The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 71

r- V- Homes Apartments Condominiums Mobile hemes Commercial 1 1 SUNDAY May 7, 1939 Classified advertising supplement to The Sun jptii 1,. ypz.izjs tonf jmJir igtwuf. TheSun i i y) county planned communities among region's 10 largest Eleven master-planned communities in San Bernardino County are listed among the top 100 giant planned communities being built in Southern California in a survey compiled for Southern California Growth Monitor, a publication of PBR Business Communications. Leading the list is Chino Hills, ranked No. 2 with 26,500 residential units planned or built by various developers in an area comprising 18,300 acres, making it the largest project in scope of any development in the region.

Three other communities are listed in the top 10: Rancho Las Flores (No. 5) by Ame-rimar Realty in Summit Valley south of Hesperia where 13,800 housing units are planned on 1 1 ,370 acres. Terra Vista (No. 9), a Lewis Homes of California project in Rancho Cuca-monga where 9,200 housing units are planned on 1,321 acres. SouthRidge in Fontana (No.

10), planned for 9,000 housing units on 2,560 acres. Victoria, the planned community in Rancho Cucamonga by William Lyon Co. and various builders, is ranked 16th with homes on 3,959 acres. Others in the top 11 are Oak Valley, located between Beaumont and Calime-sa, that has just started preliminary grading and will contain 11,009 housing units on 6,485 acres, and California Oaks near Rancho CaliforniaTemecula where 9,000 housing units are planned on 2,005 acres. Donald J.

Bredberg, regional editor for Growth Monitor, said, "Residential construction via planned communities has been one of the primary vehicles by which this region has sustained a growth rate substantially above the national average during the last decade." its plan for 7,500 housing units on 2,150 acres. Other communities and their ranking: Village of Heritage (Fontana), by Fontana West End Heritage Associates (3,950 housing units in 1,400 acres). Ranked 36th. East Highlands Ranch (Highland), by Mobil Land Development Co. (3,400 housing units in 1,765 acres).

Ranked 49th. Northwest Rialto Specific Plan (Rialto) by various builders (2,600 homes on 640 acres). Ranked 65th. Creekside (Ontario) by Barratt (2,600 homes on 410 acres). Ranked 66th.

Highlands (Barstow) by Greens-treet Land and Development Co. (1,665 housing units on 563 acres). Ranked 83rd. San Antonio Lakes (Upland) by William Lyon Co. (1,479 housing units on 450 acres).

Ranked 87th. Riverside County had 30 of the top 100 planned communities including three of the top 11. The largest one in that area is Moreno Valley Ranch, just getting started, but planned for 12,053 Developer says building to level off ft Jtti-i Home resales hot; affordability is not mm mm mm mmvpm Two-story plan open today at TerraCina in East Highlands Ranch. TerraCina' model homes open HIGHL AN Woodview Development's grand single-story living with three bedrooms and two baths and a window seat in the breakfast nook area. Plan 2 has 1,593 square feet with three bedrooms and a family room in two stories.

Plan 3 offers four bedrooms and three full baths in 1,766 square feet with fireplace in the family room. Plan 4 is considered versatile because the fourth bedroom can be finished as a den. It has 1,891 square feet with a large family room. Upstairs a unique dual compartmentalized bathroom is accessible from both secondary bedrooms. All TerraCina homes are equipped by Whirlpool appliances and air conditioning.

Buyers join the East Highlands Ranch Homeowners Association and pay a fee which gives them privileges to use the recreation center with its swimming pool, tennis courts, spa, clubhouse, horseshoe pits and shuffleboard courts. A three-acre lake is now open for picnicing and fishing. The sales office and models are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except Wednesday.

For information, call (714) 864-5160. From San Bernardino, take Base Line across Boulder to Church Street, turn right to Water, then left on Water to Club View Drive and turn right. TerraMesa is accessed from Base Line at Club View Drive east of Church. A prominent Southern California developer forecasts a cooling-down period in the vigorous new home construction industry heading into the 1990s, but urged builders to continue to focus attention on key areas like the Inland Empire. Jim Manning, president of the Manning said his Arm plans no increase in its 400-home annual production volume set for 1989 in either 1990 or 1991, but he has hired a land acquisition specialist to focus attention on the inland area for future building.

"Land is the basis of any builder's strategy and Manning Co. is shifting from a building up of inventory to a maintenance mode in response to what we feel is a leveling-off period in 1989 through 1991," Manning told the Home Builder's Council at a breakfast meeting this month. "By 1991 we would expect to again begin expanding our inventory in order to be prepared for the next cycle swing," he said. Manning closed escrow on 131 single family homes in San Bernardino and Riverside counties in 1988 and was ranked 76th in a field of 194 of the region's largest builders. One of the firm's current projects is a subdivision within Fon-tana's Village of Heritage planned community.

Merchandising and marketing will be a key factor for builders during this "leveling-off period" when many builders compete for the same buyer. "The Inland Empire is a far more complex market than it was even five years ago," said Manning. "More move-up opportunities exist and new employment centers within RiversideSan Bernardino add other dimensions to the basic character of the market's being a price-attractive alternative to Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties." Asked how the Inland Empire will fare as a new home market during the anticipated "cooling down" period, Manning pointed to the areas where his firm's land acquisition efforts are focused. "Rancho California, Palm-dale, Victorville that's where we're headed. Even in a leveling market, these places will present strong opportunities for the builder who can balance cost-efficiency and marketing savvy into a product that's exciting and opening of its second neighborhood of homes at East Highlands Ranch began Saturday and continues today at TerraCina with the decorated models now open for touring.

"First-time homebuyers lured by the quality they saw in the TerraMesa models have flocked to the preview of phase one at TerraCina," said Dirk DeYoung, vice president and co-owner of Woodview Development. DeYoung said his firm has integrated many features of the larger view homes at TerraMesa into the more affordable TerraCina homes while making them attainable for first-time buyers. Homes at TerraCina are priced from the with four floor plans featuring up to 1,891 square feet of living space and up to four bedrooms. All plans include fireplace and two-car garages. Each is sold with tile entries, plush carpeting and extensive use of window designs.

Larger homes on view lots are available at TerraMesa where buyers will find homes sized up to 2,222 square feet and priced from the Plan 1 at TerraCina has 1,220 square feet of While March home resales hit their highest level in more than two years, the ability of Californi-ans to buy the median priced home on the market fell to its lowest level in more than five years, according to the California Association of Realtors. Statewide, homes closing escrow in March rose 8.4 percent above the number sold in February and figures for the month were up 20.7 percent over the same month of 1988, a spokesman said. The March figure was the highest since December, 1986. "The California resale housing market in March continued to be dominated by homebuyers making their purchase earlier than usual this year in an attempt to pre-empt higher mortgage rates," said Leo Saunders of Walnut Creek, president of the association. The buying flurry was reflected in the state's unsold home inventory index which measured 4.8 months in March, down from 7.2 months supply of resale housing in February.

The statewide median home sales price was $196,097 in March, up 2.5 percent from February's revised $191,352 and a whopping 27.2 percent higher than the March 1988 sales price "The good news for Californi-ans interested in selling their home is that prices have continued to rise significantly in many parts of the state," Saunders said. "The bad news is that when prices and interest rates increase as they have during the past year, the pool of potential homebuyers shrinks significantly." Fixed rate mortgages rose to an average of 10.81 percent while adjustable rate mortgages edged upward to 9.27 percent. The median price of a home in the San BernardinoRiverside area rose 3.8 percent to $119,884 in March, an increase of 24.2 percent from the March 1988 figure of $96,536. That didn't deter area home sales, which rose 48.6 percent from February and 8.1 percent from March, 1988. The upward spiral of prices has not been good news for potential first-time buyers.

Statewide, only 18 percent of households earned the income needed to qualify for a 30-year mortgage loan on purchase the median-priced home, down from 25 percent a year ago. The affordability index rating was the lowest since the state Realtors group began tracking the statistic on a monthly basis in 1984. To afford the March median home of $196,097, a household needed to have an annual income of $63,904 and faced monthly payments of $1,598. "Potential first-time home-buyers are suffering devastating setbacks as home prices and interest rates rise faster then their savings or income," Saunders said. "Until these deterrents are reversed, there will continue to be an adverse effect on housing affordability." The San BernardinoRiverside area's affordability index declined from 35 percent in February to 32 percent in March, its lowest reading since 1984 when it was 29 percent.

At the March price of $119,884, a homebuyer needed an annual income of $39,067 to qualify for a mortgage loan with monthly payments of $977. A year ago, when the median sales price was $96,536, the index stood very high at 42 percent. The area remains one of the most affordable in the state, however. The Sacramento area continues to rank best in affordability with a median sales price of $101,400 and income needed to purchase of $33,044, enabling 43 percent to qualify for a loan with monthly payments of $826. By comparison, the median price of a home nationwide is $93,100 with an income of $30,339 needed to qualify for a loan and make payments of $758.

Forty-six percent of U.S. households meet that requirement, virtually unchanged from a year ago, the association reported. In Bay Area, a $100,000 home almost extinct By JOHN WILDER MUTH San Francisco Chronicle SAN FRANCISCO For most people, $100,000 is a lot of money. But it won't buy a house in the San Francisco Bay Area. "There's nothing near that price around here," said Carol Whitworth, a San Jose real estate agent.

"But some people are looking around Tracy." "We're beyond that price range here," said Joan Fallavena, a broker in the San Joaquin County town of Tracy, around 70 miles east of San Francisco. "Manteca might be a possibility, though." In Manteca, another 20 miles east, "the cheapest new homes here are about $115,000, and there's not really very much near $100,000," said Harold Griffith of Silva Real Estate. "Modesto's a little cheaper. Or Merced. Or Turlock.

Or. The median price of a detached home in the Bay Area was $241,695 in February, 34.8 per-See EXT1NCTF2 rASTlH0Hl I 'r- t. iJ i California Trends Dut to a death In tha family and Jury duty, the regular "California Trends" column by Bradley Inman does not appear today. It will resume next week. Award-winning information center at East Highlands Ranch.

E. Highlands Ranch, Rancho Calif, homes honored Limited tax credits hurt low-income housing Viscaya, an enclave in the master-planned community of Las Brisas, won four Laurel awards and was a finalist in four other categories. The development won top honors for best architectural design, best print advertisement, best graphic continuity and a grand award for best overall community. The homes, developed by Medici Investment were designed by VCARandy Washington Group. Model decor was han- photos, full length windows with bench seating that overlooks a courtyard entrance and an audiovisual room.

In the audio-visual room, visitors are given a sight and sound show of how the ranch is being developed. The East Highlands Ranch center was one of 330 entries in 31 categories for the Laurel competition. "We are thrilled to receive the award," said Steve Albers, president of Albers Albers. died by Appropriate Design of Laguna Hills. Advertising and marketing was handled by RAP Communications.

Sales were coordinated by Dreyer it Young. Viscaya features three and four bedroom homes sized from 1,939 to 2,454 square feet in two-story plans and priced from $163,900 in its second phase. Costain Homes' Signet Series and Costain's public relations agency, Green, Martin Nevins of Costa Mesa, won a Laurel Award for best new home publicity campaign. The development will be featured in an upcoming Builder magazine article on "Best in the West" developments, a spokesman said. The Laurel awards, sponsored by the sales and marketing arm of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, were presented in a ceremony at Gardiner Spring Auditorium in Ontario.

HIGHLAND East Highlands Ranch and two Rancho California housing developments were among recipients of the first Laurel Awards presented by the Sales and Marketing Council of San BernardinoRiverside counties. The ranch was honored as the best sales information center for a master-planned community. The 1,348 square foot office, designed by Albers 4 Albers Inc. of Fullerton, features a hand-painted mural which illustrates the transition of the community from agricultural to residential. Sepia-toned historical images of the ranch's citrus heriage transform into full color renderings of the East Highlands Ranch housing community.

Other unique features of the office include a large topographical model table with suspended soffit above, abundant historical artifacts of the area and lifestyle By PHILIP J.GARCIA McClatchy News Service SACRAMENTO A government tax credit program designed to spur construction of low-income housing in California has become the victim of its own success. Officials say the number of developers seeking to take advantage of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program has increased dramatically in the past year, but the number of available credits remains relatively limited. On Wednesday, representatives for several developers suggested the state body overseeing the combined $70 million in federal and state tax credits may be giving some developers an unfair advantage over other applicants because of the criteria used to award the credits. At stake are millions of dollars in tax credits that can be taken over several years. Some developers fear program administrators will award credits without givine adequate weight to two kev factors: whether the housing projects are completed or near completion, and the geoeraDh.

ic location of the projects These developers complain program administrators adopted additional rules tha! give more weight to appliS! Uons filed by non-profit Grading under way at Parkridge July for the single and two-story California ranch-style homes, priced from the $1 Three floor plans sized from 1,375 to 1,665 square feet will be offered. Burgess is also planning to build homes in Apple Valley, a spokesman said. For sales information, call FONTANA Grading is under way on 12.2 acres in the master-planned community of South-Ridge that will contain 95 Parkridge Homes by Burgess Development Co. at the southwest corner of Jurupa Avenue and Cypress Avenue. Sales are expected to begin in.