As a mom, my heart goes out to all the moms (and dads) whose beloved children were murdered on campus this morning.

Take a minute out of your day today to reflect on your family, your children. They are what really matters.

irvinesinglemom

I visited La Casella again today, at lunch. Gotta feed the obsession every now and then, ya know. I liked the models a lot more than I liked them the first time through, for some reason. Even Residence 1 with the casita – that could be my home gym!

I engaged the sales person in questions and she was very friendly and attentive. I was quite surprised by much of what she said, though. So surprised, in fact, that I expected my BS meter to be ringing in alarm. It was not, however. Was she just that good at smooth-talking? Or have I lost my ability to smell BS? Or could what she told me have possibly been, in fact, true????

1. Lennar has “paid the bank” for every La Casella unit sold thus far. In other words, they have sold every unit at a loss after taking into account the cost of land and construction costs.

2. During their most recent phase release, every single unit (8) sold out in one day.

3. Lennar has only purchased less than half of the land shown in their plans for final build-out at La Casella. The sales person said it was very likely the remaining units would not be built (by Lennar, anyway. She said Lennar would sell the plans and models to some other company who would take over the development). She said that they are in a “pissing contest” with TIC over final sales cost of the land, and TIC is not willing to come down enough to make it worthwhile for Lennar.

I asked, if by some chance TIC does reduce land prices, what would happen to the units’ asking prices? She said there was no way the prices would be reduced, as evidenced by the quick sell-out of the most recent phase release. She said Lennar would need to maintain or raise prices just to make up for all the losses incurred so far.

I then probed about who exactly has been buying these units. She said many single people have been buying them, with average incomes of 175k to 200k. She also told me that I needed to “change my lens” with respect to monthly carrying costs, and that if I wanted to own in Irvine, or anywhere in SoCal, then I needed to accept the fact that I would be paying 60-75% of my take-home pay on mortgage and HOA. I suggested that in fact most people were not using 30 year, fixed-rate mortgages, but she disagreed and said that most of the La Casella buyers had in fact used the standard, fixed mortgages, and were just paying big monthly payments.

So, your thoughts? Anyone care to comment? Clearly, La Casella is slightly less expensive than other options in Woodbury. But still. Sold out in one day? A loss on every unit? Mostly 30 year fixed mortgages? What is up with this story???

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.

Hi Fellow Bubbleheads,

No, I didn’t disappear into the void, just been busy with, like, life and stuff. Been watching the housing market of course, but mostly via trolling on my fave blogs and not by doing my out and about stuff. Some of my previous out and about visits to open houses and model homes were on my lunch hour…I’m happy to report that my job, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE, has been keeping me pretty busy for the most part so this hasn’t been as feasible. ‘sokay, tho’. When you really enjoy what you do, and like your coworkers, working hard isn’t such a bad thing. (Especially when you make $120k a year!!!)

So I just had to check in to let you know that I got an email from my good friends over at Paloma at Portola Springs today. They wanted me to take an online survey, and if I was one of the first 100 respondents, I’d get a $5 Starbucks gift card.

Well, since I didn’t open up this email til after dinner (7pm), I figured there’d be no way I’d get that gift card. However, I just LOVE giving people my opinion (imagine that?) so I dove into the survey nonetheless.

They wanted to know why I hadn’t bought yet (“priced out” was my pick), how much I liked the different pictured floor plans and pictures, among other things like my annual income and number of adults and kids in my family. What I interpreted from the survey was a suspicion that they’re planning on redesigning their models based on survey feedback (…did you like the furnishings in this picture?)

Uh, guys, your models are just lovely. I told you this already! Listen to mama!

It’s the prices, stupid. Three quarters of a million dollars for a two-bedroom condo that also comes with bitingly high mello roos and HOAs? Come on! I’m too damn smart to do that to myself!

I’ll try to do another out and about really soon, I swear!

Have a great day and BE PATIENT! Springtime is going to bring us a FASCINATING economic story to watch and talk about.

Update 12/01/06: I forgot to mention that I, in fact, was awarded one of the 100 Starbucks gift cards! I was surprised; but then, maybe not so surprised given the crash we are experiencing.