The Loft....

[irvinehomeowner]

So if you're looking for Ann Taylor clothing or Hawaiian food... you clicked on the wrong topic.

I've noticed in some of the latest TIC offerings (Primrose and Casero), they've started putting in loft spaces on the second floor. Why didn't they do that with more of the 2010 Collection homes?

Since you're basically removing living spaces from the 1st floor with those Great Room executions (Cali Room aside), it's a great idea to have an upstairs living space where the kids can cause havoc without ruining the ambiance of your "adult entertainment area" (uhh... maybe I should have said "guest entertainment area"). In addition, it helps turn the master bedroom back into a bedroom rather than the "bounce house with a TV" room.

They don't have to lug toys up and down the stairs... and will be more apt to put them away since they are closer to their rooms. Or they can just leave them there since guests will be downstairs unaware of the Legos/Barbies/Transformers/ZhuZhuPets that have taken over the loft. And you can use it as a media room, an office space or even a place to fold clothes if you have that all-important upstairs laundry.

A loft or upstairs multi-purpose room has moved into one of my must-have features (along with 3CWG and upstairs laundry w/ sink)... do you think it's a good feature or not?

 

[blitzjs]

The lofts in Casero are a nice touch, especially the third floor on Casero 3.  Its large enough where my girlfriend and I can both use it as an office space and have my gaming setup present as well.  I'd glady give up master bedroom and master closet space in Casero 3 to move the pantry back into the kitchen and have a larger dining room. 

The problem I have with some of the lofts is that at a certain point you reach critical mass when it comes to the size of certain spaces.  If you steal a bit here and steal a bit there from other spaces, they become too small to use and the loft itself sometimes is too small to be useful (I've seen some a few years back in the IE that were 8x8 ish). 

 

[qwerty]

I used to think that i would rather have a bedroom (more resale value) instead of a loft but my wife convinced the the second floor feels more open vs just a long hallway with bedrooms. So she has made me a believer the lofts. Van Daele's Sevilla in PS will also have a loft if i remember correctly.

 

[blitzjs]

Are you thinking of the tech space?  Those are generally too small to be used as a real desk area, unless its in/adjacent to the kitchen where its usually listed as a home management center. 

 

[Talyssa]

we LOVE the idea of a loft - we use our second smaller bedroom as our computer room right now and we'd rather have that open space - plus we could set our desk up differently so we coudl both dual monitor.

I do wonder if it is harder to keep cool though - i notice sometimes when i go up to lofts they don't benefit from AC the way closed rooms do.  With 2 gaming pcs running our 'office' gets hot.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I used to think that i would rather have a bedroom (more resale value) instead of a loft but my wife convinced the the second floor feels more open vs just a long hallway with bedrooms. So she has made me a believer the lofts. Van Daele's Sevilla in PS will also have a loft if i remember correctly.

Sadly... Van Daele is not a loft believer... Sevilla will not have lofts.

It would be nice if they give you the option... if you want the loft or the bedroom/den. But maybe some plans probably can't support an extra room (Irvine Parking Code!).

And like your wife says... it does make the 2nd floor more open. I noticed this quite a bit when I first toured Primrose... and even more so in Casero.

 

[qwerty]

You

I used to think that i would rather have a bedroom (more resale value) instead of a loft but my wife convinced the the second floor feels more open vs just a long hallway with bedrooms. So she has made me a believer the lofts. Van Daele's Sevilla in PS will also have a loft if i remember correctly.

Sadly... Van Daele is not a loft believer... Sevilla will not have lofts.

It would be nice if they give you the option... if you want the loft or the bedroom/den. But maybe some plans probably can't support an extra room (Irvine Parking Code!).

And like your wife says... it does make the 2nd floor more open. I noticed this quite a bit when I first toured Primrose... and even more so in Casero.

You are right, my bad. I was thinking of KB's Ironwood, but that is a duplex.

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

The loft will get much more use than a living room or a dining room in my household.

We got the Sonoma plan 3 and the loft was a big selling point for us.  It's big enough to fit TV, wii, and any other mess my kids like to leave around. 

 

[irvinehomeowner]

The loft will get much more use than a living room or a dining room in my household.

We got the Sonoma plan 3 and the loft was a big selling point for us.

For the square footage they had... all of the Sonoma plans should have had a loft.

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

The loft will get much more use than a living room or a dining room in my household.

We got the Sonoma plan 3 and the loft was a big selling point for us.

For the square footage they had... all of the Sonoma plans should have had a loft.

My first choice would have been Sonoma plan 2 (I like the downstairs better) with 4 bedrooms and loft.  But, that's not offered so I picked Plan 3.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

See... even Irvine2Irvine loves Hawaiian food.

 

[iacrenter]

2nd floor loft would be a big plus for me. Anyone with young kids know, designating a play room out of sight of guests would be a plus. More builders should offer this as an option vs additional BD / bonus room on 2nd level. Even without kids, your loft can act as a flex space--office, media room, library, etc...

 

[nytransplant]

The loft is what made the modified Carmel plan 2 the best plan (in the original phase, not the new pahse b/c that flex room is just in a bad place)

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

The loft is what made the modified Carmel plan 2 the best plan (in the original phase, not the new pahse b/c that flex room is just in a bad place)

I like the Carmel I plan 2 with bonus room.  The bonus room was larger and was separated from all the bedrooms.  I seriously thought about it, but decided to save $100K and went with Sonoma 3. 

 

[sonoma]

The loft is what made the modified Carmel plan 2 the best plan (in the original phase, not the new pahse b/c that flex room is just in a bad place)

I like the Carmel I plan 2 with bonus room.  The bonus room was larger and was separated from all the bedrooms.  I seriously thought about it, but decided to save $100K and went with Sonoma 3.

Any regrets?  Have you moved in yet? 

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

I like the Carmel I plan 2 with bonus room.  The bonus room was larger and was separated from all the bedrooms.  I seriously thought about it, but decided to save $100K and went with Sonoma 3.

Any regrets?  Have you moved in yet?

I have not moved in yet.  And no regrets so far, especially now that I locked in my loan at $417K, which is the limit for standard conforming rate.  I could not have done that if I bought Carmel plan 2, and would have end up with higher interest rate.  Other than one extra bathroom and nicer appliances, Carmel I plan 2 with conservatory and bonus room seem like an enlarged version of Sonoma plan 3.  Each room was just a little bit larger and has more hallways.  I also prefered having California room and seating area in Master shower at Sonoma.

 

[sonoma]

I have not moved in yet.  And no regrets so far, especially now that I locked in my loan at $417K, which is the limit for standard conforming rate.  I could not have done that if I bought Carmel plan 2, and would have end up with higher interest rate.  Other than one extra bathroom and nicer appliances, Carmel I plan 2 with conservatory and bonus room seem like an enlarged version of Sonoma plan 3.  Each room was just a little bit larger and has more hallways.  I also prefered having California room and seating area in Master shower at Sonoma.

I'm pretty impressed with how the Sonoma neighborhood turned out.  I think you made the right choice.

We decided with Floorplan 3 as well.  We like the added loft space that plan 2 couldn't give us.  If we didn't get Sonoma, we'd probably go for Carmel II plan 2. 

I haven't heard any negative about the Sonoma project so far.  They been pretty much on time with their proposaled deadlines, except for Phase 6.  They said it was due to weather problems affecting their suppliers.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

And no regrets so far, especially now that I locked in my loan at $417K, which is the limit for standard conforming rate.

Dang! You're a baller like MikeIrvine. Are you an FCB? (You don't have to answer that... source of down payment funds can be a sensitive issue)

 

[Irvine2Irvine]

And no regrets so far, especially now that I locked in my loan at $417K, which is the limit for standard conforming rate.

Dang! You're a baller like MikeIrvine. Are you an FCB? (You don't have to answer that... source of down payment funds can be a sensitive issue)

No, I am not an FCB.  I am a person with "old money"
I bought my first house in Irvine 15 years ago.  The priced tripled during that time.  I sold the house and all my proceeds went to Sonoma as down payment.  Without that, there's no way I could have bought Sonoma.  To me, Sonoma house is basically a $500K house with 20% down.
Only thing that sucks is that my property tax went from $2,600 to $14,000 (including mello roos). 
Oooh, it hurts to say that!!

 

[irvinehomeowner]

That was my real guess... equity bubble money.

Did you sell your house recently or did you sell at the height and rent until now? (again... if too personal you can ignore)

The property tax thing is a big hit... I remember when my friends were buying homes in that range and we couldn't imagine paying a tax bill that was basically a car (albeit a cheap one) every year... until we started doing it.