All Blog Entries by Sam Smith

There are a lot of new construction homes being built right now in Irvine, California that offer the latest modern finishes and style.  A lot of people gravitate to these types of properties since they have never been lived in and are located on a new community with lots of amenities for residents to use.  Many buyers get excited about these new homes until they break down the costs to live there.  On top of paying a monthly mortgage (if not all cash) you will have monthly homeowners association dues and an additional tax that is referred to as Mello Roos.  

What exactly is Mello Roos?  It's best explained from the builders point of view.  When a builder is building a new community and doesn't want to pay for the sidewalks, streets, parks, etc they can

The city of Irvine has many neighborhoods to choose from with many of these communities having monthly association dues and a Mello Roos tax attached to them.  This is a big factor when considering purchasing a home as these fee's are on top of a monthly mortgage payment, annual taxes and insurance.  Smart buyers look at what each community has to offer in relationship to the amount of monthly fee's they will charge.  New construction homes are notorious for having an added Mello Roos tax in addition to association fee's which can make buying a home very expensive.  For example, a $1 million dollar home may have a monthly association dues of $500 a month plus a Mello Roos tax which could average around $300 a month as well.  So that is $800 that is to be

Irvine has a lot different types of homes and residential condos to choose from.  Many of these will have limited views due to the high density of neighborhoods here.  There are several neighborhoods that do offer very nice sunset view properties which tend to be very high in demand.  These are broken into two separate categories, one for residential single family homes and one for condos and townhomes.  The place where we find a lot of sunset view properties is located in the Portola Springs neighborhood.  The city of Irvine is relatively flat except for certain sections that are elevated like Portola Springs.  Because of this unique topography many homes will offer some kind of a view.  This is also true for communities like Orchard Hills and Great Park

The Irvine Real Estate market is beginning to show signs of slowing down and there are many motivated sellers that are eager to sell.  Sellers can be motivated for a variety of reasons including wanting to buy another property, downsizing, death of an owner, etc.  These properties offer some of the best values currently found in Irvine with a wide range of real estate prices.  Some of the lowest prices currently can be found in the Central Park West condo complex for a 3 bedroom condo in the Madison building with a current list price of $799,000.  The home was originally listed for $919,000 and the seller has been doing several price reductions with the last adjustment taking occur ace on July 25th to $799,000.  

The neighgbohroods of Cypress Village,

Irvine is a true gem for those looking for a current or former model home listed for sale.  One of the reasons for this is that there always seems to be brand new construction neighborhoods being constructed all of the time.  Each neighborhood often has 3 model homes that have been highly upgraded to show off the potential for what a buyer can buy in that particular neighborhood. These properties are initially not offered for sale since the builder is trying to sell all of the other homes in the community first before they even think of selling some of the models.  Of course, once the neighborhood is close to being sold out the model homes are often released out to the public for sale.  Prices for these homes will vary a lot and depends on how motivated

The city of Irvine is located in the interior part of Orange County and one does not normally think of buying a water front home in this location.  There is a section of homes located in the Woodbridge community in Irvine where there are two body of waters known and North and South Lake.  Surrounding the lake are wonderful lakefront homes that have become very desirable.  The inventory of these types of properties tends to be very limited as there is a small number of houses that are located directly on the water.  Gated communities like Arborlake are a great place to look for lake front homes in the North Lake area with close proximity to the North Lake Beach Club and Lagoon.  There is a good mixture of residential homes and condos to choose from similar

Eastwood Village is one of the most exciting new neighborhoods  in Irvine with a lot of recent rental properties coming on the market.  These are typically new construction homes built between 2018 to 2019 in a move-in ready condition.  Many are flocking to this community in part due to the great schools located in the area like Eastwood Elementary school, Sierra Vista middle school and Northwood high school.  The rental homes that are coming on the market are typically nicely appointed homes with some homes offering more upgrades than others.  Some of the common upgrades includes hardwood flooring, recessed lighting, large kitchen with center island and tankless water heaters.

There is a wide range of amenities for Eastwood Village residents like a

The Hidden Canyon community in Irvine has arguably become on the most sought after neighborhoods in Irvine.  Many of the new construction homes have been built with many re-sale properties on the market for sale.  For those not ready to purchase a home right now there are several rental properties that have come on the market for lease here.

Hidden Canyon is an excellent place to find an approximate 6,000 square foot home that was built in the last 2 years.  Many of these rental properties will come with an attached 4 car garage and located on lots that can over 10,000 square feet.  There are currently 2 homes on the rental market right now listed at $11,000 and $12,000 a month.  Both of these are long term leases which means the owner is initially

We get a lot of calls from new owners and tenants that are currently living in many of the high-rise condos in Irvine and seeking out a phone number in order to contact the homeowners association.  This can be for a variety of reasons that include wanting to know the pet policy, parking situation, hours of operation, etc.  We have looked and haven't found any one place that provides all of this contact information and think it's important to let the consumer know the correct way to contact each of these individual associations.  Here is our guide to in contacting these property management companies.

First, high-rise condos in Irvine consist of The Plaza, Marquee Park Place, Avenue One Condos, Central Park West, Metropolitan and Watermarke.  It's also

The Watermarke is one of the most affordable and popular hi-rise condo buildings in the city of Irvine with rental properties that offers rentals for under $2,000 a month.  Many clients inquiry about the pet policy at the Watermarke and if all rentals accept pets.  First, the pet policy for the building is a maximum of 2 pets allowed per condo.  The pets must be under 25lbs in adult size meaning you can move in with a puppy that's under 25lb knowing that the pet will be much larger than 25lbs once they reach adult age.  There is a 2 pet maximum per each condo so keep that in mind when thinking about living here.  Second, not all rentals in this building will allow pets.  Each condo is individually owned and it's up the landlord if they want to allow the