[web99992002]

Hi,

I've always wanted to live in Irvine, Ca. But wanted an opinion from anyone here if we could afford it. Currently living in Lodi/Stockton, Ca area.

I'm a Physical Therapist and my wife is a nurse. According to salary.com we would be earning a combined salary of 160-170K annually in Irvine. We have 2 kids, both pre school.

We really don't go out much except for the occasional movie date night and family time with kids on weekends.

Is this salary enough to be able to afford a house in Irvine? or surrounding cities in the area?

Thank you

[GabeS]

Originally Posted by web99992002

Hi,

I've always wanted to live in Irvine, Ca. But wanted an opinion from anyone here if we could afford it. Currently living in Lodi/Stockton, Ca area.

I'm a Physical Therapist and my wife is a nurse. According to salary.com we would be earning a combined salary of 160-170K annually in Irvine. We have 2 kids, both pre school.

We really don't go out much except for the occasional movie date night and family time with kids on weekends.

Is this salary enough to be able to afford a house in Irvine? or surrounding cities in the area?

Thank you

Yes, of course, it's not like it's San Fran or Tokyo

[roastbeef]

you're looking to buy? irvine ranges from $350-$million+ depending on your needs. a 2+2 with a garage condo is probably going to be $400-450k right now. if you're looking to buy, do you own right now? if there isn't the time constraint of a 10/31 exchange, maybe rent first and get to know the area. on that salary, you should be able to do ok. i'm not sure if you own your own practice or not, but if your wife is an RN, i'm sure she could hustle a bit and work some overtime.

[GabeS]

There's people who make $50k or less a year living in Irvine

[MT135]

7th most expensive place in the country right now. A lot of asian and international yuppies coming in. More so than the usual stereotypes.

[Jesse E93]

OP, shoot me a message. I will be having new listings in the are in the next couple of weeks. it would be great to swing by and see a few neighborhoods the fit your price range.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by GabeS

There's people who make $50k or less a year living in Irvine

there are people making $0/year living in irvine as well. not super comfortable, but its called being homeless.
a family of four would need to be making pretty decent money to live comfortably.

[SheaButter]

Maybe apartment style condos, but certainly not nice ones, lol. I have been shopping for a rental condo and the cheapest non apartment style condo range is 550k-750k. I'm not opening a debate, but post one up if you can find it.

Just do a quick Zillow search and punch in Irvine. I'd say this is a very average Irvine condo:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...16_rect/11_zm/

Originally Posted by roastbeef

you're looking to buy? irvine ranges from $350-$million+ depending on your needs. a 2+2 with a garage condo is probably going to be $400-450k right now. if you're looking to buy, do you own right now? if there isn't the time constraint of a 10/31 exchange, maybe rent first and get to know the area. on that salary, you should be able to do ok. i'm not sure if you own your own practice or not, but if your wife is an RN, i'm sure she could hustle a bit and work some overtime.

[Joekerr]

I'll take job offer in hand over anything the internet (salary.com) tells me I could be making. If its a dream, then start looking at what job opportunities there are - for her first probably as it sounds like she makes more.

Then go in with the comfortable knowledge of what you'll ACTUALLY be making. Then you can assess whether you can live there or not. Which really depends on your tastes. If you have champagne tastes, but a beer budget, then maybe not so much.

[2msport]

Originally Posted by GabeS

There's people who make $50k or less a year living in Irvine

Yeah and they get subsided housing and trash the area they live in.

[PoorLurker]

OP - define house.

What are your expectations for housing now?
What are your financial expectations for the future?
How much do you have to put down?
What is the biggest draw to Irvine?
Would you look into surrounding cities?
Do you want new? Is old ok?
Problem is that with that income you are looking at a condo which means you would be paying HOA. That combined with the property tax in much of Irvine makes your dollar worth even less. (unless you have $$$,$$$ that will help you put money down to free up monthly expenses)

There are limitless scenarios.

Move here, rent a cheap place, get settled in. Explore all of the neighborhoods in and around Irvine to see what fits your life style the best.

If you want personalized information, PM me. I am not a realtor but know many of the neighborhoods in and around Irvine as well as neighboring cities.

[PoorLurker]

Originally Posted by SheaButter

Maybe apartment style condos, but certainly not nice ones, lol. I have been shopping for a rental condo and the cheapest non apartment style condo range is 550k-750k. I'm not opening a debate, but post one up if you can find it.

Just do a quick Zillow search and punch in Irvine. I'd say this is a very average Irvine condo:

With 3 bedrooms, this place seems like a steal!

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

With 3 bedrooms, this place seems like a steal!

looks like it sold or got delisted today.

[phantomF80]

I have been living in Irvine since 2004, and my wife and I have visited lots communities here, so I can give you some perspective.

Housing:
- most of the true single family homes will be $1M or more. These are homes typically in the 2000sqft + range, with true fence/divider between homes, and have their own driveways and a little bit of landscape.

- Irvine is probably one of few places that have tons of courtyard homes. These are homes that may be attached or detached from adjacent homes, but they share a common driveway. For example, our house is in a common driveway shared with 7 other homes. These homes typically range from 1200 sqft to 2000 sqft, and can run from $500K up to $1M+

- House price is going up at a fairly fast pace. Our neighbor just sold their house with a healthy 23% gain in 2 years. Well priced homes are selling at a very fast pace, so be ready to jump in and prepare for potentially bidding wars if you find something good.

- Irvine is notorious for its mello roos. Just about any homes built after 1990 will have some sort of mello roos. Depending on the age of the home and location of the home, they typically run about 0.5% to 0.9% of the original home sales price. It's mostly a fixed amount that doesn't increase overtime. The new communities in Great Park are an exception though, those can increase at around 2% per year.

- If you are looking at renting, then you are likely going to be renting from an Irvine Company owned apartment. The price does vary from location to location, but I think most of the single bedroom run around high $1K, and two bedrooms are usually in the low to mid $2K range. We had rented a 2-bedroom, 1250sqft townhome from Irvine company while we were waiting for our current to finish building, and that ran us $2750 per month


School:
- Since you have kids in preschool, you may be interested in preschool cost here. The tuition range from around $1100 to just shy of $2K for schools here if they are over 2, with many of them in the $1300 to $1500 range. The good ones also have a long waiting list, with some as long as 2+ years (need to register while kid is in mommy's tummy). They are very good school and do prepare the kids well for the school system here.

- My kids are not old enough to be in the public school system yet (oldest will be next year), but I know a number of folks that have kids going through the IUSD system. It's one of the best in the country, but it also puts lots of pressure on the kids. Based on some of my friends' words, IUSD sounds quite similar to what I had gone through in Taiwan as I was growing up. However, the city is full of after school non-academic activities for kids, so you don't always need to put them through a pure academic track going from K to 12.


Living here:
- In general, Irvine is great. It's a big melting pot full of people from all cultures. It's true that the city is currently populated with lots of mainland Chinese, but it's also packed with other Asians, with people from middle east, African Americans, Caucasian, and other ethnicity. As such, you can eat just about any type of cuisine here, as well as finding shops from all cultures.
- Traditional shopping is also great. Lots of grocery stores with 4 Target, 3 Costco, and 2 Walmart within 10 minutes drive. Also very close to John Wayne and South Coast Plaza.
- It's a crazy busy city though as result of what I listed above. During rush hours, it can be just as bad as the 5 and 405 freeways, especially on Culver and Jamboree. It's one of the biggest drawbacks of the city, but they said they are doing something about it.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, and I'll be happy to answer.

[KwlAznKid]

Originally Posted by phantomF80

I have been living in Irvine since 2004, and my wife and I have visited lots communities here, so I can give you some perspective.

Housing:
- most of the true single family homes will be $1M or more. These are homes typically in the 2000sqft + range, with true fence/divider between homes, and have their own driveways and a little bit of landscape.

- Irvine is probably one of few places that have tons of courtyard homes. These are homes that may be attached or detached from adjacent homes, but they share a common driveway. For example, our house is in a common driveway shared with 7 other homes. These homes typically range from 1200 sqft to 2000 sqft, and can run from $500K up to $1M+

- House price is going up at a fairly fast pace. Our neighbor just sold their house with a healthy 23% gain in 2 years. Well priced homes are selling at a very fast pace, so be ready to jump in and prepare for potentially bidding wars if you find something good.

- Irvine is notorious for its mello roos. Just about any homes built after 1990 will have some sort of mello roos. Depending on the age of the home and location of the home, they typically run about 0.5% to 0.9% of the original home sales price. It's mostly a fixed amount that doesn't increase overtime. The new communities in Great Park are an exception though, those can increase at around 2% per year.

- If you are looking at renting, then you are likely going to be renting from an Irvine Company owned apartment. The price does vary from location to location, but I think most of the single bedroom run around high $1K, and two bedrooms are usually in the low to mid $2K range. We had rented a 2-bedroom, 1250sqft townhome from Irvine company while we were waiting for our current to finish building, and that ran us $2750 per month


School:
- Since you have kids in preschool, you may be interested in preschool cost here. The tuition range from around $1100 to just shy of $2K for schools here if they are over 2, with many of them in the $1300 to $1500 range. The good ones also have a long waiting list, with some as long as 2+ years (need to register while kid is in mommy's tummy). They are very good school and do prepare the kids well for the school system here.

- My kids are not old enough to be in the public school system yet (oldest will be next year), but I know a number of folks that have kids going through the IUSD system. It's one of the best in the country, but it also puts lots of pressure on the kids. Based on some of my friends' words, IUSD sounds quite similar to what I had gone through in Taiwan as I was growing up. However, the city is full of after school non-academic activities for kids, so you don't always need to put them through a pure academic track going from K to 12.


Living here:
- In general, Irvine is great. It's a big melting pot full of people from all cultures. It's true that the city is currently populated with lots of mainland Chinese, but it's also packed with other Asians, with people from middle east, African Americans, Caucasian, and other ethnicity. As such, you can eat just about any type of cuisine here, as well as finding shops from all cultures.
- Traditional shopping is also great. Lots of grocery stores with 4 Target, 3 Costco, and 2 Walmart within 10 minutes drive. Also very close to John Wayne and South Coast Plaza.
- It's a crazy busy city though as result of what I listed above. During rush hours, it can be just as bad as the 5 and 405 freeways, especially on Culver and Jamboree. It's one of the biggest drawbacks of the city, but they said they are doing something about it.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, and I'll be happy to answer.

one thing you forget

-Get ready for Irvine PD pulling you over for no front plates

[phantomF80]

Originally Posted by KwlAznKid

one thing you forget

-Get ready for Irvine PD pulling you over for no front plates

Oh yeah, That!

[Mr.SugarSkulls]

Irvine.....so boring.

Rivaled only by La Jolla.