Zero Energy

by | May 6, 2013 | Builders, Modular Homes, OCRenter, The Future, Thinking of Building? | 4 comments

Hat tip to ocrenter who sent this in from Bloomberg – a prototype new home that generates its own energy that they think they can sell for around $250,000:

The youtube remarks are somewhat critical of the idea – you still have to purchase the natural gas to run the ‘powercell’, so can you sell enough excess electricity back to the grid to cover?

They talk about systems, but didn’t flat out say that these are modular homes.  They show the prototype house being stick-built towards the end of the video, but isn’t the natural progression to build the houses off-site and deliver?

And when is ocrenter going to make a comeback?

Guest Post: OCRenter

by | Oct 8, 2010 | OCRenter, Schools, Thinking of Buying? | 41 comments

Between time restraints and fewer good stories available, we’ll take it easy in the beginning – hopefully there will be more posts.  If you have a specific lead or idea that you’d like OCRenter to explore, leave it in the comment section, or email me.  Here we go – welcome OCRenter:

How Special is Torrey Pines HS?  

Carmel Valley has remained almost completely immune from any significant price collapse.

The question naturally is why?

The general consensus is simply that it has the perfect combo of criteria. It has the schools, its proximity to employment centers, and its proximity to the beach. But on the face of it, API scores just does not demonstrate a dramatic difference to compared to neighboring schools. Nor does a reduction of 10-15 minutes in commute time truly justify that Carmel Valley Premium in home prices.

So why is Carmel Valley the Promised Land? Using the UC stat finder site, here is what we have for the Class of 2009 (API for 2010 included for reference):

*note, Harvard/Westlake graduating class number inferred from total students.

In essence, as far as the Class of ’09 goes, Torrey Pines High is so good that it is on par with Uni High of Irvine and it actually edges out the most prominent private prep school of the land in regard to UC applications.

But is this just noise? Has Torrey Pines always been this good? The answer is no.

Going back the last decade, not counting ‘09, Torrey Pines seniors have achieved between 46% to 52% UC admission rate except for a single breakout year with the Class of ’01 when 58% were granted UC admission. I also do not see a pattern of gradual increase of percentage over the last decade to suggest an obvious trend.

While Torrey Pines may not be this good, year to year, on average it is still better in comparison to neighboring competitor schools. For example, of the 9 years data is available, Torrey Pines has averaged a 50% UC acceptance rate. For Scripps Ranch, that 9 year average stands at 42%.

Does an 8% edge on UC acceptance justify a $200k premium on an average sized house on most likely a smaller sized yard? You be the judge. 

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