Foreign Competition for Irvine Real Estate

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Immigrant buyers can have major impact on a city's demographics and housing prices. But if we're talking about oversea buyers or FOB's, Irvine is not that well known.



I do have relatives from Taiwan who came and bought homes with cash, but they bought in places like Diamond Bar. Also, while many Asians overseas know UCLA or possibly USC, few has even heard of UC Irvine.



When I was dating someone in Taipie last year, I had to buy the photo book "Irvine Ranch" and fly over to give it to her family. They've never heard of Irvine and thought Orange County was a BFE farming town far away from Los Angeles. This was quite funny because my parents turned down buying a house in Irvine back in 1989 (we ended up buying in Buena Park), because they thought Irvine was a BFE farming town too far from work.



The relationship didn't work out. Conversations went like this:



Girl: "describe your city"

Me: <blah blah blah, Irvine Spectrum, blah blah blah, great landscaping, blah blah blah, living within walking distance to work, blah blah blah...>

Girl: "how far do you live from a MRT station?"

Me: "well, um..."

<15 min later>

Girl: "why don't you people live closer to a city with more trains and night markets?"

Me: (thinking about California's obsession with living far away from work so we can buy a house w/yard and kill vegetation on weekends with lawn mower)

Girl: ...

Me: (thinking about how we're paying a premium in Irvine for an even smaller patch of vegetation, then we pay some more in HOA to have someone else kill vegetation for us on weekends)

Girl: ...

Girl: (thinking, this guy is SO retarded. He can't answer a simple question without spacing out)



===============



In many ways our value system (?) differs from those living overseas. Here, homes built far away from train stations and freeways, up on a hill, can demand high prices. In Asia, once you leave the urban cities, it's like rural, and SFR in "rural" areas just 30 min outside the city by car are sold at 1/4th the price of a condo in better downtown/city areas. Also, homes by the ocean are not as in demand.
 
>>Me: (thinking about California?s obsession with living far away from work so we can buy a house w/yard and kill vegetation on weekends with lawn mower)



Momo, I'm holding you responsible for the coffee on my keyboard.
 
momo, than why is it the case that as soon as an immigrant family from China (which includes taiwan, just kidding, relax, i meant to say formosa) that they strive to live in not just an SFR, but the most ostentatious sfr on the block? These first generation immigrants flock to unknown cities like, arcadia, irvine, and cuppertino which are the exact opposite of big cities in asia.
 
[quote author="jcaraway" date=1207608451]momo, than why is it the case that as soon as an immigrant family from China (which includes taiwan, just kidding, relax, i meant to say formosa) that they strive to live in not just an SFR, but the most ostentatious sfr on the block? These first generation immigrants flock to unknown cities like, arcadia, irvine, and cuppertino which are the exact opposite of big cities in asia.</blockquote>


before this discussion gets too specific, let me throw this out there. i remember a history professor once mentioning how impt it is to not assumption you can wittle down the sentiments of an entire nation, race, gender, generation, or any other group into one concise opinion. <em>it's the opinion of the chinese ppl that XYZ.</em> but of course, china is a very large place, with a large, diverse population so there's probably no answer to what chinese ppl think about XYZ if XYZ is too specific. history is full of the tragic consequences of such assumptions.



not that anyone here is about to start a world war, but i think general demographic trends can be pointed out. the information that bkshopr shares is extremely worthwhile, for example. but once people get <em>too specific</em> and start debating about arcadia vs irvine based on the opinions of specific families, or how northwood II will fare X% better than woodbury because persian immigrants like words with three O's vs two, i think its just a big load of random speculation.



just my 2 cents
 
"why is it the case that as soon as an immigrant family from China (which includes taiwan, just kidding, relax, i meant to say formosa) that they strive to live in not just an SFR, but the most ostentatious sfr on the block?"



Because unlike Asia, the suburbs in the U.S. are NICE, and automobiles are commonplace. It's not that Asians don't like big SFRs, they just can't afford to be that far away from the city. It's a constant conflict between material goods that Asians love so much (such as a big house) and the convenience which are sometimes a requirement. In the U.S., you can have both. Notice in Korea, suburbs are beginning to pop up in a "planned community" type setting, and they are going for a premium since cars are no longer a luxury.
 
jcaraway:



I donno, it's one of those mysteries of life. People overseas like the Hollywood image of our lifestyle, but not the real inconveniences like having to drive just to get anywhere.



(Rant, skip if not interested)



It's like asking, why is it "buy 1 get 2nd at 50% off" here, and in another country it's "buy 2 and get 3rd at 50% off". Or, why is that here people can enter your intimate space to give you hug/kiss in greeting, but when you start talking to them, they slowly back away to keep personal space? Versus another country where people don't hug/kiss in greeting but stand very close to you when they're talking to you? Or, why we spend so much money to maintain lawns with very marginal food value instead of growing more/better edible plants/fruit trees in our yards, so if we had a natural disaster or emergency, people wouldn't be rushing to loot the supermarket?



I can understand if people want a nice lawn for activities, like playing nerf football with your kids. But a lot of people get upset if you walk or stand on their lawn. If you just want some greens to look at and don't want to ever walk over it (other than weekly vegetation-killing exercise with lawn mower), then what's the difference between green weed vs. green potato plants? At least the potato plant blooms and the flowers are quite pretty, plus you can stir-fry the leaves.



<img src="http://www.sacredearth.com/Ezine/winter07/potatoflower.gif" alt="" />
 
acmpe, yeah what's up with those persians and their big houses and mercedes, you should start a thread on that, good point about the "o"'s



mompi, haha, i liked the sentence about the potato plant. But i don't agree that the Irvine lifestyle is not well known in other parts of the world (the name irvine isn't well known, i agree). Master planning concepts are one of orange county's greatest exports to china, korea, the mid east, africa, and the mediteranian.
 
[quote author="jcaraway" date=1207615736]Master planning concepts are one of orange county's greatest exports to china, korea, the mid east, africa, and the mediteranian.</blockquote>


and the irony is the irvine co plans with immigrants of china, korea, and the middle-east in mind, with styling cues influenced by north africa and the mediterranean.
 
not really, master planning concepts are fairly new in the asia or mid east markets, they are design with new sub urbanism concepts in mind. Floor plans may be designed by IAC to accomodate larger families but are still very different from asian or mideast floor plans which have central enclosed kitchen, smaller bedrooms, etc.
 
The Orange County / Irvine model of master planned communities has been receiving some backlash of late. In particular, the way we grade level lots into hillsides is becoming increasingly unpopular as it is not considered a "sustainable" or a "low impact" method of design. Of course, if you don't level the lot, you often don't get a usable back yard.
 
"acmpe, yeah what?s up with those persians and their big houses and mercedes, you should start a thread on that, good point about the ?o??s



What are you talking about? I am Persian- and I have never heard of that. Neither has my husband. Is that some sort of joke?
 
[quote author="JoonB" date=1207628849]"acmpe, yeah what?s up with those persians and their big houses and mercedes, you should start a thread on that, good point about the ?o??s



What are you talking about? I am Persian- and I have never heard of that. Neither has my husband. Is that some sort of joke?</blockquote>


that was supposed to be sarcasm. the pt being that people often attempt to make specific, sometimes outlandish, predictions or assumptions based on random "facts" about a demographic group. the most common example as it relates to this blog is:

home prices in some particular neighborhood won't go down because some particular aspect of that neighborhood (school, architecture, location, etc.) is particularily attractive to some particular group of people.



i just made up a random outlandish example to illustrate the silliness of this kind of reasoning.

<em>persian people like the letter O, therefore northwood will fare better than woodbury due to an influx of persian buyers.</em>



i have no idea why jcaraway agreed with my made-up point but i thought it was hilarious that he did. i'm sure he just misunderstood my post as well.
 
Acpme - I thought you were referencing BK's old comment that even non-English speaking Asians can pronounce and/or like Woodbury because it rhymes with Burberry. (<---- That may not be an exact quote, but it's a rough recollection of what he said.)



Oh, and I think you meant "jcaraway" where you wrote "JoonB."
 
[quote author="EvaLSeraphim" date=1207631012]Acpme - I thought you were referencing BK's old comment that even non-English speaking Asians can pronounce and/or like Woodbury because it rhymes with Burberry. (<---- That may not be an exact quote, but it's a rough recollection of what he said.)</blockquote>


i totally was NOT referencing that, but think it's hilarious because i just making something up randomly.



it's kind of like when you trick someone into admitting something embarrassing.



me: hey, isn't it totally annoying when you drink too much coffee before bed and accidentally wet the bed?

<em>friend: oh yeah, i hate it when i do that.</em>

me: actually i've never done that.

<em>friend: uh... yeah... me neither...</em>

me: nice try, bed-wetter.
 
thanks Acpme for the explanation! Indeed I was confused when jcaraway agreed with your statement about Persians and the letter "o"
 
aww, you got me buddy, you got me good. Burned! *sizzle*



actually, i didn't know how to respond to your thesis on the politically correct demographic trends of asians founded upon the shared experience of a short term romance with a girl half a world away and choosing a home in BP over Irvine, so I kinda just went with something a little less ridiculous.
 
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