Cityplace in Santa Ana

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Shooby_IHB

Shooby_IHB

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So my friend went to view a propert at Cityplace in Santa Ana.



Three story townhome, pretty nice entry, 1,817 square feet. Original list price was $399K, went back this week and the builder raised it to $425,000! In this economy? Is he on crack?



The kitchen is tiny, its like the size of a closet. I made sure they knew about it too. Anyway, my friend put in an offer of $350K. One of the sales reps heard this and walked away.



The nerve some of these people have, still drinking the cool-aid. This is Santa Ana, not Irvine!
 
<a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/3509/">http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/3509/</a>



Your analysis is correct. They are indeed on crack. The deepest denial I have seen in, well, ever. They too will break.
 
My wife and I are strongly considering the City Place, but definitely at a lower price. The build quality looks better than most, great layout for half the plans, a few misses on the designs, but overall pretty great. The original asking prices were insane and I thought the auction asking prices were fair, but given this economy, housing market, surrounding home values, and an apparent lack of interest, I'm surprised they won't entertain your offer much less raise their asking price. The location is almost perfect for us. My parents live in Huntington Harbour, my wife's parents live in Garden Grove, we love Mother's Market and all the nearby retail, we go to Disneyland 3X/month, and we seem to drive by the City Place area 3X/week. The downside is that my wife works off Jamboree/Main and the 5 and 55 drive is pretty awful. Her current commute is 3mi and takes no more than 10 minutes on a bad day.



With Fortune magazine projecting a ~24% decline in real estate value for Santa Ana in 2009, I will wait on the sidelines. In the meantime, I'll renew my lease with Pinnacle at MacArthur Place for 10% less than the previous term.
 
My friend ended up offering for the Model home of Plan 2 for Courtyards, 1,315 sq feet for $360,000 including closing costs, upgraded flooring, all appliances and washer/dryer.



Doesn't include any furniture though. What do you guys think.
 
[quote author="Shooby" date=1231915655]My friend ended up offering for the Model home of Plan 2 for Courtyards, 1,315 sq feet for $360,000 including closing costs, upgraded flooring, all appliances and washer/dryer.



Doesn't include any furniture though. What do you guys think.</blockquote>


Your friend did very well. I am surprised to hear a majority of the buyers are young Asians. I see some young Asian parents with strollers by the Mothers Market. City Place was designed by two different architects. The Lofts facing the retails was designed by a famous architect from the Westside and the 2 Townhome projects behind were designed by WHA a local production home architect from OC. Every first Friday of the month the lofts with retail space below have open house with free foods.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1231916727] I am surprised to hear a majority of the buyers are young Asians. </blockquote>


I'm surprised too. Bob Bisno's business model for the past 30 years has been to raise investment to buy and restore blighted properties. I think most Asians do not have the intestinal fortitude to be the "pioneers" of a revitalization effort. That's why we like to live in TIC villages.
 
[quote author="High Gravity" date=1231918352][quote author="bkshopr" date=1231916727] I am surprised to hear a majority of the buyers are young Asians. </blockquote>


I'm surprised too. Bob Bisno's business model for the past 30 years has been to raise investment to buy and restore blighted properties. I think most Asians do not have the intestinal fortitude to be the "pioneers" of a revitalization effort. That's why we like to live in TIC villages.</blockquote>


The location is certainly very appealing to Asians with relatives living in Little Saigon 8 minutes away or Rowland Heights 20 minutes and Fullerton 10 minutes. It is centrally located with good accessibility to freeways and good Chinese foods in Irvine, Westminster, and Rowland Heights. The school district is not Santa Ana but Orange. It is interesting to track this project because of its appeal to Asian buyers.
 
The homes here are hit or miss. I think it's appealing for those asian buyers because you can easily have a shop on the 1st floor while living above your business. Seems like a practical Asian thing to do.



However, some of the models here make me scratch my head and ask, what were they thinking?



It's nice though, walking distance to the market, restaurant, bars, Main Place mall, close to the freeways, etc etc.



I'm almost thinking she should have offered $350,000.
 
[quote author="Shooby" date=1231926618]The homes here are hit or miss. I think it's appealing for those asian buyers because you can easily have a shop on the 1st floor while living above your business. Seems like a practical Asian thing to do.



However, some of the models here make me scratch my head and ask, what were they thinking?



It's nice though, walking distance to the market, restaurant, bars, Main Place mall, close to the freeways, etc etc.



I'm almost thinking she should have offered $350,000.</blockquote>


Pinkberry, Coffee Bean and walk distance to Nordstrom. Access to 5, 55, 57, and 22 is super fast in less than 2 minutes. The best part is Tmare will be your neighbor across the park.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1231928458][quote author="Shooby" date=1231926618]The homes here are hit or miss. I think it's appealing for those asian buyers because you can easily have a shop on the 1st floor while living above your business. Seems like a practical Asian thing to do.



However, some of the models here make me scratch my head and ask, what were they thinking?



It's nice though, walking distance to the market, restaurant, bars, Main Place mall, close to the freeways, etc etc.



I'm almost thinking she should have offered $350,000.</blockquote>


Pinkberry, Coffee Bean and walk distance to Nordstrom. Access to 5, 55, 57, and 22 is super fast in less than 2 minutes. The best part is Tmare will be your neighbor across the park.</blockquote>


And maybe someday No_Vas will stop driving around the neighborhood and actually buy something. :-) (Did I mention the neighborhood pot limit poker games?)
 
Just remember its still Santa Ana. Not Irvine.



Was at McCormick and Schmicks with a client last week for Happy Hour.

We pull in the parking lot and see a homeless guy on a bike

going between the cars looking for unlocked vehicles. I called Orange PD

which reminded me its Santa Ana. In talking to the Bartender.

Its a "Hot Lot" for car burglers. Beware.
 
While Mainplace mall has some of the same stores as nearby malls, the clientele is not the same. Walking around Mainplace feels like Stonewood mall in Downey.
 
Sorry to be negative but I think 360K for the 1315 sq ft. unit is way too much. The location is great, no two ways about it (walking distance to Pinkberry AND Barnes and Noble! AND Arriba mmmmm :coolsmile: ). But that's a steep price for an attached condo - over $260/sq. ft.
 
[quote author="FairEconomist" date=1232021858]Sorry to be negative but I think 360K for the 1315 sq ft. unit is way too much. The location is great, no two ways about it (walking distance to Pinkberry AND Barnes and Noble! AND Arriba mmmmm :coolsmile: ). But that's a steep price for an attached condo - over $260/sq. ft.</blockquote>




I agree, it's way too high. I think it was said before, but I'll say it again: I just don't see who would want to live in these condos when they can live in a nice home in a nice neighborhood just across the street in Park Santiago.
 
We visited this development today and can see the attraction of this development to the young Asian demographic, but personally, there are way too many stairs. I don't see how they could bring furniture up the narrow stairways. There is one model where you enter the front door, then have to go up stairs that lead directly to a toilet. That must be some kind of feng shui no no. The lofts were interesting but too narrow. The first floor of the lofts is too tiny. $515,000 asking price for the lofts is insane. But even though I wouldn't buy there, if they cut prices by 25% I think they'd sell out fairly quickly and it'd be a decent value for first-time buyers. I'd say waiting for future lower priced resales would be the better way to go than pay the developer's current asking prices. No way they would sell out at current prices. Also the proposed highrise is right next to the development; I wouldn't want to be so close to a highrise, if that ever becomes reality. I also checked out the Barker lofts in downtown L.A. in the funky arts district near Little Tokyo and skid row, wow are those prices still insane. $600k for 1500 sf.
 
[quote author="tmare" date=1232029337][quote author="FairEconomist" date=1232021858]Sorry to be negative but I think 360K for the 1315 sq ft. unit is way too much. The location is great, no two ways about it (walking distance to Pinkberry AND Barnes and Noble! AND Arriba mmmmm :coolsmile: ). But that's a steep price for an attached condo - over $260/sq. ft.</blockquote>




I agree, it's way too high. I think it was said before, but I'll say it again: I just don't see who would want to live in these condos when they can live in a nice home in a nice neighborhood just across the street in Park Santiago.</blockquote>


For less even.
 
Agreed on the too many stairs business. I think three stories is too many for anything smaller than a mansion for exactly that reason. IMO a 3 story building with normal-sized living areas should be apartment/brownstone style, with every unit on one floor and a shared stair. But, the primo prices were for having your "own home" which resulted in all these staircase collections.



I have seen some developments where individual units were two-story stacked into a four-story building. That seems workable, and allows a nice loft feel with cathedral ceilings. I have no idea whether that actually works out financially. The preserve in Chino has a development with six units all interwoven in one building which produces much nicer floor plans. Since individual units don't have to have every floor the same size, you don't get the wierd shapes and size you see in the smallish 3-story townhomes. I think there's something like that in Columbus Grove but I'm not sure.
 
I was thinking of <a href="http://orangecounty.lyonhomes.com/homes/community.php/Cambridge_Lane_at_Columbus_Square.html?c=237&utm_source=www.lyonhomes.com/cambridgelane&utm_medium=print&utm;_campaign=.cambridgelane">Cambridge Lane</a> at Columbus Square. Camden Place is a more conventional townhome where any given piece of ground belongs to at most one home. I did like Camden Place more than most 3-stories; I thought the largest plan had a pretty good layout in spite of all the stairs.



The Preserve has better layouts than Cambridge Lane because the Preserve has one big solid building while the Cambridge Lane design wraps the overall bulding around a small courtyard. As a result, the Cambridge Lane design isn't as interlaced and so the layouts are more constrained and awkward. Still better than a typical 3-story of that size, though.
 
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