Parasol Park

[irvinehomeshopper]

Tomorrow will be the new era of Irvine. The Mediterranean legacy will come to an end. Builders for many decades claimed modernism for production homes was not practical, cost prohibitive, unforgiving craftsmanship, water intrusion liability, and for so many reasons or excuses California suburbias are full of unsightly Spanish stucco tracts.
The vision of Five Point Communities is to make Irvine cool just like LA also embraces quirks and funkiness. On the former El Toro Air Base this new movement screams "no more beige cookie cutter boxes surrounded by prison like walls on rows after rows of gridded street pattern". No more walls and all front doors greet the neighborhood perimeter just like LA. Lennar's Obsidian will be the first vintage modern tract houses to be built in Irvine and equipped with an elevator.

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[freedomcm]

Very nice.  the architect should be lauded

 

[lnc]

That's Obsidian isn't it?  Very nice!

Whwer's the pics of the elevator?  Just wondering how big is it.

Definitely going to check out the models. 

 

[eyephone]

Let me tell you about elevators. They cost a lot to maintain over time and you have the elevator inspected by the state?

 

[themarketingguy77]

So beautiful indeed. Beautiful landscaping as well and amazing parks. But I'd like to ask...

Who can afford Parasol Park? I don't understand it and need someone to put up an argument.. Isn't the mellaroos around $7-10,000 per year + subject to a 2% increase? Isn't there also a 1.5-1.8% property tax? We earn $500k+ a year but still don't feel like we can afford these homes. No doubt they are absolutely stunning, but wish we didn't have to pay an amount equivalent to college tuition just to be there.

Thoughts?

 

[nyc to oc]

I've almost never seen modern architecture age well.

mediterranean is a california classic--it comes back time and again and just fits in our climate. look at classic older neighborhoods in pasadena, santa ana floral park, LA like los feliz,  hancock park, etc. they all have examples of classic mediterranean architecture and its variants that are still beautiful even nearly 100 years later.
I've lived in modern style high rises in nyc and they got kind of  gross looking after the buildings aged a bit. I always thought they looked like communist block housing with the boxy lines and lack of ornamentation.


...my two cents

 

[AW]

Elevator ride.  Weeee

 

[Ready2Downsize]

So beautiful indeed. Beautiful landscaping as well and amazing parks. But I'd like to ask...

Who can afford Parasol Park? I don't understand it and need someone to put up an argument.. Isn't the mellaroos around $7-10,000 per year + subject to a 2% increase? Isn't there also a 1.5-1.8% property tax? We earn $500k+ a year but still don't feel like we can afford these homes. No doubt they are absolutely stunning, but wish we didn't have to pay an amount equivalent to college tuition just to be there.

Thoughts?

Irvine is becoming more unaffordable but most likely that 1.5-1.8% prop tax includes mello

 

[someguy]

So beautiful indeed. Beautiful landscaping as well and amazing parks. But I'd like to ask...

Who can afford Parasol Park? I don't understand it and need someone to put up an argument.. Isn't the mellaroos around $7-10,000 per year + subject to a 2% increase? Isn't there also a 1.5-1.8% property tax? We earn $500k+ a year but still don't feel like we can afford these homes. No doubt they are absolutely stunning, but wish we didn't have to pay an amount equivalent to college tuition just to be there.

Thoughts?

This is something I've been wondering too. 206K annual household income is the top 5% of american median household income, and they have no business buying a house like this. Someone making 400K annually might be able to stretch to afford one of these, yet clearly there are people making more than that who view these houses as unaffordable.  So who is buying these houses? 

I ran some numbers for fun.  Plenty of assumptions here, it's just a ballpark estimate of someone buying a house like the Obsidian Models.

If you look at it from an investment perspective, it's absolutely nuts.  $10k monthly cash outflow.  Who would pay anywhere close to $10k per month to rent that?  Even at that, it's still an appreciation play with nearly zero positive cash flow.

Maybe the buyer hit the FCB lottery and pays all cash.  It's still $4k per month just to live in that sweet 3-4 bedroom three story building, packed right next to a few neighbors.

I dunno man.  Maybe I'm just a poor jaded pleb who can't afford a $10k house payment or a $1.5M down payment.

 

[someguy]

My opinions can't be bought. Consumers can see for themselves and decifer facts from fiction.

Sorry, I think my comment came across as rude.  Although I disagree a bit with your assessment of Five Point's grand vision, I like the way you write.  It has a way of painting a mental picture - a unique and valuable skill IMO.

 

[Movingup]

The space looks very tiny. It feels like living in a apartment. Well, luxury apartment.

 

[irvineshadow]

I went to the models, I liked them. It's modern, not obnoxious. The new park is amazing.

 

[jmoney74]

So beautiful indeed. Beautiful landscaping as well and amazing parks. But I'd like to ask...

Who can afford Parasol Park? I don't understand it and need someone to put up an argument.. Isn't the mellaroos around $7-10,000 per year + subject to a 2% increase? Isn't there also a 1.5-1.8% property tax? We earn $500k+ a year but still don't feel like we can afford these homes. No doubt they are absolutely stunning, but wish we didn't have to pay an amount equivalent to college tuition just to be there.

Thoughts?

I think you mismanage your money.

Jk but come on

 

[eyephone]

So beautiful indeed. Beautiful landscaping as well and amazing parks. But I'd like to ask...

Who can afford Parasol Park? I don't understand it and need someone to put up an argument.. Isn't the mellaroos around $7-10,000 per year + subject to a 2% increase? Isn't there also a 1.5-1.8% property tax? We earn $500k+ a year but still don't feel like we can afford these homes. No doubt they are absolutely stunning, but wish we didn't have to pay an amount equivalent to college tuition just to be there.

Thoughts?

I think you mismanage your money.

Jk but come on

$500k gross or net

 

[qwerty]

Generally when people say how much they earn it's almost always gross.

 

[irvinebullhousing]

Plenty of celebrities lost all of their fortunes from not making the right decisions financially. Making alot of money does not guarantee that they will be able to keep it. Having said that, I am at awe with this predicament. Its really is all about how much you keep your money VS. how much you earn. I appreciate lending financial institutions scrutinize borrowers on every transactions during the mortgage process. This sniff out your true spending habits. It separate the responsible borrowers vs. the fly-by-night, care-free attitude, buy now and think about it later.

This lead to the other aspect of TRUMPs team in the process of undoing banking regulations amongst many other deregulations that his cabinet promised during campaign and continue to promise as he building his cabinet and taking office. I am fearful of the Dodd-Frank repeal that he in talk to repeal. Sure, bank will benefit as deregulations and profit soar, this will potentially leads to a housing situation likely worse than what we witness in 2008.

 

[usctrojancpa]

Plenty of celebrities lost all of their fortunes from not making the right decisions financially. Making alot of money does not guarantee that they will be able to keep it. Having said that, I am at awe with this predicament. Its really is all about how much you keep your money VS. how much you earn. I appreciate lending financial institutions scrutinize borrowers on every transactions during the mortgage process. This sniff out your true spending habits. It separate the responsible borrowers vs. the fly-by-night, care-free attitude, buy now and think about it later.

This lead to the other aspect of TRUMPs team in the process of undoing banking regulations amongst many other deregulations that his cabinet promised during campaign and continue to promise as he building his cabinet and taking office. I am fearful of the Dodd-Frank repeal that he in talk to repeal. Sure, bank will benefit as deregulations and profit soar, this will potentially leads to a housing situation likely worse than what we witness in 2008.

One good thing is that if the bubble happens again, we'll have an idea of what to look for as the warning signs.  It's still difficult to get a loan as lenders fully underwrite their borrowers, I close 2 loans (purchase and refi) this year and experienced the probing first hand.  haha

 

[themarketingguy77]

I think you mismanage your money.
Jk but come on

Generally when people say how much they earn it's almost always gross.

Ouch... No jmoney74, just pay a lot of taxes

And, ouch qwerty, actually I think a NET of 500k+++ is still too little but for the sake of staying on topic - maybe because we are 24-25 and hold cash for investments. Yet I think most Irvine residents want to keep cash for investments too. Therefore, as explained very thoroughly by someguy the outflow is somewhat insane. I'm also mostly looking at the MR... You're tossing nearly $10-20k cash into a burning trash bin - this money doesn't go towards your equity right? I suppose it goes towards the maintenance of the neighborhood? Is Great Park really going to be that crazy? I did hear that it will have 25 tennis courts, which is very awesome, nearly as much as Irvine racket club. I just want some justification and reasoning as the miss really wants to live in parasol park\great park neighborhoods.

Cash is King - perhaps I'm not the right audience for this beautiful home anyway - I'm sure I will like it more when I have kids in a few years.

I'll just stick with Petaluma Residence 2 !

 

[LongIrvine]

Could be wrong,  but pretty sure Mello pays for K-8 and portola high. Most other communities have apartments to spread out that cost. At least that's how I justified the higher than normal Mello, just capitalize it and make comparisons, for sure higher cost than other newer communities, but much larger lot sizes and.lower density. At least in bp. Does look like parasol has wider lot sizes and set backs,  can anyone confirm?

 

[Funkie]

I saw the P2X-Somerset and P3-Obsidian. 

Really like to loft on P2X, and the 3F balcony. 

P3-Obsidian's kitchen is on the 3F, not a common design, not sure if I would like that.  The elevator moves too slow, and upkeep cost is unknown. 

Obsidian is priced above $1M!!??  $1M can only get you a 3 story condo now?