i rent/live in harveston. My wife and I really like it. fo rour needs it is perfect. I work 5 min away – so the commute is great. 🙂 we hav small kids, so the parks, the lake, pool/spa facilities are very nice. while some people here on piggington have scoffed at the lake and called it a “pond” – i personally like it a lot. it’s very peaceful, relaxing – and it’s a nice place to take an evening walk at with the kids. we’ve lived there almost a year, and we still take a walk around the lake at least once or twice a week. out of many of the neighborhoods in temecula – we like Harveston a LOT. it’s nto the most pricey or upscale area – but it’s very nice.
as to the DR horton properties discussed in this thread – one caveat I would say about that area – and i can’t say why…as the prices seem similar to harveston and other areas further south – when I have driven many of the neighborhoods that are in that area – right near french valley/winchester – in general the neighborhoods do not feel as nice. the yards tend to have a more neglected look to them. I see a lot of *this* type of house:
big giant lifted 4×4 in the driveway – garage door (3-4 car garage) is open and you can see 2 jetskis, 3 motorcycles, and a boat all jammed into the garage. There may be an RV on the side of the house. theer is some blond bimbo wife in the driveway with her fake tits washing the hummer….and their lawn is brown/dead and weeds are piling up all over the yard.
the house next door has 4 beater cars stacked up in teh driveway – along with the dead lawn/weeds.
it seems like you find more of the people who blew every cent on their toys – and let their house go down the drain – and you see the 3-4 families who all pile into onc ehouse to afford the payment.
i see MUCH MUCH less of any of that in harveston. now harveston does have a condo development and an apartmetn complex… but the housing areas in general are more well kept. the hoas maintain common areas, and peole who let their yard go will get fined and hounded by the association. some people hate HOAs like that – i lke them. i don’t want my neighbor to decide to let the yard go to crap while he spends every weekend drinking beer on his boat… i like my neighborhood to look nice.
as to pricing – i have noticed some of the newer areas being priced a bit lower. prescott is one area – but it’s outside of the main harveston area. i drove through it and the houses are even more crammed in that the original harveston area – and you are NOT walking distance to any of the amenities . i personally did not like prescott…. there are a couple areas being build on the west end by meritage? one was cheaper/smaller…i dind’t caer for them. they were 1600-2000 sq ft homes, but they are two stories and they had that cramped feel. to me, 1600sq ft in a two story feels small…the footprint on the ground is tiny and you feel it. the family room felt claustrophobic.
the other property meritage is selling was larger – but more $$. i want to say mid to high 400s. closer to 500s. all fo them were two stories – which I hate.
if you want aone story – you’re in trouble. 90% of what they have built in tem/murr is a two story. in harveston – there are probably like 50 one stories out of about 500 homes.. seriously… hard to find.
overall – harveston is a nice spot. if you commute to SD – then you might be better seved to look further south..but if you live/work locally – harveston is a great area. to me, if you have af amily/kids – harveston is a nice place to live.
where will pricing on this stuff go? hard to say. i personally don’t thnk temecula is going to go down the drain liek the other piggington peple here think. i think we have mor eprice drops in store…but i think it will go down slower…over time…so that the actual drops don’t look that big…but if you look at it over time, and take into account inflation, it will actually be larger than you see. i’m not a RE pro..so don’t take my word for it, that’s just what i think based on all the info i’ve absorbed.
i see prices dropping another 5-10%/year…maybe for 2-3 yers…then either going flat or going back up.
figure historically, prices should go up 3-5% /year max. the bubble blew that away… and stuff will drop down until it finally comes back in line with that.
so if a $500k house should have been selling for $250k in 2002…and you factor in another 3-5%/year….from 2002 to 2007, you wind up with these houses in the low 300s.
that’s what i think. so all these homes taht are listing for 450-500…expect them to bottom out at 300-325…
if all of harveston fell to 200k…llike the doom and gloomers say – you will see people walk away from their homes in MASS and we will go into a depression. there was so much growth in temecula since the boom..there are NOT many people who can just say “oh i’m 200k upside down, i’ll just ride it out”. even the smart people will do the numbers and realize it makes sense to just bail on the mortrgage. and go into foreclosure to avoid a 200k loss.
if the drop is 50-100k…and prices are only dropping small amoutns year over year…they can reationalize sitting tight.
if someone bought in 2004 for $500k and in two years the house is wroth $200k…they will walk. what idiot would stay and pay? i’ll tell you what they will do – they will find their dream hosue..that used to be 800k that is now only 350k…and they will buy it…they’ll lie through their teeth on loan apps to say the existing house is rented..at enogh to cover the mortgage..and the second they clsoe on th new house they will let the old one go into foreclosure..and not care about their credit as they figure they bougth their dream house…
if stuff falls that badly – what will stop thep eople who had no problem taking our ARMS/neg ams…from doing the same toxic/loan fraud crap all over again to “upgrade” to their new dream house.. ???
but i saw if you can get that house you like in harveston in the range of 300-325 you are safe. pay 450-500 and you will be upside down in a year or two
