snail, it’s just a preference thing for me because I commute South, if you work North, Harveston would be the pick. There are richer places and places with land for horses or grapes but my preferences are just my preferences and I definately have a “type” of neighborhood in mind. At least I acknowledge that I have a problem. I wan’t an HOA, continuity and the knowledge that Christmas lights will only be up around Christmas and than in ten years the neighborhood will still look great. Despite what town you are in there are low, medium and high end neighborhoods. Ten years later the low and the meduim never hold up as well as the high, even if it is the smallest house in the high end and cost what the largest house in the low did, it just looks better to me ten years later. Both sides of highway 79S have great neighborhoods, Paloma, Redhawk and Vintage Hills are the oldest and still look great. Morgan, Crowne, paseo and Wolf followed the same formula so should end up looking great through the years. Paloma has much smaller homes with a few exceptions and the 1300-1700 sq ft tracts end up with a large percentage of rentals or too many cars on the street because the garages are needed for living space and storage but the problems are few and it still is holding up very well and much better than Vail, so if you want something smaller, that is a good way to go. The casino traffic doesn’t mirror commuter traffic and is only on two streets so for me it is the least trafficky of the offramps and the Rainbow exit for those coming from S.D. county is a breeze. I have learned the Casino traffic patterns and use other routes at those times. The weather is better and if you don’t have a pool the electricity will run you about 300-400 for that 3500 sq ft running the air all the time, with a pool you will break 500 especially if it is older and has a less efficient system. On the plus side, water is chep here, as is natural gas, combined about 100 a month for your mcmansion.
The reason i prefer the south (and i’ve lived all over the valley in the last 20 years) is that they keep building North and East so it keeps getting worse while the South remains tolerable traffic wise and there is no more land to develop south of redhawk except a few fill in areas but nothing significant. Others may disagree but I drive all over the 79 corridor just fine but when I have to make my Costco trip I take along blood pressure medication. Don’t discount Morgan just yet, if it gets annexed the taxes will go down and the services will go up, it has a resort-like pool and some high quality homes, it just has a lot of brown lawns right now but if you can get one next year for a song, it will return to it’s glory.
Arches, I just saw Bear’s post before hitting the post button, if you plan to commute, forget it. You should also rent anytime you move to an entirely different community to see if it is for you. While this may look like a replica of an O.C. burb, it isn’t one and it has a different tempo. I don’t agree that the Irvine lifestyle “Blows away” anything, including the Modesto lifestyle or the Bakersfield lifestyle, but that is truly up to the individual and for bear, he missed what he was comfortable with, don’t make the same mistake. Personally I enjoy it here and the lifestyle blowing away O.C. has way to high of an implant ratio for me, sure I’ve had the silicon vs. saline discussion with my buddies at nauseum but OEM still reigns supreme with me and i’m more comfortable in a 50/50 (bolt on vs OEM) environment. We have our desperate housewives of Orange county ex patriots but they aren’t the dominant demographic just yet. And you thought I wouldn’t eventually boil down my analysis to something chep and tawdry, Ha, Never, I have my fans to consider.
