San Mateo 3 or San Remo 1?

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gaogi said:
FYI, my kitchen island had pre-plumbing for the fridge, so it was easy to get the RO system hooked up to the fridge's water supply.
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How did you get it pre-plumbing? Hire a contractor ?
 
changm55 said:
thats good to hear... i only looked briefly into the schools since it wasnt my primary concern so all i saw was like national ranked #8 university high went to #33 and i was like, oh wellz... haha

i just think this freeway-phobia is a little moot considering the general air we breath from los angeles down to orange county is already like pretty damn bad already... what i am trying to understand is the logic behind why one would pick lets say a home 10 miles away from the freeway in riverside vs a malibu beach home next to the 1... one has "great highway-free air", but in general the air quality is monkeys... while the other has "very bad highway-air" but general air quality is coastal... u see what im trying to get at?

again we are nit picking in my opinion, but its fun to play devils advocate for the sake of the conversation haha
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Maybe some here are pointing out the possible poor air quality at Laguna Altura in an effort to drive prices lower so they can buy it cheaper? I wonder.
 
the prices are a rip off but i knew that going in... but thats to be said for EVERY home IP builds...

me and my architect calculated how much IP would pocket by looking at the permit pricing and appraisal price of my lot of land (u can find all this info off the irvine gov websites if u know what ur looking for)... we calculated the approx cost for labor and materials... and finally included the estimated cut each sales and design center would get...

donald bren makes about 35% MINIMUM of my sticker price... thats pure profit here im talking about... and im still willing to pay for it... thats why i keep saying im a "willing" sucker...

i really dont see IP dropping laguna altura prices... they did it once when economy was really shit and thats after a long tug o war with buyers... the most IP will do is add some dumbass incentive to potential buyers which theyll say its worth like what... 5k or what nots but actually worth 2.5k only...

the whole thing is a scam, but i think as long as ppl know what they are buying, then its ok... willing suckers right? haha... if they dont do their hw and dont know what they are getting, then they are just suckers...

btw if they really are trying to lower prices, they need to step it up a notch... last i checked san remo increased their prices by 2k haha... my sales person told me and im like meh... wtf is 2k...
 
I agree with you, the prices are a complete rip-off to say the least!!! I bought in Cortona because I wanted to buy my way into Irvine for a new construction, for the good of my family. I am a willing sucker! I intend to stay for the long haul. Hopefully the prices will be substantially higher in 15-20 years time when I retire.
 
Or someone who bought in Laguna Altura and constantly trashed other neighborhoods such that the demand for Laguna Altura will improve and help the homes appreciate? I wonder.

jamboreedude said:
changm55 said:
thats good to hear... i only looked briefly into the schools since it wasnt my primary concern so all i saw was like national ranked #8 university high went to #33 and i was like, oh wellz... haha

i just think this freeway-phobia is a little moot considering the general air we breath from los angeles down to orange county is already like pretty damn bad already... what i am trying to understand is the logic behind why one would pick lets say a home 10 miles away from the freeway in riverside vs a malibu beach home next to the 1... one has "great highway-free air", but in general the air quality is monkeys... while the other has "very bad highway-air" but general air quality is coastal... u see what im trying to get at?

again we are nit picking in my opinion, but its fun to play devils advocate for the sake of the conversation haha
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Maybe some here are pointing out the possible poor air quality at Laguna Altura in an effort to drive prices lower so they can buy it cheaper? I wonder.
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The Motor Court Company said:
Or someone who bought in Laguna Altura and constantly trashed other neighborhoods such that the demand for Laguna Altura will improve and help the homes appreciate? I wonder.

jamboreedude said:
changm55 said:
thats good to hear... i only looked briefly into the schools since it wasnt my primary concern so all i saw was like national ranked #8 university high went to #33 and i was like, oh wellz... haha

i just think this freeway-phobia is a little moot considering the general air we breath from los angeles down to orange county is already like pretty damn bad already... what i am trying to understand is the logic behind why one would pick lets say a home 10 miles away from the freeway in riverside vs a malibu beach home next to the 1... one has "great highway-free air", but in general the air quality is monkeys... while the other has "very bad highway-air" but general air quality is coastal... u see what im trying to get at?

again we are nit picking in my opinion, but its fun to play devils advocate for the sake of the conversation haha
Click to expand...

Maybe some here are pointing out the possible poor air quality at Laguna Altura in an effort to drive prices lower so they can buy it cheaper? I wonder.
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Yeah, you can say that. It's self-interest. However, I would take the lesser of two evils.
 
woodbury and stonegate and even portola are good communities... to me they are a value buy... with portola being the most value (u get more land)...

but i strongly believe ppl who buy laguna are not into that "value" buy or most bang for their buck, at least not me nor the ppl i see buying in san remo... THAT is why san marcos is selling much better than san remo cause its below 1m... but cartona is doing much better then san marino in woodbury with both being around or above 1m...

my logic being ppl who tend to buy 1m+ homes arent looking for value man... why buy a 3m dollar home on turtle rock if u can buy 3 else where and rent 2 out??... why buy a m3 when u can get 3 volkswagon?? u see what i am getting at...

so in that sense, laguna altura is not going to vest as fast as woodbury or stonegate in my opinion... laguna will vest only once those "value" buyers start demanding more privacy (which in my opinion is a luxory)... this is the reason i am moving away from los angeles too cause im sick of congestion and people... its also why i see laguna altura as a conservative buy... if the world falls apart, itll rise or tank less then woodbury or stonegate... but when the good times are rolling, it wont rise as much as woodbury or stonegate either because itll only rise when a portion of those "value" buyers start becoming luxory buyers...

if u just drive around and check out the cars ppl drive in both areas ull see that these neighborhoods attract different types of ppl... and its a good thing... irvine in general will vest better then other areas simply because we have high HOA's and mello... after proposition 13 was passed, these hidden taxes is what keeps the flim flam out... other areas like santa monica do other sneaky stuffs to maintain value like "oops eff u, sales tax tmrw will be 10% from now on" and the rest they get off parking or traffic violations...

lol... im not too worried about price appreciation at all... and i look forward to enjoying irvine...

if ur really really really worried cause u put all ur eggs into ur home and its ur nestegg, primary asset, etc etc... if u start a petition to change laguna alturas area code from 92618 to 92603, definitely give me a knock hahaha ill sign it :D
 
I do not see anything luxury regarding Laguna Altura homes, except the price and the sales paper.

Woodbury has luxury - the amenities are nice.
Lambert Ranch has luxury - the floor plans are refreshing.
No luxury in Stonegate.
 
luxory = i dont want to deal with flim flam, period... i want ppl who live around me to be 100% either equally wealthy or more wealthy then me... in fact if i had a choice, id wish i was the poorest in my neighborhood... but i cant afford newport nor laguna beach so touch cookie for me... im stuck with irvine... hahah big fish little poind, small fish big pond... same deal...

could have easily went lambert ranch... but too inland... wind just gets more and more polluted inland (as ive learned it the hard way in los angeles)... so meh, 50-100k extra for these things? worth it to me, but probalby not worth it to others... lol

what bothers me more then air pollution, amenities, wierd wok shape, and all the negatives laguna altura has to offer used to be its proximity away from medium-high density zoned areas... i was actually really happy with laguna altura until they decided to build some crap apartment housing near it (south of the spectrum)... but meh, at least the city of irvine was nice enough to put some green semi-reserve area that "seperates" those riff raff from LA... so im borderline "ok" with that haha...

u can see it here...http://www.ci.irvine.ca.us/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=13672

this is just "now" though... i could always wait a few years for the low density residentials to open up near the great park... then id have to debate my "a mile closer to the coast is a mile more valuable" logic vs "keep out the flim flam" logic... but thats a whole nother story haha

i hope this answers ur question on why i find LA more appealing than the other communities...
 
"Lambert Ranch has luxury - the floor plans are refreshing. "

LR also enjoy landfill breeze. That is very luxury indeed. In the past, people pay to get closer to ocean. Today people pay to get closer to landfill.


The Motor Court Company said:
I do not see anything luxury regarding Laguna Altura homes, except the price and the sales paper.

Woodbury has luxury - the amenities are nice.
Lambert Ranch has luxury - the floor plans are refreshing.
No luxury in Stonegate.
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changm55 said:
kinda lose lose situation :-\

u either live near the source of air pollution (near freeway), or u live near where the pollution accumulates/settles(more inland)... at least in irvine that is... with no other alternative, then the next thing would be how high ur home is elevated to "lift" urself outta the smog...

laguna altura does a fake ass job with trying to elevate the homes a bit and i see it as just cosmetic n not actually functional compared to QH's elevation, but if we wanna nit pick between stonegate and laguna, LA definitely wins... the same cant really be said for portola though since there are some lots that r better elevated than LA (at least from what i remember)... but if u wanna bring portola back into the mix, then again its the source vs where it accumulates argument all over again...

so from what ur criteria, i think i can guess where u live if u have genuine air concerns for ur family... u must live near the coast... either malibu or palos verdes in los angeles county... or in orange county, id guess elevated parts of newport or laguna beach... everything else, ur too close to the source or ur where the smog settles and it gets worse and worse the more inland u go (example being riverside)... CA air in general is one of the worst out of all the states, i shared ur same concerns but i just concluded to myself that im pretty much trying to find some solid shit in a bag of diarrhea...

just look at these air quality indexes... theyre like just borderline "breathable"... its sad i know http://www.homefacts.com/airquality/California/Orange-County/Irvine.htmlhttp://www.homefacts.com/airquality/California/Los-Angeles-County/Los-Angeles.html

haha looking at the numbers, ull see what i mean by irvine has superior air quality to los angeles... its ONE full point above los angeles at 2.2 (out of a 0-10 scale, 0 being barely breathable) HAHHAA oh the premium one has to pay for that ONE full point of better air...
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We're from the east coast (pittsburgh, PA) and I'm surprised to find that Irvine has much better air quality than our home town. I guess we should have nothing to worry about.
 
pittsburgh!? HAHA i went to cmu hahaha...

man i used to hang out at shadyside all the time arnd walnut... hahaha

go steelers :D!!
 
Maybe it is a stupid question, but theoretically the closer to the coast the cooler it should be. However, as what I found from the weather website's historical data, Aliso Viejo, which is closer to the coast is even hotter than north wood area. Does anyone know why? or maybe it is just because of the data not correct?
 
changm55 said:
pittsburgh!? HAHA i went to cmu hahaha...

man i used to hang out at shadyside all the time arnd walnut... hahaha

go steelers :D!!
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hahaha no way!! Small world. We've lived in both Squirrel Hill and Shady Side near Walnut by Giant Eagle market district. We're just happy that there is better boba in Cali than Rose Tea :P

Go STEELERS!!!!
 
lol i used to go to squirrel hill all the time hahahah the boston market and uncles sams... lol their yam fries were good!! :D

god damn rose tea omg... completely forgot about that HAHAHA
 
jd_un said:
Maybe it is a stupid question, but theoretically the closer to the coast the cooler it should be. However, as what I found from the weather website's historical data, Aliso Viejo, which is closer to the coast is even hotter than north wood area. Does anyone know why? or maybe it is just because of the data not correct?
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ur talking about just 1 degree difference right?  the weather on the coast isnt actually too different even if u go up to 15miles inland... what makes the coast cooler is only the ocean wind/breeze... its hotter in irvine and aliso because a lot of our wind is trapped by laguna beachs crystal cove mountain thingie... then after it moves inland it gets trapped by the santa ana mountains...

check this map (the longer the green lines means the stronger the wind, so u can see what i mean when wind hits a mountain, lines become shorter, so less breezy)...
http://www.met.sjsu.edu/~wind/BigLAWind/streaklines_nocache.shtml

laguna altura's wind is mostly from that 133 canyon rd thingie ... so the breeze is already significantly weaker then when it started from laguna beach... just feels like "normal" breeze cause its concentrated since the canyon rd is the only real direct path the air can travel... it sucks, and of course i wish it was more breezier to blow away the freeway fumes, but breeze is better than no breeze right? bleh...

other than that, the 1 degree difference between town/cities is usually a result of what the city is made of... like more roads means its hotter cause the roads absorb the heat from the sun... or like if there is more greenery its also usually cooler or if theres water/lakes cause that reflects the heat away... but by now we are already going into like microweather territory which i have very limited knowledge of...

as with aliso viejo, im not sure... u gotta look at ur topography
 
changm55 said:
just look at these air quality indexes... theyre like just borderline "breathable"... its sad i know http://www.homefacts.com/airquality/California/Orange-County/Irvine.htmlhttp://www.homefacts.com/airquality/California/Los-Angeles-County/Los-Angeles.html

haha looking at the numbers, ull see what i mean by irvine has superior air quality to los angeles... its ONE full point above los angeles at 2.2 (out of a 0-10 scale, 0 being barely breathable) HAHHAA oh the premium one has to pay for that ONE full point of better air...
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Thanks for sharing those links.  I hadn't seen that site before. 
 
jd_un said:
Maybe it is a stupid question, but theoretically the closer to the coast the cooler it should be. However, as what I found from the weather website's historical data, Aliso Viejo, which is closer to the coast is even hotter than north wood area. Does anyone know why? or maybe it is just because of the data not correct?
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Here's an explanation from the IHB forums that I read a few years ago:http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/1232/P50/#54988
Aliso Viejo according to a map is just on the back side of Laguna Beach. The perpendicular distance is very short to the coast line. Here is the problem: the location has no access to Laguna Beach because the terrain is too steep for roads. It is nestle in the base of the hills where air is stagnant and breeze seldom make it over the hills and if it did then it will miss Aliso at the base. As a result, it is damn hot! and it is way hotter than Irvine. House prices according to my earlier post is relative to temperature difference from the coast. Due to the stagnant air and under a pressure zone there is no prevailing wind. Temperature is 6-7 degree higher than the coast.
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