Tagged : Irvine Real Estate

One of the more difficult places to find a home in Irvine is the Harvard gated community.  The neighborhood has a really great location where the 5 and 261 freeways meet and just off the Culver Drive exit.  It's definitely not the cheapest place to live in Irvine as many of the homes are listed well above the one million dollar price point.  What makes this area unique is that many of the over 800 homes located here were built about 20 years ago or so and still have the look and feel of a newer community.  These are two story single family homes with attached garages and large front and backyards.  Many love living here since it's located in the highly sought after Irvine School District.

Harvard Square has plenty of amenities to choose from that

Smart home automation is slowly becoming the norm in today's homes in the Irvine area.  It was only a few years ago that we first started to see homes start to incorporate technology into ever room in the house.  Now, many of the builders in the new home communities in Irvine are starting to implement them into these homes since it's become mainstream.  What exactly is a smart home?  Think about anything that can be automated like window blinds that open and close at certain times, smart light switches and thermostats, camera operated doorbells and locks that can be accessed through your smart phone.  Several years ago a smart home was often controlled by an iPad looking control panel but now everything is being sent through an app on your phone.

Some

In the city of Irvine, California there always seems to be new construction homes and condos being built at any given time.  The demand for these newer homes is very strong which comes with many modern design features and upgrades.  One of the most requested items from home buyers is having vaulted or high ceilings.  This is especially true in residential condos as the normal height seems to be around 8 feet high.  Having a couple extra inches makes all the difference in the world and knowing where to find these types of properties can be crucial when looking for a home.  We have researched and identified the best communities when looking for homes with 10 foot ceilings.

One of the best neighborhoods we found was the Great Park community in Irvine.

One of the newest communities in 2020 in Irvine, California is the CitySquare neighborhoods.  Built by Heritage homes, these homes are marketed by Heritage as being energy efficient which in the long run they tell us will save us a lot of money in utility bills.  The location is so brand new that's its hard to located on a map right now but the location is near the major intersection off Main Street and MacArthur Blvd.  The location is so ideal that is just a few minutes drive to John Wayne Airport and the 405 freeway making commuting to work ideal.  This area of Irvine is known for many corporate buildings so it's nice to see a residential neighborhood pop up in this prime real estate area.

Real Estate prices in our multiple listing service currently

Irvine is one of the best places to find larger homes that come with a guest casita.  This of course will all depend on your price range as many luxury homes can average well over $4 million dollars.  However, it's not impossible to find homes with a guest casita in the $1.5 million dollar range if you know where to look.  Casitas are really ideal for those who have extended family members or just need some extra space away from the main part of the house.  Here is a quick guide on where to look.

The number one place to start your search would be the Shady Canyon community.  This is an exclusive guard gated community that has crazy security.  Once you pass through the 24 hour guard gate you then have to pass through another set of gates for each of the

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

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