My parents and I went to check out some new houses yesterday in Irvine/Tustin. They're starting to build on the site of the old
Tustin Marine Corp Air Station near Jamboree & Barranca. It's another one of those
master planned communities that's popular in South Orange County, especially in Irvine:
NorthPark,
Woodbury,
Turtle Ridge, etc. This one is called
Columbus and it just opened in June with 15+ communities planned. Since there is only me now, I was going to check out their smaller townhouses but they only had model homes for three communities, all larger than what I was looking for. We went through one called
Kensington Court which were large townhouses. The smallest
plan, which is actually the one I like most, starts at $750k... for a 2,125 square feet townhouse! Add to that a 1.75% property tax and $350/month association fee, I'm not sure if it's a good deal. Anyway, the salesperson said that they had two
Residence 1 units available which is surprising since you usually have to take a number for new houses. Maybe the real estate market
is slowing down; good thing our house in Brea just sold.
Family room/kitchen
Living room
The townhouses are pretty nice but seem kind of expensive. I ran some numbers on a mortgage calculator and I have to drop a huge downpayment to afford a $750k house. I saw a lot of young couples checking out the model homes. How can they afford it unless they're both working in high-paying professional jobs? Maybe I'll stay in my apartment a bit longer.
1 comment:
I agree . . . when "starter homes" start at $750K and aren't even homes, but townhouses, then you start wondering about the sustainability. But the options are either to go outside of Irvine where the pricing is lower or bite the bullet -- Irvine is in high demand even with the slowdown . . .
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