[Poll] Orchard Hills what happened? Lambert Ranch & Trash Talk! New Poll!

Sooo.. With Lambert Ranch coming to be, it raises the question, what happened to Orchard Hills really?

I know there is always people that buy into a community, and they WAM there is something that is way better the next month.  I was about to buy another house in Woodbury, and then Lambert Ranch stuff came out...  but I always heard Orchard Hills was suppose to be the Brentwood of Irvine or something.. 

I also hear a lot of "Trash Talk" these days... Literally Trash... I have seen the trucks driving down Sand Canyon, like they are Star Wars Pod Racers...  More I think about it, I am kinda grossed out with the idea of so much trash whizzing by me.  So what is the deal with that community, and why can't someone that knows the real deal expose the rumors on that.

I'd hate to get too deep into Lambert Ranch, buy, and realize there is something way better... LoL...  I really think Woodbury will be losing me soon here... Not saying I am dead set on the Ranch, I could move anywhere.

\/\/arclaws

They haven't even built Phase II of Portola Springs (east of Lambert Ranch)... I imagine that will be built before Orchard Hills.

And I think there will be SFR products at Cypress Village too... which I believe was slotted in to be built before OH.

The Great Park is supposed to have homes in 2013, then there is Alderwood in Woodbridge and Vista Verde in University Park.

So there will be choices, I think you just need to pick a location and product... and stick with it.

I have the same concern. I was really looking forward to Orchard Hills. I think it was originally supposed to open in 2007, then 2008, then most recently, from the Irvine Company website itself, 2013. Yet, now, Orchard Hills is completely missing from the Irvine Company website. I certainly can't find it anymore. If Orchard Hills was opening in 2013, we'd have started hearing things by now. I don't see Orchard Hills opening before 2015, if not later. Plus, while what I read about Orchard Hills was great ("Italian Tuscan village", homes up to 5000 square feet, guard-gated), the uninspired and downright boring floorplans recently from Irvine Pacific in other communities made me pessimistic that they'd come up with great floorplans for OH. I don't know if TIC was going to allow other builders into OH. I've been wanting to move to Irvine for a few years now, and Lambert Ranch is the first community to really get my interest. I was waiting for 2012 to wait for OH, but now that it's MIA from TIC website, who knows how long I'll be waiting for.

TIC is shrewd....they already made money by selling Landfill Ranch to NHC for 4 million per acre. if Landfill Ranch does well, they will put Orchard Hills on the fast track and OH being more superior, will pretty much destroy any unsold Landfill Ranch homes. If Landfill Ranch does not do well, TIC will put OH on hold until the Chinese FCBs come to the rescue.

The Motor Court Company said:

TIC is shrewd....they already made money by selling Landfill Ranch to NHC for 4 million per acre. if Landfill Ranch does well, they will put Orchard Hills on the fast track and OH being more superior, will pretty much destroy any unsold Landfill Ranch homes. If Landfill Ranch does not do well, TIC will put OH on hold until the Chinese FCBs come to the rescue.

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i dont think they bought lambert ranch from TIC. 

qwerty said:

The Motor Court Company said:

TIC is shrewd....they already made money by selling Landfill Ranch to NHC for 4 million per acre. if Landfill Ranch does well, they will put Orchard Hills on the fast track and OH being more superior, will pretty much destroy any unsold Landfill Ranch homes. If Landfill Ranch does not do well, TIC will put OH on hold until the Chinese FCBs come to the rescue.

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i dont think they bought lambert ranch from TIC.

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you are correct, sir.http://thenewhomecompany.com/news/n...nch-oc’s-largest-residential-transaction-2010

The Motor Court Company said:

qwerty said:

The Motor Court Company said:

TIC is shrewd....they already made money by selling Landfill Ranch to NHC for 4 million per acre. if Landfill Ranch does well, they will put Orchard Hills on the fast track and OH being more superior, will pretty much destroy any unsold Landfill Ranch homes. If Landfill Ranch does not do well, TIC will put OH on hold until the Chinese FCBs come to the rescue.

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i dont think they bought lambert ranch from TIC.

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you are correct, sir.http://thenewhomecompany.com/news/n...nch-oc’s-largest-residential-transaction-2010

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TIC was also a bidder on the Lambert Ranch property but lost out to TNHC. 

This is the only non-TIC new home community in Irvine since Columbus Grove... it will be interesting to see how it does.

I too drooled over the thought of OH a couple years ago but after seeing the execution of LA, I have lost any interest. There is no cheese left to build communities like Woodbury, Northpark NW Pointe, Quail Hill, or Turtle Rock. TIC only wants the $$$ and has no interest in selling a well designed community, only one that costs less to build.

I agree with many of the previous posters, that the timeline for OH will be 2014 or later depending on market conditions. If LR sells well, that will bode well for future OH sales and TIC may consider speeding up their timeline.

The first phase of OH will be right adjacent the 261 toll road (this may be a problem for some) and only a few of the lots in phase one will have views. All of them will be in the high fire danger zone. Also, the the phase one homes will NOT be zoned for IUSD (though the TUSD assigned schools are good). The later phases of OH east of Culver will probably be zoned for IUSD.

After seeing LA, I can't imagine TIC is going to spend extra money to make beautiful interconnected paseos and/or multiple pocket parks/pools, no private b-ball/tennis courts--maybe only a Bocce Ball court or Ping Pong table for the FCBers.  At least you can run into the hills and get some delicious avocados.

USCTrojanCPA said:

TIC was also a bidder on the Lambert Ranch property but lost out to TNHC.

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I don't get that when they could've easily over bid for it and effectively shutdown their competition.

While TIC is already struggling with PS absorption why would TIC buy more land to prolong the pain?

TIC probably see the Landfill Ranch site has too many negatives so they bid low. Being a relative new builder TNHC had to take the chance and swing for the fences.

The things TIC really screwed up are the detached condos in LA and the attached condos in SG. Every other TIC products have been moving, if not as fast as 2010 collection.

WoodburyDad said:

USCTrojanCPA said:

TIC was also a bidder on the Lambert Ranch property but lost out to TNHC.

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I don't get that when they could've easily over bid for it and effectively shutdown their competition.

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After a recession all products default back to single family detached with a driveway and rear yard as the most desirable. When the buyers market swings to the sellers market extreme that is when we will see apartment conversion to forsale condos. That is always the signal before a crash.

Owners of non traditional housing types suffered the most during the recovery period due to price depreciation. The lack of new attached homes is the reason for low comps and no benchmark prices to benefit from.

iacrenter said:

If LR sells well, that will bode well for future OH sales and TIC may consider speeding up their timeline.

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i think the lambert ranch buyers are the same buyers OH would have been targeting. If lambert sells well, that may be taking away the buyer pool for OH.

Move up buyers are usually equity rich from their current home. The flat market may deter them from selling their home unless the owners bought the house many decades ago and decide to trade up. However, those homeowners would probably be close to retirement age and don't want to start mortgage again. Most equity rich younger homeowners would have already pulled the trigger during the bubble years and their mortgages are upside down now.

The move up buyer pool IMO should be quite small. The target should be the cash buyers. I doubt the OH droolers would settle for Lamebert Ranch.

is lambert ranch any different than portola springs from the negatives?  when people say landfill, they are talking about the dump nearby right?

Go the the google link posted on the Landfill Ranch thread and check out the enormous size of the trash dump. It is huge about 3 times the size of Potty Springs.

Love the renaming efforts of TMC:  Laguna Autism, Landfill Ranch, and Potty Springs!

can we get this thread to move up the google ranks as we did for Brightwater over at the defunct IHB?

It's terrible looking at the Google map of how close the landfill is to Lambert Ranch (aka Landfill Ranch)  :'(  The Chinese people must be really stupid to buy those million dollar homes just a stone throw to one of the largest landfills in all of the United States. It's sad to know the landfill will be open for business till 2053!!!  Good luck to those who have bought in Portola Springs (aka Potty Springs), Stonegate (aka Stinkgate) and parts of Woodbury (aka Woodburial).

FYI (Re: Frank R. Bowerman Landfill): http://egov.ocgov.com/portal/site/ocgov/menuitem.02b739dec30413a69add603d100000f7/?vgnextoid=a43cb0d5a553a110VgnVCM1000005b00610aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0cb245f36dce8110VgnVCM1000005b00610aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

qwerty said:

iacrenter said:

If LR sells well, that will bode well for future OH sales and TIC may consider speeding up their timeline.

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i think the lambert ranch buyers are the same buyers OH would have been targeting. If lambert sells well, that may be taking away the buyer pool for OH.

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A few people on this thread have indicated as much and that may very well be the case for many others as well who don?t want to wait until 2015 or beyond.
One of the reasons mentioned as to why they?re strongly considering Lambert Ranch is the extended delay of Orchard Hills.