I have. In fact, I have done all kinds of different comparisons: price/sf for lot, house, build quality, bedrooms, size of garage, amenities/upgrades/finishes etc, schools, angle vs sun, attractiveness of neighbors, you name it. It is the nerd in me.
I just picked $/sf for size as a convenient way to compare these homes. It is very hard to compare homes in different neighborhoods in terms of price, let alone towns. It is easier to compare FBR homes to other FBR homes or Cielo to Cielo etc in terms of price.
As for quality, that is much easier to do. I have referred to a house up here that is over 6,000sf and under $5m, which makes it very very cheap for the size as that price usually gets you 4,000-5,000sf and that size usually costs over $6m-$8m due to >5k sf being so rare here. But the build quality of the house is very low, lot very odd shapped, location horrible (on top of a major freeway, literally), and design a boring box.
Homes in Cielo also vary a bit in build quality. The huge one above is not horrible build quality and design, but it is lower than any other house I have seen there and some have outstanding build quality. Santaluz seems to have very high build quality. FBR, though older also has very high build quality. The covenant seems to vary quite a bit as well. And I am speaking of build quality, not finishes (ie. fully loaded vs. spartin).
The lot sizes of the homes I listed above are generally around 1-2 acres, except for Los Altos, where they run .25-.5 acres. Indeed, homes in Meadows Del Mar in CV are about as expensive as RSF and Santaluz in $/sf or more so, but the lots are .5 acres or less for the most part. What you loose in lot size, you gain in commute and other conveniences.
Alas, I prefer that large lot for privacy. My current lot is a whopping 4,000sf with a 2,600sf 4br house on it. Not only can I see my neighbor’s house, I can hear him breathing, burping, sneezing, an snoring. At least it is a corner lot and he is a good neighbor, but I want and need as far away from that as possible.
And at 18 yrs old, it is considered a newer home up here. Go figure. It is about the exact kind of house and neighborhood you would find in some older parts of CV. In fact, I bought it while I lived in CV and did so because it was the only neighborhood up here that made me feel like I was still in CV.
