Comments on: Investors build modern, supersized house in quaint, ’60s Irvine neighborhood

By: outsider

outsider — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:11:50 +0000

As an Architect, I never like to critisize a collegue who has given and earnest effort to to be creative.

My only thought here is did anyone run the math before they did this venture? The site appears to be the least desireable one in the neighborhood, being in the line of headlights coming out of the shopping center and the corner lot has little privacy. To assume you can build something with a value over 2 times the average price range is a standard tract is just nuts, no matter the quality of the home. It also seems like they try to put 10 pounds of stuff in a 5 pound bag.

My last comment, get a real garage door, that home depot knock off cost you 250k in appearance.

By: mark

mark — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:31:02 +0000

Great garage door, 1st thing to replace after spending 1.5mil…. got cheap

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 19:24:52 +0000

I am not against the idea of putting larger and nicer houses in older neigborhoods. I like all the tastefully done new mansions in the Karen & Richard Carpenter’s old Downey neighborhood of Downey. But, to me, this house is just too extreme. It sure stands out, but not really in a good way! Something a little less glaring would have helped establish a remodeling trend here. It’s style appeals to a very limited group of buyers even with the right setting. It looks like the Southwestern ultra-modern style you might find in Arizona or Palm Springs, but is very-out-of-character here. I’m not sure of the logic of putting large pictures windows in to take in the street traffic and shopping center. It will take a very bold individual to live in this house!

By: Pegs29

Pegs29 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:30:25 +0000

Oh dear God! Ego’s need to be fed with this one, but I won’t feed into any of this “ugly thing”…built in a neighborhood where elevations have some conformity except for this. It just should never be.

By: Crispa

Crispa — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:30:31 +0000

We all should take pride in our homes and do the best we can with upkeep, but we don’t have to be trying to out-do each other ! Perhaps this is why many in OC are stressed to the limit ? I believe it is vitally important to live BELOW your means. The old addage of ‘Buy the least expensive house in the best neighborhood with the best schools’ fits University Park to a tee. I could afford to buy this Angell house, but why would I ? Who do I need to impress ? The property tax alone for this $1.4 mil house would be at least $14,000 a year….that’s half my current annual housing expenditure, inclusive of my property tax. Rather than putting my money into an extravagant shelter, I prefer to live modestly and invest for the future. My invesments pay me dividends and interest and take the financial pressure off of living in OC. Doesn’t this make more sense than buying a crazy expensive house ? It’s a free country, buy away, but unless you’ve got money to burn, don’t be surprised when your quality of life declines.

By: dee in irvine

dee in irvine — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:58:44 +0000

i live down the street. and yes we need to move forward. beautiful house (but a ridiculous sore thumb)
but i cant even save electricity by having a low-water landscape or line-dry my clothes without the HOA screaming at us! talk about moving ahead.
and PS: some people cannot afford to make a million dollar renovation.
every time i go to the store now i am reminded of what “i” have to do now for our home…how about just living in it??

By: OCTrojan

OCTrojan — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:45:47 +0000

Hopefully, this project inspires others to go into this neighborhood, buy up an old home, and refurbish it. As it stands now, the home is out of place. But I believe it serves as a harbinger of change, hopefully, inspiring other investors to do the same with the other homes nearby.

Obviously, if the rest of the neighborhood never improves, then this home is going to have problems selling for more than 20% above the rest of the neighborhood. People with that sort of money would rather have the location to fit in with the home. The sellers are looking for that unique buyer who has an extra $500,000 lying about but desperately wants to live in that subdivision.

By: Omar

Omar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:58:11 +0000

I think it’s a very good-looking house. It stands out, but since when is that a bad thing. Many of you state that it’s nice but not for this area just because it doesn’t “fit in.” This is the contemporary style of the new generation and because something is the first, does not necessarily mean it’s wrong. It takes one house like this to be built for them to begin popping up across Irvine, I’m not saying it will happen overnight but with time I believe more and more of Irvine will begin accepting and implementing this look. I think it’s a great looking house. Congratulations Sean!

By: James

James — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:45:09 +0000

Rey - My mistake and my apologies. Thank you for pointing out my error.

For what it’s worth … I have seen the house in person and there are some very nice details. It’s too bad about the site choice as I fear that is most what damages it’s acceptance. FLW’s “Fallingwater” house wouldn’t be nearly as amazing nor as brilliant if he had chosen to build it in let’s say Detroit. Rather proves the old axiom about location, location, location.

Enjoy the weekend.

By: Rey

Rey — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 23:37:15 +0000

To James the Architect,

If you scroll up you will see there was another reader by the name James not you. Actually, his statement is right below your statement this morning. I do not think that I argued about your professionalism.
Your statement and the other James’ statement are totally different with different language. And for sure I know it was not you.