Village: Portola Springs

Tract: Decada (91 single family detached condominiums) in the City of Irvine

Builder: California Pacific Homes

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

Tax Rate: Base property tax rate of 1.03% and Mello Roos/Special Assessments of $442/month

HOA Dues: Sub Association $97; Master Association $175 initially and $150 at Build Out

Deposit Required: $20,000

Plans:

Residence 1 - 3bd/2.5ba - 1437 sq. ft.

Residence 2 - 3bd/2.5ba - 1545 sq. ft.

Residence 3 - 3bd+lib/2.5ba - 1648 sq. ft.

Residence 4 - 3bd+den/2.5ba - 1750 sq. ft.

PRICING

Residence 1 - From $691,490

Residence 2 - From $723,420

Residence 3 - From $742,325

Residence 4 - From $779,080

Phase 1 (Effective 10/06/2006)

Residence 1 - From $644,233

Residence 2 - From $678,785

Residence 3 - From $702,767

Residence 4 - From $733,646

Phase 2A (Effective 1/13/2007)

Residence 1 - From $580,000

Residence 2 - From $602,000

Residence 3 - From $628,000

Residence 4 - From $648,000

Phase ? (Effective 2/3/2007)

Residence 1 - From $580,000

Residence 2 - From $602,000

Residence 3 - From $628,000

Residence 4 - From $648,000

Phase ? (Effective 5/25/2007)

Residence 1 - From $582,000

Residence 2 - From $602,000

Residence 3 - From $628,000

Residence 4 - From $648,000

Phase 3A (6/9/2007)

1 plan 1, 1 plan 2, 2 plan 3s, 2 plan 4s

Residence 1 - From $582,000

Residence 2 - From $602,000

Residence 3 - From $628,000

Residence 4 - From $648,000

Move in is around Feb 2008.  They didn’t seem too sure of this.

Phase 3B (6/23/2007)

Plans 1 & 2 only for this release.
Pricing on 9/30/2007

Residence 1 - From $603,000*

Residence 2 - From $625,000*

Residence 3 - From $628,000

Residence 4 - From $676,500*

* Sales price includes pre-selected options

Pricing on 11/29/2007

Residence 1 - From $580,000*

Residence 2 - From $612,808*

Residence 3 - From $622,131*

Residence 4 - From $675,510*

* Sales price includes pre-selected options

Pricing on 1/12/2008

Residence 1- $557,871

Residence 2- $588, 808

Residence 3- $608,142

Residence 4- Temp sold out
All include unspecified "pre-selected options"
Pricing as of 4/4/2008
Residence One - $544,000
Residence Two - currently sold out
Residence Three - currently sold out
Residence Four - currently sold out
Pricing effective 426/2008
Phase 4
Lot / Plan / Price
87 2A 562k
86 3C 582k

Furnished Models
Lot / Plan / Price
88 1D 606k
91 2B 639k
90 3C 646k
89 4A 665k

This is another one of California Pacific’s tried and true tract plans.  Mericort near Northpark and Arborel in Turtle Ridge are the prior ones that I know of. 

They have lowered the price tremendously!
The pricing I got last year… July 29,2006 were these:
Residence 1 - From $691,490

Residence 2 - From $723,420

Residence 3 - From $742,325

Residence 4 - From $779,080

Thanks Numbers! That’s a huge drop!  I’ve updated the original post with the pricing you provided

I visited Decada yesterday.  They are offering "back-end" incentives ranging from $10,000 to $13,000, applicable to upgrades and/or closing costs.  The catch = you have to use their lender.

Their 13Jan2007 release was phase 2A.  (the A being significant)
They are splitting phase 2 into (at least) an A & B, apparently to "meter out" the product and try to keep demand up...we’ll see how that goes.
Also, their desposit is $20k.  This would be a good reference below HOAs at the top of the thread.
SCHB

Good idea SCHB!

I visted both Decada and Cortile in Woodbury to check on the falling prices.  I was surprised that Cortile is still expensive with their largest Plan 4 (1405sq ft) sold out on December 20 at $648,379.  The much more desirable Decada Plan 4 (1750sq ft) was $668,646 with about $25K in options.  Factoring in the options gives you about a street price ot about $643K.  Why you want Cortile at the same price and 345 less square feet, less land, and more neighboors?  Was Cortile more expensive because it was near build out while Decada is in Phase 1 or 2?  I noticed significant price cuts (not as big as Decada however) at the newer Four Quartets in Woodbury as well.
The Decada price was obviously on a cancellation from Phase 1.  I didn’t ask what the price of a brand new lot was.

My bad - I meant Bowen Court instead of Cortile.  Bowen Court is another Cal Pac courtyard style detached condo in a six house cluster.  Decada is a four house cluster and Cortile, CPH again, is an eight house cluster.

We are mildly  interested in the Decada plan 4 so we took a look over the weekend.

They’ve sold 13 units so far and all of the plan 4s are sold out which killed our interest.  They wont start building the next phase until they sell the rest of the current inventory… If they sell the current inventory.  The salesperson we spoke with didn’t seem too confident that the next phase would even happen?  I’m not sure from how they acted.  Perhaps they were playing games with us.  They have plenty of the non plan 4s to sell but they aren’t moving.

Irvine_native,

We were interested in Plan4 as well. Nothing fancy or luxurious but nice floorplan and good value for the price.

I remember the salesperson said the same thing back in Dec when they’re selling phase 1 (8 units), and they ended up releasing phase 2A (6 units) in Jan after 80% of phase 1 were sold.

I am not sure if they have released phase 2B (another 6 units) ? They told me they’re gonna release phase 2B shortly after 2A, and they will start phase 2 construction as soon as 50% are sold.

Irvine_native,
Did you pick up a price sheet?  Any drops?  Did you ask about incentives?  And don’t worry, Plan 4 is out of my price range—so no competition from me.    Also, I have no plans to purchase for at least another 1.5 years.
Could you elaborate on what the rep said about not doing another phase?  Thanks.

i like plans 3 and 4.  plan 1 and 2 have the living room completely separated from the other areas via the entryway.  that’s a little strange to me. 

On the plan 4, does the "opt bath 3" have shower option?  It’d be nice if it did, then you can convert that 1st floor den to a bedroom for grandma.  That would make the house a 4/3 for $650k.  That’s not bad at today’s prices, though I suspect it’d drop some more in the future.

You could also rent the bedrooms out at $700/each to subsidize your mortgage, hehe.

They have the land and infrastructure to build more phases, but haven’t decided yet if they will.  Even with the over $100k reduction, they aren’t selling other than the plan 4.  Best case scenario has them releasing another phase sometime after November.  I don’t think that they will reduce any further than they already have.

It is for the best that they were sold out.  If they had a plan 4 available we would probably have bought it.  While affordable to us, they are still overpriced in my opinion and the tax, mello roos and HOAs are killer.

momopi - yes I think the opt bath 3 have a shower so you can make it a "4/3" configuration if you like.

Last  I checked, they were sold out on all plans from Phase 1, and sold out plan 3 and 4 from phase 2A. They also offered $10-13k incentive. So I guess somehow plan 1 and 2 aren’t the popular choice.

And as Zovall mentioned above, this is a CalPac’s tried and true tract plan in Irvine. Other than Mericort and Arboles, there’s San Simeon in Northpark and another one in West Irvine. Decada has higher Mello roos and HOAs but it is in Portola Springs and Irvine school district.

I went with my wife today.  Plan 4 is indeed sold out for both Phases 1 and 2.  We found the price of $648,000 to be very affordable for Irvine, and like others have mentioned here, anre’t interested in the smaller Plans 1, 2 and 3.
The sales guy for Decada was pretty aloof, but told us that Phase 3 hasn’t been announced yet.  They’re guessing it will be in the next month or two, with a move-in target date of the end of the year.
As a sidenote, we checked out a SFH built in 2001 somewhere by Jamboree in Irvine, and it really looked old and dumpy...price reduced from $749k to $739k.  Why I’d pay $90k more for an older, uglier house when I can get a new one at Decada is beside me...I guess that’s why the previously owned units aren’t moving well at all.
Ed

I talked to them today also.  They are going to have 7-9 phases.  The third phase will be in a few months and move in will be at the end of the year.  This seems to me to be extremely slow.  The buyers will be stuck paying the increased HOA for a very long time.  In a year I have a feeling that you will be able to get a lot more home for $648,000 in Irvine .  The slower they go, the more they will have to reduce.  Doesn’t make sense to me.

Phase 3 in the next month or so is not slow. Considering you guys mentioned they are having problem selling phase2 I am actually surprised that they move on with phase 3 that soon. It doesn’t seeem like they’re gonna lower the price anytime soon. I am guessing they will want to wait out spring and summer before making further reduction if necessary.

Have prices changed since the 1/13/2007 price list?  Just curious—I won’t be buying for at least 2 years (at a minimum) because I am persuaded (like just about everybody else that I know) that prices will drop significantly.

They did sell their available (phase 2?) plan 4s, and what is holding up the next phase is the smaller plans won’t sell.
One mixed blessing (for them) is that when they lower the price of the bigger units and those marginal buyers start ignoring the cheaper product.
Clarendon had a similar occurence- when they dropped their prices, several people who were in plan 2s saw they could now get the plan 3 for about the same price, and jumped over.  Then they had too many plan 2s and had to discount them further.
This is how it all begins…
SCHB

Is there a forum where people post how much they were offerred and what upgrades / incentives they were offerred when they bought? I know you need to take into account their credit score, income, etc etc. I just want to go in with some kind of idea of what I can and cannot bargain for.

confused- We typically discuss the nitty gritty of pricing at this (the community thread) level.
As a general rule, you won’t be offered additional upgrades or incentives tied to your credit score.
SCHB

let me know when Decada Plan 2 drops to about $460k..i’ll pick one up then.haha. ( i shall hope and pray).

Hi everyone,

Long reader but first time poster here. I had almost given up hope of ever living in Irvine/South OC until I came across this blog a few months ago. Long story short, my SO and I plan to get married and move to OC within the next two and a half years. We’ve been socking money away for a ~15-20% down payment but with the way prices are nowadays, the monthly mortgage payment is still outrageous. Anyways, I actually work with builders in developing new homes (an equity partner) and the next 2-3 years will be interesting as the bubble pops. It will be bad for my career but good for my future home purchase.

According to the OP,  HOA and Mello Roos for Decada comes out to $689 /month. Put into perspective, that payment can get you $100k more for a house. What are your thoughts on the future of older resale homes in Irvine that don’t carry the high HOA or Mello Roos (if any)? I wouldn’t mind purchasing a older and cheaper place in Irvine and do some remodeling later on.

raymond,
I think your home must be  where you want to be, not because it has low/no HOA and Mello Roos.  Buying something because it’s cheap and not useful is a waste of money.  I must say I will not buy when there is no HOA because I want uniformity to protect my investment.  You must check out the "feel" of any area before you are considering buying.  Mello-roos means newer roads, parks, and school - very good for resale.  I like homes less than 10-yr old because I do not need to allocate money for major repair such as foundation cracks or roof leaking.  Kind of like owning a new car still under warranty.