Opinion on Portola Springs lower end homes, 700-850k

irvinehomeowner said:
@TCT:

In the end, they will probably both be within the same "ROI".

What you should consider is what suits *you* more, location, proximity to job/family/friends, function etc... so your preferences are actually more important than investment potential.

Personally, I like homes with lofts and new is new... so those are advantages for Montara. But, you still have to pay for window coverings, landscaping (if there is any needed) etc. And, in older homes, there are maintenance concerns... however you don't have the higher MRs/HOA fees. You also get driveway which is pretty much extinct now at your price range.

I would visit both multiple times and get a feel for which one feels more like something you can live in for at least 5 years. I know you say 10-15 years but I find people tend to move between 5-10 even though "statistics" say it's less than 5 like everyone wants to tell me. So take that into consideration because you don't need the perfect house now, as that may change by 2025 and you may be able to afford better then.

One other thing, with resale you will have more competition, so that $790 Armory might be higher... you tend not to have competition on new homes other than lot location.
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One advantage that a friend mentioned yesterday, she also bought a new home down near San Diego. She choose the next phase which let  her save extra for all the stuff you are mentioning like window coverings. We?d need a fridge and washer/dryer minimum too.

Because any house in the 800k range will take a minimum of 80-85k to get in our cash on hand will be low. If we reserve a new home for move in 4-5 months from now that?ll give us a large chunk of cash in the meantime.

Although I can also see prices dropping a bit by the end of the year, I?ve already noticed more price drops recently than earlier in the year. So who knows, reserving the house may backfire, especially if they offer quick move ins later.
 
Tct: read the TI thread regarding detached vs attached

Your neighbor?s problem becomes your problem. Water leak, noise etc...
 
Yes. The other thing is you mentioned a December move-in.

So resale may not even work for you right now. That's the other problem with resale, is you never know what could be for sale in a given time period, especially in the fall/winter with lower volume.
 
eyephone said:
Tct: read the TI thread regarding detached vs attached

Your neighbor?s problem becomes your problem. Water leak noise, you can hear and feel the garage door open, etc...
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We definitely want a detached. The barrier is cost. That extra $600 a month to go from new condo to detached is a hard one to get over. We likely will though, either resale or new I don?t see us getting an attached.

irvinehomeowner said:
Yes. The other thing is you mentioned a December move-in.

So resale may not even work for you right now. That's the other problem with resale, is you never know what could be for sale in a given time period, especially in the fall/winter with lower volume.
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I mean we could make it work. Our budget started a lot lower and then when we saw what you get in Irvine or Tustin we didn?t have much of a choice. Well penny pinch now and hopefully have a better future once our incomes go up. All my friends and family told us getting in is the hard part financially. Very few people we know have even saved enough cash for a down payment.

If we do get a house right now it would probably be a quick move in new home since it will include a lot of the upgrades we?d have to do on a resale already.
 
zubs said:
USCTrojanCPA said:
Honestly, your budget is right near buying a detached condo...if you can buy a detached condo you should.  I have a West Irvine 3bed/2.5 bath 1,500sf detached condo listing on a corner lot coming at the end of the month.  HOA is $190ish and the Mello Roos is less than $1,000/yr.  The listing price will be around $750,000.  Let me know if you or you and your agent want to go see it.
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If TCT uses you as their buyers agent, and you are also the sellers agent, can you lower the price even more?
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Well the seller pays a lower commission if I represent both sides so the seller would be more flexible on pricing and I would still offer a rebate for the buyer from the lower commission amount towards the buyer's closing costs.
 
We're gonna sit and think about this for a bit. Thanks for the responses.

Well definitely visit all the models multiple times and check out a few more resales before committing fully.
 
"Mello roos 3100-3700."

That doesn't bother you?
Assuming you bought a 800k house, so prop tax is $8k + $3.7k mello roos and don't forget monthly $245 hoa.
Yikes!!

I agree that Montara Plan 2 is better than Plan 1.
Plan 1 master bedroom is right next to bedroom #2.
Lots of extraneous noises might be heard across rooms. ;D
 
superbobbay said:
"Mello roos 3100-3700."

That doesn't bother you?
Assuming you bought a 800k house, so prop tax is $8k + $3.7k mello roos and don't forget monthly $245 hoa.
Yikes!!

I agree that Montara Plan 2 is better than Plan 1.
Plan 1 master bedroom is right next to bedroom #2.
Lots of extraneous noises might be heard across rooms. ;D
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It does bother me, a lot, but as I said weve looked at a lot of homes in the are and haven't found a single resale we wanted to put an offer in on. The newer homes are designed like...newer homes. They don't have the washing machine in the garage for instance, which may sound weird is a deal breaker for my wife. Even the 3 floor homes with the washer on the bottom floor by the garage entry way she doesn't like. The home she may like a lot, but the washer placement can really piss her off.

Combine the new homes with them offering a great loan rate, plus 10k for closing, rebate from our broker we signed up with and I can forgive a bit of mello roos, but only a little bit.
 
TCT said:
They don't have the washing machine in the garage for instance, which may sound weird is a deal breaker for my wife. Even the 3 floor homes with the washer on the bottom floor by the garage entry way she doesn't like. The home she may like a lot, but the washer placement can really piss her off.
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I totally get this. I am very particular about our laundry room, it has to be a separate space, not even a pass-through to the garage. In 2 of our homes, we had upstairs laundry, which was convenient, but in one we had a water flooding incident, which was not convenient. So I am also okay with a downstairs laundry as long as it is its own room. A long time ago when we were shopping Columbus Grove, there was a William Lyon model which we really liked and even put down a deposit for, but I just couldn't get over the laundry pass-through to the garage because the home we were living in at the time had that and it drove me crazy.
 
Are Prado at Cadence Park detached homes?

And before I even get too far is the mello roos insane?
 
Happiness said:
akkord said:
TCT said:
Are Prado at Cadence Park detached homes?

And before I even get too far is the mello roos insane?
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MR in GP is high
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Not only is MR egregiously high in GP, the MR in GP is ETERNAL.
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It's not only egregiously high and eternal, but it's constantly growing 2% a year.  It's like a malignant tumor. 
 
There are areas with even higher MR comparatively speaking. This does not include your normal tax percentage on a 1.3/1.4mm home and MR increases 2% every year here too. The schools were never built out on time either, if I had to choose, I'd take GP over this area in Tustin. 

2017/2018
TUSTIN CFD NO. 06-1 COL VLG FAC TX (800)439-6553 6,202.15
TUSTIN CFD NO. 06-1 COL VLG SVC TAX (800)439-6553 2,396.35

2018/2019
TUSTIN CFD NO. 06-1 COL VLG FAC TX (800)439-6553  $6,288.60
TUSTIN CFD NO. 06-1 COL VLG SVC TAX (800)439-6553  $2,482.85


paydawg said:
Happiness said:
akkord said:
TCT said:
Are Prado at Cadence Park detached homes?

And before I even get too far is the mello roos insane?
Click to expand...

MR in GP is high
Click to expand...
Not only is MR egregiously high in GP, the MR in GP is ETERNAL.
Click to expand...

It's not only egregiously high and eternal, but it's constantly growing 2% a year.  It's like a malignant tumor.
Click to expand...
 
irvinehomeowner said:
TCT said:
They don't have the washing machine in the garage for instance, which may sound weird is a deal breaker for my wife. Even the 3 floor homes with the washer on the bottom floor by the garage entry way she doesn't like. The home she may like a lot, but the washer placement can really piss her off.
Click to expand...

I totally get this. I am very particular about our laundry room, it has to be a separate space, not even a pass-through to the garage. In 2 of our homes, we had upstairs laundry, which was convenient, but in one we had a water flooding incident, which was not convenient. So I am also okay with a downstairs laundry as long as it is its own room. A long time ago when we were shopping Columbus Grove, there was a William Lyon model which we really liked and even put down a deposit for, but I just couldn't get over the laundry pass-through to the garage because the home we were living in at the time had that and it drove me crazy.
Click to expand...

What does laundry pass through the garage mean? Like a small area in-between the main house and garage? That doesn't seem so bad or inconvenient. Just walk pass the washer and dryer.

Laundry on 2nd floor scares me because any flooding mishap and you've ruined major structure between floors, if you don't catch it in time.

 
superbobbay said:
What does laundry pass through the garage mean? Like a small area in-between the main house and garage? That doesn't seem so bad or inconvenient. Just walk pass the washer and dryer.
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Yes. But you don't usually want to walk through the clutter of a laundry room going in and out of the house (since we mainly accessed the home through the garage).

Laundry on 2nd floor scares me because any flooding mishap and you've ruined major structure between floors, if you don't catch it in time.
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I think the newer executions have a drain for the entire room, before it was just a drain pan for the washer. Water doesn't really ruin major structure... or else no one could build homes ever because rain would do that. When it happened to us, they just had to replace drywall in the ceiling on the first floor.
 
Portola Springs in general doesn't perform as well as other newer Irvine areas in terms of resales, but it may change in 10-15 years as you're planning to live that long.

I don't think you have to buy detached. Attached homes these days are built pretty well and the attached walls are not like bedroom to bedroom like how it was in old homes. There would be noise issues if you have a lousy neighbor, but that could also be the case for detached since there aren't that much space in between homes anyways for these newer villages. I would get a good lot. Like no one in front/back or less neighbors surrounding your home.

I actually like Carissa/Brisa (2-story ones) more than Montara because of the price difference and the floor plans. I think Montara is way overpriced and you might actually find lower priced ones from Silverleaf resales. They are the exact same floorplans. The tri-level ones would be tough if you have babies since you have to carry them all the time, but if your kids are grown, it could be not that bad. Celeste/Luna(resale) might be also a better buy for detached in PS.

However, if you can do $800k-ish, try to get one in Stonegate, Eastwood, or even Woodbury. SG and EW have less MR also and much better value as most here will agree.

 
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