Irvine is an awesome place to live..

[ka8]

I remember you can buy a nice home for $200K in Ivine in the 90's. Actually wanted to live there but not now. In a decade or two 'ghetto' word will start to associate with 'Irvine'. Still nice due to its young age but low home ownership in a city is a recipe for disaster.

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by ka8

I remember you can buy a nice home for $200K in Ivine in the 90's. Actually wanted to live there but not now. In a decade or two 'ghetto' word will start to associate with 'Irvine'. Still nice due to its young age but low home ownership in a city is a recipe for disaster.

I very much doubt that Irvine will soon, if ever, be described as "ghetto," since the poor, increasing in numbers though they are, continue to be thoroughly absorbed into the city's fabric.

They live in new housing which is indistinguishable from middle-class apartments; attend the same schools; and are provided with numerous social services, including some onsite.

Yes, there is a low rate of home ownership, but the renters are primarily middle-class. Asian investors, encouraged by developers, are biding up home prices to extremely high levels, making ownership out of reach for many.

Of course, there is the unknown, and no one knows what will happen once the financial spigot supporting Irvine's considerable subsidies is turned off; or slowed.

[glowinthedark]

Originally Posted by ka8

I remember you can buy a nice home for $200K in Ivine in the 90's. Actually wanted to live there but not now. In a decade or two 'ghetto' word will start to associate with 'Irvine'. Still nice due to its young age but low home ownership in a city is a recipe for disaster.

not necessarily. Newport Beach, Manhattan, San Francisco and London also have a very high percentage of renters. I don't think most people would associate the word "ghetto" with those cities. It just may mean that enough people find it desirable enough to rent there even if they could afford to buy a place in a less expensive city.

That being said, I am in the camp that could afford it, but have decided not to live here. I can't stand how close together the houses are, especially the new ones. When the house next door is 5 feet away from yours, I'd rather live in attached housing and not have to look out my window and see the view of my neighbor's wall!

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by glowinthedark

not necessarily. Newport Beach, Manhattan, San Francisco and London also have a very high percentage of renters. I don't think most people would associate the word "ghetto" with those cities. It just may mean that enough people find it desirable enough to rent there even if they could afford to buy a place in a less expensive city.

That being said, I am in the camp that could afford it, but have decided not to live here. I can't stand how close together the houses are, especially the new ones. When the house next door is 5 feet away from yours, I'd rather live in attached housing and not have to look out my window and see the view of my neighbor's wall!

Well said. Some of us strongly prefer having privacy and some space and thus having a home like the one linked below is not very appealing.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...8-45147?row=21

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by ka8

I remember you can buy a nice home for $200K in Ivine in the 90's. Actually wanted to live there but not now. In a decade or two 'ghetto' word will start to associate with 'Irvine'. Still nice due to its young age but low home ownership in a city is a recipe for disaster.

Irvine is also bucking the decline in violent crime trend seen in much of OC, but it's no where close to becoming a ghetto. Irvine saw an increase from 110 to 113 (2012-2013).

Orange County cities recording a drop in violent crime between 2012 and 2013 include:
•Aliso Viejo from 43 to 35
•Anaheim from 1,279 to 1,130
•Brea from 74 to 64
•Costa Mesa from 254 to 252
•Cypress from 56 to 50
•Fullerton from 452 to 372
•Laguna Beach from 57 to 41
•La Habra from 147 to 88
•Lake Forest from 107 to 105
•Los Alamitos from 27 to 24
•Mission Viejo from 73 to 62
•Newport Beach from 101 to 73
•Placentia from 107 to 66
•Rancho Santa Margarita from 27 to 17
•San Clemente from 75 to 56
•San Juan Capistrano from 59 to 57
•Santa Ana from 1,334 to 1,121
•Seal Beach from 17 to 16
•Tustin from 114 to 100
•Westminster from 284 to 283
•Yorba Linda from 53 to 30
Violent Crime Dropped in Orange County Last Year | Aliso Viejo, CA Patch

[ka8]

Well I guess the word 'ghetto' was an exaggeration but like I stated earlier Irvine is fine for awhile since it's still relatively new. As the city ages older parts of Irvine will go bad. Crime in LA has been going down alot I believe but that doesn't mean I would live in most parts of LA. Now with this executive amnesty things will not get better for CA in general

[OC Investor2]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Irvine is a place where a lot of middle-income and poor people like to delude themselves into thinking they are rich.

Irvine has a relatively low home-ownership rate of about 50 %, a relatively high poverty rate of 11.4%, and a median income level that is just a bit under that of many South County cities.
Irvine (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

************************************************** *******************************
Poverty's new address is in suburbs - Los Angeles Times
In Irvine, one of the fastest-growing cities in California, the estimated number of poor people rose from roughly 12,400 to nearly 21,000 in a decade, Brookings found in its analysis of U.S. Census data. Every month, hundreds of struggling families call or stop into the Irvine offices of Families Forward -- far more people than the Orange County nonprofit can help house. It once handed out groceries to roughly 25 families a week. Now it's more than 160.

In Irvine and other Orange County suburbs, "everything is nicely maintained. Things look good on the surface," said Margie Wakeham, executive director of Families Forward. "But the need has just skyrocketed."

Dream on.

It's likely that the median income is lower because Irvine is the only south OC city with a major university and the large student population - who are usually "low income"- that come with that.

The high number of rentals is driven by all the high end IAC complexes in the city. Again not an imminent indicator of decline or poverty. Not a lot of truly poor people could afford the rent there.

Are there some Irvine residents living in poverty? Yes. Just like you will find in any large city. But to deny that the city is a desirable place to live and mostly populated with middle, upper middle and upper class residents is misleading.