Verandas, a William Lyon tract in Columbus Square, had their grand opening today. These are single family detached homes (or so they say) in the City of Tustin. They ARE detached but the size of the yard? is similar to many of the detached condos in Irvine.
We stopped by a little after lunch and I was really surprised how many people were out and about looking at homes. Perhaps all the balloons, hot dogs, and Villages of Columbus stamped cookies brought everyone in today. I didn’t visit any of the other neighborhoods today as I was primarily interested in what the pricing would be at Verandas. The models at Verandas saw a good amount of traffic (as even finding a parking spot was a little tough). From the looks of it, some people were seriously considering purchasing. Others weren’t so pleased.. I overheard some guy say that the floor plan on Model 1 was crap lol 😉
We took a quick tour through the three models and weren’t too impressed. Everything felt cramped even though there was plenty of square footage (1887-2394 sq ft). In general, I like the large kitchen that opens into the great room. None of the models felt like that to me and I’m having a hard time thinking about something positive to say about them. They aren’t all that bad, but for a new home my expectations are just different I suppose.
Perhaps the pricing is what is most appealing about this tract. The Plan 1’s start at $674,990. That’s a pretty competitive price (isn’t it?) for the market right now. A quick ZipRealty search of similar homes didn’t provide too many results. You can find the rest of the pricing in the Verandas thread on our Forums.
Did anyone else check these (or any other) models out? What did you think?
Thanks for sharing. I was curious about those (particularly given the starting price), but didn’t want to brave the first day crowds. We will need a downstairs bed/bath, so these were not practical for us. Sorry to hear that they were not all what you thought they might be. They sound like Campanile but with less yard and driveway. To me it’s very interesting that Lyon delayed them from a Sept/Oct 2007 opening to Jan 2007 opening. I guess someone else sees the handwriting on the wall re: inventory.
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I’ve never seen the property, but did note the builder is William Lyon. I’ve bought several property built by them. The construction quality is acceptable (I’d give it a B), but their after-sales support gets an A+. I had some water stains/damage in one of my units (about 6-7 years old) and called them. They sent over an inspector at my conveience, and I mean not one of those stupid 4 hour windows, it was ‘ok what time do you want me to be there?” and the guy showed up right on time with moisture detection equipment.
Be warned that if you’re buying a condo or house from them, make certain the kitchen range/hood has a real vent that goes through the roof. And if it’s new home, carefully study the floorplan and order all your electrical, phone, cable, internet (CAT5), and water outlets first. It’s too late after the unit is built. I wish I had put in a couple extra electrical outlets in the garage and a water tap on the patio. =(
I think the price point for the Verandas sound great, and VERY competitve – but they need to be!!! First of all, most of the builders are completely ignoring the low $700’s in general, and this is Columbus Square which is going to be a very different feel than Columbus Grove and is more “on top of each other.” But, that’s really OK if people can get a lot of home for the price.
I’m going to get over there this coming weekend to see for myself, but I guess we have to realize that this price point is what’s going to sell the Verandas, not necessarily the upgrades and the floorplans, per se.