Are you trying to decide on Morgan Hill vs. other developments or specifically Standard Pacific’s Estates tract vs. other tracts in Morgan Hill?
I currently live in Morgan Hill, and two others who are infrequent posters now but were active in the past (TemekuT and Bearvine) both actually know more than I and did influence my decision three years ago. If you search for “morgan” in the search box on this site yo can read a lot of threads specifically dedicated to morgan or the differences between the tracts. I’ve lived in Redhawk for 9 years and will always love it. I have immediate family there and other family in Wolf Creek and they love it there. It’s just preference, benefits and cost. Redhawk has the lowest taxes of the three (about 1% +1k/yr), the lowest hoa ($35) but other than pretty landscaping and the waterfall, no clubhouse or pool. Wolf is on flat land and is close to stuff like mentioned above, but that sports park is one of the nicest in the country, all three levels of school are a walk away, soon to be some stores, some people dig that, plus it’s new. It has the middle level of HOA (I’m not exactly sure but maybe $75) and has a pool and clubhouse and stuff. The taxes are about 1% + 1800 or 2k/ yr. Morgan has a clubhouse nicer than most Marriots, multiple tennis courts, clubhouse that is wedding quality, pool tables, foosball, air hockey, kids art rooms and full schedules, yoga classes, and on and on. It’s always staffed, they let you check out basketballs, tennis rackets, even the pool floating noodle things. You don’t need to haul stuff there. fingerprint biometrics to enter, full gym and a pool that is epic and never crowded. But you pay, taxes are 1% +3k/yr and $110 for HOA. Other than the elementary school, walking to the middle school is a bear because while it’s only a mile, it’s all up hill getting home. The high school is a difficult hilly bike ride at best. It’s also more expensive, the view lots usually have small backyards. I like it, but I don’t dislike the other spots, or even quite a few other places in and around Temecula. Orange County and 4S type demographic transplants seem to gravitate to morgan. I kinda like it because it has a low ratio of monster trucks, but the hoa places tend to be nicer and stay nicer up here because the dirt people avoid them because of the restrictions on their toys so that’s not unique to morgan.
Now if you just want to know about that tract. Standard Pacific is a national builder, they use local subcontractors and people who who bought stan pac homes in wolf creek that I know really like their homes, so it should be similar. national builders build a variety of products in different places, I don’t think you can knock any builder for homes they build in a different market segment or another area, it’s just not like McDonalds, it’s not the same everywhere just because the name is the same.
I gave a friend and his wife a tour of the morgan tracts last weekend. The dropped me off and went to the models for a few of the new ones without me so I haven’t seen them. I spoke to them afterwards and the prices seemed a little high, in the 400’s for the size they wanted and those were about 350k in the 2005-2008 built tracts as repos or resales, so it seemed high to me. They also look kinda plain, but those might not be the stan pac ones, there are multiple builders in morgan, even multiple new builders so I may be mixing them up. My worry is that they might be cutting corners because margins are slimmer, but they also might not be because they bought the remaining lots at a discount. The 2005-2008 built resales were built when money was growing on trees and were selling for 500-700k, so most of them are heavily upgraded and have lots of money put into them in hardscape and stuff by the bubble buyers who took no equity second mortgages. There are some steals to be had but pickings are slim because it is one of the nicest developments. Everyone we looked at on Saturday was in escrow if it was reasonably priced. The majority of the bubble bought ones have turned over so there will be no tsunami, yet it should be fairly steady. Morgan valley is not part of the morgan hill hoa or the clubhouse, it’s a different category of housing, 1/2 acre lots and 4k sq feet, 4 car garages in some, rear garage doors so you can drive trough into your backyard, I’m not comparing those, that’s another category, here’s a morgan valley example
morgan hill is primarily tract homes with the exception of frogs leap and arietta streets which are within morgan hill but a class above a tract home. here’s a frogs leap morgan hill example
you cant see the view because there no pictures of it but its really nice, it’s six years old but 1/3 larger and 1/3 more garages for the same money.
This next one is the same size as the new one, same garages but listed for 100k less, Page 2 of the pictures has some pics of the clubhouse, but not great pics, yet worth a look
So my assessment is why pay 350k for a new house with no view or landscaping when for 250k you can get a view. I just think the new ones are priced too high, but they are selling. And truth be told, that 250k went pending instantly, my guess is that it went for 300k, if not more, that was a bidding war listing price, it’s fair price is 300-325k, but still, the view is awesome and I know the 3000k sq ft resales are going for 350k, so what makes a 2100 sq ft unlandscaped one worth 350k?
Now my buddy said the stan pac ones had big yards and views and he said they were nice, so I can’t give an opinion until I go look at them personally. As far as the neighborhood, I love it. In 20 years in this valley I’ve owned or rented 7 places, a north temecula, a murrieta, 3 redhawks and now a morgan, I’ve been in morgan three years and can honestly say, this is my favorite, but the redhawks were a close second in my mind. Lower taxes and lower hoa. Between the three major developments of south temecula, I see it as a personal decision, each has a drawback and a benefit, just pick the things important to you and you can’t lose.
