Which neighborhood is the best to raise a family with 1.5+ budget

[Liar Loan]

I have two kids and if I could live in Woodbridge I would!

Woodbridge is definitely a different lifestyle and era...larger lots, walkable, close to other facilities.  Only issues are that the houses are much older and Woodbridge high is not so great.

This is an interesting comment to me.  I've also seen others put down Woodbridge for being "old".  I wonder if the home developments of today will be similarly looked down upon 30 years from now.

 

[peppy]

I have two kids and if I could live in Woodbridge I would!

Woodbridge is definitely a different lifestyle and era...larger lots, walkable, close to other facilities.  Only issues are that the houses are much older and Woodbridge high is not so great.

This is an interesting comment to me.  I've also seen others put down Woodbridge for being "old".  I wonder if the home developments of today will be similarly looked down upon 30 years from now.

Coming from the SouthBay Woodbridge looked new to me

 

[RangeRover]

This is what I look for, may I ask what street is this? I am willing to wait for the right house. My kids are still 2 years away from Kinder.

Hi All, thanks for the input. I have not been looking too much into the newer development, sounds like I definitely should. I have been mostly focusing on a few neighborhoods in Turtle Rock and Woodbridge. High school isn't a huge consideration, I own another house in University Park zoned for Uni, it's pretty old and small one story, but very good lot size, we might rebuild in 10 years, or makes other changes later on. We have toddlers now and maybe more on the way, mostly focusing on elementary years.

I did look at some of the Altair 3D walkthrough tours online earlier, I love Celestial Residence 3's floor plan, it would perfect for us. But I don't want to live in the boonies (at least it feels that way), pay 10k+ additional a year on mello roos and not be able to walk to elementary school.

Your mileage in Woodbridge will vary. Even within a community it is hard to predict what your immediate neighbors are going to be like. Although older, the houses are well built and suited for upgrades as needed (especially on the larger lots). We have a community pool on the same block, walk to Elementary School with our neighbors every morning (started in K), an association that organizes lots of family friendly events (concerts in the park, 4th of July parade on wheels, snowday, monthly parents night out at the community center, etc). Our neighbors are very friendly and there are a lot of children that are around our kid's age. There are at least a few block parties on our street. However, I'm told that not every street is like this so any feedback you may get for a given community is mostly for their immediate vicinity on not representative of the neighborhood as a whole.

My friends will be moving to Meridian in Altair, although they are going to be paying the extra/high MR, they want to be in that area (you can't go wrong with the schools in Irvine, generally) because they want to be close to Irvine Spectrum, Great Park, and new high school. It makes sense to be in this spot if you want to be close to those areas. If you like more info about the area, let me know.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

This is what I look for, may I ask what street is this? I am willing to wait for the right house. My kids are still 2 years away from Kinder.

Hi All, thanks for the input. I have not been looking too much into the newer development, sounds like I definitely should. I have been mostly focusing on a few neighborhoods in Turtle Rock and Woodbridge. High school isn't a huge consideration, I own another house in University Park zoned for Uni, it's pretty old and small one story, but very good lot size, we might rebuild in 10 years, or makes other changes later on. We have toddlers now and maybe more on the way, mostly focusing on elementary years.

I did look at some of the Altair 3D walkthrough tours online earlier, I love Celestial Residence 3's floor plan, it would perfect for us. But I don't want to live in the boonies (at least it feels that way), pay 10k+ additional a year on mello roos and not be able to walk to elementary school.

Your mileage in Woodbridge will vary. Even within a community it is hard to predict what your immediate neighbors are going to be like. Although older, the houses are well built and suited for upgrades as needed (especially on the larger lots). We have a community pool on the same block, walk to Elementary School with our neighbors every morning (started in K), an association that organizes lots of family friendly events (concerts in the park, 4th of July parade on wheels, snowday, monthly parents night out at the community center, etc). Our neighbors are very friendly and there are a lot of children that are around our kid's age. There are at least a few block parties on our street. However, I'm told that not every street is like this so any feedback you may get for a given community is mostly for their immediate vicinity on not representative of the neighborhood as a whole.

My friends will be moving to Meridian in Altair, although they are going to be paying the extra/high MR, they want to be in that area (you can't go wrong with the schools in Irvine, generally) because they want to be close to Irvine Spectrum, Great Park, and new high school. It makes sense to be in this spot if you want to be close to those areas. If you like more info about the area, let me know.

I am curious on how traffic will be like in that area.  So many lights on Irvine Blvd now and with the schools, I think it will be insane during rush hour.

 

[bitmaster20]

Since kid friendly neighborhood is high on your list, I would recommend you drive around the neighborhood you are considering in the evening time. That will give you an idea of if the kids come out to play. Overall in Irvine, due to the kids involvement in extra-curricular activities you don't see many kids out and about.

 

[peppy]

Since kid friendly neighborhood is high on your list, I would recommend you drive around the neighborhood you are considering in the evening time. That will give you an idea of if the kids come out to play. Overall in Irvine, due to the kids involvement in extra-curricular activities you don't see many kids out and about.

This may not always be an accurate snapshot of the neighborhood. For example, a lot of people go to Treehouse Park in Beacon Park because it's new and has a cool treehouse - but they do not live in the area. Not sure if it has changed by now, but the restrooms didn't required a fob to get into. It's a gamble on what you end up getting in your particular neighborhood and also a task for you to make the best out of it. Best to befriend people, hang out at parks, connect with people in Irvine Moms on Facebook that live in areas of interest, etc. This time of year, a good indication of neighbor involvement is to look at how decorated the street is for the Holidays.

 

[melodypowell]

Since kid friendly neighborhood is high on your list, I would recommend you drive around the neighborhood you are considering in the evening time. That will give you an idea of if the kids come out to play. Overall in Irvine, due to the kids involvement in extra-curricular activities you don't see many kids out and about.

 

[melodypowell]

That's so true, I need to drive around and look at neighborhood's xmas lights. Unfortunately, due to having 2 toddlers, going back to Irvine has not been a frequent occurrence, we should make another trip soon.   

Since kid friendly neighborhood is high on your list, I would recommend you drive around the neighborhood you are considering in the evening time. That will give you an idea of if the kids come out to play. Overall in Irvine, due to the kids involvement in extra-curricular activities you don't see many kids out and about.

This may not always be an accurate snapshot of the neighborhood. For example, a lot of people go to Treehouse Park in Beacon Park because it's new and has a cool treehouse - but they do not live in the area. Not sure if it has changed by now, but the restrooms didn't required a fob to get into. It's a gamble on what you end up getting in your particular neighborhood and also a task for you to make the best out of it. Best to befriend people, hang out at parks, connect with people in Irvine Moms on Facebook that live in areas of interest, etc. This time of year, a good indication of neighbor involvement is to look at how decorated the street is for the Holidays.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

... and Woodbridge high is not so great.

Depends on what you're looking for in a high school. As a sports/drama/music school, Woodbridge is actually one of the better ones in Irvine. As a high-pressure/got to get into an Ivy school, that's either Uni or Northwood.

I agree with other commenters about Woodbridge and although there are some hoods that don't have a lot of younger kids, they are more scattered all over while in the newer communities, those are the majority buyers so there will be a higher concentration. The good things about Woodbridge are location (very central to everything), facilities (tons of pools for < $100 HOA), no MRs, and most hoods are walkable to all 3 levels of school (elem, middle, high).

If you're looking at newer, want some elevation, but want to stay close to the 405, Quail Hill, older... Turtle Rock. I don't recommend Laguna Altura but that's just me.

Westpark II is also a great central neighborhood as is Oak Creek if you want to live closer to the Spectrum.

If you want older north Irvine, Northpark as someone mentioned but also the more northern parts of Northwood (Windstream etc). For newer, Woodbury and Stonegate. But just remember anything newer than 2008 or so will be much more dense.

If you want to go north of the wall and live with the wildlings, Portola Springs.... but if you're going to be in that area, Great Park is probably better, both Pavilion and Beacon... not too sure about Parasol as it's too much like Lego City.

Like Laguna Altura, I'm not really a fan of Cypress Village.

But really, instead of relying on us anonymous posters, just drive around and see what you like. ~$1.5m can you get a nice property in almost any hood in Irvine, so it's about what type of house and area you like.

 

[aquabliss]

I went through IUSD myself, and tutored in many neighborhoods when I was in collage

You tutored in collage?  That is for kids in art class that want to create a photo collage right?

 

[shahshah]

I went through IUSD myself, and tutored in many neighborhoods when I was in collage, I think I am more familiar with a lot of the areas than most people (not the brand new ones obviously). I think this is a part of my difficulties, I have strong feeling about certain areas that might not be true anymore. I rarely played outside with friends, but we did play in each other's houses almost daily. By the time I was in high school, I lived in University park, and I hang out with friends all the time, we used to have small final fantasy piano playing contests (before social media of course). I am looking for an environment where kids hang out in general, not necessarily in parks and front yards.

Since kid friendly neighborhood is high on your list, I would recommend you drive around the neighborhood you are considering in the evening time. That will give you an idea of if the kids come out to play. Overall in Irvine, due to the kids involvement in extra-curricular activities you don't see many kids out and about.

The thing is though you are looking two years from now I believe, this is going to be a bit difficult to gauge in specifics. You could look at WB homes that are near a park as a start point. I believe there were a couple that just went off the market near timber run park. They were old but you could have certainly make them lovely with your budget or something similar down the road. There just is never anything that pops up that is any good. Everything goes in a month.

 

[brianlin87]

This is what I look for, may I ask what street is this? I am willing to wait for the right house. My kids are still 2 years away from Kinder.

Our two children are similar age (3/2) and we currently just bought at the OH Reserve.  Having grown up in Irvine myself and also attended IUSD (K-12), this side of Irvine still seems to be more desireable than the 405 side.  Touring all the new developments puts into perspective just how long they will take to be at full build out and with the higher MR, it just didn't make sense to us. 

As for places for the kids to play, there are enough tot lots/parks/club houses for our kids, and eventually good school (Santiago/Sierra/NWHS). 

 

[fcb2011]

This is what I look for, may I ask what street is this? I am willing to wait for the right house. My kids are still 2 years away from Kinder.

Our two children are similar age (3/2) and we currently just bought at the OH Reserve.  Having grown up in Irvine myself and also attended IUSD (K-12), this side of Irvine still seems to be more desireable than the 405 side.  Touring all the new developments puts into perspective just how long they will take to be at full build out and with the higher MR, it just didn't make sense to us. 

As for places for the kids to play, there are enough tot lots/parks/club houses for our kids, and eventually good school (Santiago/Sierra/NWHS).

Which model did you buy in OH if you dont mind? I am still debating if we should buy there. como with view price is so crazy. terra without a view is not so attractive compared to larger house in Eastwood since they have the same school district.

 

[fortune11]

just catching up on this thread.

your budget is actually decent enough to look at parts of Northwood pointe -- guard gated, walkable to canyon view elementary and plenty of nice parks and shopping conveniences nearby. 

at that price point you may be able to get a nicely landscaped decent size backyard as well , something that will be difficult to swing in the new construction neighborhoods.

the homes are late 90s vintage so not that old that they will need a whole lot of remodeling / fixing etc.

 

[cmj006]

We just bought an unit at Saviero, one of the last few, this neighbourhood seems to fit into your description: walkable to Orchard Hills school( soon to be K-8), walkable to clubhouse, decent lot size (6K +), 5 bedrooms including a junior master on he 1st floor ( for the plan we bought eg midel 4), Budget wise 1.5-2m)

 

[brianlin87]

This is what I look for, may I ask what street is this? I am willing to wait for the right house. My kids are still 2 years away from Kinder.

Our two children are similar age (3/2) and we currently just bought at the OH Reserve.  Having grown up in Irvine myself and also attended IUSD (K-12), this side of Irvine still seems to be more desireable than the 405 side.  Touring all the new developments puts into perspective just how long they will take to be at full build out and with the higher MR, it just didn't make sense to us. 

As for places for the kids to play, there are enough tot lots/parks/club houses for our kids, and eventually good school (Santiago/Sierra/NWHS).

Which model did you buy in OH if you dont mind? I am still debating if we should buy there. como with view price is so crazy. terra without a view is not so attractive compared to larger house in Eastwood since they have the same school district.

As attractive as larger space is in Eastwood, I foresee potential home price appreciation in the Reserve (imo) will far exceed the current 'value ratio' available in Eastwood.

 

[the.irvine]

How about Altair?

 

[melodypowell]

How about Altair?

Just went to Altier, like the floor plans, but we don't like the greatpark neighborhoods in general. It just seems like the 5fwy is gonna get more and more crowded, and even though I am Chinese myself, why too high of Asian population at schools. We are not into that.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

How about Altair?

Just went to Altier, like the floor plans, but we don't like the greatpark neighborhoods in general. It just seems like the 5fwy is gonna get more and more crowded, and even though I am Chinese myself, why too high of Asian population at schools. We are not into that.

You're going to have to go to an older Irvine hood... but nowadays even those Elems are getting more "Asiantrified".

Saw your post about the Turtles vs Top of the World. I think Turtle Rock has a higher Asian population than Turtle Ridge but not sure about the school demographics.

 

[melodypowell]

Hi, thanks!! I feel North Irvine area has a much greater Chinese population, e.g. Beacon park elementary has 70%+ Asian, and it feels most are Chinese. Turtle Rock has about 55% Asian, but it's a much more balanced mix. (I see lots of different East Asians as well as Indians) Since I am Chinese, I don't want myself to mingle with too many super competitive Chinese moms.

How about Altair?

Just went to Altier, like the floor plans, but we don't like the greatpark neighborhoods in general. It just seems like the 5fwy is gonna get more and more crowded, and even though I am Chinese myself, why too high of Asian population at schools. We are not into that.

You're going to have to go to an older Irvine hood... but nowadays even those Elems are getting more "Asiantrified".

Saw your post about the Turtles vs Top of the World. I think Turtle Rock has a higher Asian population than Turtle Ridge but not sure about the school demographics.