Beacon Park
- Thread starter The I-R-V
- Start date
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
I'm sorry but that square box stucco looks way out of place... feels like I'm on Michelson and Culver across from Wholesome Choice.
ps99472
New member
Saw Torrey, Silvermist, and Juniper today. Torrey models were impressive, nicely decorated. We liked plan 2 the best surprisingly over plan 3. Open layout of plan 2 is pretty impressive as you walk in with the high ceiling entrance. Our problem with plan 3 is that the entrance into the middle of the dining room is awkward and didn't feel right. Too bad. And 1st floor ceilings are only 9'. Price wise, phase 1 has about $125,000 in upgrades pre-plotted with plans 2 and 3 getting the super expensive prep kitchen option. Price was $1.61-1.62 for plan 2 and $1.63-1.66 for plan 3. Base price is around $400/sq ft. So phase 2 you can get it cheaper if you don't opt for the prep kitchen. I would go for a flex room instead of the kitchen. Mello for both plan 2 and 3 would be at $11,891 per year. Adding the flex room/prep kitchen in the plan 2's will bump you into the next tier of Mello-Roos, an additional $1400/year.
Silvermist was disappointing. Sales didn't seem ready, they had their names written on masking tape on their shirts?? Not sure what that was all about. Onyx plan 4 is out of our price range. Don't care for single story so skipped plan 1. Jade was one of my favorites on paper, but visiting it in person was disappointing. Entry into a wall on the side blocking the vaulted ceiling dining room. We didn't even bother to look upstairs and walked out. Citrine plan 2 was actually not bad, but not right for us right now with the Master downstairs. Do like the high ceilings though, was hoping for a La Vita 4 effect, but fell short of that.
Juniper sales seems ready to sell. Handed the most amount of information of the 3 builders. Got the lot blueprints for the phase 1 release without even having to ask for it. Plan 2 was a surprise. Didn't have a high ceiling entrance but it did have a 12' ceiling great room! That is something I would want, since we spent the majority of our time in the great room. Courtyard is nice, and the outdoor kitchen would flow nicely with the main kitchen. I would opt for the dining room instead of the den so you can open up the flow of the floorplan. Upstairs the bonus room is a decent size. They didn't show the huge balcony of the masters in the model, sad. Mello-Roos would be $9000/year for the plan 2. Again opting for more living space instead of garage storage would bump you up in Mello Roos to the next tier to $9961/year.
Plan 3 was my favorite on paper and was ok in person. The only Juniper floorplan with a high ceiling entrance. Den would be my option to open up the Great room even more. The dining nook area sticks out too much into the yard, the first phase plan 3 has only a 14' setback from the nook to the back wall. Too bad the loft is too small. Mello-Roos would be $9961/year for the plan 3. Price wise, phase 1 pricing is a little north of $400/sq ft. Only 2 of the 5 lots in phase 1 are pre-plotted, so you can still pick your options in the other lots.
Overall feel of Beacon Park is very positive. Saw the tree house, the bball court, wish I can take a look at the tandoori oven. Homes have good side setbacks and the different elevations as you drive thru does make the area unique in Irvine. At $400/sq ft it feels high for phase 1, was hoping for $375/sq ft based on recent PP comps. Not to mention the average $2000-3000/year more Mello-Roos compared with its PP counterparts. We'll pass on phase 1, wait for better lots to open up, maybe prices will come down....... yeah right.
Silvermist was disappointing. Sales didn't seem ready, they had their names written on masking tape on their shirts?? Not sure what that was all about. Onyx plan 4 is out of our price range. Don't care for single story so skipped plan 1. Jade was one of my favorites on paper, but visiting it in person was disappointing. Entry into a wall on the side blocking the vaulted ceiling dining room. We didn't even bother to look upstairs and walked out. Citrine plan 2 was actually not bad, but not right for us right now with the Master downstairs. Do like the high ceilings though, was hoping for a La Vita 4 effect, but fell short of that.
Juniper sales seems ready to sell. Handed the most amount of information of the 3 builders. Got the lot blueprints for the phase 1 release without even having to ask for it. Plan 2 was a surprise. Didn't have a high ceiling entrance but it did have a 12' ceiling great room! That is something I would want, since we spent the majority of our time in the great room. Courtyard is nice, and the outdoor kitchen would flow nicely with the main kitchen. I would opt for the dining room instead of the den so you can open up the flow of the floorplan. Upstairs the bonus room is a decent size. They didn't show the huge balcony of the masters in the model, sad. Mello-Roos would be $9000/year for the plan 2. Again opting for more living space instead of garage storage would bump you up in Mello Roos to the next tier to $9961/year.
Plan 3 was my favorite on paper and was ok in person. The only Juniper floorplan with a high ceiling entrance. Den would be my option to open up the Great room even more. The dining nook area sticks out too much into the yard, the first phase plan 3 has only a 14' setback from the nook to the back wall. Too bad the loft is too small. Mello-Roos would be $9961/year for the plan 3. Price wise, phase 1 pricing is a little north of $400/sq ft. Only 2 of the 5 lots in phase 1 are pre-plotted, so you can still pick your options in the other lots.
Overall feel of Beacon Park is very positive. Saw the tree house, the bball court, wish I can take a look at the tandoori oven. Homes have good side setbacks and the different elevations as you drive thru does make the area unique in Irvine. At $400/sq ft it feels high for phase 1, was hoping for $375/sq ft based on recent PP comps. Not to mention the average $2000-3000/year more Mello-Roos compared with its PP counterparts. We'll pass on phase 1, wait for better lots to open up, maybe prices will come down....... yeah right.
Perspective
Well-known member
These mello roos figures are insane. The IUSD part of Strada in OH is $4,188 in additional taxes (plus a 1.06% base rate). These Beacon Park numbers are more than twice as large, every year for decades.
Perspective
Well-known member
AW said:
Understood, but the BP homes with $9K mello roos aren't twice as large as homes in OH or Stonegate with half the mello roos expense.
ps99472
New member
Strada Plan 1 would be at $6041/year, Plan 2 and 3 would be at $7532/year, if they were in BP. So roughly $3000 more per year compared to OH. The products similar to Strada in BP are Ryland's Oakmont and Lennar's Larkspur. Some of Oakmont's lots will be decent sized, and should be much bigger than Strada's teeny tiny claustorphobic open front door see back border wall in kitchen window small lots. Larkspur will have small lots as well, but the different elevations and better setbacks between homes will distinguish them better than say Strada's hard Tuscan look alikes. Amenities wise, walking distance to brand new IUSD K-8 is hard to beat, and Stradadians will have to trek down to go to Canyon View. Too far a walk and welcome to the critical mass crunch at Canyon View/Montessori around 8am when you car drop off, watch out for cops! The BP park looks gimicky, not sure how much the treehouse will work except in pics and brochures. Basketball court does look decent. Future developments in GP with sports park and golf course vs orchards/canyon views in Strada, to each their own. So is paying $3000/year more worth it? We'll see, if BP started at a lower price point, the winner is obvious with the greater potential of appreciation for the larger lot homes which can compensate for the crazy Mello.
Perspective
Well-known member
You can wait for a Strada lot that isn't tiny, and the mello roos won't be higher for you than the Strada lot with a 10' setback.
So, if you want to compare the price of similarly sized homes in BP (with $3,000 more in mello roos) to Strada homes, you need to add ~$55K to the BP home's price to adjust for the higher mello roos ($55K financed at 4% for 30 years = the equivalent increased tax expense).
We don't need to consider taxes because any household buying these homes should be well above $100K in income, subject to AMT, and therefore effectively unable to deduct property taxes.
So, if you want to compare the price of similarly sized homes in BP (with $3,000 more in mello roos) to Strada homes, you need to add ~$55K to the BP home's price to adjust for the higher mello roos ($55K financed at 4% for 30 years = the equivalent increased tax expense).
We don't need to consider taxes because any household buying these homes should be well above $100K in income, subject to AMT, and therefore effectively unable to deduct property taxes.
ps99472
New member
Perspective said:
Mello is based on sq ft of home not lot size in BP. And how many decent sized lots are there in Strada? I'm sure they're all spoken for. Much better chance at Oakmont to snag a decent lot, if that's your thing. I don't like the Mello to mortgage comparison: everyone is in different financial shapes, cash buyers would hate the extra Mello in BP, unless they want to payoff the whole $300k+. Less cash buyers = less FCBs = less renters = less spitters = better neighbors. But again for someone paying over $1 million cash for a house, an extra $3000 per year shouldn't matter. And personally I don't do 30 year mortgage comparisons, life is too volatile to stay in one place for 5-8 years, let alone 30. If I buy in BP, I would probably move again around 8 years, take the appreciation and buy in a better area.
