New communities in Portola Springs

[irvinehomeowner]

My dad closed on his home yesterday.  We'll be doing flooring, garage epoxy, and window coverings in the coming month.

Nice... so no more Vegas commutes?

The whole USC family is going to be in Irvine.

 

[jomama229]

My dad closed on his home yesterday.  We'll be doing flooring, garage epoxy, and window coverings in the coming month.

was there no (acceptable) flooring option offered by calpac for the sierra homes? if not, can you share what flooring is your dad putting in?

 

[sleepy5136]

My dad closed on his home yesterday.  We'll be doing flooring, garage epoxy, and window coverings in the coming month.

was there no (acceptable) flooring option offered by calpac for the sierra homes? if not, can you share what flooring is your dad putting in?

my guess is it has a lot to do with builders charging almost double the cost of what a normal contractor would charge. Especially when you consider they do less work as there is no demolition of tiles and removal of carpets involved.

 

[usctrojancpa]

My dad closed on his home yesterday.  We'll be doing flooring, garage epoxy, and window coverings in the coming month.

Nice... so no more Vegas commutes?

The whole USC family is going to be in Irvine.

I'm still keep the home that I own out there so he'll stay there every now and again.  My mom and stepdad also live in Irvine. 

My dad didn't listen to LL about the major pain coming to Irvine when he decided to buy but seems like he's up $175k since the base price for his home was $1,460,000 and it is $1,635,000 in phase 4.  haha

 

[usctrojancpa]

My dad closed on his home yesterday.  We'll be doing flooring, garage epoxy, and window coverings in the coming month.

was there no (acceptable) flooring option offered by calpac for the sierra homes? if not, can you share what flooring is your dad putting in?

Their options were limited and their pricing is stupid plus the quality of the standard flooring that was installed is not that great.  I have a great flooring guy who is 1/2 the price and I can pick whatever flooring that I want including nicer baseboards.

 

[jomama229]

Their options were limited and their pricing is stupid plus the quality of the standard flooring that was installed is not that great.  I have a great flooring guy who is 1/2 the price and I can pick whatever flooring that I want including nicer baseboards.

good to know. so did your dad take the home with no additional options? i believe all the releases thus far have been pre-plotted with limited upgrades made available to the owners.

 

[usctrojancpa]

Their options were limited and their pricing is stupid plus the quality of the standard flooring that was installed is not that great.  I have a great flooring guy who is 1/2 the price and I can pick whatever flooring that I want including nicer baseboards.

good to know. so did your dad take the home with no additional options? i believe all the releases thus far have been pre-plotted with limited upgrades made available to the owners.

Yeah with just the pre-selected options which weren't too bad. 

 

[Davidlee199]

What?s going on with the resale market?
Either price drop or back on market?
6 Duskywing
166 Tribeca
87 Strawberry
15 Courant
58 Clocktower

 

[potsticker]

The majority of those you listed were flipped into Active Under Contract status (accepted offer, with contingencies). For whatever reason, Redfin/Zillow show that as "Relisted" rather than just a move from Active to Under Contract.

There were 2 that did have price reductions and frankly not surprised. Both were overpriced even for this market.

 

[IrvineRealEstate]

@Martin Mania - nice to see that you helped your dad buy at Sierra phase 1.  Sounds like it's a validation of the area.  Has he moved in yet?  Seems there are folks already moved in so would be good to hear a broker's perspective after moving there. 

 

[usctrojancpa]

@Martin Mania - nice to see that you helped your dad buy at Sierra phase 1.  Sounds like it's a validation of the area.  Has he moved in yet?  Seems there are folks already moved in so would be good to hear a broker's perspective after moving there. 

Not yet, there's a lot of work to be done before moving in.  Garage door epoxy flooring done and now waiting on flooring and paint then window coverings.  All of the buyers are all good folks and I actually helped one them sell their exit property to one of my buyers via a pocket listings (thanks to the sales folks at CalPac referring them to me). 

I was going to buy in Portola Srpings back in 2011, Las Ventanas by Taylor Morrison but found a short sale in West Irvine at a great price, so I've always liked Portola Springs myself and have already recommended my buyers consider the area.

 

[CalBears96]

Bluffs phase 29B has been released.

I'm pretty sure that there are typos on the lot size. Based on site map, these two lots are bigger than base lot size. Lot 86 should actually be bigger than my lot 95. I'm estimating close to 4000 sq ft on lot 86.

It's pretty crazy to see detached condos priced at $1.7M-$1.8M.  ;D

 

[CalBears96]

An update on phase 29B with lot size correction:

Homesite 87 - 3166 sq ft lot
Homesite 86 - 4064 sq ft lot

 

[jomama229]

My contact at CalPac also mentioned that the base price shouldn't be raised too much for the next phase either.

That unfortunately did not turn out to be the case - prices most certainly did go up! At this point, I'm not sure who would choose Sierra if they have a shot at a home at Highlands.

 

[CalBears96]

My contact at CalPac also mentioned that the base price shouldn't be raised too much for the next phase either.

That unfortunately did not turn out to be the case - prices most certainly did go up! At this point, I'm not sure who would choose Sierra if they have a shot at a home at Highlands.

Note "shouldn't be raised too much." They didn't say the prices won't go up, just not as much.

As for why choose Sierra over Highland, I do agree, but some people prefer a real SFR at Sierra over a quasi-SFR at Highland. Note that you can't park on the streets at Highland, which is something that I personally prefer.

Highland plan 1 was actually my #1 choice, but we got a call first for Bluffs plan 2, so we took it. Overall, the location and lot size of Bluffs 2 was better than Highland 1 (minimum lot size), so we took Bluffs 2 even though it doesn't have driveway.

By the way, Highland 1 is now at $1.835M, so it's not cheaper than Sierra either.

 

[sleepy5136]

My contact at CalPac also mentioned that the base price shouldn't be raised too much for the next phase either.

That unfortunately did not turn out to be the case - prices most certainly did go up! At this point, I'm not sure who would choose Sierra if they have a shot at a home at Highlands.

Go blame Donald Bren and his royalties that he collects for each sale in Irvine.

 

[jomama229]

Go blame Donald Bren and his royalties that he collects for each sale in Irvine.

there's no one to blame in this game. i trust the market to be (mostly) efficient, and everyone's figuring out where the ceiling is.

 

[lickmywalrus]

Phase 5 pricing sheet

 

[CalBears96]

Bluffs price sheet for phase 30A.

Base price has been increasing $20k per phase from 29A to 29B to 30A. Sales lady said next phase will increase by $25k.

It has been slowing down, though. IIRC, the increase from phase 28B to 29A was around $40k.

 

[usctrojancpa]

How many homes does Bluffs have left to sell?  I know that Hillside only has a handful left now.