Not really interested in the area... but decided to stop by for sh!ts and giggles after work... it was late in the day, so i was only planing on driving through the area... low and behold, there was an event for the BIA (http://www.biasc.org/) where they had all the models in the communities open. So I decide to stroll in an check it out.
TIC: "Are you with the BIA?"
me: "Yes, of course, can I walk through the models?"
TIC: "Why sure, here's a brochure, and you can get to the models through the door"
So I lucked out and had a chance to get another peek. First, I'm not sure if there is a real difference, but I SWEAR I feel like they put a lot more time and effort into the exteriors of these buildings. Not only do I think they look nicer, to me, it really looks like they are built better than their WB/SG counterparts. I specifially focused on Cortona (Maricopa's pretty cousin). I did drive the whole community to get a "feel" for it all. Again, even when i look at the other communities, they look a bit nicer. It's almost like "well, the Chinese who will buy in stonegate are more utilitarian and dont care as much, and I think the white people who want to live in wannabe Laguna will want it to look nicer from outside (think of the OC faker housewives)" I'm only speculating here and no, I don't care if I offend anyone.
One thing I notice... um... yeah TIC, you might think the 2 car garage in 2 separate doors "look" is cool... but probably not a good idea for a tiny 2000 sq ft detached condo off a motorcourt.. Because the motorcourts are so frickin narrow, you have to make a 3 point turn to get out. i notice and think "geez... it's not easy to get your car into that tiny little garage door". I have friends who live in irvine apartments, so think of the tiny one car garages in IAC, but with a street 1/3 as narrow. I'm going to laugh at how many houswives are going to take a chunk of garage out trying to park the Range Rover or Escalade in there... lol...
Anyways, back to Cortona... Even though the floorplans are recycled, I think the overall layouts are pretty decent. Cortona 2 (Maricopa 2 + loft) is actually REALLY nice in my opinion. I'm not sure if its standard or just the option, but having the functional sliding doors in the dining room is really great. Nice great room/ kitchen layout w/ walk in pantry... But at $960K plus, I can't see this EVER being worth the price. Plan 3 is nice, but I think I like the big square island in Maricopa vs. the 1/4 wedge of cheese look. I'm not sure if you have your choice... I didnt pay much attention to plan 3 otherwise. because of the overall price range, it's not worth my time. Plan 1.. I walked in and felt pretty good about it. Yes the family/minigreat room isn't much to write home about... But the dining area with the french doors and all the sunlight is great. I like the way they executed the island here vs. Maricopa. Maricopa, you can't seat anyone at the island... here they added seating for 4. You lose storage but gain seating. I like the downstairs laundry in 1 (long explanation regarding not disturbing sleeping children) and the extra room for storage. I dont recall if Maricopa had it, but you also have a nice under the stairs storage closet here... The upstairs has the added tech space which is pretty cool (reminds me of the Campanile Plan 4 with the loft area). Nice added place for a mini den or children's study area. Makes you feel better about the money you are spending that its more of a 4 bedroom "plus" design... At a base price of $855K, it's actually much more reasonable based on the delta to Maricopa. That being said, this is NOT an $855K house, and still in my opinion WAAAAAAAAY overpriced... $750K? we are talking... $855K base? no thanks.
with the additional expenses of a $295/mo HOA and $6000 per year in Mello, it just adds to the fact LA is way overpriced. PV of $1800 per year difference in Mellos of LA over SG is about $28K... so add that to the difference, it is just that much more (let's say $100K for plan 1) for LA. As for the area... from the models, if I looked out the 2nd story bedroom, I get a nice view of some hills, powerlines in the distance and cars zooming by on the 133. If you are outside, you get the "background" noise of the cars travelling. It's not THAT bad. Once you are inside LA, it's not bad. 2 decent parks. Overall, the area doesn't justify the premium. When I was driving down there, I all of a sudden realized that you get some of the backflow from the el toro Y that can slow down your commute home. Once on the 133, I was surprised to see how many cars there were.. also, the avg flow of traffic was about 75 mph when I got on. Many cars + fast speeds = danger. You could of course, drive through QH to get there. It's really kind of weird. Imagine an exit of the 5fwy for "neverland" and that the exit basically led you into a single community. That's kind of the case here. You are pretty much living off a fwy. Hey, who knows... Rossmoor tucked between 2 freeways and people LOVE it... maybe ppl will find the same charm here? I can foresee some traffic issues with people coming home from work getting into the left turn lane to get into the community. Until another center opens up, amenities ARE NOT very convenient here. (personally I think west irvine/ northpark/northpark sq are the best areas for convenience). You drive through QH to go to the market. If you don't like what's in that plaza, you go to the spectrum. I dunno, I just don't think it's the best areas. Overall, i like the general vicinity, and the overall "concept", but for execution and value, the place gets a C+...