The Meadows, Lake Forest by Toll Brothers

[CalBears96]

$7-$10k per month for rent was just a plug in, not an actual figure. If the landlord was to cover their entire nut - loan (if any) taxes, insurance, and HOA dues, $7k would be pretty close. A $1.5m home with 30% down and a mortgage rate of 5.5% comes about to $7,900 PITIHOA. Yes, these speculators often paid cash, but there are some speculators that finance as well.

The point is, you're NOT getting $7k-$10k a month for rent. That is the reason I responded to CogNeuroSci in another thread that I would not be keeping my Bluffs home if/when I buy the Cielo home. The rent won't cover PITIHOA, which comes out to about $7500 a month. And this was with 2.875% rate.

 

[sgip]

Sounds like the rental market will not bear charging tenants enough to meet PITIHOA. If area rents then in the Meadows are around $5k or so per month, this must be due to the number of all cash investors/speculators who are simply covering TIHOA and not able to efficiently recoup their down payment.

 

[ThirtySomethingWEquity]

Sounds like the rental market will not bear charging tenants enough to meet PITIHOA. If area rents then in the Meadows are around $5k or so per month, this must be due to the number of all cash investors/speculators who are simply covering TIHOA and not able to efficiently recoup their down payment.

Plenty bought way lower then what they are now. At one point Evergreen started at 1.5m.

 

[CalBears96]

Plenty bought way lower then what they are now. At one point Evergreen started at 1.5m.

Evergreen was listed at $1.5M before TB opened interest list, but when TB actually opened interest list, it bumped up to $1.7M already.

 

[sleepy5136]

Evergreen was listed at $1.5M before TB opened interest list, but when TB actually opened interest list, it bumped up to $1.7M already.

Calbears is correct. I've seen some homes at around 1.65m+. It might have been Magnolias. But given their lot size and the location, Evergreens at 1.6m is market price I feel and not below/above market.

 

[bones]

If true, Evergreen going for $5k rent is a steal.

 

[CogNeuroSci]

El Toro High is also a sports powerhouse. A smart Asian kid with 4 years of sports and high gpa/scores from ETHS will likely do better in admissions than a comparable Irvine USD grad.

Four years of sports together either high GPA won't do a thing for an Asian kid at El Toro HS vs at an IUSD HS.

 

[OCtoSV]

au contraire - have you sent a kid to college recently? Standing out amongst your peers is the key especially for an Asian in a sea of Asians which is the world I live in up here, especially if the last name is Asian/Indian.

 

[anteaterMD]

Four years of sports together either high GPA won't do a thing for an Asian kid at El Toro HS vs at an IUSD HS.

I think what he/she means to say is that a high-achieving Asian HS student in another school district with a well-rounded CV is likely to stand out more to a college admissions committee than a similar HS student with the same credentials who graduated in IUSD.

Sad to say this but I get the feeling that this is true. Having been on the other side, both medical school and residency admission committees tend to have a bias towards diversification once an arbitrary threshold is met for interviewing/accepting a certain amount of applicants from the same school/program. Interestingly, this logic doesn’t apply to certain schools if they have prestige behind their name.

IUSD will do ok in getting over the UC threshold.
Further than that (eg, Stanford, Ivy, MIT), it’s anyone’s guess.

Side note: look up AMCAS GPA matriculant data and stratify the data by race. On average, Asians would need a higher GPA to be accepted vs other cohorts.

 

[bones]

Everyone keeps saying that but Lake Forest Asian and Irvine Asian are the same in the eyes of elite colleges (if that's what we're talking about here). There is not some big difference because you chose to "rough" it at SVUSD schools for 12 years. This is not the "hack" everyone makes it out to be.

 

[anteaterMD]

Everyone keeps saying that but Lake Forest Asian and Irvine Asian are the same in the eyes of elite colleges (if that's what we're talking about here). There is not some big difference because you chose to "rough" it at SVUSD schools for 12 years. This is not the "hack" everyone makes it out to be.

I'm referring to the nature of admissions committees perceiving certain applicants as a big fish in a smaller pool vs a big fish in a bigger pool.

 

[OCtoSV]

I'm referring to the nature of admissions committees perceiving certain applicants as a big fish in a smaller pool vs a big fish in a bigger pool.

Schools have rough quotas for area high schools. Go ask parents at Sage Hill whether they feel it was worth it after the schools many of their kids got into vs where they thought they should have been admitted based on their CV.

In our case a very prestigious public high school very well known especially to UC and USC helped our kid gain admission to the CS program at a mid-upper tier Big 10 with a sub-3.5 gpa with high test scores and 4 years of athletics, with an aforementioned cultural last name.

 

[bones]

I'm referring to the nature of admissions committees perceiving certain applicants as a big fish in a smaller pool vs a big fish in a bigger pool.

Sorry I may have misread - I think we agree.

 

[anteaterMD]

au contraire - have you sent a kid to college recently? Standing out amongst your peers is the key especially for an Asian in a sea of Asians which is the world I live in up here, especially if the last name is Asian/Indian.

Specifying "Asian/Indian" reminds me of this comedy sketch:

 

[CalBears96]

If true, Evergreen going for $5k rent is a steal.

I would say Evergreen should be able to get $6k a month easily.

 

[anteaterMD]

I would say Evergreen should be able to get $6k a month easily.

Agreed: it would be a steal at that price point.

Currently, there is a Parklands model listed at rent for $6k/mo currently. Based off this, it would seem reasonable to price Evergreen at $7-8k/mo.

 

[usctrojancpa]

Agreed: it would be a steal at that price point.

Currently, there is a Parklands model listed at rent for $6k/mo currently. Based off this, it would seem reasonable to price Evergreen at $7-8k/mo.

Agreed, $2+ per square foot for a rental is very reasonable.

 

[ratchet_resident]

We're currently finalizing the decision on relocating from the Bay Area back to OC and have been looking at Fresco @ EW. With the last phase pricing (+$30K), my wife is a bit hesitant as it'll be close to $2M for a <3K sq. ft. house that she doesn't particularly love.

I hadn't considered LF before but just saw The Meadows today and am now intrigued. I don't know much about LF, but what do you all think of it compared to Irvine (and EW specifically)? Good school district is a must, but it seems like the LF schools are quite a bit lower in rank compared to Irvine...is it not that big of a difference in reality? For what it's worth, we have a newborn so it's going to be awhile before she's in school, but it's hard to shake the notion of needing to buy in an area with top schools.

The Meadows (Evergreen) is a lot more attractive to my wife since we're currently in a 3200 sq. ft. TB home here in the Bay so she won't see it as a 'downgrade' (her words, not mine), not to mention the price difference is massive, especially since the market is so high.

One thing to note, however, is that I would need to commute to LA (Playa Vista) 3x a week. I already sucked it up that my commute is going to suck no matter what since there aren't many viable options in LA and we'd prefer to live close to Irvine near family, but am I crazy for potentially looking even further south? The commute from LF would be ~60 miles one way. Not sure how true traffic conditions right now are compared to non-pandemic times, but it looks to be about a 1 hour 15 minute drive, surprisingly - only 5 minutes more than from EW.

The schools really do not have that big of a difference in reality. If anything, being in Lake Forest might even be better for your child as the competition is much less intense and it might allow her to stand out among her class. Also, in my opinion, buying anything in Eastwood is a huge ripoff. Is there a specific reason you're looking at EW? I'd suggest Portola Springs or even GP neighborhoods before Eastwood.

 

[ratchet_resident]

The schools really do not have that big of a difference in reality. If anything, being in Lake Forest might even be better for your child as the competition is much less intense and it might allow her to stand out among her class. Also, in my opinion, buying anything in Eastwood is a huge ripoff. Is there a specific reason you're looking at EW? I'd suggest Portola Springs or even GP neighborhoods before Eastwood.

But at the end of the day everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I don't want this to sound like I'm a staunch defender of LF schools over Irvine: I'm really not.

 

[CalBears96]

The schools really do not have that big of a difference in reality. If anything, being in Lake Forest might even be better for your child as the competition is much less intense and it might allow her to stand out among her class. Also, in my opinion, buying anything in Eastwood is a huge ripoff. Is there a specific reason you're looking at EW? I'd suggest Portola Springs or even GP neighborhoods before Eastwood.

Why do you even recommend GP? MR is ridiculous and most of them, other than Altair, are condos.

As for school, personally, I would also prefer my son to go to a school where competition is less intense (but not MUCH less). I actually wouldn't want him to go to IUSD.