Opinions on Augusta?

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ocfoilist

New member
Hi all,

I am new to the site, but found the forum while researching housing options in the Irvine/Tustin area.  My wife and I are looking to buy within the next 12 months and were weighing the options between a new or recently built home.  After perusing this site, I have to agree with many of the posters about the "WTF" pricing for used homes in the area.  We are not looking for a fixer-upper and it doesn't seem to make sense to pay the prices that seem to be prevalent in the area at the moment.

We've looking around the Villages of Irvine but, like many posts here seem to mention, we just felt like we were going to be paying 20% too much for a place that was 20% too small for the price.  Most of the floor plans are very similar and nothing really excited us. 

Augusta in the Tustin Legacy caught our eye and we really liked the floor plans.  The square footage was in the range we were looking for and the price point was reasonable for us.  I know that we would be in the Tustin school district but we aren't too worried about that.  Private schooling is an option and I am willing to accept the difference in resale value between Tustin and Irvine.  We are also willing to accept the Mello Roos taxes and the 25% low income housing.

We were leaning towards this development until I read a number of posts about the District area, which primarily mentioned the train noise.  Does anyone have feedback on what it's like now (someone had mentioned that the policies on sounding horns would be changing this year)?  I've read opinions ranging from 'it's no big deal' to 'my house shakes every time one passes by'.  There was also concern about the overall master plan for the neighborhood and how it may changed based on the current financial crisis.  Several people recommended driving over in the morning and sitting in a car to get a feel for the noise, which we plan to do this week.  I would also be curious to know how often the commuter trains come through as well as the freight trains.

Any opinions on the development would be much appreciated!  We also like Ainsley in Columbus Grove (plan 4 in particular) but I suspect the final phase will be sold before we are ready to make a purchase.
 
We have friends who live on Madison closer to edinger and their house definitely shakes when the trains go by.  We have been there when some of the larger trains roll by and you cant talk for the minute or so it takes for the noise and trembling to pass.

Their house is as close as you can possibly get to the train tracks so it will get better as you get further away.
 
Thank you, rkp.  We are definitely worried about that; Augusta sits closer to Valencia Ave so I am hoping that it is less impacted by the trains.  We can find Metrolink scheduling but I'm not sure when the larger trains go by.  Does anyone know how frequently they come by?
 
I hate to break it to you... but you'll feel/hear those trains anywhere in that general area, including Columbus Grove, Westpark II and Tustin Fields.

You also get to hear/see the fireworks from Disneyland.
 
I also have friends that live on Madison and you can hear and feel the train rolling by; however, I can't feel any rumbling from the train from my cousin's house on Covington. 

I love the homes in Augusta and would definitely buy one if the price was right, how's the Property Tax there?
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I hate to break it to you... but you'll feel/hear those trains anywhere in that general area, including Columbus Grove, Westpark II and Tustin Fields.

You also get to hear/see the fireworks from Disneyland.
Click to expand...

you might hear the train whistle (which they are stopping) from WPII and Colombus Grove but you definitely will not feel it.  we have many friends in those communities and the train hasnt been an issue.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I hate to break it to you... but you'll feel/hear those trains anywhere in that general area, including Columbus Grove, Westpark II and Tustin Fields.

You also get to hear/see the fireworks from Disneyland.
Click to expand...

agree, you will hear it, but wont feel the train unless you back up to the tracks.  the frieght train comes by around 11pm at night and in the morning 5-6am. not sure how often during the day since we are at work
 
homer_simpson said:
I also have friends that live on Madison and you can hear and feel the train rolling by; however, I can't feel any rumbling from the train from my cousin's house on Covington. 

I love the homes in Augusta and would definitely buy one if the price was right, how's the Property Tax there?
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Oh, not bad. Just a total of $13,000 per year for Plan 1.  Plus HOA which I think is $109/mo
 
shadax said:
Oh, not bad. Just a total of $13,000 per year for Plan 1.  Plus HOA which I think is $109/mo
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You forgot the <sarcasm> tags.

For that high a Mello Roos and very little infrastructure... I would rather stay in Irvine.
 
shadax said:
homer_simpson said:
I also have friends that live on Madison and you can hear and feel the train rolling by; however, I can't feel any rumbling from the train from my cousin's house on Covington. 

I love the homes in Augusta and would definitely buy one if the price was right, how's the Property Tax there?
Click to expand...

Oh, not bad. Just a total of $13,000 per year for Plan 1.  Plus HOA which I think is $109/mo
Click to expand...

Makes me sad in the pants :(
 
ocfoilist said:
I just saw an interesting article on train noise reduction for the Edinger/Redhill crossing:
http://articles.ocregister.com/2011-03-24/news/29189747_1_train-horns-quiet-zone-long-bust

It seems that Tustin invoked a 'quiet zone' for that crossing in mid-March of this year.  Did this reduce or eliminate the noise issue for Columbus Square?  As far as I can tell on Google maps, the next closest one is at Harvard.
Click to expand...

The Harvard crossing quiet zone is almost complete.

 
Here's a newsletter you might want to check out.
http://www.tustinca.org/documents/TustinLegacyNewsletter.pdf

And here's a rendering of the completed community.  Columbus Square is at the very top.

312455_268511503172468_140331142657172_960079_1014194034_n.jpg

 
I live in VOC near the edinger , the "quiet zone" on redhill has really cut down on the honking, but occasionally you would hear one or two.  If the house is quiet enuff I can hear the train go by or if i have the window open, but its nothing that bothers me that much.  Maybe i have been there too long and those excess noise gets "zoned" out.  Where Augusta sits, i doubt you can feel the train rumble by, even where I am I dont. 



 
@test:

That rendering looks crowded... traffic is already bad enough on Red Hill and Barranca... just wait until this gets built out... it will be worse than Sand Canyon.  :P
 
irvinehomeowner said:
@test:

That rendering looks crowded... traffic is already bad enough on Red Hill and Barranca... just wait until this gets built out... it will be worse than Sand Canyon.  :P
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The whole point of living there is you'll never need to drive on Red Hill or Barranca.  :P

Only 2,000 more housing units are allowed anyway, not like the 50,000 around Sand Canyon.  :P :P
 
Thanks, everyone, for your insight.  My wife and I packed up a picnic lunch and spent a few hours at the park next to Augusta.  We had no noise or vibration issues at all; the train passed by twice and sounded the horn, which we could barely hear while outside (in fact, my wife missed it the first time and we both almost missed it the second time).  It does make sense that the number of houses between Edinger and the Augusta development would dampen the noise by quite a bit.  There were planes in the distance but frankly the cars driving down the street were far louder and more numerous.  All in all, we had a good feel of the place.

@irvinehomeowner: that's a good point about traffic; I remember Red Hill traffic from years past.  I do like the fact that you can (when it gets built out) exit from the neighborhood through quite a few streets, including exits out onto Redhill, Jamboree, Edinger and Barranca.  We stopped by to look at Laguna Altura and were trying to do the math on what a pain it would be to have however many homes they have in there all come out of basically one gate.  There is another entrance off to the side but it seems that the brunt of the traffic coming and going during peak times would clog that single gate up quite a bit.

As was mentioned earlier taxes are going to be around $13,000/year (~1.8%), but that doesn't seem completely out of range of other new developments in the vicinity.  For me, we would be getting quite a bit more house per dollar than some of the smaller VoI places we were looking at.
 
@ocfoilist:

There are other factors you should look into... for the money, Augusta is priced okay... but the other costs make it almost on par with Irvine pricing.

And not to burst test's "I love Tustin Legacy" bubble... you really need to check the disclosures on land toxicity since it is on a former air base. We were very close to buying in VoC but after reading the disclosures regarding planting fruit trees etc... it kind of turned us off. For many people, it's not a big deal, but that all depends on what you are concerned about.
 
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