THE NEW PIONEERS : Looking for a ‘Perfect World’ : Security, Tranquillity, Home Prices Are Attracting Buyers to Dove Canyon
They liked the gate, they said, and the security it promised. They liked the golf course, the mountain views, the three-car garages. And they liked both the distance from established North County cities like Anaheim and the proximity to tony Coto de Caza.
Inside the sales office at Waterford Crest, a new development in this gated community in Orange County’s southern foothills, sales representative Kim Cavin nodded her approval. These potential buyers, after all, were echoing the themes of a new marketing campaign that invites visitors to enter Dove Canyon’s “more perfect world,” one of comfortable homes, security patrols and bucolic vistas.
“It’s gone crazy here lately,” Cavin said one recent day, jumping up to greet another group that had braved frequent downpours to shop for new homes. “We all have traffic, we all have sales out here now.”
After a recession-driven lull in construction that forced many builders to sell their land here to better-financed companies--and prompted a few to refer to the area as “Dead Canyon”--the sounds of hammers and heavy equipment are resonating again through this scenic valley. And both lookers and buyers, lured by a drop in prices, are finding their way to the nine developments under construction.
Pamela Smith, vice president of marketing for the Dove Canyon Co., said that depending on the location, people buying a house in the community today might pay anywhere from $20,000 to $150,000 less than they would have paid for a comparable home at the market’s peak five years ago. Dove Canyon’s opening in early 1989 came just before the devastating plunge in Southern California real estate prices.
The previous week, Cavin, 37, had sold four houses--double her recent weekly average--at the Waterford Crest development, which is built by Richmond American Homes. Only the day before, despite storm clouds that threatened to let loose all Sunday afternoon, 65 groups of potential buyers had walked through the models for the homes, priced from $221,000 to $266,000.
Activity has been strong enough lately that Richmond American raised prices in January an average of $6,000 for its three types of homes at Waterford Crest, Cavin said.
The majority of Cavin’s buyers are in their 30s and 40s, she said. Most are professionals, with annual incomes starting around $60,000, and many have young children.
Others are older couples, some of whom hope to travel when they retire and like the idea of leaving their homes protected behind gates, she said. A few are young couples, looking to move up from rented houses or condominiums in nearby communities.
One-third of the new homeowners in this region come from outside the county, according to The Times Orange County Poll. Those looking at property in Dove Canyon recently said they had heard about the area either from relatives or colleagues already living in Orange County, or from the splashy “more perfect world” newspaper ads that are part of a newly aggressive joint advertising campaign.
The seven Dove Canyon builders have spent about $14,000 each for a 90-day advertising package that began in February and is aimed at positioning the community as one of both affordable homes and superior amenities, according to Hayes-Martin Associates of Costa Mesa, which is spearheading the campaign.
A woman walked through Waterford’s double doors, coming to a stop in front of a board displaying a model of the neighborhood, where tiny red and green buttons marked the houses already sold. Cavin launched into her pitch: “Welcome to Waterford Crest. What brings you out here today?”
Darlene Matthey, 59, said she and her husband, Leslie, also 59, had lived in the same house for 33 years but were thinking of moving to South County. The reason?
“It’s Anaheim,” Darlene Matthey said in reference to the city’s crime and congestion. “Just Anaheim. It’s not the same as it was.”
Dove Canyon, in contrast to Anaheim, she said, seemed clean, fresh, peaceful. And while her husband would face a much longer commute to his job as a stockbroker in Santa Ana, the security and tranquillity at home would be worth it.
Later, Cavin was explaining the wonders of double-paned, white vinyl windows and maple cabinetry to Jerry and Denise Siedhoff, who had flown in from Houston on a house-shopping trip.
Jerry Siedhoff, a bank liquidation specialist with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said they were moving here in June, when he will transfer to the agency’s Irvine office. Several factors about Dove Canyon appealed to the couple, they said, including its natural beauty, housing values and “the fact that it’s next door to Coto (de Caza).”
At the Lakeview Real Estate office inside the gates of neighboring Coto de Caza, realtor Bobbi Mezger was talking about the communities she works for: Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza, Trabuco Canyon and a little in Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch.
The realtor, who has been selling homes in the area for five years, said out-of-the-area home buyers often ask her to describe the various communities in order to help them find the right environment. In response, she tells them that the remote communities of Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch have a more rural feeling than the more densely built Rancho Santa Margarita.
Coto de Caza, where Mezger lives and does most of her business, is the most expensive and resort-like, she said, with equestrian easements and a second golf course now under construction. Homes there, including condominiums, typically sell for an average of $75,000 more than nearby neighborhoods.
And Dove Canyon? “Compared to Coto, it’s a housing tract versus a community,” she said. “I know that sounds terrible, but it’s true. Don’t get me wrong, they have lots of wonderful facilities and great values there right now, but compared to this, Dove feels like Irvine behind gates to me.”
True or not, Coto de Caza resident Kelli Krienke apparently doesn’t share that view.
The next day, Krienke, 30, was eagerly taking her second, detailed look at a four-bedroom home at Waterford Crest in Dove Canyon. She said she and her husband had lived in a condominium in Coto for three years but were looking forward to getting into a house.
“We like Coto a lot but this is nice, too,” she said. “We’ve looked around the area but we’ve just really gotten used to the feeling of security in a gated community and we want to stay in one if we can.”
Homes In the Hills
The new towns in south Orange County are distinct in their housing mix, costs and amenities.
FOOTHILL RANCH
Population: 3,764; 1995 projection, 8,831
Major developer: Foothill Ranch Co., a division of the Hon Development Co.
First homes built: 1991
Housing mix: 3,900 units planned, 2,200 built; 540 apartments and 210 townhouses priced from $95,000-$165,000; 1,450 single-family homes from $180,000-low $400,000s
Community features: Shopping complex that will be the second largest in the county is under construction
Selected neighborhoods:
* Salerno: 340-unit townhome complex
* Cordova: Approximately 100 large single-family detached homes that cost up to $425,000.
*
PORTOLA HILLS
Population: 4,729; 1995 projection, 6,544
Major developer: Baldwin Co.
First homes built: 1986
Housing mix: 2,200 units planned; 1,035 townhome, condominium and duplexes and 781 single-family detached homes built
Selected neighborhoods:
* Serenado: 146 duplexes; price range, $175,000-$200,000
* The Estates: 50 single-family houses, price range, $250,000-$300,000
*
DOVE CANYON
Population: 1,725; 1995 projection, 4,420
Major developer: Dove Canyon Co.
First homes built: 1989
Housing mix: 1,300 single-family homes planned, 550 have been built; price range, $200,000-$400,000
Planned community features: Lake and golf course/country club
Selected neighborhoods:
* Lakeridge and Summit: Both about 100 homes with hilltop views
* Waterford Crest: 97 lots, 44 single-family detached homes built, 18 sold, price range $221,000 to $280,000
*
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA
Population: 20,000; 2001 projection, 40,000
Major developer: Santa Margarita Co.
First homes built: 1986
Housing mix: 15,000 planned; 3,558 single-family detached homes; 4,326 townhomes and condominiums and 1,026 apartments built
Community features: Golf course, lake and small beach. Construction has started on a town center, a collection of shops, department stores, residences and community gathering spots
Selected neighborhoods
* Corte Molina: 192-unit condominium complex in the town center area; price range, $85,000-$149,000
* Brisa Ladera (The Heights): 130 single-family detached homes built on the highest point in the community; price range, $175,000-$185,000
* Montana del Lago: 123 condominiums and townhomes at Lake Rancho Santa Margarita; price range, $115,000-$165,000
*
COTO DE CAZA
Population: 4,005; 1995 projection, 7,265
Major developer: Coto de Caza Ltd.
First homes built: 1972, first planned community in southeast Orange County
Housing mix: 1,800 units include 360 townhomes priced $180,000-$350,000; 360 single-family houses on small lots, $250,000-$350,000; 360 custom homes, $400,000-$4 million, and 720 single-family large-lot residences starting at $450,000. Price ranges are approximate
Selected neighborhoods:
* Hillsboro: Large lot homes bordering the golf course
* Rancho Colinas: Townhome complex also near the golf course
*
ROBINSON RANCH
Population: 4,329; 1995 projections, 4,721
Major developer: William Lyon Co.
First homes built: 1987
Housing mix: 1,412 units planned; through the end of 1992, 1,116 single-family homes and 184 attached units built
Sources: Individual developers; annual development reports
Researched by FRANK MESSINA / For The Times
