Carmel Valley – Torrey Hills?

[cv_wannabe]

Glad to have been referred to this website by a friend recently. Finding a lot of informative discussions here.

My husband and I are looking to buy a home in Carmel Valley – SFH, a little above 2000 sq ft etc. My husband works in the Sorrento Valley area. Torrey Hills seems to be conveniently located and also seems to have a few somewhat more affordable homes compared to the heart of the carmel valley (We are ignoring Pacific Highlands Ranch for now).

This is what I have learnt so far about Torrey Hills

Pros
– short commute to SV (or Mira Mesa as AN prefers to call it)
– good elementary schools (looks like Sage Canyon and Ocean Air are rated higher than Torrey Hills)
– decent parks
– at least few homes are somewhat more affordable (i.e, in the 700s, as opposed to the heart of Carmel Valley). Examples would be the Sands/Coves/Greenbrier etc communities.

Cons
– power lines galore!
– limited shopping options
– For middle and high schools, one needs to drive up north. Not sure if this is a big deal or not. Our kids are still several years away from middle school.

Now here are a few questions I have
– is the above assessment correct? anything important that I have failed to consider?
– some of the homes in Sands, Cove etc back to Carmel Mountain road. Is this a very busy road and hence a deal-breaker?
– any insights into the quality of construction in these communities? any red flags?

Appreciate any wisdom you guys/gals can share!

– cv_wannabe

[Coronita]

Pretty much.

Power lines are mostly eye sores, unless you have a home in Sea Ridage community and the end of sands/coves. What’s annoy also is the cell phone tower that is in around torrey hills park.

Shopping is limited in torrey hills to two strip malls, but reality is you would just drive to bigger malls on the other side of carmel valley. I like it better because it’s not as damn crowded. Driving to Torrey Pills and CVMS isn’t going to be an issue that far.

I think the biggest drawback is if you find a cheap home, make sure it’s not under power lines.

[sdduuuude]

I’m not a fan of the Mello Roos and HOA fees in Torrey Hills. You can find homes without either in Carmel Valley.

Big houses on small lots predominate. I don’t want to be able to reach out my bathroom window to borrow shampoo from the neighbor. Houses on bigger lots with good space around them are expensive.

I think buyers went crazy there during the boom and lots of people overpaid for glitzy new houses that are just not laid out that well. I think sellers will try to pass those high prices on to buyers without justification.

Some of the canyon lots are pretty cool.

The southern location, as you note, is the best feature, methinks.

[zk]

Torrey hills is nice. You might also want to consider the communities immediately adjacent to the east. Carriage Run has some (relatively) affordable homes, and they’re almost new. Steeplechase is a bit older, but nice. It’s an extra 2 or 3 minutes from SV to Steeplechase (compared to torrey hills) but it’s 2 or 3 minutes closer to the middle school and the high school.

Busy is a relative term, but I’d say CM road is pretty noisy and busy.

[Coronita]

BTW: good luck finding what you want though.

It’s not looking pretty on the inventory side…

http://www.sdlookup.com/Real_Estate-Carmel_Valley-Homes_For_Sale-92130?srtcol=13

[Coronita]

[quote=zk]Torrey hills is nice. You might also want to consider the communities immediately adjacent to the east. Carriage Run has some (relatively) affordable homes, and they’re almost new. Steeplechase is a bit older, but nice. It’s an extra 2 or 3 minutes from SV to Steeplechase (compared to torrey hills) but it’s 2 or 3 minutes closer to the middle school and the high school.

Busy is a relative term, but I’d say CM road is pretty noisy and busy.[/quote]

I hope I don’t offend anyone here but imho.

I don’t like steepchase, I can’t stand palacio…And I wouldn’t be caught dead living in sea ridge.

here’s a guide to the communities in the area
http://www.cv-home.com/

BTW: Torrey Hills technically is not Carmel Valley. It has access to the same schools in the same districts, but technically speaking Carmel Valley is the area north of 56.

[cvmom]

We live in the older section of Carmel Valley, south of TPHS. It is quiet, pleasant, relatively low-cost (because the houses are older), walking distance to elementary, middle and high schools, as well as walking distance to shopping, library, community center, etc. I love having my middle-school-aged kids be self-sufficient transportation-wise. Limits the “mom-taxi” time.

[Coronita]

[quote=sdduuuude]I’m not a fan of the Mello Roos and HOA fees in Torrey Hills. You can find homes without either in Carmel Valley.

Big houses on small lots predominate. I don’t want to be able to reach out my bathroom window to borrow shampoo from the neighbor. Houses on bigger lots with good space around them are expensive.

I think buyers went crazy there during the boom and lots of people overpaid for glitzy new houses that are just not laid out that well. I think sellers will try to pass those high prices on to buyers without justification.

Some of the canyon lots are pretty cool.

The southern location, as you note, is the best feature, methinks.[/quote]

The better homes are in the Carmel Country Highlands area imho.

[zk]

I’m curious what you don’t like about Steeplechase (and maybe the OP could learn something from our conversation). We rented a Steeplechase for 5 years and we really liked it. Some of their floor plans are a bit funky, but we liked the one we had (I think it was a plan 3 with a loft – it was 2520 sf). The location was good. There’s a canyon lot Steeplechase available now (2259 sf) for 899k. That’s about as cheap as you’re going to get a SFH on the canyon in CV.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/10986-Cloverhurst-Way-92130/home/4518527

I have mixed feelings about Palacio. We lived there about a year. It’s a bit chilly down there in the bottom of the valley, and the house we were in didn’t have great insulation and it had slate floors. So it was cold a lot. It had a real feeling of community, though. And the pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, and golf course were great. Not everybody is going to find it worth the $300/mo. But some will.

[flyer]

We own quite a few rentals in CV, north of SR-56, which we have always preferred over other southern locations for many of the reasons others have mentioned.

If you are looking to buy soon, the real challenge, as others have also mentioned, will be the inventory situation, so you may want to broaden your scope to include PHR and/or Del Mar.

[utcsox]

[quote=zk]I’m curious what you don’t like about Steeplechase (and maybe the OP could learn something from our conversation). We rented a Steeplechase for 5 years and we really liked it. Some of their floor plans are a bit funky, but we liked the one we had (I think it was a plan 3 with a loft – it was 2520 sf). The location was good. There’s a canyon lot Steeplechase available now (2259 sf) for 899k. That’s about as cheap as you’re going to get a SFH on the canyon in CV.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/10986-Cloverhurst-Way-92130/home/4518527%5B/quote%5D

I don’t understand what’s wrong with Steeplechase either. At $400/SQFT, isn’t this house is on the expensive side? There are couple of non-canyon lot that were sold this year for around $850K and it’s 2500+ SQFT.

[utcsox]

[quote=zk]Torrey hills is nice. You might also want to consider the communities immediately adjacent to the east. Carriage Run has some (relatively) affordable homes, and they’re almost new. Steeplechase is a bit older, but nice. It’s an extra 2 or 3 minutes from SV to Steeplechase (compared to torrey hills) but it’s 2 or 3 minutes closer to the middle school and the high school.

Busy is a relative term, but I’d say CM road is pretty noisy and busy.[/quote]

Carriage Run is nice, but the pricing is really really confusing. I have seen the pricing for plan 1 range from low 600 to mid 800s. FYI, the former model model houses for plan 1, 2, 3 sold for $760k, $835k, and $863k respectively.

[zk]

[quote=utcsox]

I don’t understand what’s wrong with Steeplechase either. At $400/SQFT, isn’t this house is on the expensive side? There are couple of non-canyon lot that were sold this year for around $850K and it’s 2500+ SQFT.[/quote]

It’s expensive for a Steeplechase and for a 2259 sf house. It’s inexpensive for a canyon lot (in Carmel Valley). Depends what your priorities are, I guess. But, overall, with inventory where it is, I don’t think it’s overpriced. I think they’ll get what they’re asking or very close. Possibly even a bit more.

[Coronita]

My bad… Let me correct myself. For some reason I got waws thinking of cantamar when I said steeplechase.. I don’t know why. TI actually have friends that live on Cloverhurst. Yes, I do that community. But they folks on the HOA team are sticklers. It’s not cheap either.

[dejams]

[quote=utcsox][quote=zk]Torrey hills is nice. You might also want to consider the communities immediately adjacent to the east. Carriage Run has some (relatively) affordable homes, and they’re almost new. Steeplechase is a bit older, but nice. It’s an extra 2 or 3 minutes from SV to Steeplechase (compared to torrey hills) but it’s 2 or 3 minutes closer to the middle school and the high school.

Busy is a relative term, but I’d say CM road is pretty noisy and busy.[/quote]

Carriage Run is nice, but the pricing is really really confusing. I have seen the pricing for plan 1 range from low 600 to mid 800s. FYI, the former model model houses for plan 1, 2, 3 sold for $760k, $835k, and $863k respectively.[/quote]

The plan 1 sold for low 600K was: (1) very close to power line/tower; (2) one of the last few homes left so builder lowered the price to close the book/community; (3) seasoned buyer that knows the builder. You not going to find another one like that for that price…

The model plan 1 has many upgrades but poor floor plan with 2 bedrooms up and 1 down. Pardee later revised that floor plan to 3 bedrooms up and 1 down. But still a good price at $760K.

[Author]

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