The Meadows, Lake Forest by Toll Brothers

[wonderboy]

Well it's been forever since I logged into TI (looks like last post was 2018) but it's time again for another move due to life situation so here I am on another thread.

We previously lived in Pavilion Park and owned another property in Beacon, then we eventually moved over to Orchard Hill for a bigger home. Unfortunately we need a bit more space and decided to go private for the kiddos, so here we are again.

Wife and I declined a phase 1 lot in Meadows but we'll likely put down the $ for another lot soon in phase 2.

As others have said, the wait list is insane and TB has increased pricing as more upgrades are baked in (and I'm sure there are premiums due to demand and current pricing as well). They want to avoid investors flipping these homes with bare minimum - lacking built in fridge etc and looking very ghetto etc. (When you see these listings they stand out quite a bit).

I am personally not wild about the location of the neighborhood though it's convenient enough. It'll be a semi downgrade imo in terms of lot and spacing. We have one of the more premium lots in Orchard Hill - corner lot, in a cul de sac with only 8 homes so traffic is very light and there are nice views/wind given high elevation.

The Meadows will definitely be lower elevation vs BR etc and I do worry years down the line it'll be even hotter given geography and climate change. I'm not too wild about the Home Depot plaza nearby but at least it's convenient to all those shopping area in Foothill Ranch. You can basically walk to Target (though I'm not sure if you'll want to).

The community amenities seem nice enough and everything will be densely packed just like Irvine lol... It's interesting that TB mentions more than 500 homes on the website (plan seems to be 600 something) and I wouldn't be surprised if they just end up building more with the unused lot "assigned" to the mythical elementary school.

For Evergreen, the biggest lots are 7,800 SQ ft and there are only two of them. We're currently in a 5,300 SQ ft corner lot in Orchard Hills with basically only two neighbors "downgrading" to a smaller lot surrounded by more homes, but we're obviously getting more house SQ ft as well.

We're hoping built quality will be decent as some of the non-Baker Ranch TB development in Lake Forest seems pretty so-so vs TB in Irvine but maybe it's just because a lot of these buyers went cheap on the options and never bother to upgrade after taking delivery. (Parkside felt like this).

Attached is the lot size for Evergreen. From what I gleamed most of the corner lot will probably be plan 1 Beechwood - given how that particular floor plan (entrance at corner of home) and elevation work. But I wouldn't be surprised if they put some of the bigger floor plans in the bigger corner lots as well.

How much house SQ footage are you gaining to be willing to "downgrade" from Orchard Hills to The Meadows like this?

It sounds like your Orchard Hills house is pretty great.

 

[capboba]

How much house SQ footage are you gaining to be willing to "downgrade" from Orchard Hills to The Meadows like this?

It sounds like your Orchard Hills house is pretty great.

I guess about +600 square feet (just shy of 3k vs 3.5k sq ft). We're basically getting an in-law suite and an extra bedroom out of it. Plus I guess a nicer two-story foyer entrance. That is if we're able to get the lot we want anyways.

The primary reason is because we're switching school and need a home with an in-law suite (or at least enough space for the in-laws when they visit/stay with us). I've always mulled the private vs public school debate for awhile, but I suppose covid's impact on our kids development help accelerated that decision.

 

[ThirtySomethingWEquity]

How much house SQ footage are you gaining to be willing to "downgrade" from Orchard Hills to The Meadows like this?

It sounds like your Orchard Hills house is pretty great.

I guess about +600 square feet (just shy of 3k vs 3.5k sq ft). We're basically getting an in-law suite and an extra bedroom out of it. Plus I guess a nicer two-story foyer entrance. That is if we're able to get the lot we want anyways.

The primary reason is because we're switching school and need a home with an in-law suite (or at least enough space for the in-laws when they visit/stay with us). I've always mulled the private vs public school debate for awhile, but I suppose covid's impact on our kids development help accelerated that decision.

Mind sharing what age, school and cost?  I'm in BR and have to figure that out once my kid gets old enough (he has a nanny now).

 

[capboba]

Mind sharing what age, school and cost?  I'm in BR and have to figure that out once my kid gets old enough (he has a nanny now).

we are looking at a few, Fairmont, St. Mary, etc. most are in the 20-25k range for annual tuition, then you add in misc stuff in 2-3k a year. our oldest is 9. ideally we find one that has space for the youngest which is about 4 in a pre-K situation too.

 

[wonderboy]

I've always mulled the private vs public school debate for awhile, but I suppose covid's impact on our kids development help accelerated that decision.

Curious - what makes a Lake Forest private school better than the good public schools that OH has in a Covid world?

 

[YLgirl]

Has anybody been able to get an appointment at the sales office?

 

[usctrojancpa]

Has anybody been able to get an appointment at the sales office?

Yes, my father and I had a call with one of the sales people on Sunday afternoon.

 

[CalBears96]

Has anybody been able to get an appointment at the sales office?

Yes, my father and I had a call with one of the sales people on Sunday afternoon.

Just curious, was your father able to get a call with the sales people because he's a cash buyer?  I've had email exchanges with Redwoods sale rep. and she said cash buyers get priority for early releases.  And did you get an appointment to be shown something?

 

[callmehere]

I do feel like there is a LOT of truth to that statement, it seems like Toll Brothers really wants to make the first phases as streamlined and easy as possible, so all cash offers are prioritized.  One downside with an early phase however is that they are not allowing any modifications to the structure of each home in the early phases (no conservatories, decks or retreats) as they want to have the construction go as smoothly as possible without any setbacks.

 

[usctrojancpa]

Has anybody been able to get an appointment at the sales office?

Yes, my father and I had a call with one of the sales people on Sunday afternoon.

Just curious, was your father able to get a call with the sales people because he's a cash buyer?  I've had email exchanges with Redwoods sale rep. and she said cash buyers get priority for early releases.  And did you get an appointment to be shown something?

Yes, my father is a cash buyer.  I was on the call with him talking to the sales rep that handles the Evergreens (we had the option to come to the sales office or do a call and since my father lives in Las Vegas and we got the email with the option on Saturday he selected the phone call).  She went over how they sold Phase 1 and asked to range the preference for lot/floor plan selection for Phase 2 and Phase 3 plus mentioned the pre-selected upgrades that would be included for Phase 2.  Phase 2 lots will be sold in mid-October and the homes won't be ready for around 1 year.

 

[CalBears96]

Has anybody been able to get an appointment at the sales office?

Yes, my father and I had a call with one of the sales people on Sunday afternoon.

Just curious, was your father able to get a call with the sales people because he's a cash buyer?  I've had email exchanges with Redwoods sale rep. and she said cash buyers get priority for early releases.  And did you get an appointment to be shown something?

Yes, my father is a cash buyer.  I was on the call with him talking to the sales rep that handles the Evergreens (we had the option to come to the sales office or do a call and since my father lives in Las Vegas and we got the email with the option on Saturday he selected the phone call).  She went over how they sold Phase 1 and asked to range the preference for lot/floor plan selection for Phase 2 and Phase 3 plus mentioned the pre-selected upgrades that would be included for Phase 2.  Phase 2 lots will be sold in mid-October and the homes won't be ready for around 1 year.

Is your dad expected to get a buying opportunity for Phase 2/3?

 

[usctrojancpa]

Has anybody been able to get an appointment at the sales office?

Yes, my father and I had a call with one of the sales people on Sunday afternoon.

Just curious, was your father able to get a call with the sales people because he's a cash buyer?  I've had email exchanges with Redwoods sale rep. and she said cash buyers get priority for early releases.  And did you get an appointment to be shown something?

Yes, my father is a cash buyer.  I was on the call with him talking to the sales rep that handles the Evergreens (we had the option to come to the sales office or do a call and since my father lives in Las Vegas and we got the email with the option on Saturday he selected the phone call).  She went over how they sold Phase 1 and asked to range the preference for lot/floor plan selection for Phase 2 and Phase 3 plus mentioned the pre-selected upgrades that would be included for Phase 2.  Phase 2 lots will be sold in mid-October and the homes won't be ready for around 1 year.

Is your dad expected to get a buying opportunity for Phase 2/3?

She said it's not for sure that he would be able to get any of his 3 top choices in Phase 2 yet because they'll be going down their list of VIP buyers and determine the order.  She told me the lot numbers for Phase 3 and asked for the 3 top choices for that phase.  So it's hard to say if he'll get an opportunity to buy in phase 2 or even phase 3.  If selected, a $1,000 deposit check is due within a few days and then a deposit of 10% of the purchase price is due shortly after that.

 

[sleepy5136]

What is TB offering for commission?

 

[CalBears96]

She said it's not for sure that he would be able to get any of his 3 top choices in Phase 2 yet because they'll be going down their list of VIP buyers and determine the order.  She told me the lot numbers for Phase 3 and asked for the 3 top choices for that phase.  So it's hard to say if he'll get an opportunity to buy in phase 2 or even phase 3.  If selected, a $1,000 deposit check is due within a few days and then a deposit of 10% of the purchase price is due shortly after that.

Wow...10% deposit is steep. IP Bluffs/Highland require less than 3% ($35,000 for Bluffs and $40,000 for Highland).

 

[capboba]

Curious - what makes a Lake Forest private school better than the good public schools that OH has in a Covid world?

i honestly though IUSD's covid response was decent once they sort things out (they gave three options when most districts had online only), but its more that we felt the kids were developmentally impacted due to the iffy covid year and are now "behind" and can use additional help. we're actually looking at further south OC private schools (and a mission viejo one another TI member just recommended.

 

[capboba]

Well got to find out a bit more after heading into sales office this week.

These things are going fast. Apparently lots are basically spoken for up to phase 4/5 (they have available and serious buyers for each but are no where near process to start signing). Base on what Martin said above though and what I gleam, TB is definitely being flexible with queue if you've already went thru qualifications process. They obviously prefer cash buyers and actual residents vs investors and will use that along with timestamp from priority list to offer lots to buyers.

It seems like they'll be doing a lot of standard upgrades for most early phases (about 45k worth?) Which includes bigger solar panel packages, jennair built in fridge, multi slide stacked doors, etc. Basically making them presentable as they'll be competing with resale at Baker Ranch.

Magnolia is going equally fast and after looking at the sitemap more carefully I can see why. There are a lot of lots that are either corner units or lots without any neighbors in the back. While the lots are smaller than Evergreen, many of these have deeper setbacks (for the size of the home vs others anyways). Attached below is the sitemap for Magnolia with lot sq ft.

 

[CalBears96]

How are these people pulling the trigger without even looking at model homes?  Do they show you some kind of virtual simulations of the homes?  I can't imagine buying a home without seeing what it looks like, not just a floorplan, since I'm planning to live in the house.

I submitted my Pre-Qual Letter and Proof of Funds and was given the Phase 2 release information of the homes, but I don't know what it means.  I'm pretty sure that I'm not that high on the priority list since I'm not a cash buyer.

 

[capboba]

How are these people pulling the trigger without even looking at model homes?  Do they show you some kind of virtual simulations of the homes?  I can't imagine buying a home without seeing what it looks like, not just a floorplan, since I'm planning to live in the house.

I submitted my Pre-Qual Letter and Proof of Funds and was given the Phase 2 release information of the homes, but I don't know what it means.  I'm pretty sure that I'm not that high on the priority list since I'm not a cash buyer.

nah you'll have to make due with floor plan, lot map, and basically knowing toll brothers builds. why not contact the sales rep and see where you are at? if you want to wait until a model becomes available tbh the rate these are going you'll be in the later/end phases.

i think most of the current early phase buyers are experienced buyers and/or have dealt with TB before or have lived in a TB homes so they know what to expect. we've bought in phase 1 a few times for new development where the models aren't even built - and tbh they have all worked out given phase 1 or early phase pricing are extremely attractive.

edit: just asked wife, models are next year May/June so uh yeah...

 

[CalBears96]

edit: just asked wife, models are next year May/June so uh yeah...

Wow, that late?  I was told by TB sales consultant that models would be ready by first quarter next year, so I thought Feb/March time frame.

 

[usctrojancpa]

What is TB offering for commission?

Broker coop is $15k across the board at The Meadows.