well... I hope I'm not jumping the gun, but our home is now in escrow... After looking and tire kicking for a while, I decided to make a concerted push to find a long-term place to plant some roots (which now includes selling our current home). After tossing around the idea of staying put, the family decided that our current pad would not meet our long-term needs (or wants). West Irvine was a cool place to be over the past 10+ years, but we also decided to live in at least one more neighborhood before I prematurely kick the bucket from all the stresses of affording Irvine housing (just kidding... or am I?)...
Looking back, I think West Irvine is a nice place to live and has a lot to offer. Even though it is zoned to excellent schools, is close to many amenities, and has cheap HOA and taxes, people treat it as the Irvine ghetto (compared to Northpark/ NP Square/ Woodbury, etc.). I think it gets a bad rap... Here are things I've loved about West Irvine:
1) Cheap master HOA of $55
2) Cheap Mello Roos
3) Decent park/swimming pool
4) Community of young families (who often bring their kids/pets to play at the park)
5) Tustin sports park across the street (with a .75 paved "loop" where you can run/walk)
6) Proximity to fwy/toll road for convenient travel
7) Shopping center choices (Irvine Market place/ Orchard Hills plaza etc...) with the District, Spectrum and SCP all within short driving distance
8) Peters Canyon/ Hicks Canyon trail/ Mountain to Sea (that runs behind the park) for running/walking/biking. I've taken this to back bay several times.
9) Good schools (Myford Elementary/ Pioneer Middle/ Beckman High) (I would argue TUSD can compete with IUSD)
10) Proximity to work/ friends/ family
11) I'm not sure if its "factual", but we feel safe... take the dog out late, walk to the market, walk to Target... no issues.
But fair is fair... after over a decade, there are also downsides....
1) Jamboree can get quite crowded, especially in the mornings or afternoons (and with the lane widening project on the 5 onramp). I have regular $30/mo toll road bills to bypass the traffic around the 5 fwy
2) 261 toll road borders the community on the east.
So why are we moving and to where? Well, first, we really don't "connect" with some of the SFR communities in the hood... If I HAD to choose, I'd pick Ivy (2100 sq ft model)... But like I said, I think I'd feel regret if I at least didn't venture out and try one more neighborhood (we plan on buying a hopeful long termer next). Even my mom suggested I try something different.
Our first choices would be Quail Hill/ Turtle Rock... but we can't afford it so that's out. Next would be Northwood Pointe/ Northpark/ Northpark Sq. Unlike some.. I'm not into architecture/design as I'm into functionality. I'd prefer to pick up an open space floor plan that efficiently utilizes 2300-2500 sq ft instead of having a living room I will never use. I'm 37 and I know that all I need is a family room to watch tv, an office to do work, somewhere to play with kid(s) (could overlap), and a place to sleep. Unfortunately, most of the places listed don't offer a lot in that range (except the CalPac product i.e. Campenile). We'd like to keep the budget at around $780-800 (would like to keep under the $625K), and that doesn't leave us with a lot of options. For now, we are going to see what comes up, and adjust accordingly.
Looking back, I think West Irvine is a nice place to live and has a lot to offer. Even though it is zoned to excellent schools, is close to many amenities, and has cheap HOA and taxes, people treat it as the Irvine ghetto (compared to Northpark/ NP Square/ Woodbury, etc.). I think it gets a bad rap... Here are things I've loved about West Irvine:
1) Cheap master HOA of $55
2) Cheap Mello Roos
3) Decent park/swimming pool
4) Community of young families (who often bring their kids/pets to play at the park)
5) Tustin sports park across the street (with a .75 paved "loop" where you can run/walk)
6) Proximity to fwy/toll road for convenient travel
7) Shopping center choices (Irvine Market place/ Orchard Hills plaza etc...) with the District, Spectrum and SCP all within short driving distance
8) Peters Canyon/ Hicks Canyon trail/ Mountain to Sea (that runs behind the park) for running/walking/biking. I've taken this to back bay several times.
9) Good schools (Myford Elementary/ Pioneer Middle/ Beckman High) (I would argue TUSD can compete with IUSD)
10) Proximity to work/ friends/ family
11) I'm not sure if its "factual", but we feel safe... take the dog out late, walk to the market, walk to Target... no issues.
But fair is fair... after over a decade, there are also downsides....
1) Jamboree can get quite crowded, especially in the mornings or afternoons (and with the lane widening project on the 5 onramp). I have regular $30/mo toll road bills to bypass the traffic around the 5 fwy
2) 261 toll road borders the community on the east.
So why are we moving and to where? Well, first, we really don't "connect" with some of the SFR communities in the hood... If I HAD to choose, I'd pick Ivy (2100 sq ft model)... But like I said, I think I'd feel regret if I at least didn't venture out and try one more neighborhood (we plan on buying a hopeful long termer next). Even my mom suggested I try something different.
Our first choices would be Quail Hill/ Turtle Rock... but we can't afford it so that's out. Next would be Northwood Pointe/ Northpark/ Northpark Sq. Unlike some.. I'm not into architecture/design as I'm into functionality. I'd prefer to pick up an open space floor plan that efficiently utilizes 2300-2500 sq ft instead of having a living room I will never use. I'm 37 and I know that all I need is a family room to watch tv, an office to do work, somewhere to play with kid(s) (could overlap), and a place to sleep. Unfortunately, most of the places listed don't offer a lot in that range (except the CalPac product i.e. Campenile). We'd like to keep the budget at around $780-800 (would like to keep under the $625K), and that doesn't leave us with a lot of options. For now, we are going to see what comes up, and adjust accordingly.
