Village: Woodbury

Tract: Cortile (180 detached condominiums) in the City of Irvine

Builder: California Pacific Homes

Schools: Irvine School District (IUSD): Northwood, or El Camino Real Elementary, Sierra Vista Middle, Irvine High

Tax Rate: Base property tax rate of 1.03% and Mello Roos/Special Assessments of $392/month.

HOA Dues: Master Association to be $125 to start and $100 at build out.  Sub Association to be $97.

<u>PLANS

</u>Residence 1 - 2 Bedrooms 2.5 Bathrooms, 2 Car Tandem Garage, 1,030 Square Feet

Residence 2 - 2 Bedrooms 2.5 Bathrooms, 2 Car Garage, 1,145 Square Feet

Residence 3 - 3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms, 2 Car Garage, 1,275 Square Feet

Residence 4 - 3 Bedrooms Plus Den, 2.5 Bathrooms, 2 Single Car Garages, 1,497 Square Feet.

<u>PRICING

</u>

Phase 11A - Pricing as of 03/04/2006

Residence 1 - $557,000

Residence 2 - $592,000

Residence 3 - $622,000

Residence 4 - $682,000

Residence 1 - $568,905

Residence 2 - $607,335

Residence 3 - $638,650

Residence 4 - $714,495

All prices were said to "include some upgrades"

Pricing as of 12/2006

Residence 3 - $630,000

Residence 4 - $695,000

Pricing as of 2/24/2007<u>

</u>Residence 1 - $524,000

Residence 2 - $557,000

Residence 3 - $587,000

Residence 4 - $639,000

Pricing as of 3/24/2007

Residence 1 - $524,000

Residence 2 - $557,000

Residence 3 - $587,000

Residence 4 - $639,000

Pricing as of 6/22/2007

Residence 1 - $524,000

Residence 2 - $557,000

Residence 3 - $587,000

Residence 4 - $639,000

Pricing as of 12/3/2007

Residence 1 - $524,701

Residence 2 - $557,264

Residence 3 - $588,202

Residence 4 - Sold Out

No mention of incentives

Pricing as of 1/23/2008

They only have Residence 1 and 2 available. 

Residence 1 - $484,000

Residence 2 - $515,000

Pricing as of 2/23/2008

Residence 1 - $458,000

Residence 2 - $502,000

Residence 3 - $529,000

Residence 4 - $570,000

Does anyone have any historical pricing on these homes?

All i remember is when they first came out they were from the high $400,000s.

i remember almost getting plan 1 at Quail Hill Sage for 390 in…. summer 2003?

I’ve got some info from Cortile from fall 2006, when prices were higher.  I’ll dig it up and add the info when I have chance.
SCHB

these same housing tracts were in the 200s back in 2001… aldea in oak creek.

Here’s the Aldea (Oak Creek) floor plans for comparison:

http://oakcreekrealestate.net/Aldea/index.php

If I’m not mistaken, these were about quarter million to start back when they were building ‘em.

If you buy the ones in Oak Creek, the mello roose/assesssment should be about $180-$200/month, plus $100 to master HOA.  I don’t think they have a sub-association but I could be wrong.

master just about 100

sub just about 50

i purchased a plan 1 in cortile at woodbury in early 2005.  its was $460 base if i recall.  i was able to secure a loan through the california housing finance agency for medium-income buyers in high costs areas.  30yr fixed at 4.5%.  to qualify for these loans your income has to be within certain levels and the house price below certain levels, depending on what area you’re purchasing the home in.  and there are some resale tax implications within the first 9 yrs (so it wouldnt be cost effective to flip using these loans).

my brother who was a school teacher at the time qualified for another similar program designed for teachers, firefighters, policemen, and other public employees.  he purchased his 900 sq ft condo at catalina in playa vista for a discounted price of $250k with a 30yr loan at 2.75%.  that’s not a typo!

at the time i was doing the loan, the sales agents said they had never seen such a loan and were amazed.  that surprised me a lot because there are many of these similar programs out there and you’d be amazed.  at the time, household income under $95,000 purchasing a new home under $550k qualified for these type of loans in orange county.  maybe for a family with kids, $95k in irvine doesnt cut it but for a single guy like myself, this was a great deal.

hoa is about 100 master / 97 sub.  and trader joes is within walking distance!

Acpme,
Can you send me an email at reach_apurvi@hotmail.com. I wanted to know more about these type of loans since I’m new to this country and have no source of information. Help would be appreciated.

aptu, check out.  http://www.calhfa.com/

borrow requirements are listed here. http://www.calhfa.com/homebuyer/information/borrower-requirements.htm

in orange county, low income is under 55k and med income under 92k for households of 1-2 ppl.  its slightly higher if you have a larger household.  theses are rough numbers off the top of my head.  home price limits are $591k for new construction and $571 for resale.  in OC, santa ana is a targeted area for additional assistance and the sale limits are higher.  its amazing that people making close to six figures need assistance to purchase a condo but in this market… !!!!  eeeeps!

the catch to these loans are that you’re essentially getting the benefit of a subsidy for the below-market rate.  there is a recapture tax if you sell your home within 9 yrs in order for the govt to recoup the subsidy.  the tax is triggered if 1) the value of the home goes beyond the allowable limits and 2) income level rises above limits.  the tax penalty is based on how much above the limits your home value or income is and it increases each year, peaking at 5 yrs after purchase, and decreases until year 9.  after 9 yrs there is no tax.

this is not the type of loan u want  unless you’re planning to be here for the long haul.

Aptu,

Some cities also offer housing assistance, such as down payment assistance (subsidized loan) and housing rehabilitation grants & loans.  For example:

http://www.ci.fullerton.ca.us/depts/dev_serv/housing_n_downpayment_assistance/default.asp

http://www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/departments/comm_development/grants_loans_html

http://www.cmredevelopment.org/rda-programs.htm

http://www.cityofirvine.org/depts/cd/planningactivities/affordablehse/housing_resources.asp

There’s a lot of government and private assistance programs avail for first-time home owners, you just need to do some research.

I actually qualified for down payment assistance loan up to $45k when I was shopping for my first property.  But alas, the requirement is that you had to live there, and I bought it as an income property so I couldn’t qualify.  >_<

Thank you guys!!. I’ll research and let you know what I might plan.

Sept 2006 Pricing (phase 12)-
R1: $568,905
R2: $607,335
R3: $638,650
R4: $714,495
This is from the price sheet but all these prices were said to "include some upgrades" (unspecified).
In Dec 2006 I got more specific sheets on the plan 3 & 4, which actually showed base prices for units that were available.
R3: $630k
R4: $695k
 
SCHB

went to see these last week with a friend.  only plan 4 felt spacious (both living space wise and bedroom wise)

plan 2 looks like they just cram rooms next to each other without flow (ie walkthrough the kitchen and dining to access stairways)

and why oh why are there no double sinks in the master (except for plan 4 and possibly 3, i don’t remember)?

I visited Cortile this Sunday and the prices are still:

R1: $524,000

R2: $557,000

R3: $587,000

R4: $639,000

Price sheet states: Effective date is 3/24/07

Phase 11A - Pricing as of 03/04/2006

Residence 1 - $557,000

Residence 2 - $592,000

Residence 3 - $622,000

Residence 4 - $682,000

Wow. It really went up.

This scares me.  My wife is going to kill me if prices go up this summer and the bubble doesn’t burst.  The builders were throwing all sorts of incentives back in Jan and Feb and we didn’t jump in because of my strong feelings on this bubble.  I really hope its just a marketing ploy to make buyers  feel like prices are going up.

Ooops - I think I misread FlipperHill’s post.  It looks like the price sheet is from a year ago.  Prices are still the same over at Cortile.  Phew!

California Housing Finance Programs:
The loan programs are at CHFA website.  Here’s the links to income limits and sales price limits by county for 2006.

Oh I thought that pricing was current. Scared me HaHa.

Hello everyone,
My husband and I have recently begun researching buying our first home. I came across this blog by googling Cortile. We visited the models yesterday and I was doing some research and stumbled upon this discussion. I figured what the heck I’ll post and ask a few questions. Any perspective you can offer would be appreciated. I have several questions so please chime in if any interest you.
1. I noticed someone posted that Cortile was offering buyer incentives. How can you find out if incentives are offered? None were noted on the pricing list and we steared clear of the sales desk.
2. Can you negotiate with the builder for incentives? I.E. interest rate buy downs, upgrades, HOA fees etc.?
3. Should/Can you use a real estate agent to buy a new home? Pros/Cons?
4. For those of you that live in Woodbury are the Mello Roos worth it, what is your $392 a month doing for YOU. And, do Mello Roos go away? (crossing fingers)
5. Do do new homes appreciate faster than older homes?
Thanks guys!

Hi OChomeshopper… welcome to the site and first off let me tell you that you that by coming to this site, you’ll get a lot of people telling you not to buy right now, how prices are so ridiculous, they’ll point you all this evidence, etc etc… but hey go for it if you’re mentally and financially ready and can comfortably afford a 30 year fixed mortgage.

I purchased my first home from Cal Pac Homes back in 02, so here’s my 2 cents. For incentives and any questions you might have, don’t be afraid to ask anything. Ask, ask, ask. I asked so many questions, and luckily the people working at the home were really nice and helpful. As for incentives, it just depends on the builder. I never used a real estate agent for my new home and never saw a need for one. Although if the builder offers broker %, some people will just use an agent who is a friend or relative and split the proceeds. For mello roos, it just gets tacked on with the property tax and it’s big chunk of it needless to say. But what can you do? It’s going to be there for a while so get used to it for these new communities. As for new homes appreciating faster than older homes, you can say it happened back around 2000-03 because with every phase release the prices would shoot up another 10-20k. But the days of that happening now are gone. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply.  BTW, if anyone was wondering pricing remains the same as noted in Raymond’s last post. Realistically the mello roos/HOA in Woodbury will likey keep us out, for now. But, we are going to keep watching the pricing and start enjoying the nice weather while we can still afford to live somewhere with real outdoor space (eastside costa mesa). It looks like it will be awhile before that is possible in Irvine.

OChomeshopper,

As sportsfan8 mentioned, you have stumbled into a bear’s den. I have answered number 5 "5. Do do new homes appreciate faster than older homes?" in this post :Appreciation is Dead.

If you want to really understand by I believe appreciation is dead, read these posts: Your Buyer’s Loan Terms and The Anatomy of a Credit Bubble.