Irvine Real Estate Blog

The demand for those attending UCI, the University of California Irvine has reached an all time high this year.  We have been receiving a lot of calls this summer from students looking for housing around the campus.  What is making things difficult is that the normal low inventory of housing is becoming even more limited which is causing multiple students to bid on the same property.  There are several places that we are recommending when students call in as the best places to look.

First, the Watermarke complex offers some of the lowest price condo rentals near UCI and offers a lot of perks when living here too.  The location is situated off the Jamboree exit off the 405 freeway and within a short bike ride to the campus.  We have been seeing a lot of

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One of the more popular places to rent a condo in the city of Irvine is The Plaza.  This is a really great complex to live in with a really ideal location near the city of border line of Newport Beach and Irvine.  The location is one of the biggest features with a very short driving distance to the 405 freeway and the John Wayne Orange County Airport.  Amenities are abundant with the landlord typically paying the association dues so everything is often included in the monthly rent amount.  These include a nice fitness center, community pool, spa, clubhouse with cabanas.  Rentals are often long term which is a standard 12 month lease to start and then either re-negotiated or turn into a month-to-month rental after one year.  Rents also often include trash

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One of the newest places to find brand new construction homes in the Irvine area is the Verenna neighborhood.  It's located in the prestigious Orchard Hills community which offers a guard gated entrance and some good values for those looking for newer homes in the area.  They started building these homes several years ago with four to five bedroom floor plans for buyers to choose from.  On average, these range from 2,503 to 2,766 square feet.  As you can imagine the demand for these homes is very busy since the Irvine Real Estate market has seen a spike in sales with very aggressive bidding on homes being listed for sale.

Orchard Hills offers a really great location that is near the 241 freeway with easy access to the 5 & 405 freeway for those

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One of the hottest communities in the Irvine area has recently been the Laguna Altura area.  There seems to be a big buyer demand for homes in this community that are priced under $1.5 million dollars.  As you probably know, inventory throughout the Irvine area has been very limited with only a few number of homes coming on to the market compared with the large buyer demand that we are currently seeing.  This is especially true for single family homes priced under $1 million dollars which seems to be one of the most sought after requests that we have been getting.  We commonly see homes in this price range in the Northwood, El Camino Real, Oak Creek, University Park, Woodbridge and Walnut areas.  Many of these are homes are selling after being on the

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Shady Canyon has a strong reputation as being one of the top communities in the Irvine area.  For the most part a large percentage of properties that are currently on the market are listed for sale with a few rental homes as well.  The community does not typically have a large number of rentals available at any given time in part due to it's exclusivity and price range of these homes.  For someone that is new to the area and not sure about where they want to live renting a home in Shady Canyon makes a lot of sense.  There are several options when leasing depending on what you are looking for.

For the most part rentals in Shady Canyon are for long term which is typically a 12 month lease.  This is not a common place where you will find vacation rental

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If you haven't been living in Southern California you may not realize what the Irvine Real Estate market has done in the last 12 months.  It also started with many of the state of home orders hit Southern California and for the first time many Irvine owners had more time to spend in their homes.  As a result of this many started looking at things they wanted to improve or all together looking for another property that might offer more outdoor space, larger backyards, etc.  This was the start to a huge seller's market as buyers started to looking for homes in a big way shortly after the stay at home order.  If you have ever looked for a home in Irvine you know it can be hard to find since there are not a lot of choices to start with.  Combine this with an

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One of the best places to find some of the largest inventory of new construction homes being built in 2021 can found in the city of Irvine.  There are always seems to be some neighborhood or a new development being developed in Irvine that allows home buyers to buy a brand new home direct from the home builder.  Because the demand for these types of homes has not gone down in recent years home builders continue to produce some really nice homes that are available for sale.  We did a quick search and currently have found 30 properties that are on the market for sale with home construction to be completed in 2021.  If you are thinking about purchasing a new home this is a really great time with low interest rates and a lot of great options.

Probably one

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The city of Irvine has several neighborhoods that offer luxury rentals for those looking for an upscale home in a premier neighborhood.  When we talk about luxury we are doing a search for rentals in the Irvine area that are over $10,000 for per month. The large majority of these homes are long term leases where the owners of the properties are asking for a length of a lease for at least 12 months or more.  Some of these properties have negotiable or month-to-month lease terms so we always recommend checking with a local real estate agent to see which properties offer these kind of lease terms.  There are several neighborhoods where we see luxury rentals which are described here.

The most prestigious place to find a luxury rental is in the Shady Canyon

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There are a lot of times when looking for a rental property to live in that you need to have the furniture included.  For the most part, many of the rental properties that are on the market are unfurnished rentals which means you are responsible for furnishing the home which is what a lot of long term tenants prefer to do.  With that being said there are a select number of properties that are being advertised as furnished rentals that appeal to those moving to Irvine that don't have the furnishings to fill a condo, townhome or single family home.  These can either be long term periods to a shorter term lease which is what is often seen in furnished rental properties.  A tenant will typically pay a small premium to have the furniture included so keep that

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As real estate prices continue to go up in Southern California it's getting harder to find a home under the $500,000 price point.  There are still several properties that are on the market for sale that can still be purchased in this range if you know where to look. One of the most requested and most affordable places to buy in Irvine is the Watermarke complex.  These are residential condos that feature many one bedrooms condos in the mid $400,000 range.  I'm still surprised how affordable these condos are considering all of the amenities that come with living here that include 3 community pools, fitness center, tennis courts, concierge services, etc.  The location is really great too with a short distance to the 405 freeway and the John Wayne Airport.

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