PORTOLA HILLS LIVING by Kelly Turbeville

Montecido in Portola Hills is a townhome community located in the community of Portola Hills , in the city of Lake Forest , California.   The community consist of 300 units split into four floor-plans. Montecido Portola Hills As a previous resident of this complex and as a top Realtor for the area, I find this complex to be very appealing for homeowners and potential home buyers. In general the community is very well kept, Accell Property Management does an excellent job maintaining the community and the HOA fees are very reasonable. Amenities include:   Pool Spa  Tot Lot  BBQ Clubhouse Workout Room   The four floor-plans are very well designed and whether you are a single home buyer  or a family, there is a good selection of styles for you to choose from. Below is a breakdown of the models: Masestro Carriage Unit: 2-Bedroom, 2-Bath, 1015 sq.ft with Balcony Yard Bellaza Townhome: 2-Bedroom, 2.5-Bath, 1052 sq. ft. with Patio Yard Terrosa Townhome: 3-Bedroom,

I recently helped a lovely client purchase his first home.. It was a 1-Bedroom Condo in Mission Viejo, California.  As we were searching for his home, and when working with other home buyers, the question often comes up, "Should I buy a 1-bedroom", my answer back is always "why not?" Especially when working with first-time home buyers the question really isn't should I.. In South Orange County. 1-bedrooms average pricing is around $300k-$350k in today's market, so the real question comes down to affordability and should you buy now or wait.  Another important factor to consider is the average rent for a 1-bedroom in South Orange County is between $1800-$2100/month. When working with first-time buyers, it is important to take special care to review all aspects of the real estate transaction:  Affordability,  Economic Factors and their current "Place in life"..  Are they single, starting a family soon, settled in a career, etc.   Once these

May 2015 has come and gone.. It's the unofficial start of summer and the end of the spring selling season.   So what how did the real estate market perform for Portola Hills? During May 15 homes closed escrow in Portola Hills that is up from 9 in 2014. The average sell price for 2015 was $618,679 up from $528,833.  This makes the average sales price up 15% from 2014.   An interesting note as well is the days on the market.  The average days on the market for this last month was 46 days down from 67 days, a 30% decrease in the days on the market.  What is interesting the overall inventory 2014 was slightly less then it is today, which should have indicated less days on the market.   However what it shows is the market today is Hot, Hot, Hot!  Homebuyers are ready to buy, but inventory is extremely low, thus pushing up prices. Portola Hills May 2015 Sold Homes If you want to take advantage of the strong market as these home sellers NOW is the time to list your home

I got a chance to check out the second new community being built at the old Foothill Ranch Auto Center, Camden Square.  This community is a what I like to call a courtyard community. Single family detached homes, with zero lot lines.   Below are some features and details on sales pricing etc.    Residence One:  3 Bedroom 2.5-Baths, 2 Car Garage 1778 sq. ft. (this phase is sold out at the moment) Camden Sqaure Residence 1 Foothill Ranch Residence Two:  4 Bedroom, 3 Baths, 2 Car Garage, 2147 sq. ft.  Prices range from $750,850 to $786,697.   Move-in dates starts June/July Camden Square Residence 2 - Foothill Ranch Residence 5:  3 Bedroom, 2.5 Baths, 1901 Square Feet.  This plan is not released yet. Camden Square Residence 5 - Foothill Ranch There are two other floor plans for Residence Three and Four but they were not showing.  Pricing for Residence Three ranges from $776,480-$813,595 currently.  The gated community is located at 236 Primrose Drive, F

We are really excited about this event planned for June 13th at 10:30 am- 12:00 pm.   This community event sponsored by Kelly Turbeville is designed to help residents of Portola Hills understand the new California Drought Regulations and to provide suggestions on water saving ideas, landscaping and the possibility of getting rebates from Irvine Ranch Water District. In addition, we will have a representative from the new Portola Center Development come and share with residents upcoming landscaping plans they have for the new community. Local contractors, landscapers are also welcome to have a table set up with information on their business, please contact Kelly if you would like to participate. Of course we always like to have little fun so we will some giveaways for residents who attend.  If you are interesting in attending please contact Kelly to reserve your spot.  Space is limited.

Have you heard about the "HERO Program" and wondering what it is all about? Are you thinking of some new improvements to spruce up the home but worried about cost, then this program is something you might want to consider.   HERO is an acronym that stands for: Home Energy Renovation Opportunity.  It is the #1 energy efficiency financing program in United States.  HERO partners with local governments to make energy efficient, water efficient and renewable energy products more affordable to homeowners.   HERO financing is paid through the homeowners property taxes.  The repayment is included in your property tax bill.  You will see a line item titled HERO Financing on your property tax bill and if property taxes are impounded your lender will adjust your monthly payment to include the amount due for HERO financing. Eligibility criteria includes (terms apply): Mortgage related debt must not exceed 90% of the value of the property. Mortgage payments must be curre

You know how the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers I think we were all hope for a few showers during the last month.   Unfortunately it was pretty dry.  The good news... home values jumped 11% from April 2014 vs. April 2015.   So hopefully we are out of the real estate drought for the year. Below is a quick snapshot of what sold. Portola Hills April 2015 Homes Sold I always like to include homes old in the same month the year before so you can compare the details.   Below is what sold in Portola Hills April 2014. Portola Hills April 2014 Homes Sold In terms of the number of sales it was pretty close, in 2014 5 homes closed escrow and in 2015 we had 4. It is also important to note that there are 17 homes currently in escrow.  We can't count these as sold because well they haven't closed escrow and thus not sold but it is a good measure that homes are moving quickly. With 17 homes currently in escrow we should see further increas

The Estates Portola Hills The Estates neighborhood is located in Portola Hills a community on the border of Lake Forest and Trabuco Canyon. The Estates are a Single-Family neighborhood that offers amazing Portola Hills views.  Located on the cross-streets of Malabar and Highridge, homes on this ridge provide amazing views to the Pacific Ocean and the Saddleback Mountains. The community consist of 142 homes and offers four floorplans with the following details: Graceland* - 4 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, 2271-2571 sq. ft, with a 3 car garage San Simeon - 5 Bedrooms, 4 Baths, 2821 sq. ft, with a 3 car garage Hermitage - 4 Bedrooms, 4 Baths, 3063 sq.ft, with a 3 car garage *This tract offers 4 rare single family homes in this tract. This tract falls into the Portola Hills II Association that offers many amenities, such as club house, gym, pool, spa, tot lot, volleyball, etc. Currently homes are selling between $750,000 to over $1,000,000.  Currently only One home is activ

Yesterday we had what seems like a rare encounter these days, rain!  With the current drought in California, I don' think this made any difference other than in bringing a little comfort to our lawns and I will have to say our souls. But it sure was nice to see!  I don't know about you but we hunkered down, made a big crock pot of chicken chili, watched movies and enjoyed the day looking forward to a little green the rain will bring to the Saddleback Mountains. Hope you got to enjoy the day too!

Can you believe it, the calendar has hit April!!  That means we are officially into the second quarter of the year.  In real estate terms this is when the selling season really begins to take off.  Here in Portola Hills, the first quarter started off slow.. inventory remained light from the new year on, but as of this post it has started to pick up with 5 new homes listed this week. Take a look at what sold so far this year! Portola Hills Homes Sales Jan-March 2015 With 5 new listings active this week, it always makes me wonder why homes sellers wait to sell later in spring when the competition is more.  The rule of supply and demand certainly prevails in real estate.  Low Inventory and High Buyer Demand make early spring the best time to get top dollar on your home. The good news for Portola Hills, it is a sought after neighborhood, offering a great school, great selection of homes from condo's to estates and best of all it is tucked away close to the Saddleback Mountai

Are you thinking about selling your home this spring...  Below is a quick list of issues that home sellers run into during the process.. Either over estimating or in under valuing the list price of their home. Failing to disclose material facts about their home that adversely affect desirability or value. Not properly staging their home. Not making their home easily accessible to agents to show. Starting out with an inflated asking price, not understanding the negative impact of later price adjustments. Emotionally overacting to an initial offer. Thinking that subsequent offers will be better then the first offer. Excessive conversations with the buyers and/or buyer’s agent. Letting small things in the negotiations or transaction become big things, while losing site of the bigger picture. Not using Kelly Turbeville to represent them!   Gotta have a little fun right ! I would also have to add, not strategically looking at the market and timing as to when is the best ti

Can you believe it.... we are already in the second month of 2015..  The holiday hangover is over and home buyers are anxiously waiting for spring with anticipation of new beginnings.. January home sales are typically quiet and this year was no exception.   The number of homes that sold in Portola Hills was a total of five, exactly the same for 2014.. Below is a quick look of the homes that closed escrow in Portola Hills from January 1 through the 31st, 2015. Portola Hills January 2015 Closed Sales Wondering how this compares to January 2014... take a look below.   Portola Hills January 2014 Closed Sales Did you notice the difference pricing... This is why January and early spring is always a great time to sell.  Listing inventory is low... Buyers are anxious to move now that the holidays are over and with the lower interest rates, buyers have the ability to buy more for their dollars. Inventory typically starts to increase between March and May.. so if home se

I finally got a chance to pop in and see the new townhomes being built in the former Auto Center area in Foothill Ranch.   The community is part of what is being called The Village of Foothill Ranch, which currently includes the El Paseo and Camden Square  communities and is designed to be a walk-friendly neighborhood near the Foothill Ranch Towne Center. The El Paseo community is a gated mobile court townhome community with six floorplans ranging from a 1-Bedroom Carriage Units to a 3-Bedroom 1795 sq.ft townhomes.  Prices start today at $371,800 for the 1-Bedroom up to about $570,000 for the largest 3 Bedroom model.    What I liked about the floorplans is they are open, light and bright with nice finishes.. Of course always remember when you are looking at model homes some of those finishes you fall in love with are all upgrades.  But the overall standard finishes are nice and meet today's energy efficient needs and trends the millennial home buyer is searching for.   O

Can you believe 2014 is over?   I am still having trouble with the idea it being over, where did the time go.... In terms of real estate we did see a 16% increase in the number of homes sold.  In terms of pricing Portola Hills saw an increase of 7% overall.  Below is breakdown of the details... Portola Hills 2014 Year End Real Estate Report As we enter 2015 the overall market in South Orange County continues to be sellers market but as spring approaches both inventory and interest rates are projected to increase... which means it will become a more balanced market for the remainder of 2015.

Can you believe it... August is over and summer is wrapping up.   Even though fall will be here in less then 20 days... the weather is still hot and kinda stagnant.. Which seems to be an accurate comparison to the Portola Hills Real Estate Market this month. In August the area saw a total of 5 homes sold compared to 9 homes sold in August of 2013.   As you can see prices are up... about 22% over 2013, but so are the number of days on the market.  Currently there are a total 25 homes active in Portola Hills with the average days on the market over 50.   So did a 22% price increase scare off potential buyers... possibly as inventory increased so does selection, but what is really interesting is overall Orange County still has very low inventory rates... So you may be wondering why there is a slow down.... it's simple... Pricing and Marketing are all required to bring in the right buyer.      As inventory increases, buyers are expecting to see competitive pricing from sel

As we enter the 2nd month of summer in Portola Hills, it's a bit hot and I guess we have to say steamy as the humidity is certainly up.    How does that relate to real estate....?  In July we did see an increase in pricing from this time last year for the 8 homes that sold but we can't really call it a steamy price increase. Portola Hills July 2014 Sold Properties. We also saw an increase in the number of homes listed on the market adding competition to the area.... Currently there are 21 active properties in Portola Hills, ranging in price from $275k to $950k. Portola Hills Homes for Sale July 14 Overall In Orange County we are seeing an easing of price appreciation with the increase in inventory.   With the increase in inventory and easing of appreciation this would indicate the market is slightly turning toward Buyers!!   However, important to keep in mind inventory levels are still below overall need. Should you be considering a move and would like to review

Someone turned on the faucet for closed real estate transactions in June with 16 closed escrows throughout Portola Hills. Below is quick look at what closed in Portola Hills. Attached homes: June 2014 Attached Portola Hills Home Sold Detached homes: Portola Hills Detached Home Sales The same can be seen overall in Orange County, homes are selling.   The median home price in Orange County increased 10.4% over last year and at $595.000.   We are also seeing homes stay on the market a bit longer.... Why when for months now we have heard there is not enough inventory.  Inventory has increased but is still far below a balanced market.  What has changed is that buyers are being a bit hesitant with the increase in pricing.  So homes that are listed a bit high are staying on the market longer. If you are considering listing your home for sale, it is critical to have a strong pricing strategy that will bring you top dollar for you home in the time frame you

Can you believe it, the Fourth of July is this Friday.   Whether you are staying close to home or venturing out, there are a variety of locations to catch the Fireworks show throughout the Saddleback Valley.  Get out and enjoy!!   Aliso Viejo Celebration and Fireworks:  Location Grand Park Live entertainment, food, beverages, arts, crafts.  Fireworks show at dusk!! Dana Point BBQ Buffet and Fireworks and Cruises:   Location Dana Point Harbor.   Irvine Concert on the Green and Fireworks:  Location Irvine High School Featuring Pyro musical sky concert, fireworks, food court, live music by Derk Bordeaux Group. Laguna Hills Location: 25555 Alicia Parkway Fun, food, carnival rides, games, live music and fireworks. Laguna Niguel   Location:  LN Regional Park (over the lake) 7:30 5k Run/walk, 10k run.  Pancake breakfast, live music by Family Style at Laguna Niguel Community Park Ladera Ranch Location: Founders Park 7:00 am 8th Annual Freedom run starts 5k/10k run. Panc