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December 19, 2007 at 10:34 PM in reply to: Relocating from Carmel Valley(San Diego) to Irvine #121219December 19, 2007 at 10:34 PM in reply to: Relocating from Carmel Valley(San Diego) to Irvine #121360
irvinesinglemom
ParticipantHi Relocating, have you spent any time on: http://www.irvinehousingblog.com
The forums on our blog would be a good place for you to find out about Irvine neighborhoods. Your wife shouldn’t be so upset – a lot of us really love living and working here!
Enjoy!
ism
December 19, 2007 at 10:34 PM in reply to: Relocating from Carmel Valley(San Diego) to Irvine #121387ParticipantHi Relocating, have you spent any time on: http://www.irvinehousingblog.com
The forums on our blog would be a good place for you to find out about Irvine neighborhoods. Your wife shouldn’t be so upset – a lot of us really love living and working here!
Enjoy!
ism
December 19, 2007 at 10:34 PM in reply to: Relocating from Carmel Valley(San Diego) to Irvine #121439ParticipantHi Relocating, have you spent any time on: http://www.irvinehousingblog.com
The forums on our blog would be a good place for you to find out about Irvine neighborhoods. Your wife shouldn’t be so upset – a lot of us really love living and working here!
Enjoy!
ism
December 19, 2007 at 10:34 PM in reply to: Relocating from Carmel Valley(San Diego) to Irvine #121460ParticipantHi Relocating, have you spent any time on: http://www.irvinehousingblog.com
The forums on our blog would be a good place for you to find out about Irvine neighborhoods. Your wife shouldn’t be so upset – a lot of us really love living and working here!
Enjoy!
ism
ParticipantWell, try being a divorced mom approaching 40 in OC, having to compete with these bimbos! I don’t have fake nails, boobs, hair or eyelashes. I don’t spend big bucks on makeup, clothes, bags or shoes – I shop at Target! I have an advanced degree, and am financially secure because of hard work and skill, in spite of my ex-husband’s profligate spending habits. And when I work out, I like to get really sweaty and not lift 3-lb girly weights.
In other words, most men (and probably you guys, too, as much as you like to bash the bimbos, that’s mostly what you really want) around here assume I’m a lesbian!
For the record, I’m not 😉
ParticipantWell, try being a divorced mom approaching 40 in OC, having to compete with these bimbos! I don’t have fake nails, boobs, hair or eyelashes. I don’t spend big bucks on makeup, clothes, bags or shoes – I shop at Target! I have an advanced degree, and am financially secure because of hard work and skill, in spite of my ex-husband’s profligate spending habits. And when I work out, I like to get really sweaty and not lift 3-lb girly weights.
In other words, most men (and probably you guys, too, as much as you like to bash the bimbos, that’s mostly what you really want) around here assume I’m a lesbian!
For the record, I’m not 😉
ParticipantWell, try being a divorced mom approaching 40 in OC, having to compete with these bimbos! I don’t have fake nails, boobs, hair or eyelashes. I don’t spend big bucks on makeup, clothes, bags or shoes – I shop at Target! I have an advanced degree, and am financially secure because of hard work and skill, in spite of my ex-husband’s profligate spending habits. And when I work out, I like to get really sweaty and not lift 3-lb girly weights.
In other words, most men (and probably you guys, too, as much as you like to bash the bimbos, that’s mostly what you really want) around here assume I’m a lesbian!
For the record, I’m not 😉
ParticipantI copied this info into the forums at Irvine Housing Blog (with full credit to you, waiting hawk, and to piggington). THanks!
ParticipantI copied this info into the forums at Irvine Housing Blog (with full credit to you, waiting hawk, and to piggington). THanks!
ParticipantHi Happy Renter,
You really should check out our Forums over at
http://www.irvinehousingblog.com
There is a lot of great information about all of the new neighborhoods being built. Over the next few years we are going to have a feast of brand new neighborhoods to choose from, including houses Lennar will be building at the Great Park.Personally, my current plan is to continue to rent in Westpark until 2009. My son will go to kindergarten at Plaza Vista Elementary, which is a fantastic school. Then we’ll move up to Orchard Hills or Portola Springs, or the Great Park. All new, and scenic with rolling hills, etc.
In terms of your concern about “quality of people” living in apartments, as long as you rent an IAC apartment you can’t go wrong. I live in an IAC townhouse (in the Santa Rosa complex) and I am surrounded by families, mostly Asian and Persian. I feel VERY safe as a single mom of a preschooler.
Good luck!
ParticipantOhhhhh, I am so excited to read about Fullerton on Piggington! My (ex)-husband and bought a house right around the corner from this one in 1998 for 250k. It was the biggest (2500sqft) in the entire neighborhood due to a big add-on by prior owners. Most are around 1800sq ft. When we moved in, it was practically unliveable. It was just awful. It was so gross, that even without planning on doing so, we ended up doing a top to bottom remodel over the next 6 years. We sold in 2004 to move to Tustin, for $650, which was a good $125 over all the comps. But all the comps were as nasty as ours had been when we first moved in. So I saw this article yesterday and just gaped. Believe me, this house is most likely GROSS inside. Yech. What FOOL would pay that much money? The only reason could be that it’s in the Troy HS district which some people in OC would give a limb to send their kid to.
Participanttechnovelist:
Well, luckily this is Irvine and I can get my son into a California Distinguished School (I’m thinking Canyonview Elementary and Northwood HS) without having to pay for a private school. I can rent a beautiful new apartment from the Irvine Apartment Community, or lease one of the luxurious townhomes in Woodbury that I’m coveting. So it’s not a matter of living where I want to live – it’s the part of home ownership that, having been a homeowner for 8 years, I am having trouble letting go of. I must admit, I was kind of an elitist snob in that I did look down on people who, after the age of 30 or so, were not homeowners. Given how drastically things have changed, I certainly wouldn’t change my decision to sell the house. I was convinced a couple years ago the bubble was gonna burst and I was in a mild panic to “cash out” and become a renter for a while. So intellectually, I am very comfortable with renting. I just think about how my whole childhood was in rented apartments and a rented house, and how as a teenager I felt “less than” the other kids whose parents owned their homes. I don’t want my son to feel that way! I have to remind myself that he’s only 3, he doesn’t know or care, and that in several years he’ll still be very young, and if I can remained disciplined enough during that time, I can buy us a beautiful new house while he’s in elementary school and we can live “happily ever after.” It’s hard, though, to fight the urge to buy sooner, especially since my plan would be to make offers significantly lower than asking price…
ParticipantHi X1Y2Z3:
Wow, thanks for all the information. Definitely the kind of “meaty” information I’ve been looking for as part of my fascination with this bubble. Here’s my question for you: can you please give me advice based on my current situation? (I rarely ask for financial advice because I’m convinced I’m smarter and more competent than most people, but you seem to really have a handle on things and you write well, which is SOOOO rare!)
I am a single professional in Irvine with an MBA, a rock-solid job and a 3 year old child. My current annual income is $109,000 with a 10% annual bonus and I anticipate annual bonuses of 3-5% for the forseeable future, along with a promotion or two. I have $85,000 locked up until 02/07 in a 4.85% 12-month CD, and another $10,000 in several individual stocks. I have $10,000 in my checking account. I have no credit card debt, I own my 2002 Volvo and will keep it at least 3-5 more years. When I do buy another car it will be with cash because after I paid off my Volvo I decided that I will never take out a car loan again. My student loans are all paid off. I receive enough child support to fully pay daycare tuition, with about $200 extra each month. I put about $2000 a year into my son’s 529 college fund which is at about $6000 right now. My 401k balance is $150,000 and right now I still contribute 15% to it but I would consider reducing my contribution level to 5% if I needed to (more on that in a minute).
Here’s my dilemma: I desperately, obsessively want to buy a house! I’ve been in an apartment for 8 months, since separating from my spouse, after having been a homeowner for 8 years. (We sold our home in December ’05 and you’d think I’d have more money than I do, however my husband and I spent pretty freely the whole time we were homeowners, both on major improvements to the place -it was practically unlivable when we bought it – as well as extravagant stuff that I regret now but what’re you gonna do?!!) Anyway, after splitting the profit in half and then furnishing my new apartment, etc., it is what it is.
I want to get my son into a house before kindergarten, in September 2008. I want him to stay in the same school from K-6 and then move right into the local high school. I want him to have that stability. So I want to buy a house that will be our home for the next 15 years. So I know that I have LOTS of time (2 years, basically) before I need to make this move. However, I find myself going to open houses every weekend and salivating over the brand new developments like Portola Springs, and gagging at the 30-year old Brady Bunch houses that are just STUPID over-priced. I don’t want a Brady house!
I have pretty much convinced myself that I can’t do a thing until at least February 07 when my down payment money becomes available. I want to be financially pragmatic and not lay awake at night worrying about paying the bills. But I also want to be able to stay in the same house for a really long horizon over which my odds of promotion and salary and bonus increases are really, really good. (Unless people stop having high cholesterol and heart attacks, my job is as good as guaranteed.)
So assuming I start looking to buy a house in the middle of 2007 (and god only knows what prices will be doing at that time!!!), what is a reasonable “stretch” mortgage amount and type that someone in my situation should be looking for? Keep in mind that I’ll probably end up buying something in Woodbury or Portola Springs that comes loaded with high HOA and Mello Roos payments. Hence my earlier comment about reducing my 401k contribution level. I want a newer home in a newer neighborhood badly enough that I’m willing to compromise by extending my retirement out a few more years.
Thanks for any advice or words of wisdom you or any of the other folks on this blog can impart!
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