment than buying this monstrosity

LMFAO, i bought my 1st property: a Home --> Stucco Box (1600 sq ft condo) in this locality, multi-stories is not a concern (have strong knees) & i couldn't hear any traffic noise off 133 including weekdays+weekend rush hour visits to the property standing on the so called 100 sq ft deck/patio.

I don't have anyone living above/below me, mine is a stand-alone condo with neighbors on both sides (who will soon run away and sell their condo's) because i will play deafening music that will crack 2+ shared common walls.

Personally. hate the tandem garage and cramped bedroom size, but thats all i could afford footing a bill of 550k for this little space....never thought i will get so frustrated tying to get my 1st home in southern ca

Based on my online analysis and comps of last year, i have overpaid 20k as similar condos were being sold out for cheaper in 2014 and early 2015 in PS, i hope the increase in $ trend continues for other constructions or i am doomed for 10 years in this condo

Seems like you missed the bus, and settled for the high rise condo in PS.

 

[Collins]

550k to live in irvine is awesome (minus hoa, mello roos, condo dues)

 

[B2FiNiTY]

Willow looked great to us at first glance until we decided to shop around and think about it some more. This was even when we were offered one of the better locations and plans during their earlier phases.

Unfortunately the things that severely discouraged us was:
1) tandem garage parking (I like to spent a lot of time in the garage)
2) having to walk up to the third floor (of this particular plan) every time would get old very fast. especially after a costco run or something like that.

With saying that, we spent just a tad more and were able to get a new detached condo and are very happy with it.

 

[dream16]

Willow looked great to us at first glance until we decided to shop around and think about it some more. This was even when we were offered one of the better locations and plans during their earlier phases.

Unfortunately the things that severely discouraged us was:
1) tandem garage parking (I like to spent a lot of time in the garage)
2) having to walk up to the third floor (of this particular plan) every time would get old very fast. especially after a costco run or something like that.

With saying that, we spent just a tad more and were able to get a new detached condo and are very happy with it.

Umm yeah well, i am not a garage guy and with a single income, i can barely make ends meet after buying this 550 condo, so a detached condo is beyond my reach unless i sell off my other international investments/properties that at this stage will not make an economic sense, so i guess, as others are saying, i did miss the cheap willow bus and now paid a 20k premium to get the same thing

 

[dream16]

550k to live in irvine is awesome (minus hoa, mello roos, condo dues)

Haha no way man, HOA is $315/mo, Mello Roos is 3300$/year and i don't know what is condo dues?

 

[dream16]

Dream16 - you didn't have to buy in Irvine. Did you consider other cities?

Hey Qwerty, mine is a dual purpose purchase, and i want the flexibility of renting it out w/o much hassle, and i looked at Anaheim, considered Aliso Veijo for a while, but after doing a detailed rental analysis versus my mortgage, my best bet turned out to be Irvine (Schools/Cash Buyers/50% renters/Proximity to beaches) made me buy in IR.

 

[The Motor Court Company]

sorry buddy. there is NO similar condo to Willow for price comparison anywhere in Irvine. It is the only FOUR story condo that I can think of ( I am excluding Central Park West development in IBC, as it is not in IUSD). There was an analysis, that for the same total square footage, having 1 extra story (3 story vs. 2 story vs single story) yields negative value. 4 story is unprecedented but you can bet it is more negative than 3 story.

Based on my online analysis and comps of last year, i have overpaid 20k as similar condos were being sold out for cheaper in 2014 and early 2015 in PS, i hope the increase in $ trend continues for other constructions or i am doomed for 10 years in this condo

 

[dream16]

sorry buddy. there is NO similar condo to Willow for price comparison anywhere in Irvine. It is the only FOUR story condo that I can think of ( I am excluding Central Park West development in IBC, as it is not in IUSD). There was an analysis, that for the same total square footage, having 1 extra story (3 story vs. 2 story vs single story) yields negative value. 4 story is unprecedented but you can bet it is more negative than 3 story.

Based on my online analysis and comps of last year, i have overpaid 20k as similar condos were being sold out for cheaper in 2014 and early 2015 in PS, i hope the increase in $ trend continues for other constructions or i am doomed for 10 years in this condo

Thats interesting, i will have more data to share as i know that more units have been sold in my neighborhood now