Could Irvine turn into the Beverly Hills of Orange County?

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1242725127]During this recession LV bags have not come down in price but Asian buyers are still flocking to the stores at SCP to validate their status. In fact LV expanded to 3 separate stores inside the same mall. Unless Irvine has no novelty of status then prices should drop.



The psychological power of status is sustaining Irvine from plummeting prices.</blockquote>


I don't understand why, but the Coach store at SCP was packed when I was there a few weeks ago. Also I was at Disneyland on Saturday and standing in a long line for one dumb ride for an hour, I kept asking myself "Isn't there a recession? What are all these people doing here??" I don't get it.
 
[quote author="PANDA" date=1242728077]I found Newport Coast



<img src="http://www.cooldesignerhandbags.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/fendi-bbag.jpg" alt="" />



Fendi "B.Bag"



$27,700*



Hailing the return of the structured bag, this might be Fendi's best seller since the Baguette. Although the white lambskin runway bag (pictured on the runway) was well-received, the $27,700 black crocodile version is truly coveted.



*(14,731 pounds, 21,617 euros, 1.2M rupees, C$31,038, A$36,910)</blockquote>


Now apply the Fendi bag mentality to Irvine and this is the reason we are seeing stubborn prices.
 
[quote author="SoCal78" date=1242728205][quote author="bkshopr" date=1242725127]During this recession LV bags have not come down in price but Asian buyers are still flocking to the stores at SCP to validate their status. In fact LV expanded to 3 separate stores inside the same mall. Unless Irvine has no novelty of status then prices should drop.



The psychological power of status is sustaining Irvine from plummeting prices.</blockquote>


I don't understand why, but the Coach store at SCP was packed when I was there a few weeks ago. Also I was at Disneyland on Saturday and standing in a long line for one dumb ride for an hour, I kept asking myself "Isn't there a recession? What are all these people doing here??" I don't get it.</blockquote>
Maybe we really aren't in a recession. Oh wait, strike that as two of my good friends lost their jobs in the last month. I'll just say this...old habits die hard and who knows if the money that people were paying for mortgages are now going for coach purses and other purchases because they are squatters.
 
Could it be the recession affects the Caucasians more than Asians or Asians have the need for validation eventhough they are spending beyond their mean.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1242730615]Could it be the recession affects the Caucasians more than Asians or Asians have the need for validation eventhough they are spending beyond their mean.</blockquote>


Or finding every family member who they ever gave money to in order to keep living above their means? Sorry, just an observation of late.
 
Why is it that Asians are characterised as being smart but these discussions all suggest they are too dump to figure out that buying Irvine real estate is a dumb-ass financial move. Something isn't adding up.
 
If there is a more bland place than Irvine I don't know it. no part of inland oc especially south oc will ever be "beverly hills" because there is nothing unique about it. boring stucco boxes that all look alike and equally as important boring shopping centers that all look alike and are filled witth chain stores. you need some culture and variety to appreciate like a beverly hills
 
[quote author="not a realtor" date=1242733770]If there is a more bland place than Irvine I don't know it. no part of inland oc especially south oc will ever be "beverly hills" because there is nothing unique about it. boring stucco boxes that all look alike and equally as important boring shopping centers that all look alike and are filled witth chain stores. you need some culture and variety to appreciate like a beverly hills</blockquote>


Irvine has more LV bags than Beverly Hills.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1242725127]During this recession LV bags have not come down in price but Asian buyers are still flocking to the stores at SCP to validate their status. In fact LV expanded to 3 separate stores inside the same mall. Unless Irvine has no novelty of status then prices should drop.



The psychological power of status is sustaining Irvine from plummeting prices.</blockquote>


My wife has no LV bags, what ever that is. She drives a 2000 Volvo station wagon. I drive a 2005 Honda minivan. She shops for our daughter's clothes at TJ Maxx or Ross or even the thrift store, yeah seriously. Etc, etc. And my guess is that she will end up with twice the home, with five times the lot size, ten times the view, twice the kitchen, etc. than most of the folks you speak of who need to live in Irvine.
 
[quote author="Mcdonna1980" date=1242733657]Why is it that Asians are characterised as being smart but these discussions all suggest they are too dump to figure out that buying Irvine real estate is a dumb-ass financial move. Something isn't adding up.</blockquote>


Asians are extremely textbook smart. Mostly engineer smart but not business smart.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1242734327][quote author="Mcdonna1980" date=1242733657]Why is it that Asians are characterised as being smart but these discussions all suggest they are too dump to figure out that buying Irvine real estate is a dumb-ass financial move. Something isn't adding up.</blockquote>


Asians are extremely textbook smart. Mostly engineer smart but not business smart.</blockquote>
You mean a lack of common sense like not living beyond your means? You'd think that if asians have great quantitative skills they'd be smart enough to realize when they are living beyond their means or paying too much for a home.
 
For many, and I think Bk can back this up, status and show are more important than anything else. This sometimes gets in the way of good financial decisions. I am not trying to stereotype, it's actually something that is told to me by my many Asian friends. As my friends attempt to get away from these ideas, it's their parents that seem to drag them back by trying to undermine their rational financial choices.
 
[quote author="bkshopr" date=1242734327][quote author="Mcdonna1980" date=1242733657]Why is it that Asians are characterised as being smart but these discussions all suggest they are too dump to figure out that buying Irvine real estate is a dumb-ass financial move. Something isn't adding up.</blockquote>


Asians are extremely textbook smart. Mostly engineer smart but not business smart.</blockquote>


Asians are extremely smart. Their priorities may be different than some other groups, but it has nothing to do with their intelligence. Remember this important rule:



<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/85453615_d9cd132a32.jpg?v=0" alt="" />
 
[quote author="tmare" date=1242734962]For many, and I think Bk can back this up, status and show are more important than anything else. This sometimes gets in the way of good financial decisions. I am not trying to stereotype, it's actually something that is told to me by my many Asian friends. As my friends attempt to get away from these ideas, it's their parents that seem to drag them back by trying to undermine their rational financial choices.</blockquote>


I could not worded it better.
 
Bigger......newer........cheaper..........300K with the full brown yard eh?



The kicker was the neighbors. White trash does not begin to describe these people. Lots of abandoned cars, adults riding dirt bikes in the street (in the middle of the day!), at least four foreclosures (or at least fully abandoned yellow yards a foot tall). Oil spills. Lots and lots of sketchy stuff. They don?t call it ?Valley of the Dirt People? for nothing.





Yep, I gave in to my wife and decided to drive out to Corona last Saturday. She insisted that we look at 2000 sq. ft homes in the mid 300k. It was tempting, alright. A big SFR with a backyard and the price is less than an Irvine condo. For the last 4 months, I kept warning her about the commute. She said for that price I am willing to be stuck in traffic. (Currently her commuting time is 15 min. thru residential streets, never commuted on the freeways to work).



So there we were driving on the 91 East bound to Corona on a Saturday and near Riverbend, traffic snarled for 20 minutes. Then another 25 minutes on our way back. Needless to say, with that minor traffic jam, she changed her mind about owning a big SFR out in Corona.



Regarding the SFRs in Corona, they were pretty decent. Although, we saw some funny stuffs as we drove around the neighborhood. Like this one guy hung dried his undies in the garage. Then a few houses down, we saw a dusty bat mobile. Yes, the freaking bat mobile!
 
[quote author="not a realtor" date=1242733770]If there is a more bland place than Irvine I don't know it. no part of inland oc especially south oc will ever be "beverly hills" because there is nothing unique about it. boring stucco boxes that all look alike and equally as important boring shopping centers that all look alike and are filled witth chain stores. you need some culture and variety to appreciate like a beverly hills</blockquote>


I remember when my parents first moved from LA to Irvine in the 80s their friends thought they were moving to the middle of nowhere. Now some of those friends have moved to Irvine, recognizing the great schools, safe community, and clean streets. Irvine has definitely grown in popularity of the past two decades and it continues to grow (Great Park, etc.). Likewise UCI has definitely gain more recognition academically over the years.



Like I said in my original post, I do not mean that Irvine is like Beverly Hills or will ever turn into Beverly Hills, but perhaps the Irvine of 2010 will be inherently more popular and valued than the Irvine of 2000, and therefore cannot be compared apples to apples in terms of what the values of homes should be.



Again, I?m not saying that I think this way, I just proposing the possibility.
 
Irvine is a well-done kind of bland suburbia with a very high job/house ratio, so it will always command something of a premium. But Beverly Hills has huge moviestar cachet, lots of extremely wealthy residents, and many unique jawdropping houses (in both good and bad ways). Irvine doesn't have, and is unlikely to ever have, any of those. The cachet is along the coast, the ultrawealthy scattered around in the county, and Irvine by design has very little that makes you say "wow, I never saw anything like that before" (usually the house next door is pretty darn similar :-P ) Irvine will never be a Beverly Hills.



In terms of substitutes, Corona has its problems, but there are many cities in the OC which are pretty good substitutes for Irvine. Is anybody thinking about those? That was our choice - we could have had a somewhat smaller place in Irvine, but we picked Orange and we're very happy with it. I'd say house prices here are still too high, but they have come down more than Irvine has.
 
[quote author="awgee" date=1242733932]



My wife... will end up with twice the home, with five times the lot size, ten times the view, twice the kitchen, etc. than most of the folks you speak of who need to live in Irvine.</blockquote>


I'm just going to take this part of your statement and fantasy that my husband will one day say the same to me.
 
[quote author="reason" date=1242735058]Bigger......newer........cheaper..........300K with the full brown yard eh?



The kicker was the neighbors. White trash does not begin to describe these people. Lots of abandoned cars, adults riding dirt bikes in the street (in the middle of the day!), at least four foreclosures (or at least fully abandoned yellow yards a foot tall). Oil spills. Lots and lots of sketchy stuff. They don?t call it ?Valley of the Dirt People? for nothing.





Yep, I gave in to my wife and decided to drive out to Corona last Saturday. She insisted that we look at 2000 sq. ft homes in the mid 300k. It was tempting, alright. A big SFR with a backyard and the price is less than an Irvine condo. For the last 4 months, I kept warning her about the commute. She said for that price I am willing to be stuck in traffic. (Currently her commuting time is 15 min. thru residential streets, never commuted on the freeways to work).



So there we were driving on the 91 East bound to Corona on a Saturday and near Riverbend, traffic snarled for 20 minutes. Then another 25 minutes on our way back. Needless to say, with that minor traffic jam, she changed her mind about owning a big SFR out in Corona.



Regarding the SFRs in Corona, they were pretty decent. Although, we saw some funny stuffs as we drove around the neighborhood. Like this one guy hung dried his undies in the garage. Then a few houses down, we saw a dusty bat mobile. Yes, the freaking bat mobile!</blockquote>


Garages can hurt the perception of visitors interested in the neighborhood and turn them away by just some functional display of undies for drying. Just imagine what Reason and his wife's perception would be had they seen someone frying a turkey, playing poker and kids doing timeout by playing game machines in the garage. When garages are at the front keep them close to leave a better impression for visitors driving by.
 
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