Las Ventanas Plans 2+3 vs. Maricopa Plans 1+2

[MonsterMom]

Long time lurker here. My family lives in our own SFR in Aliso and plans to move to Irvine. We toured LV, Maricopa and San Marcos. Originally aimed at Maricopa plan 1 or San Marcos plan 3. They both are within our budget but right now I'm thinking about down grade to a smaller residence like San Marcos plan 1 or 1,800~2,000 sqf resales. IMO Maricopa's floor plans are not that impressive. While they make every room bigger, they omit the formal living room concept while they should have the luxury to do that. Second if I have to live in a great-room house, I don't need 2000+ sqf. Third, I would prefer to put the extra $$$ into stock market or my bank account at this moment. Since the San Marcos plan 1 has pretty much what we need (we only have one kid and in-laws seldom visit us), why not just settle with it?

Not quite sure if there are other potential buyers out there like us. We can afford a more expensive house but choose not to right now. Why not renting? We just FEEL that owning a house is kind of like our security blanket... That's it.  

 

[usctrojancpa]

Long time lurker here. My family lives in our own SFR in Aliso and plans to move to Irvine. We toured LV, Maricopa and San Marcos. Originally aimed at Maricopa plan 1 or San Marcos plan 3. They both are within our budget and But right now I'm thinking about down grade to a smaller residence like San Marcos plan 1 or 1,800~2,000 sqf resales. IMO Maricopa's floor plans are not that impressive. While they make every room bigger, they omit the formal living room concept while they should have the luxury to do that. Second if I have to live in a great-room house, I don't need 2000+ sqf. Third, I would prefer to put the extra $$$ into stock market or my bank account at this moment. Since the San Marcos plan 1 has pretty much what we need (we only have one kid and in-laws seldom visit us), why not just settle with it?

 

Welcome to the forum MonsterMom and glad to see you posting.  I'm curious, why are you guys considering a move from Aliso to Irvine?  Have you guys looked at Las Ventanas or completed ruled it out due to the proximity to the toll road?

 

[rickr]

I doubt they'll just stop the projects they have going on now....they'll do whatever they need to do to sell the homes (which can be good news for patient buyers).  The problem is that iPAC priced their 2011 new home for perfection even though the floor plans are nothing special.  If their sales remain slow into the summer, there will be blood in the water.

I see that phrase "priced for perfection" more than once here... does it mean what I think it means?

On the surface, it seems to mean "they priced the homes right" as in "perfectly". But I think you are meaning it to be "they priced the homes as if they were perfect" which they are not.

Help a bruthah out... I don't want to misunderstand what's being said here.

Priced to perfection is a term used a lot in the analysis of highly valued stocks in terms of Price to Earnings ratio. A stock that is trading on a forward P/E of 30 or greater is considered priced to perfection. If you look at Netflix, Saleforce.com, VMWare,  or Bidu, they have a really high valuation while showing lower current earnings. These stocks are trading on the fact that their earnings will increase at a much higher rate than a typical stock. In general you can see these stocks earnings growing at a 20-30% anual rate. Now if there growth slows down you will start to see their current P/E ratio start slipping down below 20 and more towards the typical 10-15.

In terms of a house price, I would think calling it priced to perfection would mean that the house is priced such that rates will continue to stay low, economy will not go into the tank, Irvine schools will continue to be highly rated, FCB will still buy up inventory and you will be able to sell your house in 5 years without taking a bath or at least be cash flow positive or close to it in the same period if you where to rent it out.

 

[MonsterMom]

Welcome to the forum MonsterMom and glad to see you posting.  I'm curious, why are you guys considering a move from Aliso to Irvine?  Have you guys looked at Las Ventanas or completed ruled it out due to the proximity to the toll road?

Well, My husband works in Irvine and I kind of go to Irvine area everyday. With current gas price we could save a couple thousands per year. Not to mention the time we spend on commuting. From what we experienced last couple years is the houses in Irvine held their value better than other nearby cities in OC for whatever reasons. We were lucky that we bought our property here like 10 years ago before the bubble. But we felt a little bit regret about not buying the other house in Irvine which we also seriously considered at that moment. Finally, the real reason motivates us to take action is the school thing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my house and the community here but I'm a monster mom  and Irvine truly has better schools. 

Besides the schools, Aliso is a much better place to live IMHO....

 

[usctrojancpa]

I doubt they'll just stop the projects they have going on now....they'll do whatever they need to do to sell the homes (which can be good news for patient buyers).  The problem is that iPAC priced their 2011 new home for perfection even though the floor plans are nothing special.  If their sales remain slow into the summer, there will be blood in the water.

I see that phrase "priced for perfection" more than once here... does it mean what I think it means?

On the surface, it seems to mean "they priced the homes right" as in "perfectly". But I think you are meaning it to be "they priced the homes as if they were perfect" which they are not.

Help a bruthah out... I don't want to misunderstand what's being said here.

Priced to perfection is a term used a lot in the analysis of highly valued stocks in terms of Price to Earnings ratio. A stock that is trading on a forward P/E of 30 or greater is considered priced to perfection. If you look at Netflix, Saleforce.com, VMWare,  or Bidu, they have a really high valuation while showing lower current earnings. These stocks are trading on the fact that their earnings will increase at a much higher rate than a typical stock. In general you can see these stocks earnings growing at a 20-30% anual rate. Now if there growth slows down you will start to see their current P/E ratio start slipping down below 20 and more towards the typical 10-15.

In terms of a house price, I would think calling it priced to perfection would mean that the house is priced such that rates will continue to stay low, economy will not go into the tank, Irvine schools will continue to be highly rated, FCB will still buy up inventory and you will be able to sell your house in 5 years without taking a bath or at least be cash flow positive or close to it in the same period if you where to rent it out.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[usctrojancpa]

Welcome to the forum MonsterMom and glad to see you posting.  I'm curious, why are you guys considering a move from Aliso to Irvine?  Have you guys looked at Las Ventanas or completed ruled it out due to the proximity to the toll road?

Well, My husband works in Irvine and I kind of go to Irvine area everyday. With current gas price we could save a couple thousands per year. Not to mention the time we spend on commuting. From what we experienced last couple years is the houses in Irvine held their value better than other nearby cities in OC for whatever reasons. We were lucky that we bought our property here like 10 years ago before the bubble. But we felt a little bit regret about not buying the other house in Irvine which we also seriously considered at that moment. Finally, the real reason motivates us to take action is the school thing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my house and the community here but I'm a monster mom  and Irvine truly has better schools. 

Besides the schools, Aliso is a much better place to live IMHO....

Since time is on your side, take advantage of that.  You guys will see that iPAC will begin to start offering more and more incentives as time goes on.  Pick a home with a good location in the tract (maybe a corner lot) and select the upgrades wisely (whether via builder credits or not).  Also don't forget to take agent with you out there when they begin offering a broker co-op so you can split that with them (that should more than cover your closing costs). 

To be honest, I've been looking at Aliso as a place to buy but Irvine is so much a part of my life now I don't know if I'll just end up focusing on buying some in Irvine.  Right now I have my focus set on Las Ventanas.

 

[MonsterMom]

And yeah! That proximity to the toll road is really a turn-off.  I remember from the site you can see both 216 and 133 up there. And one of my Chinese friend who's a professional feng shui master told me it's BAD.  He said it's like sticking a fork to your throat. Call me superstitious but it might hurt the resale value if FCB stay away from it b/c of the feng shui issue. 

 

[fcb2011]

Your information was wrong. 35K incentive is a lot, I really doubt it. So I went there yesterday and there's no incentives for Maricopa...
My poor gasoline...

Was at Maricopa this weekend, and the sales agent there told me that they are offering 35K incentives on all the plans.

 

[fcb2011]

You mean for all the lots including those near ArrowHead?

And yeah! That proximity to the toll road is really a turn-off.  I remember from the site you can see both 216 and 133 up there. And one of my Chinese friend who's a professional feng shui master told me it's BAD.  He said it's like sticking a fork to your throat. Call me superstitious but it might hurt the resale value if FCB stay away from it b/c of the feng shui issue.

 

[ps99472]

Your information was wrong. 35K incentive is a lot, I really doubt it. So I went there yesterday and there's no incentives for Maricopa...
My poor gasoline...

Was at Maricopa this weekend, and the sales agent there told me that they are offering 35K incentives on all the plans.

Who else can verify this?

 

[eqly]

One of the sales folks called and left message stating there was a price drop for the plan 3 but I have not had time to call back to verify if it was lot specific or across the board.

 

[qwerty]

Your information was wrong. 35K incentive is a lot, I really doubt it. So I went there yesterday and there's no incentives for Maricopa...
My poor gasoline...

Was at Maricopa this weekend, and the sales agent there told me that they are offering 35K incentives on all the plans.

Who else can verify this?

just call. if they do have incentives they will tell you over the phone.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I was at Maricopa last weekend and there was no mention of incentives, not even on the homes from Phase 1.

$35k is almost 5% which would be more than the $20k broker co-op on San Marino so there is reason to be doubtful about it.

I assume USC would know being a signed up broker for iPac and that ps9 would also be in the loop since he's on the "cash-suitcase" list.

 

[MonsterMom]

Not quite sure. My friend didn't specify that since my husband already ruled out PS when the conversation took place. But those feng shui people can always get you some solutions as long as you are willing to pay. 

You mean for all the lots including those near ArrowHead?

And yeah! That proximity to the toll road is really a turn-off.  I remember from the site you can see both 216 and 133 up there. And one of my Chinese friend who's a professional feng shui master told me it's BAD.  He said it's like sticking a fork to your throat. Call me superstitious but it might hurt the resale value if FCB stay away from it b/c of the feng shui issue.

 

[gaogi]

Your information was wrong. 35K incentive is a lot, I really doubt it. So I went there yesterday and there's no incentives for Maricopa...
My poor gasoline...

Was at Maricopa this weekend, and the sales agent there told me that they are offering 35K incentives on all the plans.

I know I heard them say 35K for sure.  Maybe like other posters said, it's a price drop on plan 3.  Like I said before, Maricopa is not in my price range, so I didn't press for more details.  Sorry about your gas.

 

[usctrojancpa]

Your information was wrong. 35K incentive is a lot, I really doubt it. So I went there yesterday and there's no incentives for Maricopa...
My poor gasoline...

Was at Maricopa this weekend, and the sales agent there told me that they are offering 35K incentives on all the plans.

Come on, you are a FCBer so you shouldn't sweat a little gas. 

 

[California_Room]

anyone else bought in las ventanas?  pretty tempting, few of the lots in the current phrases have 20'+ backyards..  the noise to me is minimal, anyone know when the shopping center will be finish?  :

 

[usctrojancpa]

anyone else bought in las ventanas?  pretty tempting, few of the lots in the current phrases have 20'+ backyards..  the noise to me is minimal, anyone know when the shopping center will be finish?  :

I have the one buyer who has lot 63, but the other 5 buyers are waiting for the lots further away from the toll and the larger lots next to Arrowhead.

 

[California_Room]

Larger lots are nice, what maybe mid 2012 release date?  :-\ as current phase is on 2 and completion date of sept/oct..

 

[IndieDev]

Your information was wrong. 35K incentive is a lot, I really doubt it. So I went there yesterday and there's no incentives for Maricopa...
My poor gasoline...

Was at Maricopa this weekend, and the sales agent there told me that they are offering 35K incentives on all the plans.

Come on, you are a FCBer so you shouldn't sweat a little gas. 

Oil is the one commodity that has been rising in this recent slump. He might be hedging against his potential losses.