Construction on the remaining land in Meriweather is temporarily on hold because of soil issues. We were told this a couple weeks ago by one of the neighboring offices. I don’t think Lennar wants buyers to know that.

KD- soil condition? do you have any idea or know of anything?

Apparently, that particularly area of land used to be a wash station. I’m not exactly sure what the implications may be. Someone should call Lennar and find out.

i don’t think lennar would even tell you… and if they did, they would probably lie.  maybe lennar is trying to find a loop hole to get out of building the rest of the place out…..

I heard that bad water issue was resolved and the construction of the next phase (8) will begin in March. Bad water area for Meriwether is Phase 8 & 9.

If you look at Meriwether site map from last year, they used to have Phase 8 as three lots around the model. In the most recent site map dated 1/28/08, Phase 8 & 9 are continued area of Phase 6 & 7 and now the lots around the model is labeld as Phase 10.

I’m rather surprised that Lennar is able to sell in the current market, but it seems they are pulling it off somehow.

Was it bad water issues or soil issues?  I could imagine there were soil compaction or erosion issues due to rain, which would have delayed construction, but water pollution?  Is there even a monitoring well out there?  Can someone clarify? 

Unfortunately, 100’s of jets fly over Columbus square, they are just private, but definitely no big commercial airliners.

Sounds like someone is just bad-mouthing Lennar.  I spoke to the construction manager and Lennar is delaying construction because the market is bad not because of soil issues, lol.
 

The issue of bad water/soil is real. As KD_B says, there used to be a wash station in the area and the soil is still contaminated from multiple chemicals used in those days. A friend of mine is an engineer who works for the military, and he knows all about it. They still measure water quality periodically on the other side of Severyns, which is outside the boundary of Columbus Square. But, as myfirsthome says, you are fine unless you drink water harvested from that soil or grow fruits or vegetables on that soil.

I’m not surprised that Lennar won’t tell you such a thing.

lennar is telling you that. it’s all writen down and noted. no secret there.

i’ve done extensive research on that and i am fine with it. won’t have any fruit trees and will have a whole house water filter if i endeup buying there (or anywhere else for that matter). and the water comes from irvine anyway. so unless you install your own well or drink sprinkler water i don’t see where there would be an issue.

in regards to the next phases. sure they are delayed but only because lennar is smart and reacts to the current market.

I guess they are all sold out. That’s pretty amazing for this market, unless they gave sweet-heart deals to everybody who just moved in. I also saw that the forclosed plan 3 has its locks taken out. I am guessing somebody bought the house.

all sold out? or just that phase is sold out? last i check there were a couple of phase left…..

Well… The next phases are not built yet. What I meant was the current phases are sold out. Thought they were supposed to start the construction in March, so signs of it though.
Also Lyon was supposed to start the construction of Astoria right in front of meriwether. Do not know what ever happened to that. Slow year i guess.

They don’t start building until the unit is sold.  The next unbuilt phase is sold out.  They already have peoples deposits so no need to rush in a slow market.  You can still buy the next next phase, but will probably have to wait 12 months before you can move in.
 

nah…. lets just wait until a couple of them fall out of escrow at year end and see if i can pick one up for cheap….

Did not realize that they did not start building until they get deposit from prospective buyers. Is that a standard industry practise? If there is a way i could find out how much people are paying for each plan (Wishful thiking i guess). Thought that there was a OC tax website where this info can be seen, at least how much tax each person is paying and from there guess the cost of the house.

The Lennar web site says that they release a new phase on 4/12. Did they begin to sell phase 9? They haven’t begun building phase 8 yet.

ipop said it right…. too many people bought at the peak 2005-2007 with arms and they will reset and probably half of those people can’t afford the new reset rate and they can’t refi due to the house is worth less then loan. so they will get foreclose on. thus leading to price being destroy by the reo comps. something to think about if you are planning to buy in VOC or any of the new development.

Lennar has released Phase 8 for Meriwether last week. Target completion date is Sep 08.
Plan 3 - 599,000
Plan 2 - 585,000
Plan 1 - 499,000

Not sure about the incentives yet. I am pretty sure the standard closing cost , HOA for 1,2 years etc will be thrown in…....

499k for a plan 1? are they raising price to try to fool people into thinking that the market is getting better? hahahahahaa what a joke. and you know what? i am sure they will catch a few buyer with this pricing too. oh well…. those who don’t do their homework will pay for it.

jbatzmaru,

The market bottomed in Q4 2007.  Prices have been going up ever since.  I remember you were close to pulling the trigger back then.  Sorry you missed the boat.

asianinvasion- did i really miss the boat? which boat are you talking bout though? the boat to the poor house? yea i almost bought in savannah but i pull out at the last minute.

Sub 600K pricing is very sounds tempting. Given that there was a shortsale attempt for 569K on a plan3, I guess i would wait it to go under 550K or drive a hard bargain with lennar.
Anybody knows what the Astoria story is? There were supposed to be building Astoria’ homes. The last time i drove by, Lyon seems to have bailed…. Guess they would build another condo commmunity in that place….

buyer123 - 16 April 2008 11:40 PM

Sub 600K pricing is very sounds tempting. Given that there was a shortsale attempt for 569K on a plan3, I guess i would wait it to go under 550K or drive a hard bargain with lennar.
Anybody knows what the Astoria story is? There were supposed to be building Astoria’ homes. The last time i drove by, Lyon seems to have bailed…. Guess they would build another condo commmunity in that place….

They are supposed to finish Astoria, but they are delaying it as most builders are.

Listing on redfin:

http://www.redfin.com/stingray/do/printable-listing?listing-id=1678548