Irvine Neighborhoods

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ahbrownell

New member
My wife and I are looking into finding a SFH or detached condo, or perhaps even an attached (1 common wall) if it was the right place. A helper poster mentioned Quail Hill as being way better than another Irvine neighborhood. This made me immediately wonder what other people on this forum think are the best Irvine neighborhoods so that we can focus our search. We are hoping to stay ~500-600k, which we realize limits us quite a bit. Tossing out reasons you like (or dislike) a neightborhood would be very helpful too, thanks.

Hearing lots of positives about:
Quail Hill
Turtle Rock

Hearing lots of negatives about:
Laguna Altura
Portola Springs
Stonegate
Stonegate East

Haven't heard much about:
Northpark
University Park
Westpark
Westpark II
Woodbury
Woodbury East
Woodbridge
 
At your price range which is really entry level. You just priced yourself out of the nice area like Turtle Rock. I suggest Northpark behind the gate. Greystone's Triplex, Beazer's duplex or Cal Pac's detached condos are all in the 5's range. If you are planning to buy a compromised product at least buy in a neighborhood where the public open spaces were not stripped out like Stinkgate or LA so that you can at least enjoy your surroundings. Unlike other villages Northpark does not have rentals where Irvine whores operate their trade but do watch out for the private garages!
 
Just to make sure you look in Northpark and not the stepchild across the street south of Irvine Blvd. If you want to receive your packages from Amazon I suggest living behind gates.
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
At your price range which is really entry level. You just priced yourself out of the nice area like Turtle Rock. I suggest Northpark behind the gate. Greystone's Triplex, Beazer's duplex or Cal Pac's detached condos are all in the 5's range. If you are planning to buy a compromised product at least buy in a neighborhood where the public open spaces were not stripped out like Stinkgate or LA so that you can at least enjoy your surroundings. Unlike other villages Northpark does not have rentals where Irvine whores operate their trade but do watch out for the private garages!
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So Northpark is the only area with no apartments?  That's where the mayor lives right? 
 
ps99472 said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
At your price range which is really entry level. You just priced yourself out of the nice area like Turtle Rock. I suggest Northpark behind the gate. Greystone's Triplex, Beazer's duplex or Cal Pac's detached condos are all in the 5's range. If you are planning to buy a compromised product at least buy in a neighborhood where the public open spaces were not stripped out like Stinkgate or LA so that you can at least enjoy your surroundings. Unlike other villages Northpark does not have rentals where Irvine whores operate their trade but do watch out for the private garages!
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So Northpark is the only area with no apartments?  That's where the mayor lives right? 
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There are no TIC rental apartments within the gated community but they are just outside or across the street:
http://www.rental-living.com/map-search/orange-county/north-irvine/
 
frank69m said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
Just to make sure you look in Northpark and not the stepchild across the street south of Irvine Blvd. If you want to receive your packages from Amazon I suggest living behind gates.
Click to expand...

It's still considered Northpark. Or, are you referring to those condos near the Post Office?


You can still get a Quail Hill condo for under 600k....
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/307-Tall-Oak-92603/home/5945450
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The cheaper Quail Hill Condos are all 3 stories and i believe are really poorly designed floor plans
 
The neighborhood across the street from northpark is northpark square just like Woodbury and Woodbury East. The one apartment project outside of the Northpark gate does not impact the community while many newer villages do like Woodbury, Stonegate, Woodbury East, Cypress village, and even Quail Hills Meadow.
 
3CWG, full driveway, 1 acre lot, view, formal living and dining, and I will settle for neighbor on one side. HOA or MR but not both. 3 story is ok.
 
Its currently just my wife and me (thus far), so I'd say 3-4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms and a loft. We don't need a huge yard, but we do want a yard of some sort as we have a dog. Along those lines, proximity to coyotes would be a major negative (one of the reasons I'm thinking Laguna Altura and Portola Springs won't work).

In terms of square footage, we'd prefer 1700+, but I don't think we need anything crazy like 2500+ or anything.
 
QH has some Wile E. Coyotes too.

I do think that QH condos are trading at or below their 2005 bubble prices so you may be able to find something with a small yard that is suitable for you. And depending on how much down you are using, they will probably be at or below rental parity if you ever think of renting them out in the future (for some reason, QH rental prices are still pretty high).

But take your time... rates aren't rising soon... and prices are still softening (at least that's what it looks like to me).
 
ahbrownell said:
Its currently just my wife and me (thus far), so I'd say 3-4 bedrooms or 3 bedrooms and a loft. We don't need a huge yard, but we do want a yard of some sort as we have a dog. Along those lines, proximity to coyotes would be a major negative (one of the reasons I'm thinking Laguna Altura and Portola Springs won't work).

In terms of square footage, we'd prefer 1700+, but I don't think we need anything crazy like 2500+ or anything.
Click to expand...

What you will notice is this.  People generally speak in "ideals" here...  Ideally, you will pick a great location with everything you want for a great price... but that's not reality.  A home purchase is a real big deal, so you have to think carefully about what you want.  More importantly, because you do have a budget, you have to figure out what compromises you are willing to make (for example, you are willing to have an attached wall).  You also should start visiting a bunch of open houses so you can get an idea of what's out there on the market.   

No one can really tell you what neighborhood is best for you.  Of course people say TR and QH are better... they are more expensive areas of Irvine (for various reasons)...  Before you get into areas, you need to figure out what you want.  Do you care about property taxes and HOAs?  If so, then you have to look at older areas (where the trade off is that you should be handy with the tools).    Do you want newer build (post '95) but with reasonable MR and HOAs?  Then there are areas of Irvine built in the late 90s to early 00's that will fit your bill - some of which will require work.  Do you want a new home?  Then you are looking at steeper MR and limited locations (i.e. Stonegate, LA, etc)...    It all depends on you and your circumstances. 

There's been a lot of threads on this board about a lot of different hoods that you can read about.  you should also check out the old IHB threads which have a lot of info too.  If you don't have a realtor, there are a couple of friendly resources on the board that will be able to help you out too...
 
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