3 New California Pacific Communities in Portola Springs Late 2021

[akula1488]

Doesn't higher property taxes help the school district with more budget to have better facilities and hire better teachers? It is a positive feedback loop?

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

 

[Danimal]

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

Flaw or not, all i really care about is that my kids were able to attend school in person during 2020 lockdown while other schools districts only offered virtual. That right there is already worth the money.

 

[Cares]

Doesn't higher property taxes help the school district with more budget to have better facilities and hire better teachers? It is a positive feedback loop?

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

Yep it isn't a flawed belief at all. Just a cycle that feeds itself. The schools do well, attracts more people who want good schools and drives prices up, higher prices leads to better funding and donations, etc.

Whereas the other end of the spectrum is that inner-city or schools in "ghetto" neighborhoods will experience the opposite effect.

 

[zubs]

Schools like to think it was their ability that got their school to 10/10....but that score relies way more heavily on the family & culture.

 

[SWATeam]

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[bones]

If that?s what you?re looking for, you may want to shop around for that. Not every neighborhood and/or tract has that environment. And after living in more Irvine villages than I can count, a lot of it is luck. I hope you find what you?re looking for in Irvine schools. Sometimes the expectations do not meet reality

 

[bones]

Doesn't higher property taxes help the school district with more budget to have better facilities and hire better teachers? It is a positive feedback loop?

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

It?s been awhile since I dove into education funding but a quick search shows IUSD spent $11kish per pupil and Santa Ana unified spent $14kish. What Santa Ana doesn?t have is an IPSF and parents/companies with deep pockets.  Teachers would also rather teach here due to the demographics. Again, not the schools itself but the people and culture.

 

[bones]

Schools like to think it was their ability that got their school to 10/10....but that score relies way more heavily on the family & culture.

So many kids are reading before they even step foot into a IUSD classroom. IUSD can thank the countless Montessori preschools for that. The schools here get such a head start on literacy and continued support on math that honestly, the schools should be ranked higher.

 

[The Motor Court Company]

After living in Irvine for 15 years, I don't miss Irvine at all. Too dense, too many people and too artificial. I guess only south of 405 is worth considering.

If that?s what you?re looking for, you may want to shop around for that. Not every neighborhood and/or tract has that environment. And after living in more Irvine villages than I can count, a lot of it is luck. I hope you find what you?re looking for in Irvine schools. Sometimes the expectations do not meet reality

 

[SWATeam]

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[sleepy5136]

After living in Irvine for 15 years, I don't miss Irvine at all. Too dense, too many people and too artificial. I guess only south of 405 is worth considering.

If that?s what you?re looking for, you may want to shop around for that. Not every neighborhood and/or tract has that environment. And after living in more Irvine villages than I can count, a lot of it is luck. I hope you find what you?re looking for in Irvine schools. Sometimes the expectations do not meet reality

agree. I came from LA and actually wanted to buy in Irvine initially. But after seeing how dense, the MR, materialistic vibes, and the lack of diversity in the area, I personally think the Irvine premium is definitely overrated. sure, if I wanted max ROI in my home, Irvine would be the best option, but I don't care about max ROI in my primary residence. I'd rather put more $ in stocks instead.

Also, when I have kids, I don't want them to be surrounded by all these rich kids that have the latest iPhones, brand named bags, etc at the age of 12. The value of a dollar is very important and I wouldn't want my kids surrounded by kids that do not understand the value of a dollar.

As for schools, schools are important, but let's not try to act like learning 1+1 or calculating a derivative requires the "best" school. I would argue what is more important for kids is having parents that know how to parent. I'm shocked at how many parents don't even know how to be parents and that has more impact on a childs future than a not so great school. Obviously I'm not talking about schools in the ghetto. I'm focusing on the difference between IUSD vs SVUSD. Idk about you guys, but if some kid graduated from Harvard or University of Hawaii, it doesn't really matter to me despite how much society likes to say there exists a difference.

 

[sleepy5136]

Doesn't higher property taxes help the school district with more budget to have better facilities and hire better teachers? It is a positive feedback loop?

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

And that is a problem that needs to be addressed. I really don't think that school funding should be split up this way. What ends up happening is you have all the schools in the "rich" communities getting better education and resource than the poor communities. This further exacerbates the inequality that currently exists.

 

[AW]

After living in Irvine for 15 years, I don't miss Irvine at all. Too dense, too many people and too artificial. I guess only south of 405 is worth considering.

If that?s what you?re looking for, you may want to shop around for that. Not every neighborhood and/or tract has that environment. And after living in more Irvine villages than I can count, a lot of it is luck. I hope you find what you?re looking for in Irvine schools. Sometimes the expectations do not meet reality

agree. I came from LA and actually wanted to buy in Irvine initially. But after seeing how dense, the MR, materialistic vibes, and the lack of diversity in the area, I personally think the Irvine premium is definitely overrated. sure, if I wanted max ROI in my home, Irvine would be the best option, but I don't care about max ROI in my primary residence. I'd rather put more $ in stocks instead.

Also, when I have kids, I don't want them to be surrounded by all these rich kids that have the latest iPhones, brand named bags, etc at the age of 12. The value of a dollar is very important and I wouldn't want my kids surrounded by kids that do not understand the value of a dollar.

As for schools, schools are important, but let's not try to act like learning 1+1 or calculating a derivative requires the "best" school. I would argue what is more important for kids is having parents that know how to parent. I'm shocked at how many parents don't even know how to be parents and that has more impact on a childs future than a not so great school. Obviously I'm not talking about schools in the ghetto. I'm focusing on the difference between IUSD vs SVUSD. Idk about you guys, but if some kid graduated from Harvard or University of Hawaii, it doesn't really matter to me despite how much society likes to say there exists a difference.

What part of Irvine were you looking at, Shady Canyon? Lol

 

[sleepy5136]

After living in Irvine for 15 years, I don't miss Irvine at all. Too dense, too many people and too artificial. I guess only south of 405 is worth considering.

If that?s what you?re looking for, you may want to shop around for that. Not every neighborhood and/or tract has that environment. And after living in more Irvine villages than I can count, a lot of it is luck. I hope you find what you?re looking for in Irvine schools. Sometimes the expectations do not meet reality

agree. I came from LA and actually wanted to buy in Irvine initially. But after seeing how dense, the MR, materialistic vibes, and the lack of diversity in the area, I personally think the Irvine premium is definitely overrated. sure, if I wanted max ROI in my home, Irvine would be the best option, but I don't care about max ROI in my primary residence. I'd rather put more $ in stocks instead.

Also, when I have kids, I don't want them to be surrounded by all these rich kids that have the latest iPhones, brand named bags, etc at the age of 12. The value of a dollar is very important and I wouldn't want my kids surrounded by kids that do not understand the value of a dollar.

As for schools, schools are important, but let's not try to act like learning 1+1 or calculating a derivative requires the "best" school. I would argue what is more important for kids is having parents that know how to parent. I'm shocked at how many parents don't even know how to be parents and that has more impact on a childs future than a not so great school. Obviously I'm not talking about schools in the ghetto. I'm focusing on the difference between IUSD vs SVUSD. Idk about you guys, but if some kid graduated from Harvard or University of Hawaii, it doesn't really matter to me despite how much society likes to say there exists a difference.

What part of Irvine were you looking at, Shady Canyon? Lol

I see a bunch of them in irvine spectrum and south coast plaza

 

[CalBears96]

Doesn't higher property taxes help the school district with more budget to have better facilities and hire better teachers? It is a positive feedback loop?

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

And that is a problem that needs to be addressed. I really don't think that school funding should be split up this way. What ends up happening is you have all the schools in the "rich" communities getting better education and resource than the poor communities. This further exacerbates the inequality that currently exists.

Well, that's what MR pays for, though. You complained before that you home buyers don't get to choose where the MR goes to, but now you're saying that it creates inequality. So, if you're buying a home at GP and you're paying a lot of MR, would you want to share that money with other poorer communities? Of course not, right? You want that money to go to the schools that your kid(s) will be attending, right?

 

[sleepy5136]

Doesn't higher property taxes help the school district with more budget to have better facilities and hire better teachers? It is a positive feedback loop?

It?s this (flawed) belief about Irvine schools that will keep prices going. You aren?t really paying for the schools but the privilege to live alongside a peer group that values education and dumps as much time and money into it as they can.

And that is a problem that needs to be addressed. I really don't think that school funding should be split up this way. What ends up happening is you have all the schools in the "rich" communities getting better education and resource than the poor communities. This further exacerbates the inequality that currently exists.

Well, that's what MR pays for, though. You complained before that you home buyers don't get to choose where the MR goes to, but now you're saying that it creates inequality. So, if you're buying a home at GP and you're paying a lot of MR, would you want to share that money with other poorer communities? Of course not, right? You want that money to go to the schools that your kid(s) will be attending, right?

no, I want all schools to have the same distribution of funds to create equal access to education. MR so happens to exist for that reason. This is beyond MR and quite frankly has something to do with how our tax dollars gets distributed. MR could be for creating fire stations in local communities.

As for whether I want to have my taxes be paid for another community ALONG with mine, I don't mind it. To me, that is something that makes complete sense and it's in the publics interest to ensure that all communities have equal access to education. You don't "lose" anything by letting this happen. I see no issue if El Toro High School has the same programs and quality of teachers as University High School. However, I do see an issue if only certain programs/curriculums exists in University High School but not El Toro High School.

 

[SWATeam]

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[TestingIrvine]

Who cares about density? Get a home with a large lot / yard / setback.

 

[sleepy5136]

After living in Irvine for 15 years, I don't miss Irvine at all. Too dense, too many people and too artificial. I guess only south of 405 is worth considering.

If that?s what you?re looking for, you may want to shop around for that. Not every neighborhood and/or tract has that environment. And after living in more Irvine villages than I can count, a lot of it is luck. I hope you find what you?re looking for in Irvine schools. Sometimes the expectations do not meet reality

agree. I came from LA and actually wanted to buy in Irvine initially. But after seeing how dense, the MR, materialistic vibes, and the lack of diversity in the area, I personally think the Irvine premium is definitely overrated. sure, if I wanted max ROI in my home, Irvine would be the best option, but I don't care about max ROI in my primary residence. I'd rather put more $ in stocks instead.

Also, when I have kids, I don't want them to be surrounded by all these rich kids that have the latest iPhones, brand named bags, etc at the age of 12. The value of a dollar is very important and I wouldn't want my kids surrounded by kids that do not understand the value of a dollar.

As for schools, schools are important, but let's not try to act like learning 1+1 or calculating a derivative requires the "best" school. I would argue what is more important for kids is having parents that know how to parent. I'm shocked at how many parents don't even know how to be parents and that has more impact on a childs future than a not so great school. Obviously I'm not talking about schools in the ghetto. I'm focusing on the difference between IUSD vs SVUSD. Idk about you guys, but if some kid graduated from Harvard or University of Hawaii, it doesn't really matter to me despite how much society likes to say there exists a difference.

I'm in total disagreement with your sentiments, but I guess to each his own.  I felt like I needed to share my own entirely subjective opinion about each of your points.

1) Irvine's density is relative to what city you're comparing to.  So calling it "too" dense is subjective.  In fact, it is the safest large city in the US (according to OC register, google, etc.), so do expect some more density over "smaller" cities.  But, if you compare to some other costly "large" cities/areas (e.g. West LA, SGV) Irvine is not as dense.  Finally, there are both advantages and disadvantages to density, of which I feel that you only addressed the latter.  For instance, the fact that Irvine is a main hub for employers has only become reality because of the density of the city.

2)  As many have mentioned on this thread the MR actually drives spend on resources for the Irvine community - whether it be schools, parks, community centers, etc.  In my mind, this is a good thing for Irvine residents.  And yes, it does not promote egalitarianism across other cities.  But that's what makes Irvine unique and why I would in fact want to have my kids have that environment to have access to the additional "paid for by MR" resources, well maintained facilities, etc.  It is indeed in the public's interest to have the rich cover for the poorer communities, but that is not how reality works and not how most well-off families want their well-earned money to be allocated.  Case in point, I'm pretty certain that other cities are not sharing their residents' tax dollars with other cities.

3) In any affluent area you're going to see materialism because residents tend to have $.  Whether that be Palos Verdes, La Canada, San Marino, South Pasadena, or Irvine.  I only named a handful, most in LA county since that's where I'm from.  In regards to my children being surrounded by other kids with materialistic goods and understanding the value of the $, I think that really comes down to how you raise your kids.  Parents are gatekeepers after all, and while my neighbor might give their kids anything they want, I'll certainly choose to give my kids what they need rather than what they always want.  I wouldn't strip them from having a cell-phone but they certainly wouldn't require the latest iPhone or an LV purse.  Now, being surrounded by more affluent folks is actually a very good thing from my perspective.  If you notice trends, many people form networks based off socioeconomic status (SES).  In this world, the affluent networks tend to usually have more leverage - meaning better connections and more resources than lower SES groups.  Is this fair?  Nope, but it's life.  Would I want my family to have opportunity to be in that network - yes absolutely.  You also mentioned Harvard vs University of HI.  There in lies a great analogy to the value of prestigious/high SES networks.  Technically, the networks from Harvard are much more robust and prestigious than University of HI.  So much so that many employers would take a Harvard grad over a University of HI grad if all else was equal. Quality of your connections and networks DO drive higher incomes and better jobs.  Incidentally, wealth also drives safer communities, and better education/resources for our young ones - thereby a vicious albeit unfair (if you care for egalitarianism) cycle. 

4)  Yes, there is lack of diversity in Irvine - a high proportion of east asians comprise the Irvine demographic.  I'm ABC myself, but I do appreciate the values of my culture and my ethnic background.  For instance, not as many of my non-asian friends value education as highly as my asian counterparts.  Not many of my non-asian friends take off their shoes before entering the household.  Not many of my non-asian friends are as cautious about COVID as I've seen asians are generally.  Culture does impact how we act in society and it is important.  Now in an ideal world having diversity would also be ideal, but ultimately the lack in racial diversity in Irvine happens to also be the reason why there is SES uniformity there.  Not discriminating here, but SES status is in fact correlated with ethnicity.  Statistics clearly show that caucasians and the model minorities tend to have higher spending power/affluence over other ethnicities in general. So these people, which happen to be a high proportion of caucasians and asian hold the same values/beliefs (e.g. education matters) are driven to live in Irvine - again a vicious cycle. 

As an actual parent, I'm personally selecting to have my kids grow up with folks of higher SES and to build those networks for my kids despite lack of "racial" diversity.

1. Density is subjective. Either people mind it or they don't. I personally don't like it.

2. Because the additional "facilities" makes a difference in ones ability to learn. That's like saying you support universities like USC who uses their endowment to build useless buildings and facilities. None of that actually really makes an impact in ones learning. Learning to calculate a derivative or doing lab work does not require the most modern facilities. Sorry to burst your bubble, but seeing residents paying the Irvine premium because they have the best schools is a joke to me. You don't need to be in the "best" school system to be able to learn and excel in school. This does not make Irvine unique. Also, I never said a given city shares their tax dollars with other cities.

3. This is exactly why I would like to avoid Irvine. The traditional asian philosophy of believing a kid from Harvard is better than a kid in Uni of Hawaii for example is something I strongly disagree with. Mind you I'm asian myself. If anything, kids coming from more prestigious universities tend to have big egos and I would never hire them if there were signs of it. The idea that where you graduate matters in the real world is a joke. No one really cares where you graduated from besides your parents. In the end it's all about what your skillsets are and how you can use those skillsets in the real world.

4. As for SES, that can be built when the kid is in school and when they are working. You don't need to "find" a place to be able to build this network. I'd rather have my kid be raised in such a way that they will be able to build their own connections instead of strategically searching a place to be able to leverage networks. I'm all about being self sufficient.

5. Living in an area like Irvine with no diversity may be something certain people want or not want. I personally don't want to only have my kids see asian kids left and right but some do.

6. As for access to equal opportunity for education, I strongly think this should be the case for public education, not private. Maybe you and others feel that it's not how it works or will ever work, that is completely fine. But to act as if education should not be equal shows how selfish we are as human beings in society. We need to take a step back and ask ourselves, what harm does it do when everyone has the same quality education as one another? In the end, it might not be that big of a deal as long as you have parents that can teach their kids how to operate and conduct themselves in the real world. That ends up being the differentiator.

 

[zovall]

FWIW, the relative affluence of a new home neighborhood in Lake Forest or in Portola Springs is moot IMO. Both new home neighborhoods are plenty expensive and I think demographics will be more similar than they are different.