Observations from the front lines of the Irvine housing market?

These OC housing trends are depressing. I work hard and make an okay salary, and would love to be able to move up from my Irvine detached condo to a modest home with a driveway and yard. Now I feel stuck. Irvine will be out of reach for first-time buyers and middle class move up buyers. I am personally am considering south county now, as much as I don't want to leave Irvine.
 
winterblues said:
These OC housing trends are depressing. I work hard and make an okay salary, and would love to be able to move up from my Irvine detached condo to a modest home with a driveway and yard. Now I feel stuck. Irvine will be out of reach for first-time buyers and middle class move up buyers. I am personally am considering south county now, as much as I don't want to leave Irvine.
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Your value might stay up higher in Irvine than south county. (plus bettttter food options in Irvine)
 
HMart said:
I would expect a fair number of people to move away from Irvine to lower-cost markets if their work goes remote full-time. I personally don't know anybody like this, but I have been observing the *commercial* office real estate market in Irvine, and that has been VERY soft. If less offices require butts in seats, the appeal of living close to work here in Irvine has to take a toll.
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Sure there may some of those people but I've had a handful of buyers this year that moved to Irvine from LA, Bay Area, Chicago area, and New York because they wanted the good schools, great weather, and planned community of Irvine because their jobs become fully remote this year and will remain so into the future. To those buyers, Irvine was either close to what they were paying or cheaper (compared to LA and the Bay Area).
 
HMart said:
I would expect a fair number of people to move away from Irvine to lower-cost markets if their work goes remote full-time. I personally don't know anybody like this, but I have been observing the *commercial* office real estate market in Irvine, and that has been VERY soft. If less offices require butts in seats, the appeal of living close to work here in Irvine has to take a toll.
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Thanks for your post. I agree with your post. But I also hear companies eager to bring people back after the vaccine and safe environment to come back to work. So I guess make sure the company you work for is 100% remote going forward.
 
winterblues said:
These OC housing trends are depressing. I work hard and make an okay salary, and would love to be able to move up from my Irvine detached condo to a modest home with a driveway and yard. Now I feel stuck. Irvine will be out of reach for first-time buyers and middle class move up buyers. I am personally am considering south county now, as much as I don't want to leave Irvine.
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Winterblues I'm sure it doesn't help but solidarity friend. We are in the same boat. We have been very happy with our attached condo "starter home" for now - but in a few years when we (hopefully) have little ones running around I think we will be desperate for a yard and a fourth bedroom and sadly won't be able to afford that in Irvine. We love living here. I just have to hope that our salary increases and value of our current home allow us to afford something with will be happy with in Irvine. Hopefully what seems completely unattainable now will feel within reach in the future.
 
moc said:
winterblues said:
These OC housing trends are depressing. I work hard and make an okay salary, and would love to be able to move up from my Irvine detached condo to a modest home with a driveway and yard. Now I feel stuck. Irvine will be out of reach for first-time buyers and middle class move up buyers. I am personally am considering south county now, as much as I don't want to leave Irvine.
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Winterblues I'm sure it doesn't help but solidarity friend. We are in the same boat. We have been very happy with our attached condo "starter home" for now - but in a few years when we (hopefully) have little ones running around I think we will be desperate for a yard and a fourth bedroom and sadly won't be able to afford that in Irvine. We love living here. I just have to hope that our salary increases and value of our current home allow us to afford something with will be happy with in Irvine. Hopefully what seems completely unattainable now will feel within reach in the future.
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As you've both lived in Irvine for a while, I'm sure you've paid attention to the pros/cons of your current homes and have a desire to have more pros/less cons in your next home. It's been a challenge for me to unsee the cons and I'd encourage looking outside Irvine and weigh those pros/cons.
 
@moc, thank you for the solidarity. My kids are 3 and 7 and it's hard feeling so cramped (being at home 24/7 during COVID I'm sure has amplified those feelings). Yes, we love that we have a ton of parks and trails to go to, but the tiny bedrooms means our "great room" looks like a daycare with toys everywhere, and our 8 foot patio means barely any space for a game of catch. I realize this will be less of an issue when the kids get older and they will want to be with their friends more than they will want to be at home, but I'm really lamenting the lack of space at their ages.
 
@zovall, tell me more! I'm totally with you--so hard to focus on anything but the cons. Are you still in Irvine? What have you settled on--do the pros of being in Irvine outweigh the cons?
 
He has a maga approach. He might tell you to leave California. But keep in this mind the hard hit RE out of state values that droppppppped during the last RE recession.
 
Also, keep in mind if you move far away. Your work might want you back to work after vaccinations widely available. Then what? IDK
 
If you don't mind south county... your money can get you more in Lake Forest, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel... etc. We looked at those places pretty hard a few years ago but Irvine was closer for us to most of the things we do.
 
Its depends what you want from Irvine.

New home builds, job proximity, good schools*, proximity to new shopping, lots of parks, HOA cleaniness and structure, comfortably insulated in upper middle class expectations, etc.

Identify what you want, identify where else to go.

*really driven by hyper competitive parents with significant investment in kumon, SAT prep and tutors.  Peer pressure is wonderful for defiing expectations though.

Apologies to all, I'm feeling cranky and snarky.


 
winterblues said:
@zovall, tell me more! I'm totally with you--so hard to focus on anything but the cons. Are you still in Irvine? What have you settled on--do the pros of being in Irvine outweigh the cons?
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For me, commute time to work may be my highest priority because it allows me to maximize time with family. Good schools are important and I believe that it really comes down to being an involved parent and taking responsibility for teaching your kids and being involved in the school community. And that's harder to do if you work far from where you live.

This pandemic has also had me reevaluate things like yard size, space from neighbors, etc. I've actually enjoyed the hermit lifestyle of the past year. I've spent much less time driving around and spent more time with the kids, trying to garden, working out, cooking, etc.

I think the next 10 years are when I would need the most home. I'm not working hard now to buy a larger home after the kids have gone to college. I'd rather do it now and have us all use it.

I'm 100% remote right now and I'd like to continue that (or go into the office 1-2x a week) when the pandemic 'ends'. Taking that into account opens up a much wider search area. I like many things about the master planned communities and I'm looking at Tustin/Irvine and South OC as well as Yorba Linda (many large lots in the "Land of Gracious Living"). The Irvine Company really extracted as much $ as they could while creating all kinds of high density homes even back in the 1970s. I don't want any of their compromises which leaves few choices in Irvine.
 
Sorry... zovall... Yorba Linda was never on my radar... too far from the ocean.

Even Tustin was a bit "inland" for me.

Maybe some new inbuild in Costa Mesa or HB?
 
We looked at Laguna Niguel.  Close to beach and great feeling of not having fobs everywhere.  They have some nice gated communities there also.
 
irvineboy said:
We looked at Laguna Niguel.  Close to beach and great feeling of not having fobs everywhere.  They have some nice gated communities there also.
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When I read this I thought at first that in Laguna Niguel you don?t need your key fob to get into the community pool.
 
Just how hot the market is...

I saw a site being developed and frames for model homes going up in San Diego. When I called the builder to ask when are they releasing phase 1, they said phase 1 was released last month and it is sold out. They are selling $1.5m homes virtually, and show the dirt lot to buyers if they are interested in knowing what lot their home willl be built on.

#Hysteria
 
Is it hysteria? 

SoCal?s housing stock is remarkably shitty, IMHO.  Especially San Diego and stock within a decent commute of the job centers.  The rental market, while easy to point to glitzy new developments have notable negative trade offs in price, stability and space.  If you?re DINK enjoying the urbanish scene, it?s wonderful, if you?re a young family, not so much.

Eventually the pandemic will end, in the mean time, lots of angst in apartments and dense condos about the Covidiot across the hall.
 
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