Chino Hills

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autox_IHB

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What's your take on chino hills? Particularly homes >$600k. Has Chino hills crashed yet, or are they primed for one? Anyone have any experience living in Chino hills? How's the community out there?
 
[quote author="autox" date=1247973670]What's your take on chino hills? Particularly homes >$600k. Has Chino hills crashed yet, or are they primed for one? Anyone have any experience living in Chino hills? How's the community out there?</blockquote>


Just speaking from personal observations and friends who own in Chino Hills:



When you buy an expensive home in Diamond Bar on the hill, you often own the big lot down the hill (your backyard and beyond). Depending on how steep the slope is, you could do some stuffs with the land. I've seen people grade it and put in a tennis court, swimming pool, etc.



For Chino Hills, most of the homes are tract homes where your property line ends with the wall in your backyard.
 
A few points:



1. The commute from Chino Hills to OC is worse than from Temecula to OC. You either drive Carbon Canyon, or you fight your way into the 91 on the 71, or you fight the drive down Chino Hills Parkway onto Grand and the 57. There are no other exits. Everyone in Chino Hills commutes. If there is an accident or a fire, the commute turns from 1 1/2 hours one way during traffic time to 3+.



2. It is a ghosttown from 7:30am to 5:30PM. Everyone in Chino Hills commutes.



3. It is a lot like Foothill Ranch. Lots of families, lots of shopping.



This home is within a couple of blocks of where I lived:



<a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Chino-Hills/15298-Green-Valley-Dr-91709/home/3986521">http://www.redfin.com/CA/Chino-Hills/15298-Green-Valley-Dr-91709/home/3986521</a>



It (not this exact house, but the neighborhood) was overpriced relative to rents in 2001 at $275K (which is what this neighborhood sold for in late 2001) and I think it's still overpriced given the WTF pricing on this short sale. Prices in 91709 appear to be about $230 a foot, this one is close to $260 so it's going back. Three years ago when we moved out it would of taken $700K+ to buy this home. I don't think they are done with price reductions yet, considering you can buy a similar home in Lake Elisnore for $125K with an easier commute.



I liked living there, but the commute was ruthless no matter where you wanted to go, and there's nothing in Chino Hills you can get to outside of driving. I am not a traffic weenie, but it's particluarly unbearable coming out of Chino Hills.
 
Thanks for the reply.



Luckily, I won't be commuting to Irvine, but rather Loma Linda. I have family all over So Cal, Lareda Ranch, corona, riverside, anaheim, Pasadena. So Chino Hills is central and would be ideal. The wife did not find a job yet, so Chino hills would also allow her to have wider job search area.



I don't know much about chino hills, other than it has pretty good schools. Haven't found a good forum dedicated to that area, so if anyone can point me to one, I would appreciate it.
 
Chino Hills is nice but the Los Serranos section of it, not so much. I like Fairfield Ranch although you're about as close to the prison as you can get. It's one of the newer parts of Chino Hills and a quick hop on the 71. Butterfield Ranch is okay. It's a little older than Fairfield Ranch. The hilly areas that are set back near Carbon Canyon are nice and you'll have to look to see if there are pockets of communities there you like more than others. In your price range, you may find a nice home in a gated community such as the one at Payne Ranch or Crown Ridge Estates. You probably won't want to go too far north, though, so you're not too close to Pomona. The schools are some of the best in the Chino Valley Unified School District. Some parents from Chino will enter lotteries to win their kids a spot in one of the Chino Hills schools. (I lived in Chino for five years and just got back last year. I was involved with a large parenting group there.) The shopping is good there, with the creation of The Shoppes, the Spectrum, the Commons, and the Crossroads.



Edited to add: You asked if the market has crashed there yet. A year ago there were quite a lot of distressed properties on the market especially in the lower end. Today if you look on the MLS, you'll see most are standard sales. Inventory is pretty tight there (artificially-restricted supply?) and it looks like they could be having a reprieve. I think you should expect another wave coming there, harming the over $600k market that you're looking in. I personally have friends there right now who bought in '06, paid $600k with a funny-money loan, are underwater, and are still in their homes. Their clock is ticking. There are many like these people. Maybe Graph or someone can post a Foreclosure Radar map of this area.
 
[quote author="autox" date=1248039491]Thanks for the reply.



Luckily, I won't be commuting to Irvine, but rather Loma Linda. I have family all over So Cal, Lareda Ranch, corona, riverside, anaheim, Pasadena. So Chino Hills is central and would be ideal. The wife did not find a job yet, so Chino hills would also allow her to have wider job search area.



I don't know much about chino hills, other than it has pretty good schools. Haven't found a good forum dedicated to that area, so if anyone can point me to one, I would appreciate it.</blockquote>


If I was to move back (ha!) I would look at Pomona (the triangle cut off by the 71/60/57), Diamond Bar, and Walnut. Your wife will likely have to commute either West or South. Also, I'd be heavily biased to Clairemont.
 
We have 2 little ones that will be starting school in 2 and 5 years respectively, so good schools are a must. I'm afraid Pomona schools are lacking, so Pomona is not an option. We're also considering Alto Loma, and to a lesser extent clairemont, and perhaps Diamond bar (but I think the commute would kill me).



Moving from Texas, its very hard to downsize, and currently we (the wife and I) have not accepted the fact that we may need to live in a home <2500 sf.
 
[quote author="autox" date=1248049646] We're also considering Alto Loma, and to a lesser extent clairemont, and perhaps Diamond bar (but I think the commute would kill me). </blockquote>


The commute from West to East is nearly non-existant. Go look at Grand Ave. about 7:15. It's a parking lot headed West, and a Ghosttown heading East.



You should go look at that nook of Pomona I mentioned anyway. Ask some of the locals where thier kids go to school. The place is uber-posh. You cross the 71 and it's a slum.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, you're right, the schools in that triangle is pretty good, but cross the 71, and the ratings go from 8 and 9 down to 3 and 4 according to this site:http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/



Is there something special about this triangle as compare to chino hills or diamond bar? Just wondering why you recomend this triangle? The price isn't lower than chino hills, and its in Pomona and hence has all the negative stigma associated with Pomona.
 
[quote author="autox" date=1248050507]Thanks for the suggestion, you're right, the schools in that triangle is pretty good, but cross the 71, and the ratings go from 8 and 9 down to 3 and 4 according to this site:http://schoolperformancemaps.com/ca/



Is there something special about this triangle as compare to chino hills or diamond bar? Just wondering why you recomend this triangle? The price isn't lower than chino hills, and its in Pomona and hence has all the negative stigma associated with Pomona.</blockquote>


The homes are interesting and of good construction, the schools are okay, and traffic leaving/coming isn't a nightmare.



Stigma of city names like "Pomona" and "Santa Ana" don't mean, well, anything to me. I'm not into brand names. Most people hear "Pomona" and run for cover. Their loss, good for me because it keeps the competition down for the nicer neighborhoods that will stand the test of time.
 
No Vas - it sounds like you are talking about Phillips Ranch.



autox - keep in mind if you go to Diamond Bar or Pomona, then you'll put yourself in LA county and have a higher tax rate than San Bernardino.
 
Tax rate? As in property tax rate?



As far as stigma of city names, I was referring more toward resale/home values. I would guess that an area with the right name would hold up better (in term of home prices) than an area with an less desireable name. Kind of like Tustin and Irvine. Both have good schools, homes are about the same age and quality, but Irvine would command a higher price and probally will do better in the long run.

However that triangle in Pomona is price about the same ($/sq foot) as Chino hills and the homes look similar in quality. So I don't see the advantage in buying that area.



I'm not too concern about being able to say I live in one city vs. another, its more about current and futher home value.
 
[quote author="no_vaseline" date=1247989099]A few points:



1. The commute from Chino Hills to OC is worse than from Temecula to OC. You either drive Carbon Canyon, or you fight your way into the 91 on the 71, or you fight the drive down Chino Hills Parkway onto Grand and the 57. There are no other exits. Everyone in Chino Hills commutes. If there is an accident or a fire, the commute turns from 1 1/2 hours one way during traffic time to 3+.



2. It is a ghosttown from 7:30am to 5:30PM. Everyone in Chino Hills commutes.



3. It is a lot like Foothill Ranch. Lots of families, lots of shopping.



This home is within a couple of blocks of where I lived:



<a href="http://www.redfin.com/CA/Chino-Hills/15298-Green-Valley-Dr-91709/home/3986521">http://www.redfin.com/CA/Chino-Hills/15298-Green-Valley-Dr-91709/home/3986521</a>



It (not this exact house, but the neighborhood) was overpriced relative to rents in 2001 at $275K (which is what this neighborhood sold for in late 2001) and I think it's still overpriced given the WTF pricing on this short sale. Prices in 91709 appear to be about $230 a foot, this one is close to $260 so it's going back. Three years ago when we moved out it would of taken $700K+ to buy this home. I don't think they are done with price reductions yet, considering you can buy a similar home in Lake Elisnore for $125K with an easier commute.



I liked living there, but the commute was ruthless no matter where you wanted to go, and there's nothing in Chino Hills you can get to outside of driving. I am not a traffic weenie, but it's particluarly unbearable coming out of Chino Hills.</blockquote>
If you are going to buy a home for around $250/sf you might as well purchase in Lake Forest, Foothill Ranch, or RSM.
 
I see we have another Chino Hills thread? referring to my friends from my <a href="http://I see we have another Chino Hills thread? referring to my friends from my initial thread?">initial thread</a>?



My friend ended up going to another lender and got the loan within two days. They closed escrow and are now moved in. Since they first opened escrow with the initial lender it has already lost something like$10,000. The price was adjusted for the increase interest rate and they still went forward; monthly payments I think was actually slightly more. I?ll get all the details when he invites us over for his house warming bbq.



They are excited to start their lives there; they are 45 minutes away from her parents. I forgot to mention that they bunked with the in-laws for a while after having the baby; which was another reason they were eager to move out. They love the neighborhood, seems like an up and coming, Walnut, or another Roland Heights. He thinks in another 10 years or so; Roland Heights will look like Monterey Park, Walnut will look like Roland Heights and Chino Hills will be the new Asian hangout-Diamond Bar. So he thinks it is a good investment.



Both have good jobs; most of my friends who have baby girls are having such an easy time; the wife is back to work. My wife is home and I?m still working half-time! We must be doing something wrong! Well, the in-laws help of course!



Again, I?ll update on address, loan information and neighborhood soon?
 
Someone else was considering buying in Chino Hills, and then I sent them a Foreclosure Radar pic of the situation there. They made the smart decision to hold off.



Here is the current FR map of CH. Keep in mind you only see 500 of the 617 pins, and try to mentally picture 117 more pins shoved into that map. I know... it's hard, you won't be able to <em>any</em> of the street names if you could.



http://i27.tinypic.com/352g950.jpg



I don't care if 1/4th of Rowland Heights decides that this is the new Asian mecca, and ups and moves there. There still isn't enough to stop this train wreck from happening. Plus... the real Asians will know that it is a Feng Shui nightmare, and not want to be sh*theads, with a fire under their a$$, the front door amputating their kid's arm, and having their money fly out the front door. And where the hell do I find dim sum in Chino Hills? Hell... do they even have a PF Changs or Pei Wei?
 
Hey, they do have a 99 ranch market. If that doesn't say its an asian mecca, nothing will.



Wow, that foreclosure map sure looks ugly. But is it any different from any other city?
 
[quote author="autox" date=1248114103]Hey, they do have a 99 ranch market. If that doesn't say its an asian mecca, nothing will.



Wow, that foreclosure map sure looks ugly. But is it any different from any other city?</blockquote>


Yes. This one is much worse. Plus, per Redfin, there's a total of 154 total homes for sale in Chino Hills - with 4x that number in the pipeline to head your way.



Consider you can buy a home in Lake Elsinore for $125-140, Chino Hills doesn't deserve a 2x or 3x multiple over L.E. Maybe 10-20%.
 
Actually, Chino Hills has quite a lot of Asians. About 25% of the population there is Asian according to city-data.com. Here is the racial breakdown of Chino Hills:



Races in Chino Hills:



* White Non-Hispanic (43.8%)

* Hispanic (25.7%)

* Other race (10.6%)

* Filipino (7.7%)

* Chinese (6.0%)

* Black (5.5%)

* Two or more races (4.7%)

* Korean (2.3%)

* Asian Indian (2.0%)

* Other Asian (1.9%)

* Vietnamese (1.2%)

* American Indian (1.1%)

* Japanese (1.0%)
 
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