There seems to be a handful of us interested in Costa Mesa. Often we hijack other threads with discussion of CM, so I’m starting a new thread dedicated to 92626 and 92627.

We have started looking for a 2000 sq ft single level home in East Costa Mesa (not sure what the zip is). It still seems like WTF pricing. We can’t afford it unless it drops at least 30%. The airport noise is also pretty fearsome with certain weather patterns.

I think that is 92627, and the WTF pricing stems in part from its location as “Newport adjacent” and the large lots.

stepping_up - 26 July 2008 09:07 AM

There seems to be a handful of us interested in Costa Mesa. Often we hijack other threads with discussion of CM, so I’m starting a new thread dedicated to 92626 and 92627.

What’s the fascination since CM is priced high and doesn’t even touch the ocean?

The east side has some very charming homes, the vast majority of which are very well maintained. I’m not sure about the north end of CM, but the SW and EW offer a lovely ocean breeze and you can be at the coast in two miles, so it’s much more like a coastal town than an inland one. We rode our bikes down to the beach today and my husband does this often in the evenings for his exercise. It’s also a great location for commuting. My husband works over by the spectrum and his morning drive is 15 mins. Lastly, even though east side CM prices are WTF, they are lower than Newport, particularly when you factor in the size of the lot you get.

My preference was for the east side, but I just didn’t see things coming down to our price range.

What is your impression of Mesa Verde?  I know that it feeds into Estancia, and there has been mention of race wars and gangs, etc. It seems to be a pretty nice area, and the adjacent parks, including Fairview park seem very nice.  At what grade levels to the schools start to deteriorate?

stepping_up - 26 July 2008 06:19 PM

The east side has some very charming homes, the vast majority of which are very well maintained. I’m not sure about the north end of CM, but the SW and EW offer a lovely ocean breeze and you can be at the coast in two miles, so it’s much more like a coastal town than an inland one. We rode our bikes down to the beach today and my husband does this often in the evenings for his exercise. It’s also a great location for commuting. My husband works over by the spectrum and his morning drive is 15 mins. Lastly, even though east side CM prices are WTF, they are lower than Newport, particularly when you factor in the size of the lot you get.

My preference was for the east side, but I just didn’t see things coming down to our price range.

I used to live in East Side CM, and I really liked it.  In the area bordered by 17th, Irvine, 19th, and Newport, you rarely needed to drive anywhere.  Restaurants, groceries, movies, bars, dry cleaners, Hi-Time, everything was all within walking distance.  (Of course, this was also at a time when Triangle Square was thriving.).  The developers/flippers came in and started doing a lot of teardown / rebuilds on the larger lots.  I had wanted one of those cute older homes along Broadway, Magnolia, or Flower.

Oddly, Broadway is mostly untouched. The other streets not so.

The Eastside has good location, however it is getting denser.  Too dense without the proper planning and public open space like Irvine, IMHO.

For the person that asked, ‘what’s the appeal’,it’s much like Eva pointed out.  Proximity, easy commute, nice SFR with no HOA, Mello-roos or CCRs on a lot that allows the children to play in the either front or back yard and still have a little room to grow some tomatos.  Adjacent to the back bay for biking, close to UCI, and a 10 minute bike ride to the beach.  It also doesn’t quite have the keeping up with the Joneses pressure of Irvine although that has been getting worse.

Maltese - 26 July 2008 10:15 PM

What is your impression of Mesa Verde?  I know that it feeds into Estancia, and there has been mention of race wars and gangs, etc. It seems to be a pretty nice area, and the adjacent parks, including Fairview park seem very nice.  At what grade levels to the schools start to deteriorate?

Many nice 60s houses on large lots nicely upgraded.  Nice community feeling.  I think that the schools are good/very good/excellent through middle school, though this is sub-district dependent, of course.

What about the noise from the airplane traffic on the East Side? Yes, John Wayne has limits on when they can fly, yet doesnt that constant sound wear on you and should’t it call for some kind of reduction in premium?

I love East Side and am considering the neigborhood, yet it seems that Costa Mesa (92627) in general has a higher rental % to Owners (60% vs 36%) than that of Irvine. Wouldnt you want less renters?

92627 includes the SW side too, where there are many renters.

On the east side, there are rentals along the major streets, but as an offhand guess, i would say that they represent maybe 20%

As for the airplane noise, my impression is that it is loud above 24th street equivalent, noticable down to ~22nd, and gone below that, but ymmv.

For years Costa Mesa 92627 tried to get rid of Panther Palace operating in a residential neighborhood. RE value was severely hurt by this establishment.

I’d guess the complexes at closer to 50% renters.  SFRs about 20-30%.

For Airplane noise, it’s noticeable all the way down to Kings Road in Newport Beach.  Airplane noise has been getting much worse IMHO, I suspect due to the planes taking off fully loaded from SNA.  There’s also the issue of which city street you’re on. The further east from Newport Blvd, the longer and louder it carries. I’ve also noticed more late night and early morning jets, I suspect private planes.  For example, one ripped out of the airport at 6:45 AM this morning.  Not sure if a commercial or private but annoying and I doubt he throttled back.  And frankly, you can tell maintenance levels by ear. I suspect the airlines are skimping. :-(  It’s sad when you’re on a bike ride in the backbay and you stop to look up because the plane has a thrum and grind sound going.

That said, the airplanes are less annoying than the idiot motorcylces and modified exhaust cars and trucks that have a need to be seen.

Costa Mesa homeowners are still stuck firmly in WTF territory. Those Eastside bungalows that sell for $800k sold for $250k in 2001.  Nice-size Westside homes clinging to $600k sold for $150k.  Tiny condos in crap areas still go for $400k+.  There are some dodgy neighborhoods as well.  The Westside south of Victoria and West of Placentia has some great, large lots with mature trees and long-time homeowners.  they also have streets that are blocked to through traffic because of past gang activity.  I recently looked at a house on Republic.  The house itself was great, but the neighbors were not.  Lots of milling about tinkering with vehicles on the lawn while drinking beer ith buddies on a weekday afternoon.  Dead landscaping, delapidated motorhomes permanently parked in driveways, multiple families in one residence, with the associated cars, etc.  I’m off to lunch now, but I’m sure we could put together a neighborhood-by-neighborhood profile.

FYI, I live 1 block south of 17th, near Tustin, and the airplane noise is no problem.

Why is the east side more desirable than west?  I would think being closer to the ocean, NB is more appealing?

norcaljeff - 28 July 2008 08:18 PM

Why is the east side more desirable than west?  I would think being closer to the ocean, NB is more appealing?

You need to see the two neighborhoods, and how the borders are shaped and defined to understand. It is more like North and South than it is West and East in direction. Some parts of the Westside make parts of Santa Ana look appealing. Most of the Eastside is closer to NB, and some homes on the south side of east 16th have a NB address and zip code. I would pay to live on east 16th, but there parts of west 18th you couldn’t pay me to live on. Not sure where in NorCal you live, but the Westside would be like living around 40th and MacArthur in Oakland (not the best neighborhood, but it has some streets that are nice. no grocery stores, only liquor stores, and a few decent restaurants), and living on the Eastside would be like living in the Rockridge area of Oakland (beautiful neighborhood, with a rare run down home. great gourmet market with a wine shop, best Chicago pizza outside of Chi, fantastic restaurants including the tapas bar A-Cote which I will be revisiting here in the next two months). If the Oakland reference is not familiar to you, then I can do other bay area hoods, but the Oakland reference is pretty much an apples to apples comparison.

graphrix - 28 July 2008 10:32 PM

If the Oakland reference is not familiar to you, then I can do other bay area hoods, but the Oakland reference is pretty much an apples to apples comparison.

And with that, every member of the Costa Mesa City Council just slit their own wrists. 

Somehow, using Oakland as a comparison is not what I think they had in mind. 

I really enjoy reading threads like these because it lets you learn a bit more about the cities in OC.  Regarding CM, how do the areas near the 405 and 73 compare with the other areas?  It seems like the east side near NB are the most desireable.  But then where?  Would I be wrong in ranking them:

Most desireable to least

1) East side near NB
2) West side near Fairview Park
3) Northside near the freeways
4) The areas between Newport Blvd and Placentia and Victoria and 17th?

I know I’m most likely wrong, so please feel free to rip away at my rankings and add new entries if my areas are over-generalized.

no, that ranking is about right.

there are some sub-areas in those larger ones that stand out, like the west-bluffs, the college park area, and mesa verde west, near the golf course, that rise above the generalities, but you are pretty close in my opinion.

Freedom, I’d say that Wimbledon and the area north of Paularino, west of the 55 are nicer than the general neighborhood of Westside by Fairview Park.  Then again, I don’t consider the area south of Adams and north of Fairview Park the “Westside.“  I also think that one of the very nicest neighborhoods in CM is Mesa Verde.  There are truly magnificent golf course homes in there.  My choice for a place to live is the Eastside, due to the fantastic shopping, restaurants, parks and other amenities.

What is sad is the homeowners on the Westside who used HELOCs to really spruce up their properties and who are now surrounded by a sea of dilapidated, overcrowded, and abandoned homes.  I hate to say it, but some parts of the Westside do make Santa Ana look nice…

Here is my new favorite WTF listing in Eastside Costa Mesa:

Eastside CM Irvine Ave WTF Listing

The home is brand new after a tear down performed by the owner last year.  It’s actually quite nice and tastefully modern on the inside with minimal noise from Irvine Ave.  The problem is, however, that it’s still on Irvine Avenue with a Costa Mesa address… the master suite actually overlooks the street and the home’s sketchy next door neighbors which is anything but a peaceful site.  Also, the listing of 3500 sf is grossly in accurate… I would say 2500 sf being generous.  Finally, they chose to put up clear glass garage doors.  While these may look pretty neat, they are awful for any privacy and blocking out sound. 

To further drive home as to how outrageously overpriced this home is, you can purchase another home across the street on Irvine Ave for under $800k:

NB Irvine Ave Foreclosure Special!

That would leave you at least $400k leftover (a very conservative estimate) if you decided to tear down this house and build the exact same home as the CM Irvine Ave listing.  And you would be left with a Newport Beach address with access to a much better middle school.

Seriously, WTF are these people thinking?

[Deleted 2nd reply for duplicate posting]

OC Zed - 29 July 2008 01:08 PM

Seriously, WTF are these people thinking?

OT, I thought you were dead?  ‘Sup bro?

QHBruin - 29 July 2008 08:01 AM

I really enjoy reading threads like these because it lets you learn a bit more about the cities in OC.  Regarding CM, how do the areas near the 405 and 73 compare with the other areas?  It seems like the east side near NB are the most desireable.  But then where?  Would I be wrong in ranking them:

Most desireable to least

1) East side near NB
2) West side near Fairview Park
3) Northside near the freeways
4) The areas between Newport Blvd and Placentia and Victoria and 17th?

I know I’m most likely wrong, so please feel free to rip away at my rankings and add new entries if my areas are over-generalized.

Hmm, the neighborhoods are more fragmented than that.  Mesa Verde is the original inner/outer loop long before Woodbridge.  It literally has about four concentric rings of valuation.  Rentals start at about 80% on the outermost loop and drop accordingly to the inner most loop.

You’re also missing College Park.  A beautiful collection of classic California ranch homes south of Orange Coast College, very few renters the borders are Harbor/Fairview/merrimac/Wilson (Fair).  It spans North/South of Fair and North is better, IMHO but still beautiful homes on south side.  The area is technically Central Costa Mesa.  El Camina Real is the other side of the college and house nice homes with density stripping plexes lining Baker and environs.

And Finally, you get State Streets north of Mesa Verde sandwiched by the 405.

Oh, I almost forgot the bluffs and Canyon. Both are pockets in West Costa Mesa lining the river bluff. The bluffs are terraced SFRs with views of the beach/turdherder plant and SeaCove townhomes.  The canyon is northside of Victoria and very dense squeezed by rentals.

Going further south (towards the beach) you hit another ocean view area over by the failed Flip that/this House.  It’s newer 1990’s built homes, don’t know if it has a name but it is the sail streets like Spinnaker, Nantucket, not very big and nestled in a TBD area that is residential light industrial mix.

Final oopsie, I forgot Wimbledon Glen area in South Coast Metro, a collection of nice, larger SFRs near South Coast plaza boardered on the outside by pocket parks and townhome/apartments.

no_vaseline - 29 July 2008 02:01 PM

OC Zed - 29 July 2008 01:08 PM

Seriously, WTF are these people thinking?

OT, I thought you were dead?  ‘Sup bro?

I don’t care much for medieval style.