Las Ventanas by Taylor Morrison at Portola Springs
- Thread starter irvineresident
- Start date
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
IHO's list of uses for a driveway:
1. Wash your car (although may not be HOA legal anymore... or safe for the environment)
2. Park your car when you need to use the garage to entertain friends... or if you don't have friends... use the garage to put together a piece of furniture
3. Shoot hoops
4. Handball
5. Frying turkey
6. Canvas for cement crayons
7. 8 extra feet away from your neighbor
8. Bounce house area
9. Scooter/bike parking while kids are playing
10. Garage sale zone (<-- although... haven't done one in over 10 years)
1. Wash your car (although may not be HOA legal anymore... or safe for the environment)
2. Park your car when you need to use the garage to entertain friends... or if you don't have friends... use the garage to put together a piece of furniture
3. Shoot hoops
4. Handball
5. Frying turkey
6. Canvas for cement crayons
7. 8 extra feet away from your neighbor
8. Bounce house area
9. Scooter/bike parking while kids are playing
10. Garage sale zone (<-- although... haven't done one in over 10 years)
usctrojancpa
Well-known member
DRIVEWAY OR BUST!!! I had a Ladera Ranch buyer who was getting a bit frustrated at not having much luck finding a SFR with a driveway (up to $630k) so he told me that he would consider a home without one. I told him you need a driveway based upon what you are spending and proceeded to find him a home with one in the next few weeks.
sgip
Well-known member
Most home owners today need a driveway to park their cars on. At least in our neighborhood we've got 3 car garages and 3 cars in the driveway because the garages are stuff with junk. Do most HOA's enforce a "you must put your car in the garage" rule in these neighborhoods?
My .02c
My .02c
homer_simpson
Well-known member
irvinehomeowner said:IHO's list of uses for a driveway:
1. Wash your car (although may not be HOA legal anymore... or safe for the environment)
2. Park your car when you need to use the garage to entertain friends... or if you don't have friends... use the garage to put together a piece of furniture
3. Shoot hoops
4. Handball
5. Frying turkey
6. Canvas for cement crayons
7. 8 extra feet away from your neighbor
8. Bounce house area
9. Scooter/bike parking while kids are playing
10. Garage sale zone (<-- although... haven't done one in over 10 years)
You can do all those on a motorcourt too
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
Not without getting run over by your neighbor.homer_simpson said:irvinehomeowner said:IHO's list of uses for a driveway:
1. Wash your car (although may not be HOA legal anymore... or safe for the environment)
2. Park your car when you need to use the garage to entertain friends... or if you don't have friends... use the garage to put together a piece of furniture
3. Shoot hoops
4. Handball
5. Frying turkey
6. Canvas for cement crayons
7. 8 extra feet away from your neighbor
8. Bounce house area
9. Scooter/bike parking while kids are playing
10. Garage sale zone (<-- although... haven't done one in over 10 years)
You can do all those on a motorcourt too
And number 7 is definitely out.
usctrojancpa
Well-known member
Once you have a driveway, there's no going back (my attached condo had a driveway).homer_simpson said:irvinehomeowner said:IHO's list of uses for a driveway:
1. Wash your car (although may not be HOA legal anymore... or safe for the environment)
2. Park your car when you need to use the garage to entertain friends... or if you don't have friends... use the garage to put together a piece of furniture
3. Shoot hoops
4. Handball
5. Frying turkey
6. Canvas for cement crayons
7. 8 extra feet away from your neighbor
8. Bounce house area
9. Scooter/bike parking while kids are playing
10. Garage sale zone (<-- although... haven't done one in over 10 years)
You can do all those on a motorcourt too
USCTrojanCPA said:
What about their tile flooring? We are trying to see if it's worth it to upgrade the 13x13 standard tile to an 18x18 tile with TM or take all standard and hire a contractor to do it afterwards. Any thoughts?
What about the granite counter-top upgrades? Is it worth it?
usctrojancpa
Well-known member
Depends on what the cost of upgrading the tile is...tiles run anywhere $2/sf and up plus about $3-$4/sf in labor (plus another $1/sf to remove existing tiles). Most of my buyers did get the upgraded granite countertops because it is cheaper to just upgrade. Again, it's up to you if the cost of upgrading it makes sense to you.PS2012 said:
Thanks! If you don't mind, what did most of your buyers do with their flooring? We think that TM's prices are pretty comparable to the Home Depots/Lowes when it comes to tile flooring at least (retail) - but we weren't sure if independent contractor pricing for labor would be cheaper than paying TM or Home Depot to do it. We are newbies on this topic so hope you don't mind the questions!
BTW - we ran into one of your buyers the other day in LV - you're pretty famous in this area!
BTW - we ran into one of your buyers the other day in LV - you're pretty famous in this area!
usctrojancpa
Well-known member
Most of them did wood flooring (either laminate or engineered wood) downstairs excluding the bathroom and carpet in the bedrooms and upstairs. Half of them went with the standard TM tile flooring for the bathroom and half of them upgraded tiles. Home Depot does not have the best pricing as independent contractors will be a bit lower, but it'll give you a good comparison for TM. Funny that you say that, some of my buyers gave me the Mr. Las Ventanas nickname. haha I am curious, how did you find out that they were my buyers?PS2012 said:Thanks! If you don't mind, what did most of your buyers do with their flooring? We think that TM's prices are pretty comparable to the Home Depots/Lowes when it comes to tile flooring at least (retail) - but we weren't sure if independent contractor pricing for labor would be cheaper than paying TM or Home Depot to do it. We are newbies on this topic so hope you don't mind the questions!
BTW - we ran into one of your buyers the other day in LV - you're pretty famous in this area!
usctrojancpa
Well-known member
What a small world. Which plan did you guys end up buying? Let me know if you would like any contractor referrals.PS2012 said:We ran into them while walking the neighborhood and they asked if we used a broker (which we did) and they asked if it was you. They referenced this forum - which I've been reading since early this year...so we knew exactly who you were - just didn't know your name. haha.
USCTrojanCPA said:What a small world. Which plan did you guys end up buying? Let me know if you would like any contractor referrals.PS2012 said:We ran into them while walking the neighborhood and they asked if we used a broker (which we did) and they asked if it was you. They referenced this forum - which I've been reading since early this year...so we knew exactly who you were - just didn't know your name. haha.
We went with Plan 2. Of the three plans, Plan 2 just felt right to us. At first we wanted to wait for the larger lots on Arrowhead, but decided it wasn't worth the premium in our case - plus Laura told us there are many people waiting for those lots since they opened the community - so we didn't want to take that chance and lose a nice house. The homes in LV were definitely much better priced and had better floorplans compared to all of the new communities we toured - esp Stonegate and Laguna Altura.
I'll have to take you up on your offer for contractors! I'll PM you. Thanks!
Condo TRAP
Member
Seems like they are getting close to releasing the northeast lots that are slightly larger than their typical lots. Given the shortage of inventory and greater distance from the 133, I'm curious to see what the $ increases will be.
lookingnirvine
New member
As USCTrojan has been a hot topic lately, I believe its an appropriate time to give give him a big THANK YOU for representing us as our broker when buying our Las Ventanas home back in December 2011.
Looking back I have to admit, the entire home buying process was one interesting roller coaster ride, but USC was always a phone call away and always offered sound advice for us. Once we finally moved into our new home, we basically used every referral he gave us with no regrets - particularly the window coverings and flooring. We've been living here for 5 months now and feel really comfortable calling this place home. The neighborhood is starting to look really nice, with some owners already finishing their yards ( here's to hoping we finally can submit our plans to the HOA soon). The neighbors are all nice and friendly, with the majority as young families. There will be plenty of kids playing around here within the next few years - guaranteed.
Thanks again USC!!!
p.s. And yes USC, I believe the poster 'PS2012' ran into us while doing are usual neighborhood stroll.
Looking back I have to admit, the entire home buying process was one interesting roller coaster ride, but USC was always a phone call away and always offered sound advice for us. Once we finally moved into our new home, we basically used every referral he gave us with no regrets - particularly the window coverings and flooring. We've been living here for 5 months now and feel really comfortable calling this place home. The neighborhood is starting to look really nice, with some owners already finishing their yards ( here's to hoping we finally can submit our plans to the HOA soon). The neighbors are all nice and friendly, with the majority as young families. There will be plenty of kids playing around here within the next few years - guaranteed.
Thanks again USC!!!
p.s. And yes USC, I believe the poster 'PS2012' ran into us while doing are usual neighborhood stroll.