"House of Lies" Gets New Tenant

In the pantheon of liars, real estate novelists rate pretty low, near the bottom of the barrel close to politicians and fishermen. When a real estate agent tells you that the house has an ocean view, expect to go to the roof and see a sliver of the big blue. When they say “it’s freeway close” that means either you are less than a half hour from a freeway, which is pretty much anywhere in Southern California.

To be truly egregious and stand out from the pack, real estate agents and promoters need to do something extraordinary, and that’s what we have here with Baker Ranch (aka Shea Baker). Baker Ranch is a new upper middle class project of 2,300+ homes being built on the land that was freed up when the El Toro Airport went down in flames over a decade ago. By judiciously giving thousands of dollars to the campaign coffers of the City Council members, Baker Ranch got their approvals and broke ground last year. Unfortunately, between the time the Airport got shut down and Baker Ranch broke ground, the Board of Supervisors, in their collective wisdom, decided to build a $100,000,000 extension to Musick Jail where they will house “maximum security” prisoners among others, and this new building will be a block away from the new homes. Baker Ranch has been curiously silent about all of this, but that isn’t the reason for this article.

The Shea Baker people are smart enough to know that when you are hawking your homes to upper middle class families, the quality of the school system will be an important consideration. So they have a section on their website (liveatbakerranch.com) devoted to schools and this is what they claim, followed by the reality.

FALSE/MISLEADING CLAIMS

The Claim

“Serrano [Intermediate School]…has been named to the California Distinguished Schools list several times.”

The Reality

According to the California Distinguished Schools official website, between 2013 and 2007 (the oldest date for which there is data), Serrano does not appear on the list even once, much less several times.

The Claim

“ETHS [El Toro High School] has been repeatedly honored with a California Distinguished Schools rating (including 2013).”

The Reality

According to the California Distinguished Schools official website, between 2007 and 2013, ETHS appears on the list only 1 time.

The Claim

“SVUSD’s [Saddleback Valley Unified School District] elementary, intermediate and high schools make frequent appearances on the list of California Distinguished Schools – in fact, more than any other district in the state.” (emphasis added)

The Reality

In 2013, SVUSD had 3 schools on the distinguished list. Many other schools districts had 3, but here are the school districts that had even more – LA Unified (6), San Ramon (5), Anaheim Union (4), and Cupertino Union (4).

In 2012, SVUSD had 4 schools on the distinguished list. Many other schools districts had 4, but here are the school districts that had even more – LA Unified (40), Clovis (14), San Diego (11), Chula Vista (9), San Francisco (9), Fremont (7), Poway (7), Irvine (6), Placentia (6), Cupertino Union (6), Castro Valley (5), Lake Elsinore (5), Chino Valley (5), and Etiwanda (5).

In 2011 and 2010 SVUSD had 0 (that’s right – zero) schools on the distinguished list.

From 2007 to 2013 SVUSD had a school listed as “distinguished” a total of 19 times. LA Unified had more than that in a single year (40 in 2012). San Diego Unified, Clovis, San Ramon, Irvine, etc. all exceeded SVUSD in the total number of distinguished schools between 2007 and 2013.

So what kind of nonsense are they saying when they say “SVUSD’s elementary, intermediate and high schools make frequent appearances on the list of California Distinguished Schools – in fact, more than any other district in the state.”

In addition, truly excellent schools never make the list of “distinguished Schools” because the classification is reserved for those schools that have made a lot of progress and are doing better than they did before. That’s a good thing, but hardly worth bragging about. Ask yourself - Would you rather have your kid attend a school that is consistently ranked highest (10) year after year, or a school that went from a rank of 4 to a rank of 7?

While these are the most egregious examples, they are not the only times that Baker Ranch stretches the truth beyond recognition.

The Claim

“ETHS…25% of students participate in the school’s wide selection of AP (Advanced Placement) programs, offered in 12 diverse subjects...”

The Reality

Among the 15 high schools servicing the 35,000+ high schoolers in South Orange County, ETHS with a mere 25% is the lowest of all the schools. The average enrollment is 53% and several schools exceed 70%. So, while the statement per se is true, it’s hardly anything to brag about.

In addition, while having 12 AP courses doesn’t place ETHS at the bottom of the barrel, the average is 15 courses and some schools have as many as 19.

The Claim

"The community will be primarily served by Foothill Ranch Elementary School, Serrano Intermediate School and El Toro High School, which are all close to Baker Ranch homeowners.”

The Reality

All these schools are nearly 4 miles away from Baker Ranch. Because El Toro is the only high school in Lake Forest, many other kids have to travel 4 miles to get there, but for students who attend Foothill and Serrano, many live within walking distance, and almost none of them will be as far away as the students from Baker Ranch.

BUYER BEWARE

I’ve  bought and sold enough real estate to know “buyer beware” and that everyone needs to do their homework before committing to a major expense, but in this case Shea Baker seems to go beyond the normal set of exaggerations and hyperbole most of us come to expect. By choosing false or misleading information about the school system, they are targeting not only our wallets, but the future of our children. SVUSD isn’t a terrible school district and appears, from any analysis, to do a reasonable job.  Shea Baker can achieve their goal of promoting the school district without resorting to lies and deception. That would make everyone happy.

Meantime, Shea Baker joins Scott Voigts and Kathy McCullough in Lake Forest’s own unique real estate – “The House of Lies”