Search results

The people who are buying at $1.5 to >$2 million price points may not care as much about being in IUSD.  They may just send their kids to private.

agree. pick what *you* like. you're going to be living with it day in and day out. Unless you're planning to flip within the next year or two, by the time you go to sell, the trend in paint colors will have changed and your prospective buyers will probably want to redo it anyway.

the office park at Jeffrey/Trabuco which is full of after school academies, etc etc, has some chinese language signs. I don't recall if its Chinese only or Chinese/English blend on the signs. If I wanted to live in the San Gabriel Valley, I would have moved there. Why does it have to be so...

Check out Good Shepherd Preschool in Irvine, and Edgewood Preprimary in Tustin.

do the backdoor Roth. This is great if you are phased out for deductible traditional IRA contributions. make the nondeductible traditional IRA contribution. Convert the next day to Roth. You owe taxes only on any gains (which should be zero since you converted right away).  Only, you have to...

Is it legal to rent out to birth tourists? That's like a hotel operation isn't it? Aren't there rules in HOAs against doing that? I hope to god my new neighbors aren't going to be doing that.

The homestead provision in California covers $100,000 of equity for married couples. 75K if single and not disabled. Or 175K if disabled, over 65, or single over 55 with very limited income (under 25K/yr)  Hence why I said minimal protection, especially compared to the typical value of a house...

I'm surprised that is a conservatory option from the picture you posted. That is a typical appearance and location of the designated dining room in many new builds with the great room concept.

there's a lot of costs associated with maintaining property. plus property taxes. plus labor/time spent managing properties or paying someone to do it for you.  plus lack of liquidity. plus no guarantee of always going up in price. plus associated costs of selling. plus the risk of getting the...

Its actually very bad for the piano to be in a room where there's lots of sunlight shining down on it and temperature fluctuations, as is often the case with all those windows in a conservatory. Dries the wood out, gets out of tune faster. Play area for the kids maybe...but looks terrible if...

From a renter's perspective, I would think the functionality of the extra 3rd bedroom would trump extra square footage in a 2 BR.  Think about it, you're renting, its temporary. Why pay so much for extra space that still is functionally similar to a smaller 2 BR? (within reason of course). I...

there is an asset protection component. housing equity is not protected from creditors except for a really minimal amount, whereas ERISA qualified retirement accounts generally are (401k, etc). So if you're deciding between putting all your extra money to pay off the mortgage versus maxing out...

$2900 is overpriced for a 2 BR. There are plenty of perfectly nice 3 BR/2.5BA rentals on the market for that price point.

One of the resident realtors on TI can correct me if I am wrong, but I think historically, condo prices are more volatile than single family houses in times of boom and bust. Some of that may be due to investors swooping in and out.

more like, to get free child care while the husband and wife are out working to pay the mortgage on the house. So many high income dual income households who get free full time childcare from elderly parents/in laws living with them.

Fairmont Private Schools in North Tustin goes from Preschool through Grade 8. Their minimum age is 4 though, so if you're looking for pre school for very young kids, it won't do. Edgewood Preprimary in North Tustin for younger preschoolers (starting age 3) through Kindergarten is very good...

It would be annoying to have an ethnic niche grocery store there. I think it should be a more general supermarket to appeal to a broad range of shoppers, and be a place where you can make quick runs for milk, bread, eggs, that sort of thing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Ralph's or TJ's but...

Not everyone who can afford Newport wants to live in Newport.  We can afford it, almost bought there, and in the end decided not to in order to avoid  what we perceived to be certain social environments/pressures. Also, Irvine is more practical from a daily living standpoint for a family with...