What an incredible smell you've discovered!
From the Sacramento Bee:
Bob Shallit: Some horses, but of course
Sierra de Montserrat puts livestock amid luxury housing at Loomis project.
Curt Westwood's dream of bringing a bit of Napa Valley to rural Placer County is getting closer. Having recently settled a yearlong legal dispute with Loomis officials, he's begun construction on the first of 62 luxury homes that will be sprinkled amid 320 acres of terraced vineyards and oak trees.
The dispute was over livestock. Town leaders insisted on allowing horses at each of Westwood's home sites. Westwood said animals would be incompatible with his vision of an unfenced pastoral setting. The compromise: Livestock will be allowed on four of the home sites within the development, called Sierra de Montserrat.
...
They'll be finished in about a year, ranging from 5,000 to 7,000 square feet and priced between $3 million and $4 million. Custom homes built by others could be "several million more," he says.
That's a lot of money for a home, especially now when, as Westwood says, the housing market "stinks."
But he's convinced it will rebound by the time his project is completed. "Downturns come," he says, "and downturns turn around."
7 comments:
It wouldn't surprise me at all if this project was successful. The upper end of the housing market seems to be moving independently of the rest of it, just like executive pay, stock options, and bonuses for Wall St. insiders have no relation to the rest of the economy. There was an article in the SF Chron recently about the brisk pace of home sales in the >$5M category in Marin County.
I don't think there are enough local millionaires who want to live in high-rise condos in downtown Sac, but there may be enough who want a weekend getaway surrounded by vineyards in Loomis. Meanwhile, the rest of us can hold up in a rental until the bubble deflates.
"he's begun construction on the first of 62 luxury homes that will be sprinkled amid 320 acres of terraced vineyards and oak trees"
So he is just building with no pre-sales.
I'm I right or I'm I wrong? I really do not know.
Looks like we got Lincoln Crossing number two on the way.
same thing 15 years ago at Clos Du Lac...on Auburn Folsom, past that awful fountain the schlokoid hell hole "Los Lagos"...
Clos du Lac designed for homes sprnkled among a vineyard...
the first four homes, designed by SF Architects (natch) were super and the vineyard flowed in amongst the landscaping...they were pricey for the time around 500gs on up or so...
place collapsed because of the similar market as now...but they did EVENTUALLY start to sell the lots and the homes got real cheap but real big and expensive, like the entire area...schlocky Sacramento crapola....but they did keep the vineyard going in amongst the houses...
NO effing lawns and similar suburban crap...
Deja Vu all over again
He may be able to sell them - but you have to ask: what are people thinking. A 5000 square foot house with an average family of 2.6 people - it's just nuts (or should I say ego).
Or maybe, how bout rent a 2700 square foot brand new fully landscaped home in Lincoln Crossing for $1750/month. Granted it might be cramped, but it'll cost about 30% less than your property tax bill.
Based on the occupancy levels in Roseville I don't think there will be a deflating bubble there either. I don't know about other cities in the area. Even in the Bay Area, places where there is high demand for the school district have their prices at levels higher than ever (Mission school district in Fremont and the Cupertino school district).
I also think this project would be successful since there are only a few expensive homes.
It's like the BMW dealers in the Bay Area. Even at the peak of the dot com bust they had a waiting list for their cars and they were charging MSRP.
I think Westwood will hit a home run here. He knows what he's doing.
Clos Du Loc was really cool (I was a younger DINK), but did not appeal to the real target market, higher end w/money, older, single level, kids moving out...etc. But couple a SF architect with investor w/o homebuilding experience and... poof ... there goes the money.
Anonymous, what he's thinking is that they'll only have yellow mustard in Lincoln and that this is a Grey Poupon market. Thats why the property taxes are so much.
Tah Tah
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