Irvine Gated Community Homes

Irvine homes have a variety of features but one of the unique opportunities for real estate home buyers is finding a home located on a cul-de-sac location.  A cul-de-sac is basically a street that comes to an end and has a gentle curve to it so cars can turn around to go back down the street.  The homes located around this curve are considered homes on a cul-de-sac which actually becomes a good selling feature when you go to sell a home.  One of the reasons for this is that it's considered a desirable thing for those who have kids and/or pets.  The idea is that a car is less likely to go down a street the comes to a dead end if they don't live on the street so it's presumed to be a safer location.  That's why it's not uncommon to see children playing in a

If you have spent anytime in Califonria in the last several years then you would see the boom in Eletric vehicles on the road.  The number of these types of cars will only increase as the race to 2035 when gas cars will be banned from selling in California.  I know I have spoken with car salesman at Mercedes Fletcher Jones in Newport Beach and they said they are really amping up their production of these electric cars which has become a primary focus for them.  Because of this large demand we are starting to also see a boom in ev chargers being installed in a home.  Having this located inside a home can be a huge selling feature especially for those who already own electric cars or plan to buy one.  

I was recently taking a client out to look at homes

One of the best places to find Irvine new construction homes in Orange County can be found in the top communities of Orchard Hills, Portola Springs and Great Park neighborhoods.  There is no shortage for those wanting these new homes that often turn into investment properties for those who purchase them.  As as a result there is currently a good inventory of rental houses that have never been lived in and a perfect opportunity for those looking for a new home to lease out.  Some of the most expensive new homes can be found in the Orchard Hills community where homes nearly $3,000 are asking over $7,500 a month in rent. Slightly more affordable options can be found in the new homes being built in the Great Park community.  Look for communities like Solis

The Barcelona gated community is one of the best kept secrets when looking for a home in a secure neighborhood.  If you are familiar with the location of the Irvine Spectrum shopping center then you will know the general area where this is located.  The area is located just south of where the 405 and the 5 freeway meets in small little gate neighborhood that features newer detached single family homes built with modern amenities and style.  A new listing has just come on the market in this community that features a total of 4 bedrooms, 3 baths with a reported 2,712 square feet with two levels of living space. I know one of the bigger selling features for these homes is that they were built since 2019 with attached two car garages.  The four bedroom floor

Finding any kind of estate priced around the half million dollar mark is very hard to find as real estate prices in the last 4 to 5 years have really gone up.  Since mortgage interest rates are climbing up slowly this is causing real estate prices to soften "a little" bit here in Irvine with homes and condos staying on the market for a little bit longer than what we have become used to.  If you are in the market to buy a property for under $600,000 then you will probably end up either buying a condo or a mobile home.  When it comes to condos there a couple places to keep an eye on.  The Watermarke condo complex is one of the best places to look as it's still possible to find 1 bedroom condos in the mid $500,000 range.  There a ton of amenities that come

The Irvine Real Estate luxury real estate market has continued to remain strong with 38 homes selling this year for over $5 million dollars.  The 8 most expensive of these homes were all sold in the luxury Shady Canyon community in Irvine which is ideally located on the ocean side of the 405 freeway in a secluded and private location.  It's not a surprise that home buyers have flocked to this neighborhood since homes in this area tend to hold their value and offer very large square footage homes and lots.  The following properties were the 3 most expensive homes that sold this year in Irvine, California.

20 Black Falcon, Irvine was the most expensive home sold this year which closed for $13 million in June of 2022.  This was a very large home that

One of the common features that is now starting to be sold with homes in Irvine are solar panels.  It was only a few years back when there was a limited number of properties being sold with panels but this is not the case anymore.  In fact, when the green movement moving full speed ahead many owners are looking to do their part in utilizing the many sunny days that we have here in Irvine to their advantage.  One thing that is still the same is that some buyers still don't understand what it means to buy a home with panels on it as there are a variety of situations that it can be transferred to the new buyer.  We will go over a few of these options here.

First, the most common way current homeowners have solar panels on their home is by leasing them.

The idea of a lease option is often very foreign to a lot of real estate buyers but can make a lot of sense depending on your current living situation.  We get a lot of clients moving from outside the Irvine area and want to lease home so they can figure out the kind of neighborhood they want to live in.  Often times these clients are those that will most likely but in the next 12 months and can potentially be excellent candidates for doing a lease option.  The other kind of candidate would be those who currently don't have enough money for a down payment on a home but through assistance from the landlord might be able to save up enough money to afford a home.  Both of these situations are the kind of clients we see doing lease options in today's market.

If you ever get a chance to fly into the John Wayne Airport (SNA) is worth a try since it offers a more leisurely experience from the hustle and bustle of LAX airport.  The location is actually near some of the best condo buildings in the Irvine area and the airport has taken great measures to minimize the noise when taking off and landing here.  This area is also very popular with students going to UCI which saw a housing shortage this year causing many of our clients to look for rentals in this area.  One of the most affordable and popular places to live is the Watermarke condo building.  Real Estate prices are the driving factor with condo sales that still can be found in the $400,000 range with rental properties in the low $2,000 a month price point.

One of the best places to look for condo rentals In the Irvine area is the Metropolitan condo building.  Rentals in this complex are very abundant with a good mix of one and two bedroom condos to choose from.  It's all about the location here with a prime location in the Airport Area of Irvine with a close proximity to the UCI campus as well as the John Wayne Orange County airport.  We have provided a rental comp chart which shows what places have rented for in the past couple of years.  It's not uncommon to find one bedroom condos lease for around the $2,250 a month range while the large two bedrooms condos tend to be in the low $3,000 a month range.  For the most part, all of these rentals are 12 month leases with the tenant paying the first months