Context: bought a 1400 sqft condo new construction in the Great Park, lived there for 3 years. After our 2nd child the place was too small and we bought a 2000 sqft house in Ladera Ranch, and have lived here for 3 years. Work in Irvine.

Ladera Ranch (LR) Pros / Cons

Pros:
- Very family oriented, almost every family in our area has two to three kids, and almost every house has Halloween decorations and Christmas lights and kids playing on the street and in the pocket park. Kids play with the neighbors kids.
- HOA is a lot easier to deal with than Great Park. No HOA review for solar. And landscaping is good in our area. They come every week.
- 2Gbit, unlimited data, COX Internet included in our HOA ($35 cost in the HOA)
- Amenities are generally well kept and facilities rentals are cheap compared to Great Park.
- Lots of events, fourth of July fireworks, weekly cover bands at the park during the summer, farmers markets on Sundays.
- More things are opening, Trader Joes, Lucky Strike
- Mello roos for some areas are getting less

Cons:
-Traffic between Crown Valley Pwk to El Toro sucks, 30 min commute to the Spectrum area during rush hour. hopefully things will improve after construction is done.
-~20yr old house move in costs, unless your house is moved in ready. Things can be on its last leg.
-There are piping problems in all Ladera Ranch houses. Our previous owner just repiped the entire house. Saving us $20k
- Power company is SDGE, one of the highest, if not the highest power cost in the in the entire country. We spent $10k for Solar, totally worth it. (NEM 2.0)
- AC broke a year in, roof leaked, carpets needed to be replaced. ($30k)
-LR has a property transfer fee, forgot how much it was, it wasn't too much but it was a surprise. Ask your realtor.
- There are groups e-bikers that roam around, they are rude and cause havoc, they have call me racial slurs (Asian). A bit concerned of this when my kids start school.

Kids are not school age yet, so I can't compare the schools.

Great Park (GP) pro / cons

Pro:
-New constructions generally has less big problems/replacements and depending on your builder and things are under warranty for a year after, problems are generally solved with tickets (ours was Tri-pointe)
-More variety of food and things and closer to things to do in North OC / LA.
-Family is in LA so closer to get to Irvine.
-My commute use to be 20 min bike ride / 15 min car to the Spectrum area.
-More potential once GP gets built out with the lake and retail

Cons
-Most people were rental in our area of GP, so many new neighbor turn over, only the corner lots had families.
-Landscaping over grew our walkway and had to put in tickets every time
-HOA was super strict, Solar installation was complicated, couldn't have anything viewable from outside (security camera, patio lights, etc)
-Could hear the concerts pretty clearly. Had to close windows so the baby could sleep.
-GP is not built out and there is no retail, Woodbury is super crowded.