A new development at the Great Park has been approved, and the developers are promising to break up the monotony of Irvine.
Irvine Home Address … 8 BATON ROUGE #19 Irvine, CA 92604
Resale Home Price …… $444,500
I'm working out most everyday
and watching what I eat
They tell me that it's good for me,
but I don't even care
I know that it's crazy
I know that it's nowhere
But there is no denying that
It's hip to be a square
it’s hip to be a square
It’s hip to be a square
So hip to be a square
Huey Lewis and the News — Hip To Be Square
Irvine is cool. Yes, I know it is hip to criticize the banality of the place, but I like the stuffy formality and the lack of spontaneity because it is uniformly beautiful. Spontaneous ugliness does nothing for me. Traffic snarls and a lack of parking is not something I cherish. I know that it's crazy, but in Irvine, it really is hip to be square.
Non-beige homes approved in Irvine
September 28, 2011 — By JEFF OVERLEY
IRVINE – As desirable as Irvine is, it's safe to say the master-planned community isn't exactly known for avant-garde architecture, something that became clear earlier this year in reader responses to stories about the launching of a city motto contest.
“Irvine: We Have 62 Different Words for Beige,” one commenter suggested.
“Where Bland is in Demand,” another offered.
“Sixteen Zip Codes, Six Floor Plans,” a third said.
“Sorry, I Thought This Was My House,” yet another reader replied.
You get the idea.
Okay IHBers, this is your chance. Let me here your suggestions for an Irvine motto in the astute observations. Here are a few of mine:
“Tract homes from the $1,000,000s.”
“Where sameness carries a premium.”
“Honey, I shrunk the lot.”
“Even the parking lots are green.”
“Enjoy cachet when you overpay.”
But 40 years into its love affair with earth tones and stucco, Irvine is about to witness a significant splash of color and mixed media.
Nearly 5,000 homes, as well as shops and offices, were approved this month for areas surrounding the Great Park, and developer FivePoint Communities is not proposing much in the way of the Mediterranean traditions that have turned Irvine into a Little Italy of sorts.
Instead, FivePoint is embracing Craftsman, Folk Victorian, Traditional Monterey, American Classic and Cottage styles in its residences, the first phase of which should hit the market in 2013.
Eric Tolles, the city's community development director, suggested Irvine's reputation for homogeneity is a stereotype, but did say FivePoint's architecture “is a departure from what we've seen in recent years.”
In fact, the company is specifically promising diversity of design, something that's especially evident in its “Main Street” commercial area. There, it plans to include contemporary and classic looks, as well as “transitional” combinations of the two, on the same blocks.
“Many town centers have one dominant architectural style, compromising the authenticity of the place,” FivePoint says in plans that were submitted to the city and vow to “avoid monotony.”
This is a smart move on their part. They need to differentiate themselves from the Irvine Company to attract buyers. The last thing they want to do is be forced to compete by simply lowering their prices (we might want that, but they won't).
“Uninterrupted blank wall surfaces should be avoided along all building facades,” the plans say, and design should discourage features that “hinder pedestrian activity, such as big box retail.”
No dominant architectural style? No big box retailers? In Irvine?
It's hard to believe, and it's also a departure from a philosophy that's proven popular. The Irvine Co., which has developed the majority of the land in the city, has witnessed seemingly endless success with its products, including those in the new Woodbury communities, which from a distance resemble light-brown boxes.
Woodbury is not nearly as uniform as Westpark. If you compare the overhead below to the one of Westpark, you will see two or three more shades of brown.
Irvine Co. officials (who declined to comment) have an approach that has “been appealing to homebuyers,” Tolles noted.
The fact is, Irvine is appealing to buyers. I live in Woodbury, and I think it's beautiful. There is a place for everything, and everything is in its place. I think Woodbury is one of the finest master-planned communities I have seen, and land planning used to be my profession.
Yes, it is the same, but it is uniformly beautiful. Diversity which involves incorporating unattractive or inconvenient elements is not a plus. Laguna Beach is a beautiful eclectic mix of styles, but it has ugly buildings, inconvenient parking and circulation problems, and a host of other issues stemming from the fact it wasn't planned.
To each his own, but I will take the bland uniformity of Irvine any day.
Regardless of whether one appreciates that approach, it probably pales in importance compared with Irvine's nationally renowned schools and safety.
FivePoint will test the relevance of visual appearances with its diverse residential styles, which will variously employ stone veneers, asphalt shingles, wood shutters, lap siding, decorative columns, brick facades, wraparound porches and, notably, colors that don't resemble sand.
Renderings submitted to the city depict a wide variety of housing types, but FivePoint officials would release only one image of the homes, saying the others remain conceptual.
In its plans, the company seems to deride cookie-cutter construction, referring at one point to the 19th century Arts and Crafts movement that “rejected mass production and mediocre design in favor of the beauty and honesty of traditional hand-craftsmanship and natural materials.”
Carol Wold, a FivePoint vice president, said “there will be a variety of housing types to create distinctive neighborhoods.”
Which, given the surroundings, shouldn't be too hard to do.
Related: 40 things that define Irvine
Related: 10 things you might not know about Irvine
Contact the writer: 714-796-7952 or joverley@ocregister.com
Some of those jabs at Irvine are pretty funny.
Realistically, Irvine is the city that benefits from its surroundings. Most of Orange County is poorly planned. The traffic systems don't work well, the commercial centers are ugly, the streets are too narrow and lack sufficient landscaping. In short, Irvine looks good because most of its neighbors are ugly. Kudos to the Irvine Company for recognizing the opportunity to create value through good planning.
Option ARM Ponzi
Most people who refinanced with Option ARMs during the height of the housing bubble went Ponzi and imploded. The previous owner of today's featured property paid $445,000 on 12/10/2003 and put nothing down. When offered free money shortly thereafter, he took it. He refinanced on 12/19/2005 with a $492,000 Option ARM, and followed that up with two more HELOC withdrawals.
In short, the previous owner put nothing in to the property and got to take more than $100,000 out. It makes me feel pretty stupid for renting while this was going on.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
This property is available for sale via the MLS.
Please contact Shevy Akason, #01836707
949.769.1599
sales@idealhomebrokers.com
Irvine House Address … 8 BATON ROUGE #19 Irvine, CA 92604
Resale House Price …… $444,500
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Sq. Ft.: 1639
$271/SF
Property Type: Residential, Condominium
Style: Two Level, Contemporary
Year Built: 1977
Community: El Camino Real
County: Orange
MLS#: S674957
Source: SoCalMLS
Status: Active
On Redfin: 3 days
——————————————————————————
This home is a real beauty. Light and bright with 3 large bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Close by churches and ample shopping. Many more photos to come!
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Proprietary IHB commentary and analysis 
Resale Home Price …… $444,500
House Purchase Price … $445,000
House Purchase Date …. 12/10/2003
Net Gain (Loss) ………. ($27,170)
Percent Change ………. -6.1%
Annual Appreciation … 0.0%
Cost of Home Ownership
————————————————-
$444,500 ………. Asking Price
$15,558 ………. 3.5% Down FHA Financing
4.00% …………… Mortgage Interest Rate
$428,942 ………. 30-Year Mortgage
$124,218 ………. Income Requirement
$2,048 ………. Monthly Mortgage Payment
$385 ………. Property Tax (@1.04%)
$0 ………. Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos)
$93 ………. Homeowners Insurance (@ 0.25%)
$493 ………. Private Mortgage Insurance
$190 ………. Homeowners Association Fees
============================================
$3,209 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays
-$318 ………. Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax)
-$618 ………. Equity Hidden in Payment (Amortization)
$22 ………. Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes)
$76 ………. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves
============================================
$2,370 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership
Cash Acquisition Demands
——————————————————————————
$4,445 ………. Furnishing and Move In @1%
$4,445 ………. Closing Costs @1%
$4,289 ………… Interest Points @1% of Loan
$15,558 ………. Down Payment
============================================
$28,737 ………. Total Cash Costs
$36,300 ………… Emergency Cash Reserves
============================================
$65,037 ………. Total Savings Needed
——————————————————————————————————————————————————-
So a 2003 price rollback?
Yes, after nearly eight years of ownership, this owner can’t sell for enough to cover the sales commissions. When you factor in the additional costs for paying a premium over renting on a monthly basis, and this was not a good purchase.
The key to that was hidden in the description. The words “alphalt shingles” should strike terror in the hearts of anyone who treasures the architecture of the Arts & Crafts era. 2003 price rollback? More likely a 1970 price rollback.
“In short, the previous owner put nothing in to the property and got to take more than $100,000 out. It makes me feel pretty stupid for renting while this was going on”
sigh….so true.
“Instead, FivePoint is embracing Craftsman, Folk Victorian, Traditional Monterey, American Classic and Cottage styles in its residences”
This really doesn’t sound like a huge departure. This is pretty much the approach that was employed in Ladera Ranch
I forgot, even the Villages of Columbus has a similar mix, but it still looks like Irvine
Ladera Ranch goes beyond the architectural elevations….it was perceived as “neo-classical” in the sense of being able to walk through the community easily, street layout that discouraged rapidly moving traffic, nearby parks even if they were small, front porches to encourage resident interaction….and everything connected by a central community internet site so you could find a babysitter, gardner, literary group.
Look at some of the older areas of Irvine….old Northwood, Deerfield, El Camino Real, Woodbridge, Turtle Rock, University Park. Not so much beige there, nor red tile roofs. The first such project in Irvine like that was Turtle Rock Pointe, then followed by Westpark I, II, etc. That was when TIC fell in love with the Mediterranean and sent teams of folks armed with paint color chips to Europe to climb all over Spain, Italy. Roof tile companies learned to replicate red tile stained with bird poop to look old. Street names followed suit.
It’s because Donald Bren decided that he wanted Irvine to be Tuscany of California. Just look at Pelican Hill and you see can this influence come into the sharpest focus.
I’m no expert but I would bet money that this community will still follow the Irvine formula:
Walmart-style beige stucco boxes on postage stamp size lots with lots of curved streets to make sure any drivers-by won’t look to closely at the bland architectures.
Irvine: If you could find your House – You’d be home by now.
Real estate agent squatted in Laguna Beach home, client alleges
http://mobile.latimes.com/p.p?m=b&a=rp&id=945086&postId=945086&postUserId=7&sessionToken;=&catId=5224&curAbsIndex=0&resultsUrl=DID=6&DFCL=1000&DSB=rank#desc&DBFQ=userId:7&DL;.w=&DL;.d=10&DQ=sectionId:5224&DPS=0&DPL=3
Yup, typical behavior of a real estate agent.
Swiped from someone else’s OCRegister post on a different article, but too funny not to repeat:
Irvine: Where my violin playing nerd learns to become your kids boss.
More like –
Irvine: Where my violin playing nerd learns to become a middle level bureaucratic manager because they have been sheltered all there life and never learned how to take risks or think outside the box because of Irvine’s soul crushing conformity.
I always wonder how Will Ferrell came out of Irvine …
Or the lead singer of hard rock band Rage Against the Machine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zack_de_la_Rocha
Didn’t Will Ferrell live in the village of El Camino? I heard Bren is assembling a brigade to invade and restore order and conformity to El Camino.
Irvine: Where everybody goes to be the same.
I can’t stand the boringness of Irvine and really pray I never end up there.(However this blog is a wealth of information regarding greater OC real estate).
It just seems so soulless and uninspiring. Kind of the epitome of mindless middle America. I do respect the family oriented, school centric and relative safety. However I think you can find that elsewhere in Orange County with at least a little more flavor or edge to it.
If you were going to rent your house, you would paint all the walls in the house in neutral colors like beige and other earth tones. So why would Irvine want to be eclectic when that costs money? After all, money is why the Irvine Co. exists.
> I can’t stand the boringness of Irvine and really pray I never end up there.(However this blog is a wealth of information regarding greater OC real estate).
Me too. I never understood the Cult of Bren.
Silicon Valley is also expensive, but at least there’s a reason for that – tech stock options.
To me, Irvine is flyover country between San Jose and LA. 🙂
I live in Orange County and work in Silicon Valley (I basically commute and home-office, like dozens of other tech professionals I know and see on various Southwest flights every week).
Personally I HATE Silicon Valley. I mean seriously loathe it. It is way overpriced, even by SoCal/Irvine standards. It is ugly outside a few select areas (Atherton, Los Gatos and other cities which makes Irvine look cheap and diverse), it is miles and miles from either beach or oceans, the weather is bad, and anywhere you want to live is a *long* commute from work. Every time I go up there I am amazed how anyone in their right mind would WANT to live there if they didn’t do it just to have a job. I mean, let’s be honest: no one retires to Silicon Valley – they move away when they hit the stock option lottery and quit working. They retire to The OC.
I have been offered several opportunities to re-locate up there and turn them down each time. I tell them I live in OC and they can set me up down here or find someone else. Everyone has said yes for the last decade.
And, like I said, I am not alone. There are lots of us doing the NoCal-SoCal commute.
Ideally the tech community will expand here beyond BRCM and the view Conexant spin-offs, and there are a variety of tech companies getting off the ground, especially in the areas of software, social networking and a few other areas (some being driven by a joint effort of UCI and the Irvine Chamber of Commerce). Of course the medical tech community here is huge and growing. So maybe one day I will stop commuting and become a local worker again.
You must have family in the OC to actually like it.
Santa Cruz and SF have beaches, if that’s your thing.
Mountain View and Campbell are charming, walkable towns, Palo Alto less so.
Professionally the biggest mistake I made was trying to remain in OC too long. I will admit I miss taking a 5 lane freeway to the beach, but down 17 I’m 45 mins door to sand to great Santa Cruz beaches, and wine taste at one of my numerous wine clubs in the Santa Cruz mountains on the way home. Drive into SF? Sure – 45 mins as there is no traffic on the weekend.
Jobs? Yeah, tons. That’s why you commute here. Hopefully you don’t have a family – that would suck for them. ALL of the talent is here, especially software. Given the macro environment (talk to your HR director) being the smug remote guy isn’t a great spot to be in. Good luck.
Also, you gloss over a lot of really nice towns. Saratoga, Los Altos, Monte Sereno, Belmont, Burlingame, Hillsborough, Menlo Park – are you f’ing kidding me????? Very little in OC to compare. Atherton? compared to Irvine? Really???
BTW, everyone I know that hit the option lottery big still lives here and can’t quit the game. It is an addiction for these types of folks.
Re: Cult of Bren An atmosphere of extreme anxiety, waiting to see who gets left with the bag of doo doo. No one wants to make a decision that they don’t think The Chairman will object to. An extreme micro-manager who patrols every model in a complex regardless of who the builder is, and measures the height of the flame in the gas logs in the fireplaces (must be 3″, no more, no less). Not a place that inspires creativity.
You nailed it right on in terms of what it was like to work there. Thankfully I got out before I had to shoot myself.
Uh, I hate to bring up the obvious, but Irvine is south of both San Jose and L.A.
If Irvine’s a fly-over point between those two cities, you’re in for a very, very long flight indeed…
–Ron
Irvine might be boring, but much better than the excitment of home invasions. I can leave my door or windows open without worries except a note from IPD to lock my car door or close the windows. The traffic on the street flows. That’s much more than I can say about the many other “in” cities that I’ve lived. Minorities are not forced in little ghettos or neighorhoods or in fear that their house will be vandalized for moving to the neighborhood where ___ are not welcomed. The quality of the construction is much lower than expected for the price, but good construction goes not mean clean streets, good schools, etc.
So then your motto would be:
“Irvine: There’s no safe like home.”
While 5 Points can make the homes look different, if you’ve seen the neighborhood plans… they are just as, if not more dense than TIC neighborhoods.
With that, my mottos would be:
“Irvine: Where your square footage is bigger than your lot size.”
“Irvine: Motorcourts R Us.”
“Irvine: Backyards and driveways not allowed”
Irvine: “All your HOA fees are belong to us”
Somebody set up us the bomb.
No one seems to have commented on the obvious. These developers are planning to bring houses to the market in 2013. What about that shadow inventory we are hearing so much about and the fact that housing prices continue to fall? doesn’t this sound like a very poor business decision.
I think they are hoping to time the bottom. They will start with a very small production run, and in following years, they will increase their production runs and try to build positive sales and pricing momentum. If they time it right, it will work well.
The shadow inventory will weigh on their sales, but their alternative is to let the property sit fallow for several more years, and their investors make lower returns if they do that because so much of their money is already spent.
“People such as Charles Wible, 39, … says he didn’t expect a turnaround in his lifetime, so he’s banking on his four sons.”
Housing’s Job Engine Falters
Now that’s capitulation. 🙂
These overhead photos remind me of industrial poultry farms. Afterall, these bland developments are, in large part, baby incubators.
Irvine, because people you don’t want you or your kids to associate with can’t afford it.
Irvine, the banality of good schools, high down payments, and
people who share your values.
Irvine, my daddy got a higher math SAT score than yours.
Irvine, if you build it they will come.
I’m looking at the photo with the aerial view of Woodbury, and I’m astounded at the lack of yard space. How big are the lots–4,000 sq ft? With 2800 sq ft homes? Yuck. I wouldn’t call that good planning–perhaps for the developers who profit, but not for the people who live there.
And for an established neighborhood, where are the trees and greenery? All I see is a sea of beige rooftops, and tiny spaces in between each house. Do Woodburians hear their neighbors’ alarm clocks in the morning?
Very weird.
I thought that was part of the master plan. Shrink the lot with each new neighborhood that gets rolled out. Bren needs the money to research how to live forever.
Irvine – Where thier teeth are whiter than the people that live there.
Irvine – Look at the Mercedes my house bought me!