Northwood Estates

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Great smaller village that was built out around 2005 and is guard gated.  It's zoned to Northwood Elementary, Sierra Vista Middle School, and Northwood HS.  I've helped a few buyers purchase a home in the community and they really like living there. 
 
I don't think Northwood Estates was in the area that was part of the discussion to get rezoned.  Northwood Estates is a neighborhood that checks a lot of boxes - small gated community, walking distance to a shopping center and close proximity to 5 freeway, no apartments, has cul de sac streets, and has many larger 3500+ sq ft homes (ie. less neighborhood density).  Also, the smallest property available in the community is a 3 bedroom. 
 
IrvineResident1 said:
Thank you USCTrojan. There were some talks about rezone to irvine high from an old thread on here. Do you know if that could still happen?
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I don't believe that the schools were rezoned (i.e. from Northwood HS to Irvine HS) but my clients' kids are elementary/middle school age.
 
woodburyowner said:
Mety said:
Isn't Mello Roos pretty strong here?
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No, properties were built 2004-2007 when MR was still reasonable.  Also, I think one or two of the bonds have actually expired now.
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Looking at their tax histories, it looks like MR is around $3000-4000. Not bad.
 
Northwood Estates is a great little community. It used to be called Northwood II, but they've changed it in the last few years. It's gated, but not guard gated. It's a small hidden gem community that people often drive by without paying much attention to; ironically, the street that goes into one of the entrances is called Hideaway. It's not a community with huge lots, but it does offer some nice home designs. My favorite tract there is Camellia by California Pacific.
 
irviniteeee said:
It's not a community with huge lots, but it does offer some nice home designs. My favorite tract there is Camellia by California Pacific.
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Compared to more recently developed neighborhoods, NWE does have decent size lots (ie. 2400 sq ft on 3900 sq ft lots).  The larger homes in the neighborhood (The Arbors) actually have massive lots (6000-7000 sq ft is the norm). 
 
irviniteeee said:
My favorite tract there is Camellia by California Pacific.
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I agree, loved the plan 4 with granny flat above the garage.

It was BKShopr approved and was featured on the Irvine Housing Blog in May 2012: "Uncovering the History of the Secret Garden"

https://www.irvinehousingblog.com/2012/05/21/uncovering-the-history-of-the-secret-garden/

509_zrB1tXN5LwcqkdapQlTV.jpg
 
iacrenter said:
irviniteeee said:
My favorite tract there is Camellia by California Pacific.
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I agree, loved the plan 4 with granny flat above the garage.

It was BKShopr approved and was featured on the Irvine Housing Blog in May 2012: "Uncovering the History of the Secret Garden"

https://www.irvinehousingblog.com/2012/05/21/uncovering-the-history-of-the-secret-garden/

509_zrB1tXN5LwcqkdapQlTV.jpg
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That's my favorite too! When I toured the models, it definitely felt larger than the actual square feet. The single story is my other favorite.
 
Dear Readers,
The current HOA board in Northwood Estates/II is extremely controlling. The de facto leader has various nicknames in the community but we shall refer to him as Mr. HOA. After Mr. HOA moved in, the quality of life for most residents deteriorated (unless you are one of his annointed Karen groupies). Neighbors are encouraged to spy on each other and most people are terrified of Mr. HOA’s vengeance because he demands “compliance and accountability” – i.e., complete submission.
This used to be a peaceful neighborhood but under the current triumvirate led by Mr. HOA the culture has deteriorated significantly where neighbors are afraid to talk to each other for fear of being spied on or worried about being filmed or photographed or fined for ridiculous violations. Mr. HOA thinks he is the police, FBI and CIA and likes to interrogate strangers, hide near custom stop signs and scold drivers if they don't stop for a full 3 seconds or “cite” them for speeding. Mr. HOA is well known in the community to stalk and film “problem residents” as depicted in this video
Quite a few residents have sold and left the community because of Mr. HOA's harassment.
Mr. HOA has installed, at considerable cost to the owners, at least 80 (still counting) audio and video cameras for a community of only 400 homes - 1 camera for every 5 homes. This is far more cameras than what other communities have installed including his beloved Woodbury. The cameras are confirmed by PMP management company to directly feed into Mr. HOA's personal devices/Google Nest accounts. Mr. HOA claims the cameras are for "safety" because crime is rampant in our small gated community in the safest city in America. He likes to scare new people with stories of fentanyl houses and home invasions even though the police have confirmed that crime stats are comparable to other surrounding communities which don't have all the cameras or even gates. Despite this fact, Mr. HOA proudly claims that he alone has rid "Gotham City" of crime.
Mr. HOA and his 2 cronies are also convinced there are child gangsters roaming the community with plastic whiffle ball bats and use the 80 cameras to film and post pictures of minors doing unspeakable crimes. They post pictures of minors and show videos of children to other parents without permission because parenting issues are apparently HOA business and the "bad parents" of these child criminals must be held “accountable”. Mind you, most of these “crimes” are things that other HOAs wouldn't even bother with like ding dong ditch, throwing a pinecone into the pool, digging for worms, staying past pool hours, or trying to get sap out of a tree. Parents are fined hundreds or thousands of dollars (even after they apologize) and your family is branded a problem family and your children as vandals. You are forced to admit to violations your family didn’t do and write an apology to Mr HOA or you are fined and defamed even more. He has even harassed city and federal workers and banned our postal worker from using the common area bathrooms because it's against the "rules".
Ironically Mr. HOA sees no problem with him and his cronies breaking the community rules, state laws and federal laws. Mr. HOA routinely ignores the warnings of the police and even a Superior Ct judge who told Mr. HOA he was an "over the top hall monitor ("are you the enforcer?") who takes his job too seriously and is making all his neighbors miserable". Most people would back down after being scolded by a judge...but not Mr. HOA, who explained to the judge that the HOA is a "quasi-government" entity [and not subject to other laws]. Mr. HOA then amped up his harassment of the poor tenant who filed the suit and forced the family out. See all the lawsuit court transcripts below for your reading pleasure (plaintiff gave permission).
Mr. HOA also regularly threatens to sue residents and even claimed to the police that he has unlimited funds (homeowner money) for lawsuits. Not surprisingly, Mr. HOA has earned quite a reputation among the police, judges and city hall but continues to ignore authorities.
Mr. HOA has also created ridiculous fees like extra vehicle fees, monthly tenant fees, and even a move in/out fee. Despite the $100s of thousands in fines and fees being collected, no one seems to know why the HOA is losing money or how much is being spent on customized stop signs, lawyer fees, cameras, and who knows what else because financials and annual reports are completely missing from several years. The few financial statements which have been released are not done by a CPA, and contain enormous ($60K+) mysterious "misc. and contingency" expenses. Legal expenses appear to have exploded to over $150K (best guess). Perhaps, Mr. HOA is paying a lawyer to defend the $170K violations he brags about collecting every year. (see below). As of this writing, the community has likely been charged close to $400K plus in fines - similar sized communities have $0 to $10K in fines. But who really knows how much in fines have been charged because Mr. HOA won’t disclose this.
If you dare to question Mr. HOA about anything, you will be obsessively targeted, slandered, and defamed by Mr HOA and his little band of Karen groupies on the "community forums" (his personal rant and fandom website), "private, invitation only" Nextdoor groupie group, and community group texts.
And God forbid if you decide to run for the HOA board against his "chosen crony candidates" then Mr. HOA will go completely nuclear and posts hundreds of insults and false allegations. He will falsely call the police on you to stage "criminal activity at your home" photo ops and conveniently happen to be walking by with his camera when the police show up. But if you are truly special, Mr. HOA will even create a cartoon character of you and falsely claim that you tried to ruin Halloween for all the neighborhood kids. (The reality is many parents are afraid to let their kids go trick of treating in the community because Mr. HOA roams the streets looking for criminal children.)
Mr. HOA isn't even running in this election so one can only imagine the lengths he would go to if he was up for election. Shivers! Mr. HOA loves to lie but then accuses everyone else of "fake news" - he recently sent out an email titled “Fake News vs Facts” to blast an opposition candidate called Mr. P.
1) Mr. P is concerned about the abundance of audio/video cameras.
Mr. HOA's response? The cameras are a "measured response" to rampant vandalism. REALITY...are 80 cameras and a Fort Knox like entrance gate system that scans license plates a "measured response"? Mr. HOA then not too subtly implies that Mr. P and his supporters are responsible for the vandalism.
2) Mr. P is concerned about the huge increase in violations being fined ($400K best guess).
Mr. HOA's response? Fines are used to "enforce community rules". Mr. HOA created a colorful infographic showing that most fines are "nuisance" fines. Mr. HOA then not too subtly implies that Mr. P and his supporters are responsible for the majority of violations. REALITY...Mr. HOA fails to recognize that his constant harassement, stalking of residents with his camera and pit bull/yorkie/chihuahua is the very definition of "nuisance".
3) Mr. P is concerned about the lack of financial transparency as little to no financial records have been released which is required by law.
Mr. HOA's response? It “takes 1-2 years to perform an audit.” REALITY...perhaps it takes 1-2 years to perform an audit for Enron or FTX Bitcoin, but for a little HOA?
4) Mr. P is concerned that the boards actions have created a hostile living environment.
Mr. HOA's response? No response. REALITY…residents are terrified of Mr. HOA (unless you are a Karen groupie).
5) Mr. P is concerned that residents are relunctant to speak out for fear of retaliation.
Mr. HOA's response? “The board welcomes all constructive feedback.” REALITY...Mr. HOA only welcomes feedback if it praises him. Even though HOA laws protect free speech on social media, Mr. HOA and his Karen groupies obsessively monitor Nextdoor.com and all social media for any post they do not like and claim they are "fake accounts and fake news" and pester the administrator to deactivate the "fake account". The writer is then immediately hit with more fines and defamations. (This fake writer is just waiting for this to happen).
6) Mr. P is concerned that the "board" makes unilateral decisions without community input.
Mr. HOA's response? The "board values the democratic process" and has “monthly [Zoom] meetings for residents”. REALITY...the board meetings are more akin to Mr. HOA rallies and residents who dare to ask a question he doesn’t like are instantly muted.
Mr. HOA then implies that Mr. P is sowing fear and disinformation which prevents the HOA from doing their other duties. REALITY...if Mr. HOA spent less time discussing fentanyl houses/home invasions, defaming residents, posting libel, watching surveillance videos, writing violations/fining, and stalking then perhaps he would have more time.
Mr. HOA has no bounds in what he will do and even harassed Mr. P’s canvasser (single working mom) and proudly posted the video on Youtube.
(Note: Mr. P is a single parent who works 70 hour weeks so he did hire help but that's his choice.)
Life is also tougher for renters as Mr HOA seeks to reduce the number of renters because they "bring down property values". Many renters have been forced out. Here's a video of a landlord being harassed for helping his renter get a gate access sticker.
So Dear Readers if you love tons of cameras, tons of fees, tons of fines, and being monitored 24/7 then this is your neighborhood. Just know what you are getting yourselves into.
P.S. Administrator – Mr. HOA will try to remove this post and retaliate because that is the kind of person he is.
 

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Nwe said:
You should know that the current HOA board led by one "power hungry volunteer" is extremely controlling. The de facto leader has various nicknames in the community but we shall refer to him as Mr. HOA. He has installed, at considerable cost to the owners, almost 80 audio and video cameras for a community of 400 homes - or 1 camera for every 5 homes.This is far more cameras than what other communities have installed. And the cameras feed into Mr HOA google nest accounts on his personal devices (confirmed by the management company themselves). Mr HOA likes to claim the dozens of camera are for "your safety" as he claims crime rampant in our gated community in the safest city in America. He often likes to scare new people with stories of fentanyl houses and home invasions even though the police crime stats don't support his claims. But Mr. HOA/Batman claims that he alone has rid Gotham city of crime. Moreover Mr HOA and his 2 cronies are convinced we have child gangsters roaming the community and love to tell parents the HOA has the right to film their children and post pictures of them or even show videos to other parents without permission to identify these child criminals (basically to shame the parents). These are mostly minor incidents that other HOAs wouldnt even bother with ding dong ditch. Ironically Mr HOA sees no problem with him breaking his own rules (being a constant nuisance), violations of numerous state laws and federal laws.

Mr. HOA actually brags about how much income in violations they have collected. (see below). This number probably does not even come close to what "they" have actually charged the community (likely close to $400k). Some homes whom the board selectively targets (because the owners have questioned them or fought back) have been fined thousands of dollars for stupid things that have absolutely nothing to do with safety. In fact, many of the fines are grossly exaggerated or downright fabricated and are used as retaliation due his perceived criticism of "problem families" and "problem kids". And this is the same guy who publicly declared he wd welcome all criticism . Instead Mr. HOA demands compliance and accountability (complete submission) to his rules.

Mr HOA and his two cronies have also created tons of fees like extra vehicle fees, monthly tenant fees, and even a fee just to move in or out. All cars license plates must be registered and or scanned. Neighbors are encouraged to spy on each other and koat people are terrified of Mr. HOA retaliation and vengeance if you don't submit to his will. Mr HOA is well known in the community to stalk and film. see this video of Mr. HOA stalking residents he doesn't like.
MR HOA thinks he is the police, FBI and CIA and likes to interrogate strangers, jump in front of cars to tell them they didn't stop for 3 seconds or were speeding.

This used to be a peaceful neighborhood but under the current board members (the trio of volunteers (sic unemployed) who "spend hundreds of hours and don't get paid a penny " the culture has deteriorated significantly to one where neighbors are afraid to talk to each other for fear of being spied on or are worried about being filmed or photographed.

Maybe the hundreds of thousands of dollars of violations are charged bc no one seems to know what or how much is being spent. Financials and annual reports are completely missing from several years. Legal expenses have exploded to over $150k - most likely becuas Mr HOA has bragged about collecting $170k in violations in a year which is over and beyond what other communities fine their residents. As of this writing the community has likely been charged close to $400k in fines. But who really knows because residents are barred from inspecting financial records.

God forbid you even question Mr. HOA about anything and you will be obsessively targeted, slandered, and defamed by Mr HOA and his sad little band of Karen groupies via hundreds of posts on the "community forums" (basically his personal ranting and fandom website) and group texts. Your family will be branded a problem family or even a problem street. You are forced to admit to violations you or your family didnt do and forced to write an apology to Mr HOA. And if you dare to run for election against his "endorsed crony karens" then he goes nuclear. Insults, community emails - all complete lies. Yes Mr HOA loves to lie and then accuse everyone else of "fake news". Hmmm starting to sound familiar. Mr HOA even rallied his Karen groupies to rise up against an opposition candidate and release the the persons personal information and address! Yes Mr HOA has no bounds in what he will do. He proudly harassed a canvasser for another candidate and posted his video on Youtube.

And Mr HOA isn't even running in this election!! One can only imagine the lengths he would go to if he was up for election.
Life is also tougher for renters too as Mr HOA seeks to reduce the number of renters because they "bring down property values". Many renters have been forced out. Here's another video of a landlord being harassed for helper his renter get a gate access sticker.

After Mr. HOA moved in, he quality of life for most residents has deteriorated (unless you are one of the lucky Karen groupies - including one Darren). People are routinely locked out of the pool or cannot get their gate access in a timely manner. One renter couldn't access the gate for almost a year.

Mr. HOA claims "he will not be muzzled" but he and his little band of Karen groupies obsessively monitor Nextdoor.com, social media and forums (such as this one) for any post they do not like and deactivate "fake accounts and fake news" (sound familiar ?) even though the laws protect free speech).

Not surprisingly, Mr. HOA has earned quite a reputation among the police, judges and city hall and yet blatantly ignores their warnings. Mr HOA loves lawsuits (hmmm maybe we wouldn't have so many legal fees) and regularly threatens to sue people. He has claimed to the police that he has unlimited funds (home over money) for lawsuits.

So dear readers if you love tons of cameras, tons of fees, tons of violations, and being monitored 24/7 then this is your neighborhood. Just know what you are getting into when you move here because I wouldn't wish this HOA on anyone.
P.S. Administrator - he will try to remove this review and retaliate because that is the kind of person he is. He scours the internet all day (because he has no job) to find anything that he doesn't like and reports it. He controls everything.
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I don't even know where you are supposed to go from here, but this is not okay. If he has a reputation amongst the city's police and other officials and they still haven't done anything, that's surprising. I'll make sure to recommend against this community to my friends. I had actually previously recommended this neighborhood to my friend who was looking to buy. I always called it a hidden gem community, but there's no way I would recommend him to live in this type of environment. Thanks for the heads up. It might seem like a long shot, but I wonder if you can contact anyone at the Irvine Company since this was one of their projects. To me it seems like he is getting away with this behavior because Northwood II (Estates) is a small neighborhood. That stuff would not fly in some of the larger neighborhoods.

Side note: I'm cracking up at his bouncers in the back on the sidewalk acting like security :ROFLMAO:
 
Nwe said:
You should know that the current HOA board in Northwood Estates/II is led by one "power hungry volunteer" is extremely controlling. The de facto leader has various nicknames in the community but we shall refer to him as Mr. HOA. He has installed, at considerable cost to the owners, almost 80 audio and video cameras for a community of 400 homes - or 1 camera for every 5 homes. This is far more cameras than what other communities have installed. And the cameras feed into Mr. HOA's google nest accounts on his personal devices (confirmed by the management company themselves and seen by other residents). Mr. HOA likes to claim the dozens of camera are for "your safety" as he claims crime is rampant in our small gated community in the safest city in America. He often likes to scare new people with stories of fentanyl houses and home invasions even though the police crime stats don't support his claims. Note: the police have confirmed that our crimes are comparabel to other surrounding communities without all the cameras and gates. But Mr. HOA/Batman claims that he alone has rid Gotham city of crime. Moreover Mr HOA and his 2 cronies are convinced there are child gangsters roaming the community with plastic whiffle ball bats and believe the HOA has the right to film their children and post pictures of them or even show videos to other parents without permission to identify these child criminals (basically to shame the parents) and call residents out for being "bad parents". These are mostly minor incidents that other HOAs wouldnt even bother with like ding dong ditch, digging for worms, or trying to get sap out of a tree. Ironically Mr HOA sees no problem with him breaking his own rules (being a constant nuisance), violations of numerous state laws and federal laws and ignoring the warnings of the police and an OC Superior judge who called him an "over the top hall monitor who takes his job too seriously and is making all his neighbors miserable". Most rational law abiding people would back down after being warned by officials...but not Mr. HOA who explained to the judge that the HOA is a "quasi-goverment" [apparently not subject to any other laws]. Mr. HOA then amped up his harassment of the poor tenent and forced his family outta there and targeted those who tried to help the tenant. See court transcript below for your reading pleasure.

Mr. HOA actually brags about how much income in violations they have collected. (see below). This number probably does not even come close to what "they" have actually charged the community (likely close to $400k). Some homes whom the board selectively targets (because the owners have questioned them or fought back) have been fined thousands of dollars for stupid things that have absolutely nothing to do with safety. In fact, many of the fines are grossly exaggerated or downright fabricated and are used as retaliation due his perceived criticism of "problem families" and "problem kids". And this is the same guy who publicly declared he wd welcome all criticism . Instead Mr. HOA demands compliance and accountability (complete submission) to his rules.

Mr HOA and his two cronies have also created tons of fees like extra vehicle fees, monthly tenant fees, and even a fee just to move in or out. All cars license plates must be registered and or scanned. Neighbors are encouraged to spy on each other and koat people are terrified of Mr. HOA retaliation and vengeance if you don't submit to his will. Mr HOA is well known in the community to stalk and film. see this video of Mr. HOA stalking residents he doesn't like.
MR HOA thinks he is the police, FBI and CIA and likes to interrogate strangers, jump in front of cars to tell them they didn't stop for 3 seconds or were speeding.

This used to be a peaceful neighborhood but under the current board members (the trio of volunteers (sic unemployed) who "spend hundreds of hours and don't get paid a penny " the culture has deteriorated significantly to one where neighbors are afraid to talk to each other for fear of being spied on or are worried about being filmed or photographed.

Maybe the hundreds of thousands of dollars of violations are charged bc no one seems to know what or how much is being spent. Financials and annual reports are completely missing from several years. Legal expenses have exploded to over $150k - most likely becuas Mr HOA has bragged about collecting $170k in violations in a year which is over and beyond what other communities fine their residents. As of this writing the community has likely been charged close to $400k in fines. But who really knows because residents are barred from inspecting financial records.

God forbid you even question Mr. HOA about anything and you will be obsessively targeted, slandered, and defamed by Mr HOA and his sad little band of Karen groupies via hundreds of posts on the "community forums" (basically his personal ranting and fandom website) and group texts. Your family will be branded a problem family or even a problem street. You are forced to admit to violations you or your family didnt do and forced to write an apology to Mr HOA. And if you dare to run for election against his "endorsed crony karens" then he goes nuclear. Insults, community emails - all complete lies. Yes Mr HOA loves to lie and then accuse everyone else of "fake news". Hmmm starting to sound familiar. Mr HOA even rallied his Karen groupies to rise up against an opposition candidate and release the the persons personal information and address! Yes Mr HOA has no bounds in what he will do. He proudly harassed a canvasser for another candidate and posted his video on Youtube.

And Mr HOA isn't even running in this election!! One can only imagine the lengths he would go to if he was up for election.
Life is also tougher for renters too as Mr HOA seeks to reduce the number of renters because they "bring down property values". Many renters have been forced out. Here's another video of a landlord being harassed for helper his renter get a gate access sticker.

After Mr. HOA moved in, he quality of life for most residents has deteriorated (unless you are one of the lucky Karen groupies - including one Darren). People are routinely locked out of the pool or cannot get their gate access in a timely manner. One renter couldn't access the gate for almost a year.

Mr. HOA claims "he will not be muzzled" but he and his little band of Karen groupies obsessively monitor Nextdoor.com, social media and forums (such as this one) for any post they do not like and deactivate "fake accounts and fake news" (sound familiar ?) even though the laws protect free speech).

Not surprisingly, Mr. HOA has earned quite a reputation among the police, judges and city hall and yet blatantly ignores their warnings. Mr HOA loves lawsuits (hmmm maybe we wouldn't have so many legal fees) and regularly threatens to sue people. He has claimed to the police that he has unlimited funds (home over money) for lawsuits.

So dear readers if you love tons of cameras, tons of fees, tons of violations, and being monitored 24/7 then this is your neighborhood. Just know what you are getting into when you move here because I wouldn't wish this HOA on anyone.
P.S. Administrator - he will try to remove this review and retaliate because that is the kind of person he is. He scours the internet all day (because he has no job) to find anything that he doesn't like and reports it. He controls everything.
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Seems like you live in a communist HOA that is run and controlled by a dictator and his cronies. The guy needs to be reminded that "North"wood Estates is located in America which is a free country and not in some communist country where he can act like a dictator and harass and violate the residents right of privacy like this! 🤣
 
Yoda said:
Seems like you live in a communist HOA that is run and controlled by a dictator and his cronies. The guy needs to be reminded that "North"wood Estates is located in America which is a free country and not in some communist country where he can act like a dictator and harass and violate the residents right of privacy like this! 🤣
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Yes, it's VERY strange...their community needs to really band together to figure out how to get this situated. It's basically like this guy is using his community as his own empire; even having cameras everywhere that feed into his personal devices.
 
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