Castellina is a condo development built by Centex Homes in the gated village of Covenant Hills in Ladera Ranch. Those that can’t stand the sight of some of the homes in Ladera (funky colors, packed housing, unattractive architecture) may be pleasantly surprised with some of the tracts in Covenant Hills. Covenant Hills is the only gated village in Ladera and is also the only village to have custom home sites. It’s positioned to be the nicest part of Ladera and along with custom home sites there are also many luxury tracts here as well. I believe Castellina is the only condo tract in Covenant Hills as the others are all SFR. For more info, check here and here.

The Castellina tract caught my attention back in 2004. At the time, there was a lot of hype around Covenant Hills and Castellina was the most affordable product in the village. Centex had a Priority List and invited those on it to a very nice luncheon at the Dove Canyon Country Club. Models weren’t ready so they had virtual tour videos. Everything about Castellina appealed to me – beautiful Tuscan architecture, spacious and well designed floor plans, outdoor loggias, great upscale location, garages with driveways (although some shared), and even some small private yards.

So, what was the problem? Why am I not living there right now? It’s because there was no way I could justify the absolutely ridiculous HOA fees of $750/month! From what I understood, every home in Covenant Hills had a Ladera HOA of $400/month. On top of that, Castellina had it’s own HOA of $350/month. When I specifically asked what that $350/month got me, I was pretty much lied to and told that it included the pools, blah, blah in Covenant Hills. That’s BS because all of that is covered by the $400 Covenant Hills HOA. I was able to justify the $400/month Covenant Hills HOA fee(after all, Turtle Ridge Summit is about the same and Shady Canyon is even more). But how does an EXTRA $350/month for an attached product with NO additional amenities make ANY sense?

In the end we decided to pass on Castellina (just as we would on an Irvine high rise – hopefully another post for me). Although I kept abreast of the prices for a little while, I soon lost interest. Lately, while researching homes to blog about, I became curious and decided to look into what’s happening with Castellina. Surprise, surprise.. Castellina has it’s fair share of flippage. Out of the 82 homes in the tract, there are 9 Active and Pending on the market today:

• 18 Salvatore – MLS S465146 – 3bd/2ba – 2179 sq ft – Plan 1 (Villa Antica) Listed 11/02/2006 (32 DOM) at $829,000

  NOW $729,000

• 25 Tuscany – MLS S444917 – 2bd/2ba – 2075 sq ft – Plan 2 (Villa Casali)Listed 6/11/2006 (172 DOM) at $823,521 by Centex

  NOW Pending at $660,000

• 1 Tuscany – MLS S444916 – 2bd/2ba – 2339 sq ft – Plan 2X (Villa Casello) Listed 6/11/2006 (176 DOM) at $844,796 by CENTEX

  NOW $685,650 and offering 3% broker co-op

• 25 Chianti – MLS S463737 – 3bd/2.5ba – 2084 sq ft – Plan 3 (Villa Frosino) Listed 10/23/2006 (25 DOM) at $755,832 by CENTEX

  NOW Pending at $695,832

• 7 Salvatore – MLS S450335 – 3bd/2.5ba – 2200 sq ft – Plan 3 (Villa Frosino) Listed 7/18/2006 (133 DOM) at $850,876

  NOW Pending at $875,000

• 21 Tuscany – MLS S439546 – 3bd/3.5ba – 2250 sq ft – Plan 4 (Villa Lucia) Listed 5/9/2006 (209 DOM) at $969,000

  NOW $899,900

  Purchased 3/23/2006 for $889,557

• 34 Tuscany – MLS S465237 – 3bd/3.5ba – 2246 sq ft – Plan 4 (Villa Lucia) Listed 11/6/2006 (28 DOM) at $955,000

  NOW $919,000

• 10 Salvatore – MLS S450382 – 3/3.5ba – 2246 sq ft – Plan 4 (Villa Lucia)First Listing at $1,050,000, then reduced to $949,000 and then taken off the market after 175 days. Currently Listed on 7/19/2006 (138 DOM) at $918,900

  NOW $899,890

  Purchased for ~$850,000

  Also available for lease – $3500/month

• 6 Salvatore – MLS S423559 – 4bd/3ba – 2600 sq ft – Plan 5 (Villa Spada) Listed 1/14/2006 (324 DOM) at $1,100,000

  NOW $949,900

  Purchased 9/26/2005 for $945,000

What I found really exciting was the drastic price reductions from the builder. 1 Tuscany and 25 Tuscany had price reductions of $100,000+ on 11/17/2006!

Here’s what ZipRealty shows for 1 Tuscany right now:

Price Reduced: 09/12/06 — $844,796 to $818,444

Price Reduced: 09/18/06 — $818,444 to $806,455

Price Reduced: 09/25/06 — $806,455 to $796,905

Price Reduced: 11/17/06 — $796,905 to $685,650

Apparently getting rid of the inventory is more important to Centex than upsetting their customers who paid much more for the same product. Can you really blame Centex though? They are hurting as well.

Another item to note is the description for 21 Tuscany (possibly the same building at 25 Tuscany) says “Motivated seller will pay 5 yrs castellini hoa dues”.

Obviously the builder has a lot more negotiating room than an unlucky flipper. I’m tempted to put an offer in to the builder for 1 Tuscany: $599,000 and credit for 10 years of HOA (Covenant Hills+Castellina). My goal would be to get on the Castellina HOA board and cut the HOA down to $150/month. 😉