Today’s OC Register (Marketplace Page 3) runs a modified version of the same story they ran last weekend. It reads more like a builder’s marketing piece than a news article. I wouldn’t be surprised if California Pacific PR people had a hand in its creation.
I was really peeved when I read the first version of this article last week. It stated that Bowen Court (Woodbury) and Vientos (Portola Springs) were designed for singles, part-time parents, and gays and lesbians who wanted to hide their true relationship and appear to be just roommates. I’m not kidding. It really said that! Interestingly, today’s article says nothing about gays and lesbians. Perhaps I was not the only person who was bemused and dumbfounded by that statement?
“Bartender Shaun Karpow didn’t think he could afford to by a house he liked in Orange County, much less Irvine, on his own. He was considering a move to Nevada when a relative told him about a neighborhood in Portola Springs called Vientos, where detached homes are designed for single buyers or a divorced parent who might get the kids on weekends. The homes in the neighborhood range from 990 to 1,405 square feet and are priced from $393,720 to $572,030. Unlike traditional condos and townhouses, buyers own the land the house is on, and there are no shared walls.”
“After choosing some upgrades, Karpow, who is single, paid $450,000 for the 1,087-square-foot “OneXM” model and moved in last month.”
“Homebuilders, real estate experts and marketers said the Vientos project is rare for Orange County.”
“That’s quite unique to find detached homes with that small of a square footage, but that does make it more affordable,” said Linda Mamet, a vice president of sales and marketing for the John Laing Homes’ South Coast Division.”
I find it interesting that Brian Martinez, the author of this article, chose to interview competitor John Laing Homes to provide commentary on this development. I visited John Laing’s “Sendero” in Portola Springs yesterday at their grand opening, and I also visited Laing’s “Four Quartets” when that debuted a few months ago in Woodbury. I found both developments to be ho-hum at best. Many of their floor plans are “carriage-style” with just the garage on the first floor, or just the garage and a tiny study. The kitchens are pretty decent, but the models all felt like upscale apartments to me. I would consider renting one certainly, but I’d never purchase one of these awkwardly-designed townhouses. Sendero’s floor plans run from 1,312 to 1,958 square feet, 2-3 bedrooms, and are listed as starting from $532,880 to $657,880.
All things considered, I like the Vientos/Bowen Court 1,405 square foot Model Four a lot better than any of the Laing offerings. I like the way it offers a small courtyard and, in Woodbury’s version, the builder even offers to open up a wall of the second single car garage to create a loggia off of the living room. That appeals to my desire to enjoy the “indoor-outdoor California lifestyle.” What I don’t like about Model Four is the stupid, stupid, stupid placement of the microwave, at knee level, in the kitchen. They really designed this for part-time parents, huh? Guess the architect, David Ko of Angelino Associates, wasn’t really paying attention when his kids were in the toddler/preschool age. Visions of my pots and pans or, even worse, my cat, being stuck in that kid-friendly-height microwave would keep me from sleeping at night.
Going back to the brochure (oops, I mean the OC Register article), ” ‘One model in Vientos has two equally-sized master bedrooms, which can be purchased by two singles,’ Ko said.”
That was the paragraph that in the previous version of this article, discussed the benefits of such an arrangement for “in-the-closet” homosexuals. I just have nothing at all to say about that selective editing. Good grief.
And finally, “One of the models at Bowen is designed for [part-time parent architect] Ko’s situation. Since the buying power of a single parent tends to be low, Ko looked to cut costs wherever he could. So he designed a two-bedroom house that has a half-bath downstairs and only one full bath upstairs, which the parent shares with his or her children on the days they stay there.”
That would be Residence Two, which is about 1,030 square feet. Back when Vientos first debuted this model was listed from $500,000. Now it’s priced at $445,000.
I am a (almost full-time) single mom. (My son stays with his dad every other weekend.) I do NOT consider my buying power to be all that low. As many readers of our blog already know, I have an MBA and earn $120,000 a year (and will soon earn closer to $130k after my raise next month) in addition to receiving child support every month. I have almost $150,000 stashed in high-yielding CDs from my half of the proceeds of selling our home in January 2006 when we divorced. Given all this, it simply blows my mind that a 20-something BARTENDER paid $450,000 for one of these cramped little units. How the HELL can he afford that much mortgage? Unless mommy and daddy gave him a couple hundred thou as down payment, his monthly payments (including the roughly $1000 per month Mello Roos and HOAs) have got to be close to $3500-$4000! I consider $500,000 to be pushing the top of my sanity limit for a home purchase. And there is no way that ANY of these little units are worth what the builders are asking for them, even after the recent price drops.
Good luck with that creative marketing, friends. Just beware that the majority of the people that I have seen traipsing through your models were moms and dads with little kids. Because whether or not you want to admit it, your little boxes that were not designed for families are still out of reach of most fiscally sane families in Irvine.
