Stacey Harmon | Orange County, CA

For incoming UCI Merage MBA students interested in renting in Coastal Orange County, Jonathan Lasner of the Orange County Register had an interesting blog post reporting on the local rents and vacancy rates in various cities around Orange County. As excerpted from his post, the average rent in those cities most convenient for Merage MBA students at UC Irvine is as follows:

City Average Rent
Irvine $1,908
Costa Mesa $1,656
Newport Beach $1,965
Aliso Viejo $1,741

If you are looking to save a few hundred dollars a month, and will have a car during your time at the Merage School of Business, both Costa Mesa and Aliso Viejo offer more affordable rental options while still being very convenient to campus. They are definitely cities to consider in your rental search. Costa Mesa in particular is half way between the Merage School of Business and the beach - hard to get much better than that! Several of my classmates (myself included) resided in Costa Mesa as graduate students.

For more information or assistance in renting an off-campus apartment or condo during your MBA experience, please contact Stacey Harmon at 949.885.6497.

Curious about the lowest and highest priced listings in Irvine?

This list covers the 5 lowest, and 5 highest properties in the city of Irvine as of 4.18.08 for both the condo, and single family home categories.

Lowest Priced

Condos

• $232,500 | 47 Lakepines, 1 bd/1 ba (REO)
• $239,900 | 156 Streamwood, 1 bd/1 ba
• $255,000 | 3210 Watermarke Place, 1 bd/1 ba (Short sale)
• $263,000 | 3415 Watermarke Place, 1 bd/1 ba (REO)
• $275,000 - $300,000 | 2271 Scholarship, 1 bd/1 ba (Short sale)

Single Family Homes

• $399,900 - $429,900 | 100 Orchard, 2 bd, 1 ba
• $429,000 | 87 Orchard, 2 bd/2 ba
• $499,900 | 14952 Greenbrae, 2 bd/1 ba
• $500,000 | 14781 Doncaster Rd, 3 bd/2 ba (Short sale)
• $519,900 | 4472 Robinwood Circle, 3 bd/2 ba

Highest Priced

Condos
This list does not include the extensive high-rise condo options that are currently available in Irvine and can go up to $3.9M for a condo.

• $1,499,900 | 14 Sirius, 3 bd/3 ba
• $1,325,000 | 26 Sarena, 3 bd/3 ba
• $1,295,000 | 41 Mirador, 3 bd/3 ba
• $1,295,000 | 32 Morning Breeze, 3 bd/3ba
• $1,285,000-$1,299,000 | 32 Shade Tree, 3 bd/4 ba

Single Family Homes
Not surprisingly, all of the highest priced homes are in the exclusive, gated community of Shady Canyon and are all custom built homes.

• $11,800,000 | 89 Canyon Creek, 9 bd/11 ba
• $11,679,000 | 56 Golden Eagle, 5 bd/6 ba
• $9,995,000 | 66 Canyon Creek, 5 bd/8 ba (this really is a spectacular home - one of the best layouts of a custom home in Shady Canyon that I have seen)
• $8,995,000 | 63 Canyon Creek, 5 bd/7 ba
• $8,995,000 | 24 Cactus, 6 bd/9 ba

Have an interest in any of these properties? For further information, please contact Stacey Harmon at 949.885.6497.

Curious about the lowest and highest priced listings in Newport Beach?

This list covers the 5 lowest, and 5 highest properties as listed in the MLS for the Newport Beach market as of 4.18.08 in both the condo, and single family home categories. For this list, the Newport Beach market is defined as the city of Newport Beach and includes the areas of Corona del Mar, Newport Coast, and Crystal Cove.

Lowest Priced

Condos

• $249,900 | 1100 Rutland Road, #11, 1 bd/1 ba (REO Property - currently has in 3 offers - not surprising as this is an unheard of price in Newport Beach!)
• $325,000 | 200 McNeil Lane, #5 1 bd/1 ba
• $389,000 | 102 Scholz Plaza, 1 bd/1 ba
• $399,900 | 1256 Rutland Road, #2, 2 bd/2 ba
• $415,000 | 200 McNeil Lane, #7 1 bd/1 ba

Single Family Homes

• $789,000 | 20462 Santa Ana Ave, 2 bd/2 ba
• $789,000 | 41 Egret Court, 2 bd/2 ba
• $795,000 | 74 Pelican Court, 2 bd/2 ba
• $799,000 | 1561 Indus Street, 5 bd/3 ba
• $849,900 | 338 Cherry Tree Lane, 3 bd/2 ba

Highest Priced

Condos

• $2,995,000 | 9 Rue Cannes, 3 bd/3 ba
• $2,994,900 | 146 Sidney Bay, 4 bd/4 ba (just went into escrow this week)
• $2,899,000 | 118 Sidney Bay, 3 bd/4 ba
• $2,850,000 | 81 Monterey Pine, 5 bd/5 ba
• $2,850,000 | 106 Sidney Bay, 4 bd/4 ba

Single Family Homes

• $75,000,000 | 4627 Brighton Road, 8 bd/15 ba (was featured on Oprah - has been listed for 718 days as of today - maybe a tad overpriced?)
• $26,900,000 | 18 Shoreline, 9 bd/20 ba
• $24,900,000 | 21 Pelican Vista, 4 bd/20 ba
• $20,995,000 | 12 Skyridge, 5 bd/7 ba
• $18,800,000 | 42 Pelican Point, 4 bd/6 ba

Have an interest in any of these properties? For further information, please contact Stacey Harmon at 949.885.6497.

At a recent presentation made by GU Krueger, Senior VP of IHP Capital Partners (and former Deputy Chief Economist of the California Association of Realtors), Mr. Krueger presented a summary of the Orange County custom lots and custom home market. I found his summary very interesting and have reformatted it to post here:

ORANGE COUNTY CUSTOM LOT CHOICES:

ORANGE COUNTY CUSTOM HOME CHOICES:

Mr Kruegar was speaking to a group affiliated with the Convenant Hills sales project (Surterre Properties is the exclusive broker for the lot sales). He made the point that Covenant Hills offers a strong lot value, but that value is less apparent in the Custom Home choices category.

After seeing the project myself, I would have to agree. Having sold a custom home in Shady Canyon last year that was listed for $8.5M, I am hard pressed to see the benefits that the custom homes in Covenant Hills have over Shady Canyon custom homes or the production homes at Crystal Cove. For the same price as a high end Covenant Hills custom home, you can get a comparable product with more land ("the luxury of space" as it was tagged in Irvine Company Advertising) in Shady Canyon, a community with higher perceived prestige and a more coastal location (South of the 405), or you can get a similar sized house possibly with an ocean view and better coastal resale location in Crystal Cove. It will be interesting to watch the sales progress of the Covenant Hills custom homes. From my perspective, it will be a challenge.

Interested in learning more about life in Corona del Mar?

Meet Julie, Corona del Mar Village Resident:

Following Julie around on a Saturday will keep you moving. This fit gal makes the most of her Corona del Mar neighborhood and the lifestyle it offers.

Status: 40-something single professional living on Dahlia
CdM Resident: 6 years
Pets: Abby, the black Lab
Favorite part about CdM: "That I can walk everywhere. I can go the whole weekend without ever having to get in my car!"

Julie's Saturday:

7:00 am: Wakened by Abby who insists it is time for her first walk of the day. Peak outside and see it is going to be a gorgeous, sunny day!

7:30 am: Walk Abby to Begonia Park then along Coast Hwy and along all the Village shops. Along the way, Abby sniffs hi to Beau, her black lab boyfriend and plays with Magnus the Pug.

8:30 am: Before heading home with Abby, I stop by the farmer's market to pick up some Gerber daisy's for the living room and organic lettuce and tomatoes for the kitchen.

10:15 am: Meet up with George at Peet's Coffee in Corona del Mar Plaza. Have an iced coffee and chocolate croissant while catching up.

10:45 am: Give George a hug goodbye and head over to run some errands at the shops in Corona del Mar Plaza. Pick up some cute workout wear at Lucy, a heart cookie and toy for Abby at Three Dog Bakery, a pair of summer sandals at Antoinia's, and round out my grocery shopping at Bristol Farms.

12:30 pm: Head a mile down the road to Fashion Island. Pick up a quick lunch at the hotdog cart in front on Macy's - got a turkey-dog, of course! Did some shopping at Neiman's and Anthropologie.

3:00 pm: Took Abby out for her afternoon walk. Walked to Marguerite to visit my favorite Realtor (Stacey) at her Open House and say hello. Walked home via Ocean Blvd and the beaches and took a stop at China Cove Beach so Abby could cool off and play in the water.

4:30 pm: Fed Abby dinner and gave her the new toy and treat I bought earlier in the day.

7:00 pm: Walked up the street to the Wine Gallery where I met Leezette and enjoyed a tasting of a new Merlot at the wine bar before heading across the street to Gulfstream. Had a drink at the outside patio under the strings of white lights, ate a grilled artichoke appetizer, and flirted with some cute guys. Ate dinner alfresco style and enjoyed the warm spring evening. Tried to get a cupcake dessert at Sprinkles but they had closed at 7:00. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

10:00 pm: Gave Abby a pet and turned in for the night. Need to rest up for tomorrow when I'll be walking the 3 miles to Crystal Cove State Park and will meet up with friends at the Promenade for coffee and pastries at Pacific Whey. Goodnight!

Are you interested in also living the Corona del Mar lifestyle? For further details on the community, lots of community photos, residential home prices, and the state of the market, click here, and for more information about purchasing property in Corona del Mar, please contact Stacey Harmon of Surterre Properties at 949.885.6497.