Moving to Irvine....Ranch Area within El Camino Real?

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joyinthebox

New member
Hi Everyone
We are planning to move to Irvine within the next few months from Phoenix(family of four, with two elementary school aged kids). Our priority in the order of preference is
1) Quality of schools
2) Decent size home (at least 1,800 sq ft). Don?t mind a slightly older neighborhood, but would prefer an open plan
3) Budget is within $680,000
4) Would like to cap the HOA beyond $250 and prefer a low or no Mello Roos

We were in town last week and our agent took us to the Ranch neighborhood within the El Camino Real area and we saw a home that we liked (it was mapped to the Deerfield Elem school, which seems to have a good API score). Our agent told us that the Ranch area is considered to be slightly better than others within El Camino  Real. However, from whatever little information that we could find within this forum, we were not able to form a good picture of the area. Can you folks please comment on the quality of this neighborhood? I would also appreciate if you can suggest some other areas within Irvine that would satisfy the parameters that I listed above
 
Stay away from El Camino Real unless your budget demands it. It is among the least desirable neighborhoods in Irvine.
So you are looking at SFR (sidewalk, driveway..etc) only? If that's the case with your budget I would recommend West Irvine (some mello-roos but no HOA); USCTrojan would help you the most on that as he lives there and is a realtor himself.

joyinthebox said:
Hi Everyone
We are planning to move to Irvine within the next few months from Phoenix(family of four, with two elementary school aged kids). Our priority in the order of preference is
1) Quality of schools
2) Decent size home (at least 1,800 sq ft). Don?t mind a slightly older neighborhood, but would prefer an open plan
3) Budget is within $680,000
4) Would like to cap the HOA beyond $250 and prefer a low or no Mello Roos

We were in town last week and our agent took us to the Ranch neighborhood within the El Camino Real area and we saw a home that we liked (it was mapped to the Deerfield Elem school, which seems to have a good API score). Our agent told us that the Ranch area is considered to be slightly better than others within El Camino  Real. However, from whatever little information that we could find within this forum, we were not able to form a good picture of the area. Can you folks please comment on the quality of this neighborhood? I would also appreciate if you can suggest some other areas within Irvine that would satisfy the parameters that I listed above
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Thanks. What makes El Camino a less desirable place compared to the rest of Irvine? A drive through did not reveal much and hence my question
 
The first two areas that came to mind were the older parts of Northwood (those that feed into Santiago Hills Elementary) and parts of Westpark (the newer parts that feed into Plaza Vista).
 
joyinthebox said:
Thanks. What makes El Camino a less desirable place compared to the rest of Irvine? A drive through did not reveal much and hence my question
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there is nothing wrong this area. it is that just when compared to the newer areas it is not as visually appealing. we live in what my wife calls the "ghetto of irvine," but practically speaking, the ghetto i live in, as well El Camino are perfectly fine areas where 95% of the population would love to live. 
 
irvinehomeowner said:
From what I remember, The Ranch is the newer part of the El Camino area.

IrvineRenter wrote a small profile of it back in June 2007:
http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/comments/irvines-the-ranch
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Just a "tad" incomplete now without all of the corresponding photos that the posts were centered around before they were deleted. Joyinthebox will have to use his/her imagination.

New member: Have you looked outside the city?

The author of that blog post is at OC Housing News now. Here is a link to his new website's El Camino section:http://ochousingnews.com/idx/community/el-camino-real/
 
Welcome to TI!

If schools are your priority and a budget under $680K--how about this one:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/44-Turnbury-Ln-92620/home/4791549

Short walk across the street to one of the best elementary schools in Irvine--Canyon View and feeds into arguably the top high school in Irvine--Northwood. The biggest downsides to the home are--attached duplex and tandem garage. You do get a backyard, master HOA has a pool and the park is right across the street. Northwood pointe is a relatively new community built in the 90's with hiking trails, close by major shopping, and easy access to freeways/tollways.
 
SoCal said:
The author of that blog post is at OC Housing News now. Here is a link to his new website's El Camino section:http://ochousingnews.com/idx/community/el-camino-real/
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Not sure if you are aware, but we've had the same section on IHB for several years now ;)http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/homes/idx/community/el-camino-real/

I like The Ranch quite a bit.  The lots are larger in general compared to newer homes, there are single story homes to be found, non zero-lot homes, no Mello Roos, no HOA (actually there is an optional HOA you can join)..
 
I'm not sure if it's the "least desireable" area of Irvine, there are some pros in El Camino... like they do have 3CWG homes there. :)

I also think that the Ranch is nicer than other areas of El Camino, with bigger lots and more old school style homes.
 
iacrenter said:
Welcome to TI!

If schools are your priority and a budget under $680K--how about this one:
http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/[b]44[/b]-Turnbury-Ln-92620/home/4791549

Short walk across the street to one of the best elementary schools in Irvine--Canyon View and feeds into arguably the top high school in Irvine--Northwood. The biggest downsides to the home are--attached duplex and tandem garage. You do get a backyard, master HOA has a pool and the park is right across the street. Northwood pointe is a relatively new community built in the 90's with hiking trails, close by major shopping, and easy access to freeways/tollways.
Click to expand...

:o
 
The thing that bothers me about El Camino is the railroad tracks.  If you stay far enough away from the tracks, you should be okay.
 
You do get a great lot sizes in the The Ranch though I would warn to check proximity to the train tracks...not sure if there are any limitations to what kind of trains can use those tracks and at what times, but the last thing you want is to have the nightly rumble of freight train passing by for 5 minutes.  That said, I've always like houses in Deerfield that are between Irvine Center and Deerfield.  I'm not a fan of any of the neigborhoods north of the train tracks in el camino, just doesn't look like a very appealing place to live, no trees or greenscaping, unlike deerfield and the ranch


on a side note, I kinda like this, though it looks like it might have a shared wall...http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/7-Redwood-Tree-Ln-92612/home/4705682...Personally I could never buy it knowing that the previous owner was a USC fan (Go Bruins!), but if you could get over that and the white noise from the 405, its pretty hard to beat Uni High. 
 
gaogi said:
The thing that bothers me about El Camino is the railroad tracks.  If you stay far enough away from the tracks, you should be okay.
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Well that and the high-voltage power lines such as viewed when standing in front of the Skinner St. listing.
 
thedude111222 said:
You do get a great lot sizes in the The Ranch though I would warn to check proximity to the train tracks...not sure if there are any limitations to what kind of trains can use those tracks and at what times, but the last thing you want is to have the nightly rumble of freight train passing by for 5 minutes.  That said, I've always like houses in Deerfield that are between Irvine Center and Deerfield.  I'm not a fan of any of the neigborhoods north of the train tracks in el camino, just doesn't look like a very appealing place to live, no trees or greenscaping, unlike deerfield and the ranch


on a side note, I kinda like this, though it looks like it might have a shared wall...http://www.redfin.com/CA/Irvine/7-Redwood-Tree-Ln-92612/home/4705682...Personally I could never buy it knowing that the previous owner was a USC fan (Go Bruins!), but if you could get over that and the white noise from the 405, its pretty hard to beat Uni High. 
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Sweet, I need to get something like that for my dishwasher too.  haha
 
Single story home, 2 car driveway, large yard are impossible for new and newer homes. The quality of life without having to negotiate stairs is fabulous. You can enjoy the nucleus of Irvine. However wearing the Irvine ghetto Scarlet Letter on my forehead and having super black tint on my car window just so no can see me driving home....NO WAY!
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
Single story home, 2 car driveway, large yard are impossible for new and newer homes. The quality of life without having to negotiate stairs is fabulous. You can enjoy the nucleus of Irvine. However wearing the Irvine ghetto Scarlet Letter on my forehead and having super black tint on my car window just so no can see me driving home....NO WAY!
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Haha.. I would do it if I found the right house/lot.  But then again, I would also pull the trigger on a place outside of Irvine.
 
joyinthebox said:
Hi Everyone
We are planning to move to Irvine within the next few months from Phoenix(family of four, with two elementary school aged kids). Our priority in the order of preference is
1) Quality of schools
2) Decent size home (at least 1,800 sq ft). Don?t mind a slightly older neighborhood, but would prefer an open plan
3) Budget is within $680,000
4) Would like to cap the HOA beyond $250 and prefer a low or no Mello Roos

We were in town last week and our agent took us to the Ranch neighborhood within the El Camino Real area and we saw a home that we liked (it was mapped to the Deerfield Elem school, which seems to have a good API score). Our agent told us that the Ranch area is considered to be slightly better than others within El Camino  Real. However, from whatever little information that we could find within this forum, we were not able to form a good picture of the area. Can you folks please comment on the quality of this neighborhood? I would also appreciate if you can suggest some other areas within Irvine that would satisfy the parameters that I listed above
Click to expand...

r townhomes (attached) or motorcourts (shared driveways) ok? and is there a strong preference for old/new communities?  with ur budget, granted u dont mind townhomes or motorcourts, the doors are open for most communities in irvine, so its down to what kind of community u prefer (u need to get out of ur car and take ur time to walk arnd in each community, if u stay in the car its really hard to soak in what type of ppl live arnd u) especially since communities can vary quite a bit (maturity, amenities, average age, low/medium/high density zoning, etc)...

if u HAVE to have a driveway, then its a different story altogether lol...

one of the pros in el caminos is that its predominatly low density zoning vs the newer developments which are all zoned for medium density residential

personally i like the quail hill communities the best... its one of those neighborhoods thats a lot more tranquil (its zoned medium density but feels like its mid to low density)... but with 680k, ur gonna have to lose that driveway of urs there for sure and go motorcourt (shared driveway) or townhome (attached)... but if u are okay with going motorcourt or townhome, with with your budget in mind, then theres only a few sections of irvine thats out of budget... most of irvine will be fair game for u...

 
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