Remember when I was making references to “RSF wannabes”? Cielo is one of those wannabes. Yes, it’s in the 92067 zip area, but it doesn’t have much else in common with the rest of RSF other than the fact there’s a golf course.
There are two sides to the project, a north side and a south side; the latter being the “low end” with lots as small as 1/2 acre. The north side is much larger and has a lot more lots, and for the most part those lots are larger.
One of the factors that detracts a bit from the appeal is that relative to the sizes and prices of the homes the usable lot areas are very small. On most of those lots you can squeeze in a pool and deck but that’s about it. We’re not talking about a lot of separation between the homes or natural features that provide any illusion of privacy like you’d find in the flatter areas.
So it would generally be a big mistake to compare 7,500 SqFt of new house in Cielo to most of the other neighborhoods in RSF, except for maybe a couple of the projects east of the Covenant area. A couple projects in the Del Mar Heights area or the upper end of Santaluz (also RSF pretenders) would probably be a more direct comparison.
If a new home of similar quality in the Covenant area on a similar or slightly larger lot would sell at $3mil, then that home in Cielo might reasonably sell for $2mil. The difference is that great.
At any rate, when looking at all the RSF wannabes, they’re all hurting for sales right now, and it’s only going to get worse from here. These spec builders have built a lot more McMansions than our market can support, and more are in process as we speak. The last time I looked we had almost a 2-year supply of listings of these homes on tap relative to the closed sales.