Sweet Orange

Portola is one of the three districts into which the Irvine police department has divided the City for its geopolicing program.

To see pricing, inventory and additional information for the various villages in Irvine’s Portola district, click on the links provided below. This will bring you to Redfin’s Community Overview Page for that village (if you prefer, you can also enter zip codes or city names).

The Portola Area includes the following Irvine neighborhoods, or as they are called in Irvine, villages:

• Northwood (includes Northwood Point)
• North Park (includes North Park Square)
• Oak Creek
• Orangetree
• West Irvine (92602 ZIP code includes West Irvine and North Park)
• East Irvine
• Old Towne Irvine
• Woodbury
• Woodbury East
• Great Park Neighborhood-Heritage Fields
• Portola Springs
• Orchard Hills

Note: The Irvine Spectrum is also in the Portola geopolicing district.

Here is an example of a home that sold for more than the list price. This home, which is in Irvine’s El Camino neighborhood, was listed on August 12, 2009, for $415,000, delisted on August 19, then relisted on September 8 for $415,000. This El Camino condo sold on 10/19/2009 for $437,500, approximately $22,000 more than the asking price.

8 Pierre Irvine, CA 92604 (El Camino neighborhood)

• 3 beds/2 baths
• 1223 SF
• Condo built in 1977
• HOA: $175
• Asking price: $415,000 ($339/SF)
• Selling price: $437,500 ($358/SF)

Current estimates for this home:

• Cyberhomes: $406,828.
• Eappraisal: $362,930
• Zillow: $438,000.

The University area of the City of Irvine is bordered by the San Diego Freeway (I-405) on the north, Laguna Canyon Road (I-133) on the east, the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor (SR 73) on the south.This area includes the communities of Rancho San Joaquin, Turtle Rock, University Park, University Town Center, Quail Hill, Shady canyon and Turtle Ridge.

The University area also includes the Irvine Business Complex (IBC), which is bordered by the San Diego Creek on the east, Barranca Parkway on the north, The Newport Freeway (I-55) on the west and MacArthur Blvd. on the south.This area of the city includes both commercial and residential areas.–Irvine Police Department website–Irvine’s University district

Housing prices and stats are important information to have handy when considering buying a home. But the stats are only part of the story. Neighborhood characteristics are also important. With that in mind, following are some links that provide descriptions of the neighborhoods in University, which is one of Irvine’s three geopolicing districts. Special thanks goes to the Irvine Housing Blog.

• Rancho San Joaquin
• Turtle Rock
• Turtle Ridge, see the Orange County Business Journal article: “Turtle Ridge? Lifestyle combines City Life with European-Inspired Country Charm”
• Shady Canyon, also see the Orange County Business Journal articles
• Quail Hill
• University Park
• University Town Center, also see “Irvine’s Town Center: Then and Now”
• Irvine Business Complex (IBC), also see the City of Irvine’s IBC webpage

For information on inventory and pricing of homes in this Irvine district, see “Irvine by the Neighborhood: University District Home Pricing & Inventory Statistics.”

Here are some recent housing numbers for Irvine’s 92602 ZIP. This ZIP includes the Northpark and West Irvine neighborhoods.

• Median Selling Price: $620,000 (2.1% year-to-year increase)*
• Number of Sales: 13 (18.8% year-to-year decrease)*
• Median Price/SF–Houses:
  List: $316/SF (3% month-to-month decrease)**
  Sold: $332/SF (4% month-to-month decrease)**
• Median Price/SF–Condos:
  List: $316/SF (2% month-to-month increase)**
  Sold: $325/SF (1% month-to-month increase)**
• Number of homes for sale: 39 houses/69 condos**

*DQNews-December 2009, includes houses and condos
**Redfin-January 2010

Note: Graphs are courtesy of Redfin Corporation. They are as follows: sold price per square foot for houses, sold price per square foot for condos, and the number of homes on the market in the 92602 ZIP.

53 Carver, Irvine

Northwood in a popular area in Irvine. So I am somewhat surprised that the 2,770-SF, 7-bedroom home at 53 Carver in still on the market after over 5 months. Part of my surprise is that the asking price is $649,000 or $234 per square foot–reasonable for this area. For example, the nearby but smaller home at 26 Carver sold in July for $655,000 or $298 per square foot. Another selling point for this home is that it has no HOA fee or Mello Roos tax. (This is true for many of the homes in Northwood.)

26 Carver, Irvine

The problem might be that this is a short sale. In the beginning of August, the asking price was $699,000, but by the end of August, the price was dropped to $599,900. However, in September the asking price was increased to $690,000 but reduced in October to $649,000. Maybe the bank has been reluctant to accept a reduced price for this home.

Note: This home last sold in 2004 for $800,000. Also, according to Redfin, the December median price per square that a detached home in Northwood sold for was $329 per square foot.

Here is what some other homes on Carver have sold for:

26 Carver

• 4 bedrooms/2 baths with 2,200 square feet
• Sold on July 30, 2009 for $655,000 ($298/SF)

16 Carver

• 5 bedrooms/3 baths with 2,754 square feet
• Sold on February 19, 2009 for $750,000 ($272/SF)

6 Carver

• 4 bedrooms/3 baths with 2,800 square feet
• Sold on April 22, 2009 for $775,000 ($277/SF)

In my last post, I listed some predictions on Irvine’s 2010 housing market from Larry Roberts of the Irvine Housing Blog.

Here is a different perspective. According to Mark Boud of Real Estate Economics:

“The new-home market may rebound more dramatically than the overall housing market. For example, new homes being offered on the Irvine Ranch may absorb and appreciate faster than anyone anticipates - partly due to the lack of competitive new-home inventory and partly due to a faster-than-anticipated drop in distressed housing inventory. As early as January, there may be a bit of a new home ‘frenzy’ on the Irvine Ranch.”

“…a faster-than-anticipated drop in distressed housing inventory.”? Is it that likely that the inventory of distressed homes will decrease drastically in 2010? Or will shadow inventory make itself felt in a more substantial way in 2010 than it did in 2009? We’ll see.

For more 2010 housing predictions, see “What might shock the housing market in 2010?”

As everyone knows by now, we are on the bursting side of a housing bubble. During the bubble, housing prices soared to a level that was not in line with most incomes. Now that the bubble has burst, we are in a deflating period that will bring housing prices down to a level that is a reasonable income-to-housing-price ratio.

Like other Orange County cities, Irvine has been affected by this drop in home prices. However, prices in Irvine have experienced more immunity to the price deceases than other cities–especially in the mid-priced range. Will this immunity continue in 2010?

Larry Roberts (aka IrvineRenter) of the Irvine Housing Blog makes some interesting predictions for the 2010 Irvine housing market. Here they are:

Inventory will increase in 2010.

Eventually, lenders are going to have to foreclose on properties, kick out the squatters, and resell the houses in the resale market. Inventory is coming; how much of that we will see in 2010 is anyone’s guess, but I believe we will see much more than we saw in 2009.

Affordability will improve as mid to high end properties are released to the market, and prices of the houses of greatest interest to buyers in Irvine should come down because, despite the buyer interest, there are more properties in distress than there are buyers interested in obtaining them.

Prices in Irvine will fall 2%-5% in 2010.

Increasing interest rates will decrease affordability, and increasing supply will force sales onto the market. The combination will cause prices to begin a multi-year slow decline similar to the 1994-1997 period. The price decline will not be orderly, and the relative stability in the median will mask seismic shifts within the market at sales composition changes (more mid to high end properties will sell) and prices of individual properties decline.

Properties selling at or below rental parity become the norm in 2010.

As I have noted on other occasions, many properties, even in Irvine, are trading at or below rental parity. This will happen more often, and it will happen at higher and higher price points.

What do you think? Will Irvine home prices continue to hold up relatively well? Or is Irvine housing about to play a bigger role in the Big Unwind in Housing Prices?

See Roberts’ IHB post for more 2010 housing predictions. You will also see how his predictions for 2009 panned out.

Earlier this year, we all turned our clocks back one hour to observe daylight savings time. Daylight savings time was first adopted in the U.S. to conserve resources and, therefore, aid the war effort during World War I.

Today, with the development of fluorescent light bulbs, we have another way to conserve our resources–and money. According to the EPA:

Lighting accounts for close to 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill. Changing to CFLs costs little upfront and provides a quick return on investment.

If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star-qualified CFL, it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of more than 800,000 cars annually.

So, in addition to saving resources on the national level, using CFLs can save money on the personal level. Although the CFLs cost more upfront, the cost of the monthly utility bill will be lower, and the result will be a net savings.

Statistics from the EPA back this up:

An ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) will save about $30 over its lifetime and pay for itself in about 6 months. It uses 75 percent less energy and lasts about 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb.

Note: This is a rework of one of my Redfin posts.

Note: Usually, I would not publish another post until Monday; however, since this post is time-sensitive, I am posting Monday’s post today, Friday. Also, during the holidays, I might publish fewer posts per week than I have up to this point. We’ll see.

The Irvine Community Land Trust in partnership with Neighborhood Housing Services Orange County is putting its first three Irvine homes on the market. The deadline to apply online is soon (December 22nd by 11.59 pm PST), so if you are interested, hurry. Also, be aware that restrictions such as income limits and resale restrictions exist. For more information, see the land trust website.

Here is some more information on the three homes that are currently being offered to qualified buyers. In some cases, the square footage and value estimates involved some educated guessing on my part.

80 Clearbrook, Irvine

80 Clearbrook (Woodbridge)

• 1980 condo
• 3 bedrooms/2 baths with approximately 1,113 SF
• List price: $264,600
• Estimated value: $370,000

56  Clearbrook (Woodbridge)

• 1980 condo
• 2 bedrooms/2 baths with approximately 920 SF
• List price: $231,850
• Estimated value: $320,000

80 Clearbrook, Irvine

49  Torocco (Orangetree)

• 1983 condo
• 2 bedrooms/2 baths with approximately 995 SF
• List price: $240,400
• Estimated value: $270,000

Can this 1982 condo with 1400 square feet at 33 Christamon S in Irivne’s Northwood sell with an asking price of $429,000 or $307 per square foot? The reason that I am wondering is that some brand new condo’s in Ivy Woodbury East are selling for $400,990. The Ivy homes have three bedrooms and 1397 square feet. However, the Ivy homes have a Mello Roos tax of about $3,971 per year, and this Northwood home has none. Also, the Ivy HOA fee is $134 for the master association and $175 for the sub-association; the Northwood has an HOA fee of $248 per month.

Ivy is within walking distance of the very nice and new Woodbury Town Center. The Christamon home is within walking distance of the Northwood Shopping Center–not so new and a little run down. (But you can get some very cheap fresh fruit and some other interesting things in the Korean supermarket that is located in the former Von’s location.)

Ivy is near the Jeffery Open Space Trail. Christamon is within walking distance of the picturesque Hick Canyon Trail. What I like about the Hicks trail is that in addition to the paved trails–which Irvine seems to likes so well–there is a dirt trail. This dirt trail is particularly popular with runners and bike riders.

33 CHRISTAMON Irvine, CA 92620 (near Irvine Boulevard and Yale Avenue)

• 1985 Northwood condo with two stories
• 1400 SF with 2 beds/2.5 baths
• Asking Prie: $429,900 ($307/SF)

Note: The Ivy homes are near Irvine Boulevard and Sand Canyon. And the Ivy homes also have two stories.