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At your price point you are limited to attached homes. The best form of attachment is just a duplex Many builders are tricky and never show the brochure floor plans side by side so you don't really know what is next to what. But you can cut the different floor plans out and tape them up together to check the adjacencies.

The ideal plans are when the bedrooms are positioned on the outside walls not sharing a common wall. A good architect would put utilities like bathrooms, closets, stairs, laundry rooms kitchen walls and hallway along the shared common wall. The most clever one I have seen is a new California Pacific Home tract being built near Nightmist and Sand Canyon in CV. All units have windows on all 3 sides and at the bedroom level no shared wall with the neighbors.

Always avoid a carriage unit above all your neighbors garages. Garage noise and vibration will destroy your quality of life.

If I were you I would wait for the Cal Pac tract to open this fall. The location may be too close to the freeway. To evaluate the freeway impact drive to a built neighborhood with identical proximity condition to check out noise and pollution during different times of the day. Along Culver near the Fwy 5 northbound on ramp there are 2 existing neighborhoods built around 14 years ago, Lyon's Tamarisk and Cal Pac's Merricourt.
 
thatOSguy said:
irvinehomeshopper said:
At your price point you are limited to attached homes. The best form of attachment is just a duplex.
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We made the mistake in the past of discounting all attached product; many do and skip the handful of thoughtfully designed attached products that are set up as you described.

That said, the OP seems to be shopping for a structure rather than a neighborhood.

You'll notice a huge difference between new construction like Cypress Village vs some of the existing resale nabes. We nearly bought in CV (pre-approved @ Marigold or Magnolia) but ultimately passed because:

1) Very high density. There is and will be a parking problem in CV. Cars will perennially be littered on the streets; a lack of driveways will do that. Many folks use their garages for storage so the street becomes their driveway. You can get a taste of this by driving Woodbury and imagine that intensified a few clicks.

2) Boring. Much of the architecture looks the same in CV, and the common areas felt uninspired to us. There's a stark lack of variation in the landscaping. Add the density in #1 and the sameness is intensified.

3) No executive homes. CV tops out with Mulberry; that's considered a midrange home in many Irvine villages. We wanted a demographic mix that includes both ends of the economic spectrum, plus the ability to move up over time without getting topped out.

4) No fireplaces! It's a silly thing that we didn't realize was important until we walked the homes in CV, most of which lack them.

All that said, "new" is attractive and CV is expertly designed (albeit for high density). I like the Central Park-esque concept with the green areas in the center. There aren't integrated trails like many other communities -- instead, JOST wraps around CV on the perimeter and the 'trails' are merely sidewalks.

You can find bargains in the resale market and negotiate, plus if you or your boyfriend are handy, create some sweat equity. Resale homes generally have lower mello-roos and HOA fees, too. As an example, say there is a .5% spread between most new homes and resale homes because of Mello Roos (not uncommon); at $600k, that's $250/month. Your $600k will go much further and your monthly payments will be lower. Resale neighborhoods are also less of a risk value-wise as they have an established track record and reputation. At this point, it's not clear how appealing CV will be for resale buyers.

I'd suggest driving Quail Hill, Northpark, Oak Creek, Woodbridge and Northwood. If any of these looks interesting, get out and walk / bike them. Zero in on a few neighborhoods and then start bidding. Expect the process to take months -- because buying a home is a long term decision.
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Thanks for the advice. I would agree that our initial mistake was looking for a model we liked rather than honing in on a neighborhood/location first. It made us overlook things that became deal breakers later on (I personally did like CV for the most part had it not been for the proximity to the freeway).

I'll take a look at the locations you mentioned. I know I've seen some resells in each of those places but just a matter of looking into the neighborhood. I noticed you didn't list out Woodbury or Stonegate. Any comments on those?



 
thatOSguy said:
MsHouseHunter said:
I'll take a look at the locations you mentioned. I know I've seen some resells in each of those places but just a matter of looking into the neighborhood. I noticed you didn't list out Woodbury or Stonegate. Any comments on those?
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Stonegate is not as diverse as we prefer; there is a very heavy concentration of Asians. The product at our pricepoint (Saratoga) also didn't speak to us.

We used to live in Woodbury; it's my wife's preferred village. Among a lot of great qualities, the MR are rather high (close to 2%!!!1! total property tax) and some areas of WB skew high density. In the end, Northpark won us over with its location, design, connectivity and range of housing. If I were to go on the other side of the 5, I'd do Quail Hill or Turtle Rock.
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I like NP too for reasons you've mentioned. But anything you don't like? Cons, whether real or perceived?
 
I hope you bought Cambria in Northpark!

thatOSguy said:
MsHouseHunter said:
I'll take a look at the locations you mentioned. I know I've seen some resells in each of those places but just a matter of looking into the neighborhood. I noticed you didn't list out Woodbury or Stonegate. Any comments on those?
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Stonegate is not as diverse as we prefer; there is a very heavy concentration of Asians. The product at our pricepoint (Saratoga) also didn't speak to us.

We used to live in Woodbury; it's my wife's preferred village. Among a lot of great qualities, the MR are rather high (close to 2%!!!1! total property tax) and some areas of WB skew high density. In the end, Northpark won us over with its location, design, connectivity and range of housing. If I were to go on the other side of the 5, I'd do Quail Hill or Turtle Rock.
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Along the bike trail adjacent to the flood channel are multiple openings into Northpark. These openings have no gates so it is not 100% gate protected? Pedestrians can enter into Northpark via all 3 guard stations during the day before 10pm without permission. The guards are not allowed to ask.

thatOSguy said:
Pluto3D said:
I like NP too for reasons you've mentioned. But anything you don't like? Cons, whether real or perceived?
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The community straddles the 261. Fortunately it is not heavily travelled -- in fact, looks worse on a map but in reality has fewer cars than say Irvine Blvd or Culver. The homes were built 1999-2003; many are in need of an upgrade. TUSD branding is still a factor despite the school quality trumping most of IUSD. No views. North of the 5, so warmer than the villages that are closer to the 405. Nexus more with TRanch than typical Irvine.

Outside of that, hard to find a lot of fault with NP.
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thatOSguy said:
MsHouseHunter said:
Me and my boyfriend are looking for our first home,

I've been looking through the forums for quite some time and finally decided to see if I could garner any advice from you kind folks :)
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Personally, I'd avoid buying property until there's a marriage. It's really sticky later on. Outside of that, CV's Jade Court has no freeway noise or look for resale. Lots of resale options in your price range.
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What do you think about Jade Court's potential when reselling in a few years? When I walk around the Jade Court area, the noise from the freeway is still somewhat loud though that might change as more houses are built.  This isn't a major issue for us since its a sacrifice given the detached condo uniqueness but we are just concerned regarding its value going forward.

On a side note, are there similar homes in the Northpark area?
 
eyephone said:
Msh - you should take a look at Luna (ps). It's in your price range.
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We have checked it out actually. Unfortunately we couldn't look past the landfill being close, as irrational as that may sound given the lack of smell/sight of it.
 
Would this comfort you that many people bought Lambert Ranch next door for 4x the price of Luna and there is a drainage pipe that spill overflow water routed via under the toll road that originate from the brim of the landfill?
MsHouseHunter said:
eyephone said:
Msh - you should take a look at Luna (ps). It's in your price range.
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We have checked it out actually. Unfortunately we couldn't look past the landfill being close, as irrational as that may sound given the lack of smell/sight of it.
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Unfortunately no :( .. its all mental but I've ruled out Portola.

I actually like the floor plans and location overall better with Jade Court though compared to Luna. What are your thoughts though regarding Jade Court's value moving forward despite its proximity to the freeway?

irvinehomeshopper said:
Would this comfort you that many people bought Lambert Ranch next door for 4x the price of Luna and there is a drainage pipe that spill overflow water routed via under the toll road that originate from the brim of the landfill?
MsHouseHunter said:
eyephone said:
Msh - you should take a look at Luna (ps). It's in your price range.
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We have checked it out actually. Unfortunately we couldn't look past the landfill being close, as irrational as that may sound given the lack of smell/sight of it.
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