Fresco @ Eastwood Village

[Irvinehomeseeker]

What really crazy is that they only allowed 1 hour for us to respond to their offer. We got an email sent at 11:30 asking if we were interested and if they didnt hear from us by 12:30, they would move to the next buyer on the list.  We are talking about $2 million home purchase here and only 1 hour to decide.  It?s freaken nut and only in Irvine.

When we bought a house in Irvine in 1998 we were giving two minutes. People were in the sales office. When your name came up, you had to choose a lot. If you weren't ready you lost your spot.

Funny how time has changed.  When i bought my place in Woodbury 12 years ago after financial crisis(2009), builder even offered me 50k for upgrades and there was not even a single soul on the list.

I was surprised that the corner lot was offered to me @ Eastwood this late of the game. It was a no brainer for me to pull the trigger.

That is quite surprising to be able to get a corner lot! I guess the prices have gotten so high that it may be scaring some people from jumping in to buy.

 

[SM]

I've been on the waitlist for 1x since Aug end. I wonder if the waitlist for 1+ is longer. Hoping to hear back soon.

 

[trematix]

What really crazy is that they only allowed 1 hour for us to respond to their offer. We got an email sent at 11:30 asking if we were interested and if they didnt hear from us by 12:30, they would move to the next buyer on the list.  We are talking about $2 million home purchase here and only 1 hour to decide.  It?s freaken nut and only in Irvine.

When we bought a house in Irvine in 1998 we were giving two minutes. People were in the sales office. When your name came up, you had to choose a lot. If you weren't ready you lost your spot.

Funny how time has changed.  When i bought my place in Woodbury 12 years ago after financial crisis(2009), builder even offered me 50k for upgrades and there was not even a single soul on the list.

I was surprised that the corner lot was offered to me @ Eastwood this late of the game. It was a no brainer for me to pull the trigger.

That is quite surprising to be able to get a corner lot! I guess the prices have gotten so high that it may be scaring some people from jumping in to buy.

When the price hits a certain price point, you get through the list faster ie. Cetara with phase 10, they were stuck on aug/sept 2020 for the first 9 phases but with phase 10 made it past Jan 2021 at the least and who knows how much farther.

 

[Danimal]

I've been on the waitlist for 1x since Aug end. I wonder if the waitlist for 1+ is longer. Hoping to hear back soon.

I was on the waiting list for plan 1 & 3.  There are definitely more people waiting for plan 1 due to cheaper price point according to sale rep.

They showed me the prices for phrase 13 which is about to be released within a week or so. The base prices increase by 15-20k dollars if i remember correctly.


Honestly if it wasnt for the corner lot, i wouldve deferred mine.

 

[usctrojancpa]

What really crazy is that they only allowed 1 hour for us to respond to their offer. We got an email sent at 11:30 asking if we were interested and if they didnt hear from us by 12:30, they would move to the next buyer on the list.  We are talking about $2 million home purchase here and only 1 hour to decide.  It?s freaken nut and only in Irvine.

When we bought a house in Irvine in 1998 we were giving two minutes. People were in the sales office. When your name came up, you had to choose a lot. If you weren't ready you lost your spot.

Funny how time has changed.  When i bought my place in Woodbury 12 years ago after financial crisis(2009), builder even offered me 50k for upgrades and there was not even a single soul on the list.

I was surprised that the corner lot was offered to me @ Eastwood this late of the game. It was a no brainer for me to pull the trigger.

That is quite surprising to be able to get a corner lot! I guess the prices have gotten so high that it may be scaring some people from jumping in to buy.

When the price hits a certain price point, you get through the list faster ie. Cetara with phase 10, they were stuck on aug/sept 2020 for the first 9 phases but with phase 10 made it past Jan 2021 at the least and who knows how much farther.

Not only the price, but with it being a year later you have to think that many of the buyers that got on the list in Sept-Jan moved on to something well (either resale or new home as I made a handful of offers for my Cetara buyer in the first 4 months of 2021 who got their lot in May). 

 

[inagawa]

Is it safe to say Fresco is the most desirable product from iPac, currently? Since the Eastwood tract is so popular, plus the Reserve extension, and the rumored Groves extension at the KB Genoa lots?

It's too bad the options offered at Fresco are inferior to the other tracts at Reserve (ie. standard sliding doors, full-size sub zero fridge and wolf range upgrades), although its prices are now comparable to Ravello. 

 

[CalBears96]

Are Ravello plans 4 and 5 still available at Reserve?

We looked at Fresco and didn't like any of the plans at all.

 

[Danimal]

Need some inputs from fellow TI who have gone through Fresco option configurations. Wife and I budget $200k to $250k for Plan 3+ upgrades with the builder so we are trying to figure how much money we should spend for each phrase.  We have an appointment for Phrase 2 options next week and I want to do as much planning as possible. I know big $ upgrades will come in Phase 3 & 4 like flooring, countertops....and backyard after COE. IP gave us a login to their design center for playing around with options. Quite frankly, website sucks.  IP Sale Rep also offers us to view existing under construction homes but I'd like to get your inputs before doing so.

Questions:
1) Were you able to upgrade to solid doors? We plan to put whole house insulation but I dont see option for solid door upgrades.
2) I see standard hollow door that asks for input on how many doors to add. By default, each room should come with a door correct? The only option I see is adding the door between master bedroom and master bath. Can I add door between 1st floor suit and bath?
3) No 220V option for EV charger in garage either. Is this something I can only do after COE or it comes with one?
4) There's option for getting the kitchen cabinet ready ($400) for built-in fridge and also another option under Refrigerator for built-in prep ($900), not sure what this is. We also plan to get built-in 36" refrigerator from builder. Does IP even offer built-in refrigerator nowadays due to chip shortage?

TIA for your inputs.

 

[box]

Need some inputs from fellow TI who have gone through Fresco option configurations. Wife and I budget $200k to $250k for Plan 3+ upgrades with the builder so we are trying to figure how much money we should spend for each phrase.  We have an appointment for Phrase 2 options next week and I want to do as much planning as possible. I know big $ upgrades will come in Phase 3 & 4 like flooring, countertops....and backyard after COE. IP gave us a login to their design center for playing around with options. Quite frankly, website sucks.  IP Sale Rep also offers us to view existing under construction homes but I'd like to get your inputs before doing so.

Questions:
1) Were you able to upgrade to solid doors? We plan to put whole house insulation but I dont see option for solid door upgrades.
2) I see standard hollow door that asks for input on how many doors to add. By default, each room should come with a door correct? The only option I see is adding the door between master bedroom and master bath. Can I add door between 1st floor suit and bath?
3) No 220V option for EV charger in garage either. Is this something I can only do after COE or it comes with one?
4) There's option for getting the kitchen cabinet ready ($400) for built-in fridge and also another option under Refrigerator for built-in prep ($900), not sure what this is. We also plan to get built-in 36" refrigerator from builder. Does IP even offer built-in refrigerator nowadays due to chip shortage?

TIA for your inputs.

1) Solid doors are not an option.
2) The only optional door is the door between master bedroom and master bath. All the other doors are standard, you don't need to specify how many doors to add. No option for door between 1st floor suite and bathroom.
3) There is a conduit in the garage for EV charger as standard. You'll need your own electrician to install the EV charger using this conduit after COE.
4) IP no longer offers built-in refrigerator. They actually don't offer any appliance upgrades because of the supply chain issues. The only appliances they have are standard dishwasher, microwave, oven, range, range hood - no upgrades on any of those either. You will need to determine exactly which model of built-in refrigerator you are buying by the Stage 3 deadline as a requirement for the $900 "prep for built-in refrigerator" option.

 

[potsticker]

Just to comment on the bedroom doors...I find IP doors to be superior to that of other builders. They seem to have more weight and sound dampening than some other new construction I've seen.

 

[CalBears96]

3) There is a conduit in the garage for EV charger as standard. You'll need your own electrician to install the EV charger using this conduit after COE.
4) IP no longer offers built-in refrigerator. They actually don't offer any appliance upgrades because of the supply chain issues. The only appliances they have are standard dishwasher, microwave, oven, range, range hood - no upgrades on any of those either. You will need to determine exactly which model of built-in refrigerator you are buying by the Stage 3 deadline as a requirement for the $900 "prep for built-in refrigerator" option.

3) By "conduit", do you an actual outlet or just wires for you to add the 220V outlet? I currently just use the regular 110V outlet to charge my Prius Prime. My understanding is that you can just plug in the standard Tesla charger into a 220V outlet. Is this 220V outlet the EV charger you're referring to?

4) So at Stage 3, you just give IP the built-in refrigerator model that you want to buy?

 

[box]

3) There is a conduit in the garage for EV charger as standard. You'll need your own electrician to install the EV charger using this conduit after COE.
4) IP no longer offers built-in refrigerator. They actually don't offer any appliance upgrades because of the supply chain issues. The only appliances they have are standard dishwasher, microwave, oven, range, range hood - no upgrades on any of those either. You will need to determine exactly which model of built-in refrigerator you are buying by the Stage 3 deadline as a requirement for the $900 "prep for built-in refrigerator" option.

3) By "conduit", do you an actual outlet or just wires for you to add the 220V outlet? I currently just use the regular 110V outlet to charge my Prius Prime. My understanding is that you can just plug in the standard Tesla charger into a 220V outlet. Is this 220V outlet the EV charger you're referring to?

4) So at Stage 3, you just give IP the built-in refrigerator model that you want to buy?

3) A conduit is just a pipe in the wall that wires can be run through - it doesn't includes wires or outlet, but does have blank cover plate where the outlet can be installed later. It's on the same wall as the electrical panel, so in theory it should be relatively easy for an electrician wire up 220V from the panel, run the wires through the conduit and add an outlet.

4) Yea, if you want a built-in refrigerator, you have to pay ~$400 for the cabinet upgrade to fit the built-in, then another ~$900 for them to put the outlet and the water lines in the right location. They need the model of the refrigerator because I guess different built-in models have very specific places where the outlet and water lines have to be?

 

[Danimal]

3) There is a conduit in the garage for EV charger as standard. You'll need your own electrician to install the EV charger using this conduit after COE.
4) IP no longer offers built-in refrigerator. They actually don't offer any appliance upgrades because of the supply chain issues. The only appliances they have are standard dishwasher, microwave, oven, range, range hood - no upgrades on any of those either. You will need to determine exactly which model of built-in refrigerator you are buying by the Stage 3 deadline as a requirement for the $900 "prep for built-in refrigerator" option.

3) By "conduit", do you an actual outlet or just wires for you to add the 220V outlet? I currently just use the regular 110V outlet to charge my Prius Prime. My understanding is that you can just plug in the standard Tesla charger into a 220V outlet. Is this 220V outlet the EV charger you're referring to?

4) So at Stage 3, you just give IP the built-in refrigerator model that you want to buy?

3) A conduit is just a channel in the wall that wires can be run through - it doesn't include an outlet or wires. It's on the same wall as the electrical panel though, so in theory it should be relatively easy for an electrician wire up 220V from the panel, run the wires through the conduit, to the final outlet location.

4) Yea, if you want a built-in refrigerator, you have to pay ~$400 for the cabinet upgrade to fit the built-in, then another ~$900 for them to put the outlet and the water lines in the right location. They need the model of the refrigerator because I guess different built-in models have very specific places where the outlet and water lines have to be?

4) Do you mean the size of the built-in fridge like typical 36, 42, 48 inch? Or Choosing the exact model of a manufacture like Wolf Sub-zero 36 inch model xxxxxx? If this is the case, that?s really tough to pick before COE. It may be OOS down the road.

 

[box]

3) There is a conduit in the garage for EV charger as standard. You'll need your own electrician to install the EV charger using this conduit after COE.
4) IP no longer offers built-in refrigerator. They actually don't offer any appliance upgrades because of the supply chain issues. The only appliances they have are standard dishwasher, microwave, oven, range, range hood - no upgrades on any of those either. You will need to determine exactly which model of built-in refrigerator you are buying by the Stage 3 deadline as a requirement for the $900 "prep for built-in refrigerator" option.

3) By "conduit", do you an actual outlet or just wires for you to add the 220V outlet? I currently just use the regular 110V outlet to charge my Prius Prime. My understanding is that you can just plug in the standard Tesla charger into a 220V outlet. Is this 220V outlet the EV charger you're referring to?

4) So at Stage 3, you just give IP the built-in refrigerator model that you want to buy?

3) A conduit is just a channel in the wall that wires can be run through - it doesn't include an outlet or wires. It's on the same wall as the electrical panel though, so in theory it should be relatively easy for an electrician wire up 220V from the panel, run the wires through the conduit, to the final outlet location.

4) Yea, if you want a built-in refrigerator, you have to pay ~$400 for the cabinet upgrade to fit the built-in, then another ~$900 for them to put the outlet and the water lines in the right location. They need the model of the refrigerator because I guess different built-in models have very specific places where the outlet and water lines have to be?

4) Do you mean the size of the built-in fridge like typical 36, 42, 48 inch? Or Choosing the exact model of a manufacture like Wolf Sub-zero 36 inch model xxxxxx? If this is the case, that?s really tough to pick before COE. It may be OOS down the road.

4) At Fresco, the fridge size is fixed at 36" wide. The cabinet upgrade only increases the height of the opening to accommodate a built-in fridge, not the width.

My understanding is that you need to provide the exact model of a manufacture (like Wolf Sub-zero 36 inch model xxxxxx) by Stage 3 deadline, so that they can place the outlet and water lines in the specific location for that fridge.

I don't know enough about built-in fridges to know why outlets and water lines need to be in specific places in order for them to be installed correctly. Are the power cables they come with very short given how compact everything has to be to achieve the built-in look?

Yea, it's definitely a sub-optimal time to be spec'ing out a new home build given the supply chain issues.

 

[CalBears96]

4) At Fresco, the fridge size is fixed at 36" wide. The cabinet upgrade only increases the height of the opening to accommodate a built-in fridge, not the width.

My understanding is that you need to provide the exact model of a manufacture (like Wolf Sub-zero 36 inch model xxxxxx) by Stage 3 deadline, so that they can place the outlet and water lines in the specific location for that fridge.

I don't know enough about built-in fridges to know why outlets and water lines need to be in specific places in order for them to be installed correctly. Are the power cables they come with very short given how compact everything has to be to achieve the built-in look?

Yea, it's definitely a sub-optimal time to be spec'ing out a new home build given the supply chain issues.

Yeah, it's a real bummer with the supply chain issues.

I was talking to Bluffs sales lady today and she told me that the next 4 phases, including the current one, are already past Stage 2, so we couldn't do any kitchen cabinet upgrade. Each home has certain included upgrade options. She hinted that they did this because even if we can choose the upgrade, the design center may not have the options we wanted due to supply chain issue. And like you said, all the appliances cannot be upgraded.

I just hope that I still can get the kitchen cabinet ready for built-in refrigerator.

 

[box]

Does a built-in fridge have a good ROI at time of re-sale?

By my calculation, a built-in fridge is a $6K - $8K premium over a high-end counter depth fridge (including the upgrade premium from the builder, and the fridge price itself).

The only benefit is aesthetics?

Bosch has a nice counter depth fridge that has a "pseudo built-in" look.

For those of you that upgraded to built-in, is it worth it?

 

[CalBears96]

Does a built-in fridge have a good ROI at time of re-sale?

By my calculation, a built-in fridge is a $6K - $8K premium over a high-end counter depth fridge (including the upgrade premium from the builder, and the fridge price itself).

The only benefit is aesthetics?

Bosch has a nice counter depth fridge that has a "pseudo built-in" look.

For those of you that upgraded to built-in, is it worth it?

Supposedly, a built-in fridge is longer lasting, but that isn't worth the premium. Other than the aesthetics, my wife also doesn't like the dust collecting on top of a fridge, so she really wants the built-in one.

 

[Danimal]

We just did phrase 2 options. List was long which total to $20k:

1) Electric outlet: one for each bathroom for bidet and 60 amp box
2) TV conduits for each bedroom , loft and great room
3) Level 2 cabinet handles, pull out trays for pantry
4) Water softener valve, built-in fridge water/outlet lines.  Need to choose fridge model for line placement.
5) Add a door between master bed and bath.  I checked the doors on homes being built, they are very good quality. Feel very dense almost as if they are not hollow. Rep told me they started using the new doors recently because people love them. No option for upgrade anyway
6) Whole house insulation and loft insulation
7) No option for upgrading faucets/ appliances.

Since we did our hw so the process was so fast i was able to get the quotes for phrase 3/4:
1) Engineered wood for entire first floor for $35k. For 3000 square foot model 3, i dont know the square footage of the area for first floor.  Wife really wants to do solid wood but it is not offered so we will go with this option.  Luxury vinyl is $17k. I like it better than Eng Wood but happy wife is happy family so I gave in.
2) We want upgrade carpet for stair and entire 2nd floor, highest quality nylon carpet is offered for $8k. We will go with this.
3) Wife wants nice and simple white only countertops. Quartz countertop for kitchen and all bathrooms will total around $15k.

The only 3 things left are 36? Wolf Sub-zero fridge, windows treatment and backyard landscaping.  After all things set and done, it should be within our $200k-$250k budget for upgrades.

I just want to thank all the fellow Fresco-ers for clarifications on some of the options.

 

[CalBears96]

We just did phrase 2 options. List was long which total to $20k:

1) Electric outlet: one for each bathroom for bidet and 60 amp box
2) TV conduits for each bedroom , loft and great room
3) Level 2 cabinet handles, pull out trays for pantry
4) Water softener valve, built-in fridge water/outlet lines.  Need to choose fridge model for line placement.
5) Add a door between master bed and bath.  I checked the doors on homes being built, they are very good quality. Feel very dense almost as if they are not hollow. Rep told me they started using the new doors recently because people love them. No option for upgrade anyway
6) Whole house insulation and loft insulation
7) No option for upgrading faucets/ appliances.

Since we did our hw so the process was so fast i was able to get the quotes for phrase 3/4:
1) Engineered wood for entire first floor for $35k. For 3000 square foot model 3, i dont know the square footage of the area for first floor.  Wife really wants to do solid wood but it is not offered so we will go with this option.  Luxury vinyl is $17k. I like it better than Eng Wood but happy wife is happy family so I gave in.
2) We want upgrade carpet for stair and entire 2nd floor, highest quality nylon carpet is offered for $8k. We will go with this.
3) Wife wants nice and simple white only countertops. Quartz countertop for kitchen and all bathrooms will total around $15k.

The only 3 things left are 36? Wolf Sub-zero fridge, windows treatment and backyard landscaping.  After all things set and done, it should be within our $200k-$250k budget for upgrades.

I just want to thank all the fellow Fresco-ers for clarifications on some of the options.

I think $35k for the 1st floor seems steep. It probably costs $20k if you do it after COE.

We plan to do flooring after COE on Bluffs 2, since my wife wants to do glass stair rail and sales lady said it's best to do the rail before flooring.

We also want to Sub-zero built-in fridge, but the rest of appliances aren't Wolf, so we might do all the appliances later. Sales lady said that IP is having some supply issue with Whirlpool so they might switch out Kitchen-Aid for another brand, but doesn't know which brand.

 

[Danimal]

We just did phrase 2 options. List was long which total to $20k:

1) Electric outlet: one for each bathroom for bidet and 60 amp box
2) TV conduits for each bedroom , loft and great room
3) Level 2 cabinet handles, pull out trays for pantry
4) Water softener valve, built-in fridge water/outlet lines.  Need to choose fridge model for line placement.
5) Add a door between master bed and bath.  I checked the doors on homes being built, they are very good quality. Feel very dense almost as if they are not hollow. Rep told me they started using the new doors recently because people love them. No option for upgrade anyway
6) Whole house insulation and loft insulation
7) No option for upgrading faucets/ appliances.

Since we did our hw so the process was so fast i was able to get the quotes for phrase 3/4:
1) Engineered wood for entire first floor for $35k. For 3000 square foot model 3, i dont know the square footage of the area for first floor.  Wife really wants to do solid wood but it is not offered so we will go with this option.  Luxury vinyl is $17k. I like it better than Eng Wood but happy wife is happy family so I gave in.
2) We want upgrade carpet for stair and entire 2nd floor, highest quality nylon carpet is offered for $8k. We will go with this.
3) Wife wants nice and simple white only countertops. Quartz countertop for kitchen and all bathrooms will total around $15k.

The only 3 things left are 36? Wolf Sub-zero fridge, windows treatment and backyard landscaping.  After all things set and done, it should be within our $200k-$250k budget for upgrades.

I just want to thank all the fellow Fresco-ers for clarifications on some of the options.

I think $35k for the 1st floor seems steep. It probably costs $20k if you do it after COE.

We plan to do flooring after COE on Bluffs 2, since my wife wants to do glass stair rail and sales lady said it's best to do the rail before flooring.

We also want to Sub-zero built-in fridge, but the rest of appliances aren't Wolf, so we might do all the appliances later. Sales lady said that IP is having some supply issue with Whirlpool so they might switch out Kitchen-Aid for another brand, but doesn't know which brand.

Yes we know we are paying some premium going with the builder, it?s alright.  We heard some horror stories about third party contractors from our neighbors. If I could let the builder do entire home including landscaping, i would just for a piece of mind. Our current home is Cal Pacific model home and we never have any issue with their upgrades for 14 years.