The Branches - New homes in Woodbridge (Alderwood) by William Lyon

OCgasman said:
It's not price gouging if people are willingly paying for them.  There's always a choice in buying or not buying a home, these aren't life necessities.  It's what the market will bear, and fortunate for the builder and land owner.  Timing is everything with the lack of inventory and low rates, I bet they can raise prices 10% with every phase and still sell out without any problem.  Are they worth it?  Not IMHO, actually not even close to worth the asking price,  but it's not my money. 
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I think Plan 1 will be around $1.1m when the last homes sell and $1.2-$1.3m for Plan 2 & 3 (that's before upgrades and landscaping). 
 
USCTrojanCPA said:
OCgasman said:
It's not price gouging if people are willingly paying for them.  There's always a choice in buying or not buying a home, these aren't life necessities.  It's what the market will bear, and fortunate for the builder and land owner.  Timing is everything with the lack of inventory and low rates, I bet they can raise prices 10% with every phase and still sell out without any problem.  Are they worth it?  Not IMHO, actually not even close to worth the asking price,  but it's not my money. 
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I think Plan 1 will be around $1.1m when the last homes sell and $1.2-$1.3m for Plan 2 & 3 (that's before upgrades and landscaping).
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I wonder how long before we see one of these homes in the WTF asking price thread.
 
We went by yesterday and I was shocked at how small these homes felt. These didn't feel like million dollar homes. Despite the lack of melo roos, I still think Mendicino is a better deal.  Heck, even the Kb homes at Garden Hill are more attractive.  I don't know what's  so great about Woodbridge, definitely not great enough to pay that kind of money for a 2300sqft home, with zero yard. We almost bit the bullet and bought a 5 bedroom Las Ventanas home last year and to me that felt more spacious than these WLH homes. This was before I Bought my foreclosure in Oak CReek.  It's funny, they were passing out fortune cookies at the opening yesterday and the note inside said "there is a WLH home in your future". I was like no that's definitely going to happen for me.
 
USCTrojanCPA said:
OCgasman said:
Went by yesterday.  I can't believe there's such a demand for these at the asking price.  Lots are tiny.  Standard layout, nothing special.  The demand for housing must be insane cuz I think they'll sell these without any problem.  The same thing will happen for the same houses at University Park.  Wow.
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But the starting prices there will be over $1m for plan 1.
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Does that include the University High premium?
 
Vinster said:
USCTrojanCPA said:
OCgasman said:
Went by yesterday.  I can't believe there's such a demand for these at the asking price.  Lots are tiny.  Standard layout, nothing special.  The demand for housing must be insane cuz I think they'll sell these without any problem.  The same thing will happen for the same houses at University Park.  Wow.
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But the starting prices there will be over $1m for plan 1.
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Does that include the University High premium?
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Oh wait, I forgot about that...make that $1.1m for Plan 1.
 
Design wise, these look similar to IP homes (Great Room first floor), but how do the rooms feel? Do they feel big?

My problem with most of the new homes in Irvine today (and in my price range) is the master is pretty small. And some of the secondary rooms feel like they should be a master closet.

We considered going to look, but I'm protesting these exorbitant prices... $1mil for only 2400sf+, a tiny lot and no 3CWG? Even the Woodbury homes at least had a tandem 3CG.

Is a $200k premium worth the no MR and Woodbridge location over Stonegate or Portola?

Oh... and what was the HOA... was it just the $82 Woodbridge one? Or is there a second?
 
Fire blade said:
We went by yesterday and I was shocked at how small these homes felt. These didn't feel like million dollar homes. Despite the lack of melo roos, I still think Mendicino is a better deal.  Heck, even the Kb homes at Garden Hill are more attractive.  I don't know what's  so great about Woodbridge, definitely not great enough to pay that kind of money for a 2300sqft home, with zero yard. We almost bit the bullet and bought a 5 bedroom Las Ventanas home last year and to me that felt more spacious than these WLH homes. This was before I Bought my foreclosure in Oak CReek.  It's funny, they were passing out fortune cookies at the opening yesterday and the note inside said "there is a WLH home in your future". I was like no that's definitely going to happen for me.
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couldn't agree more...all the secondary bedrooms in the branches were outfitted with full sized beds, and there was barely any room left...couldn't fit a desk or dresser without stubbing your toes on them every morning.  In comparison, in our Maricopa plan 1, all secondary bedroooms have queen beds and other bedroom furniture and still have as much or more walking space as the branches rooms.  Also felt that the great rooms felt very cramped compared to maricopa and plan 2 and 3 of mendocino.  also wasn't a fan of the narrow entrances narrow hallways. 
 
Being zero-lot line homes, the AC setup is kind weird - for some plans, no access from garage to the backyard (I think many people store the tools at the garage), and the AC (presumably also garbage bins) is enclosed in a small area. So it is not very convenient to dump the green waste.  I guess this is OK because the owners are mostly likely to hire Mexicans to do the yard work.

Also the model homes use cheap blinds and stained concrete floor for the backyard - WL is being very cheap here.
 
The Motor Court Company said:
Also the model homes use cheap blinds and stained concrete floor for the backyard - WL is being very cheap here.
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That boggles my mind... you're going to sell these for $1mil but are cheap on the decor.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
The Motor Court Company said:
Also the model homes use cheap blinds and stained concrete floor for the backyard - WL is being very cheap here.
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That boggles my mind... you're going to sell these for $1mil but are cheap on the decor.
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The reality is they could have sold the homes without even having the model homes or having them finished.  Sellers can get away with a lot of stuff in a strong seller's market.
 
ps9 said:
whats the current pricing on mendocino?  MR?
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Mendocino just release phase 9 few weeks ago and the price for residence 2 (2391 sq. ft) is $860,000 to $880,000 and for residence 3 (2441 sq.ft) is $891,800 to $911,800.  There were no residence 1 and 2x for this phase so the price are not available.  Base property tax is 1.05%,  total M.R. is $4106 and HOA is $110.  Mendocino ask $20,000 more for the home with back against the street where there no back neighbors.  The price rose up $40k to $50k since phase 1, however, even at current price with M.R.,  Mendocino looks like a  better value than the Branches.
 
lnc said:
ps9 said:
whats the current pricing on mendocino?  MR?
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Mendocino just release phase 9 few weeks ago and the price for residence 2 (2391 sq. ft) is $860,000 to $880,000 and for residence 3 (2441 sq.ft) is $891,800 to $911,800.  There were no residence 1 and 2x for this phase so the price are not available.  Base property tax is 1.05%,  total M.R. is $4106 and HOA is $110.  Mendocino ask $20,000 more for the home with back against the street where there no back neighbors.  The price have rise up $40k to $50k since phase 1, however at current price and with M.R., I think Mendocino are a lot better value than the Branches.
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so roughly add $100,000 on top of Mendocino home prices to compare with the no MR Branches.  So about the same.... if you stay in your home for 25+ years then Branches would be ok but more realistically, people will probably stay 5-6 years or at most 10 years than Mendocino would be a better value.  Comparing HS (the only factor that matters in Irvine), Woodbridge will probably go the way of Irvine HS, older families, less immigrants, less drive.. whereas Northwood HS will continue to get FCB/immigrant/new family influx from Stonegate, PS, and PA 5B.  personally if i have a million bucks to spend on a 2200 sq ft home, I would pick Woodbridge hands down... love the neighborhood and central Irvine location (less time spent on Culver the better).  I personally don't care which HS my kid goes to..
 
Just went to see the model homes today. Very disappointing visit. The floor plans are recycled from TIC but lacking the nice upgrades (example: no expansive picture windows in the Great Room). At this price point I would have expected more. I think back to Lambert Ranch's pricing (including no MR) and their Field plans seemed like a better value/floor plans but very different locations.

There are three things benefiting this project:
1) Low Resale Inventory--not much competition from resale at this time.

2) New construction--buyers love new and shiny things. There hasn't been brand new homes in this community since the ?1980's

3) Location--Woodbridge is a well designed and established community with great HOA amenities
 
ps9 said:
lnc said:
ps9 said:
whats the current pricing on mendocino?  MR?
Click to expand...

Mendocino just release phase 9 few weeks ago and the price for residence 2 (2391 sq. ft) is $860,000 to $880,000 and for residence 3 (2441 sq.ft) is $891,800 to $911,800.  There were no residence 1 and 2x for this phase so the price are not available.  Base property tax is 1.05%,  total M.R. is $4106 and HOA is $110.  Mendocino ask $20,000 more for the home with back against the street where there no back neighbors.  The price have rise up $40k to $50k since phase 1, however at current price and with M.R., I think Mendocino are a lot better value than the Branches.
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so roughly add $100,000 on top of Mendocino home prices to compare with the no MR Branches.  So about the same.... if you stay in your home for 25+ years then Branches would be ok but more realistically, people will probably stay 5-6 years or at most 10 years than Mendocino would be a better value.  Comparing HS (the only factor that matters in Irvine), Woodbridge will probably go the way of Irvine HS, older families, less immigrants, less drive.. whereas Northwood HS will continue to get FCB/immigrant/new family influx from Stonegate, PS, and PA 5B.  personally if i have a million bucks to spend on a 2200 sq ft home, I would pick Woodbridge hands down... love the neighborhood and central Irvine location (less time spent on Culver the better).  I personally don't care which HS my kid goes to..
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The HS comparison is a little off considering most of the new homes will be in Stonegate.  Northwood >>> Woodbridge. 

Also, I would much much rather live in Stonegate or Woodbury than Woodbridge.  New amenities and easy access off the freeways but also far enough off to avoid noise. 

The no mellos roos thing is also a little misleading considering it's tax deductible.
 
Irvinecommuter said:
The no mellos roos thing is also a little misleading considering it's tax deductible.
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i dont think its that misleading. if it was deductible i dont thin the CA FTB was going to go through this whole process of identifying it on your tax return for them to make it easy to exclude.
 
I'm still confused...

Assessments on real
property owners, based other than on the assessed value of the property, may be
deductible if they are levied for the general public welfare by a proper taxing authority at
a like rate on owners of all properties in the taxing authority?s jurisdiction, and if the
assessments are not for local benefits (unless for maintenance or interest charges).
 
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