Mendocino and Saragota in Stonegate

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Visited Saratoga the past weekend. They are selling well 1 week after grand opening. thoughts:
1. The alley way setup is quite different from motor court. Some peolple would prefer this but motor court does have few advantages:
a.) drive by is not possible
b.) parking for guest is closer

2. The lot is very narrow, as the width is garage wide. this means the following
a.) smaller yard
b.) narrower great room setup compared to other IPAC floor plans

3) the down stair bedroom is so tiny. Maybe that's the standard size for mainland Chinese (??).

4) the court yard is refreshing though.

Overall TIC has outdone itself. Medocino looks like the reduced version of Maricopa but with higher density and same $ per sqft.
Saratoga is the reduced version of San Marcos, with smaller yard and worse location, with same $ per sqft.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
thedude111222 said:
I especially didn't like the porch/entryways...they should have just brought the front door flush with the facade of the house.
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I disagree... every front door should have some type of porch or covered entry.

We actually went to Maricopa yesterday for a comparison (they only had the Plan 2 for sale) and it feels bigger than the 2x or 3 over at Mendocino. They still have quite a few Maricopa 2s left which I found interesting but I remembered that they actually reduced the number of Maricopa 3s and replaced them with Maricopa 2s.
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I agree, but does it really count as a covered entry way if only one person can fit in it?
 
I've seen all the models.  I do like the improvements to Saratoga over other older communities.  First, they are streets vs. motorcourts.  Second, you still get a sidewalk.  One of my crticism of the motorcourts was that you have a front door off an alleyway, but no sidewalk to walk on.  They say all the sidewalks, driveways and entryways (courtyards - but never heard confirmation) will be done in pavers which is nice.  Downstairs BR in Saratoga 1 is small, but its part of the give and take.  People want an affordable 4BR and this is what you get (I mean you can ask for a 2200 sq ft 4BR house for $665K but c'mon). 

Also, they've now included a SOLAR PANEL option for the homes which they didn't have before (don't know any details)...
 
Solar panels for Saratoga are either 13k or 16k depending if 6 or 8 panels (SunPower) are installed.  They buyer does not have a choice in the number of panels, rather the installer determines how much sun will be available and picks the number of panels.  There should be 3k federal tax credit for the panels on taxes.  I'm not sure if there are other local incentives for the panels, or how the metering works.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
So how is Mendocino selling?
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I was down there yesterday (10/7) and I didn't want to look too interested as to get sucked into a conversation with the sales staff, but I spied the big board real quick and saw about 10-11 sold pins on the 16-18 houses that have been released. I think all but one of the initial release were sold (plan 1 or 3...forget). 

On a side note, I also saw a younger white couple touring the models...I found it amusing
 
ducky said:
Solar panels for Saratoga are either 13k or 16k depending if 6 or 8 panels (SunPower) are installed.  They buyer does not have a choice in the number of panels, rather the installer determines how much sun will be available and picks the number of panels.  There should be 3k federal tax credit for the panels on taxes.  I'm not sure if there are other local incentives for the panels, or how the metering works.
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For Saratoga, it is $12,5K for the 6 panel or 13,5K for the 8 panel depending on the lot.  If you want to break down the numbers a 6 panel will generate 12.5kWH which approximately will generate 300kWH per month.  If your electricity bill in Irvine is about $30-50 you're using anywhere from 300-400kWH a month.  So you're savings are around there.  Roll your 12-13K investment in to your mortgage that's about $60 a month.  If you're expecting So Cal Edison to pay you back, they buy back electricity from you at $.03 per kWH at the end of the year in which they will provide you a check.  So let's say you have an excess of 300kWH by the end of the year...you'll get $9.00 for your electricity.  IP takes the state rebate for installing the panels for you, and "supposedly" are passing the incentives to you.  You get no other rebates except the 1 time federal tax credit.
 
We went back to look at Saratoga this weekend and saw that Plan 1 went up a little to about $675K (from $665K) but the plan 2 had jumped almost $30K ($734K from $705K).    I cannot believe that TIC was able to raise the price on Plan 2 by $30K in just 5 phases/3 months. 
 
Irvinecommuter said:
We went back to look at Saratoga this weekend and saw that Plan 1 went up a little to about $675K (from $665K) but the plan 2 had jumped almost $30K ($734K from $705K).    I cannot believe that TIC was able to raise the price on Plan 2 by $30K in just 5 phases/3 months. 
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Not surprising at all.  Inventory levels are currently below 250 active listings.  There is buyer desparate out there and the sharks at TIC can smell the blood in the water. 
 
USCTrojanCPA said:
Irvinecommuter said:
We went back to look at Saratoga this weekend and saw that Plan 1 went up a little to about $675K (from $665K) but the plan 2 had jumped almost $30K ($734K from $705K).    I cannot believe that TIC was able to raise the price on Plan 2 by $30K in just 5 phases/3 months. 
Click to expand...
Not surprising at all.  Inventory levels are currently below 250 active listings.  There is buyer desparate out there and the sharks at TIC can smell the blood in the water.
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Probably true...the Plan 2 pricing is starting to run up against Mendoncino pricing.  Also the price differential is pretty stark between plan 1 and plan 2.
 
Decided to take another look at Mendocino because I was so underwhelmed by the floorplans in Cypress Village.

It's funny... we liked them better this time around.

We still think Plan 1 is the best despite no downstairs bedroom... the upstairs loft and the master bath is just better executed space than the 2 and 3.

What shocked me is the price, $860k-$880k starting. The Plan 1 back when it first opened late last year started at $786k. Almost $100k bump in less than a year? I hate Irvine.
 
Oh and Plan 2 and Plan 3 were similarly priced, I think in the mid 900ks but only 5-10k apart.

Makes sense because the only difference really between the two was that the upstairs bedrooms in Plan 3 had en suite bathrooms. They should have added a loft or extra bedroom to Plan 3.
 
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