[quote author="hs_teacher" date=1210130287]If you think Columbus Square is such a bad area, why don't you try buying a home there? I'm pretty sure that the people living there right now are more likely to be higher income than the average Irvine resident. And yes, zip code matters a lot.</blockquote>
like i said, you can NOT compare a resident living in the BEST part of tustin with the AVERAGE irvine resident. it's like someone taking the demographic data from 91436 (part of encino where median income is over 100k) and saying encino is a much nicer town than irvine.
geez, the tustin VOC napoleonic complex is really in full effect... the defensiveness people get over tustin is ridiculous. i'm not trying to say that the area isn't affluent or that it sucks. it's far nicer than many of parts of irvine. but aside from that, you still have to compare apples to apples.
a better comp for 92782 north of the mktplace (tustin ranch) would be quail hill and shady canyon. a comparable $700-900k tract home in that neighborhood go for 800-1000k in quail hill. the same $2.5M customs in tustin ranch estates built in shady canyon would go for $4-5M.
a better comp for 92782 south of the mktplace (VOC) would be north park or northwood II. the market tells us everything we need to know about tustin vs irvine. if they're really the same (or better as you claim than Irvine) go ahead and buy a plan 3 gables and try listing it at prices of similar 3000 sq ft homes in NP, NWII, QH, TR, or even woodbury.