thoughts on a new irvine home stonegate orchard hills

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dethman

dethman

New member
just thought i would pick some of your brains here on a possible home purchase in irvine.  i currently own a 3100 sqft home in irvine already but are looking to make a change.

my wife and i have looked at orchard hills and stonegate.  the two communities that interest us in our price range are sausalito and capella. 

the sausalito home (plan 2) is larger (3670sqft) and is much more usable with 5 bedrooms, loft, and a separate study.

the cappella home (plan 1) is smaller at approx 3200sqft with the conservatory room, and only has four bedrooms and a tiny loft.  both have tiny lots, capella worse than sausalito.

primary issues are location, availability, and how well the home will retain value. 

orchard hills is nice as it is behind the gates, and has a more exclusive feel.  sausalito is closer to the dump and is right next to the reservoir, and it is unclear whether that would cause either safety or health or resale issues.  my wife also feels like stonegate is a second rate community compared to some other irvine neighborhoods. 

stone gate's pluses are IUSD (our son is 1 yr old) with an excellent elementary school, and a better park system than orchard hills.

capella is next to the 261, not sure how much noise that would get.

sausalito homes are currently available, and there are a few capellas (not plan 1s) currently available due to people who have backed out.

what are people's thoughts on stonegate vs orchard hills?  where would you like to live?  do you feel that orchard hills will appreciate much more than stonegate over 15 years?  do you think the bubble will crash over everyone in 2015?

are there any other homes i should be looking at in this price range (1.3-1.4)

thanks for your input.  :)
 
I think OH > SG, in particular the gated side. I do think over 15 years OH will outperform SG, by how much who knows bit I would bet it does.
 
dethman said:
orchard hills is nice as it is behind the gates, and has a more exclusive feel.  sausalito is closer to the dump and is right next to the reservoir, and it is unclear whether that would cause either safety or health or resale issues.  my wife also feels like stonegate is a second rate community compared to some other irvine neighborhoods. 
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Haha, sounds like that gated community within a gated community mentality you have in Newport Coast. 

And sounds like you have options.  Play hardball with the sales and see who gives you a better deal.
 
I also think orchard hills will appreciate over stonegate more over the course of 15 years (though I dont' know by how much.) 

but what if appreciation is not in the mix?  is east stonegate such a bad place to live if I plan on staying in the home a long time?
 
WTTCMN said:
irvinehomeowner said:
WTTCMN said:
Some like dense and Asian.
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Isn't that what Irvine is turning into... if not already there?
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I find some villages to be denser and more Asian than others. A lot of Stonegate sold during the FCB frenzy last year so that could explain why.  I went to some of the phase releases for the high end homes in SG and if I was the only English speaking person there - then uhhh yea too Asian.
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true that all of Irvine is becoming dense and too Asian.  I haven't walked around stonegate, perhaps I should check out who is living there.  driving around, I mainly noticed Indians interestingly.  I would imaging orchard hills would be by large percentage Asian as well though.

perhaps I would have to move into woodbridge or one of the turtles to get a mix of some whities. 
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Us lighter skinned prefer the older 'hoods. :)
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can't find those old floorplans appealing though. don't like separate formal rooms or dealing with maintenance issues.  I like the open plans and lofts of the new construction.  things I don't like though are freakin' tiny lots, small garages and en suite bedrooms for the kids.  i'd like to park 3 cars and have my tools as well as have a backyard, and think kids should have to come out of their rooms to go to the bathrooms so I can keep an eye on them...
 
Uh, uh...

OH still has the area north of the ridge and Neighborhood 3 to build. The area close to the freeway may have smaller homes along with the area in Neighborhood 3 just inside the gates and adjacent to the reservoir.

Laguna Altura was gated and some homes were less than $600K.
 
I haven't been to OH and I live in SG.  Have been to Sausalito.  Small lots for the price tags, but very nice and functional floor plans.  It is a bit closer to the landfill within SG, but further than homes in PS. and far enough to not really worry about long-term health hazards as living next to freeways.  I don't want to live right in the middle of the activity, but don't want to have to drive too far to be away from the action either.  A  friend of mine moved from Newport Coast to Irvine b/c she got tired of driving up and down to after schools, markets and etc in Irvine.  Not sure if there's a health risk associated to living near a reservoir.  Sounds like OH homes are upscale so far.  So no doubt is OH as a community nicer than SG. But can't really agree with your wife's notion that SG is 2nd rated community compared to other neighborhoods in Irvine. Just b/c SG opened during the RE downturn with very attractive price points and consequential less bells and whistles within the community, doesn't make it inferior.  OH is where luxury homes are so far.  The rest is pretty much the same as they all have low-end to high-end. As a parent of young children, I'd buy in SG again in a heartbeat for the wonderful school I hear over and over from afterschool teachers dealing with kids from diff schools and current and past parents of the SG elementary school.  Having neighbors in richer homes is a nicer feel to have, but personally I prefer to be on the upper class in a group. Don't worry about having  a limited market to target, families with elementary school aged kids when selling a SG home. Irvine as a whole is a magnet for young families esp SG. I just had to go through a lottery to win a seat for the upcoming year. It'll be better from next year when PS kids are mandated to go to their home school though. Too many Chinese? That's entire Irvine. It's worse and will get worse in newer communities than SG.  I'd go with Sausalito and get deals if it's that much bigger than the OH house and has better floorplan. the smaller size and less rooms are not worth just being an OH.  What matters is your house, not your entire neighborhood statistics.   
 
Mandy's post reaffirms the fallacy of asking for opinions on an anonymous bulletin board.  Everyone will defend their decision because it's human nature to become defensive on a big purchase because nobody wants to have buyers remorse.  (I'm not saying your post is defensive Mandy, just making a generalization.)

Also, this comparison is all conjecture and based on a bunch of assumptions since nobody is currently living in OH.  Sales are only into phase 2 of most developments in OH and demand is still high because of early adopters, novelty and buyers that have been waiting for OH to open for years.

There are no experts here on talkirvine.  We're just a bunch of talking heads behind computer screens that are giving our opinion based on our own personal preferences.  None of us can predict the future and none of us know what will happen to home values in the future. 

Pick a house and location that works for your family and budget.  That is all.  Everything else is fluff.
 
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