San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

I lived in Escondido from 2002 to 2006 (4 years). I can't say that I enjoyed it, in fact I wish I never lived there at all. The biggest problem I had with Esconghetto was the massive gang infestation. There is a large latio population, which I didn't mind at all, but the problem is the lation gangs that come with them. Although the city does a great job of covering the grafitii, I got sick and tired of reporting it almost every day. I have since moved to a different city and I am so much more happy walking outside my house and not seeing grafitti right in front of my house. It was just annoying.

The other problem was high crime. Although it made things more exciting, Once I had a kid, I decided she needed a safer environment. There were robberies, break-ins and police shootings every 6 months or so.

Although the Escondido city council is trying their hardest to get rid of the problem, I think it is only creating more tension between the latinos that have lived there for 40+ years and the new construction and development that they feel is barging in on them.

That's just my take. I would never go back to living in Escondido.

I lived in Escondido from 2002 to 2006 (4 years). I can't say that I enjoyed it, in fact I wish I never lived there at all. The biggest problem I had with Esconghetto was the massive gang infestation. There is a large latio population, which I didn't mind at all, but the problem is the lation gangs that come with them. Although the city does a great job of covering the grafitii, I got sick and tired of reporting it almost every day. I have since moved to a different city and I am so much more happy walking outside my house and not seeing grafitti right in front of my house. It was just annoying.

The other problem was high crime. Although it made things more exciting, Once I had a kid, I decided she needed a safer environment. There were robberies, break-ins and police shootings every 6 months or so.

Although the Escondido city council is trying their hardest to get rid of the problem, I think it is only creating more tension between the latinos that have lived there for 40+ years and the new construction and development that they feel is barging in on them.

That's just my take. I would never go back to living in Escondido.

I'm curios about North San Diego County in general. My wife and I currently live in LA County and are considering a move to North San Diego County. Cities like Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista and San Marcos have come to mind. Any thoughts?

I never lived in Escondido, but I did seriously look for buying house there. Eventally, I decided not to buy over there since it is not very idea place to live and not a good investment for long term either.

The houses are much more afforable, but it is extremely hot in summer. There are some nice houses, but a lot of neighborhoods are bad. The schools are not that great. Only one school is condsidered good in whole Escondido. Most of them have very bad scores.

I used to live LA also michael! Carlsbad is the best and San Marcos is OK. I would not condsider Oceanside or Vista, but it depends on you individiual needs. If you tell me which part of LA do you live and what is your priority, I can have a better idea for you.

Parts of escondido are wonderful! I was hiking in the Harmony grove yesterday with my son and it is not the Escondido most are referring to here. The very nice part close to Encinitas is referred to as Harmony Grove and Elfin forest. You can get acreage, great views, peace and quiet, horses and so much more. Do you own due diligence rather than listening to the biased views of the uninformed masses.

sdrealtor, houses in Elfin forest are nice but very expensive (price range is $1- 2.5 Mil). It is a very small area, not at the center of Escondido, but it just belongs to city of Escondido. It is actually near by Enicnitas and Rancho Santa Fe. It does not close to any freeway or stores. Very inconveient location! Houses are very are hard to sell. I have seen some houses are sitting on the market for 1-2 years but still not sold yet! I wouldn't want to pay couple $M for the ciy of Escondido.

sdrealtor, houses in Elfin forest are nice but very expensive (price range is $1- 2.5 Mil). It is a very small area, not at the center of Escondido, but it just belongs to city of Escondido. It is actually near by Enicnitas and Rancho Santa Fe. It does not close to any freeway or stores. Very inconveient location! Houses are very are hard to sell. I have seen some houses are sitting on the market for 1-2 years but still not sold yet! I wouldn't want to pay couple $M for the ciy of Escondido.

Harmony grove and Elfin forest are hardly Escondido. Those areas are only part of Escondido by name. They are closer to RSF and Encinitas and it might be a good value, because the price is lower since it doesn't have the "RSF Brand Name".

chewie83 you are right, they are just part of Escondido by name. They are less expensive by comapring with RSF, but still couple $M price tag. So, houses over there are extremely to sell with "Escondido Name"!

Also, our topic is the whole city of Escondido in general, not a tiny little area.

"major metropolis within easy reach"

you obviously haven't tried commuting in the 15 corridor

Yep. I spent 18 years growing up in Escondido and I would never do that to my kids. My family has been there for 50+ years and they don't like where it is headed either. That will be rock bottom bargain RE in the next couple of years as a lot of homes in the better areas are vacant due to them being bought as investment properties for hopeful flippers. The school system is a lot less desirable than other area of the county too.

Currently live in Pasadena. Priority is good school district. Worst house in best neighborhood type mentality. Have considered Escondido but have heard different opinions. Time frame to purchase will probably be end of 08' but figured i should start doing research now...

no comment

I don't mean to upset other people. It's only my own opinion.

michael! Generally speaking, Carlsbad has better school & better neighborhood. It's more expensive than other choices, but it is cheaper than Pasadena. If you want to keep your standard, Carlsbad is more compatible to Pasadena. If you want to down garde, you can consider other choices that are more compatible to Whittier or Norwalk in LA County. It's your choice. Here is the web page for the API scores of schools in SD:

http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/APIBase20...

HR,

Here's the original post on thread!

"I see a lot properties in this area, with large lots and beautiful finishes, for considerably less than than Sab Diego or LA. It seems an ideal location for anyone who likes the semi-rural existence, but with a major metropolis within easy reach. I didn't like the town but Encinitas more than makes up for it.

I would love to know what peoples' views are on this area."

I don't know about you but it sure sounds like the case of an LA Guy searching Realtor.com and finding Elfin Forest/Harmony Grove under Escondido Zip codes to me.

Happy Renter - thanks for the great link.

Thanks for the comparisons also. I would never move to Whittier or Norwalk or any place that is comparable. Pasadena has both its good and bad areas.

I guess it's peoples knowledge that can only come from living in an area that i find extremely valuable. Pictures and data don't always provide the full story.

Escondido gets bashed a lot but much of it is actually pretty nice. I lived there 1973-1998 and 2002-2004. It was a nice sleepy town in the 1970's then sort of boomed in the 80's. It then went downhill somewhat in the late 1990's to now. I think (hope) it will begin to turn back up a little although it does have its problems.

IMO the best parts are S. Escondido, 92029 and 92025 zips. North Escondido can be nice too. Schools are best in the South part. For example, LR Green and Bernardo score well enough they woud be about average if they were in the vaunted Poway district. San Pasqual high scores are almost as good as Poway High and Mt. Carmel. In sum, the best schools in Escondido are competitive with some of the best in the entire County. Of course, there are many that are not good but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

If you want acerage and quiet, it's hard to beat outlying parts of Escondido. You can still get a big lot and a one-story house with privacy and views for well under a million. In Poway, the same type of house would be 1.4 million and up. Considering the schools can be comparable, I'll pocket the extra $500k and deal with a slightly less desireable town.

I live in Escondido in the LR Green/San Pasqual High school district. I like living here but I think it depends what you are looking for. I have found that I prefer the inland climate. I lived at the beach for five years and found the overcast weather and constant dampness irritating. I prefer warmer weather. Sometimes is does get quite hot out here but I usually wake up to beautiful, sunny skies while the coast has the overcast. I have friends that live at the beach that would never leave, though.

And just like most other cities, Escondido has its good parts and not-so-good parts. I find that the 92025 & 92029 zip codes are the most desirable...they are also the most southern part of the city...just North of Rancho Bernardo.

A relative of mine lived in SW Escondido in a great neighborhood. They moved to RB for the Poway school district and found the elementary school inferior to LR Green.

"...LA guy searching realtor.com" [sdrealtor] is pretty close although I did go there and do some exploring. If there is any other website apart from Realtor.com please enlighten me???

It probably is Harmony Grove and Elfin Forest that I stumbled across and liked, but not knowing the area I wasn't aware of these names. I did say in my original post that I wasn't particulalry enamoured with the city of Escondido, so it is the outlying rural areas that appeal ...views, large lots, privacy (no kids so schools not an issue).

Interesting is the comments that Harmony Grove and Elfin Forest are stigmatised with the Escondido label, making homes less attractive to sell. I'm trying to marry that up with the high price tags referred to????

"...you haven't tried commuting on the 15 corridor." [4plexowver]. No I haven't and don't need to commute anywhere, but I would imagine San Diego is 30-45 minutes away in quiet times???

As far as crime is concerned, it would concern me if it spills out into the outlying areas ...burglaries etc, but living in LA, gang crime seems a pretty localised phenomenon, at least in my (limited) experience.

No stores would also be a concern, but presumably Escondido is well blessed with Albertsons etc.

I am a little surprised about it being hot there. Is it noticeably hotter than inland areas of LA???

qwerty
More than anything it is the relative remoteness of the area impacting those prices. It's a good 15 to 20 minute drive to shopping (you would likely go to Encinitas/Carlsbad/San marcos) so you need to plan ahead. They are building some shopping in San Elijo Hills which will be limited but only 5 minutes away. Schoolwise the kids there go to Encinitas or Rancho Santa Fe schools so the quality isnt an issue. In quiet times, I'd say SD was 45 to 60 minutes away. The area is beautiful and it is like living in National Park. I have a friend that lives there who got tired of commuting downtown to his office so he just built a detached office on his property and fixed that issue.

Crime isnt an issue there.

I grew up in the San Pasqual area of Escondido then lived in the city proper for a few years before moving to the coast. The rural area is nice if you want land, but the commute to San Diego is a nightmare. I've been back to the San Pasqual area for mountainbiking and it still looks nice (not sure how the high school is though)
Like other posters have said, 92029 and 92025 are nice areas if you don't mind the commute. What you get for the price in these zipcodes is pretty decent relatively.
As far as Escondido the city goes (and living there), the ghetto comments were right on the mark. The few (four at the most) years I lived in the city, I had my car broken into at least six times. I finally left the doors unlocked so they wouldn't break the window anymore. Gangbangers, meth heads, lowlifes, oh, and the California Center for the Arts. I don't even like driving through the city anymore and try to avoid it.
The important thing is that this city hasn't always been like this, it has gotten considerably worse over the last 20 years. My guess is that it hasn't reached bottom yet, I'd stay away.

I have heard the stories, and seen first hand, how cities like Oceanside, Chula Vista, Escondido and Vista have gang crime and are not as nice as Carlsbad, Encinitas and perhaps even San Marcos which is getting much nicer every year. Compared to these cities, the others are certainly not quite as nice, however...

Relatively speaking, why don't we compare the city of Escondido to a place like Peoria, Illinois or Madison, Wisconsin or Fort Collins, Colorado or Boise, Idaho. Ft. Collins and Boise and Madison are known for being extremely safe and rank at the top of the safest cities lists all the time. Surely Escondido's crime rate is sky high compared to these cities, right?

Boise/Escondido: http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/c...

Peoria/Escondido:
http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/c...

Ft. Collins/Escondido:
http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/c...

Madison/Escondido:
http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/c...

You have to be kidding, right! I also looked at the web site 'city data' for Escondido (below) and found that the overall crime rate is extremely low and below the US average. So, it's above a few cities in car thefts and 1-2 other catagories, but overall it is SAFER than a city like Madison that has made all the best and safest cities lists, and it is as safe as Ft. Collins, a city that was just voted the best in the US by US News! And Peoria is a war zone compared to Escondido!

I believe that the problem we have is a relative one. We live in such a nice, safe region in North County that the 'enclaves' of peace and tranquility like Carlsbad and Encinitas make Escondido look unsafe, when in fact it is as safe as some of the safest US cities. I grew up in a Midwest city like Peoria, same size as Escondido, 20 murders a year vs. Escondido's 3 a year average, and my Midwest city is still known as a somewhat nice city. Overall, crime is growing everywhere, but relatively the stats show that even Escondido is extremely safe.

(http://www.city-data.com/city/Escondido-...)

I made a mistake, I only compared Escondido to some of the SAFEST cities in the US. If it is so bad, let's be fair and compare it to a bad place like Montgomery, Alabama:

http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/c...

Curiously does it get as hot in Elfin Forest as it does over by the Wild Animal Park? I am guessing that side of Escondido being so much further away gets that heat for a reason. Is the heat similar to say Rancho Bernardo, or slightly closer to coastal climate.

I would say that Elfin Forest has a climate similar to the very West end of 4S Ranch. The Wild Animal Park can be several degrees warmer than the neighborhoods near North County Fair.

North County has many microclimates. For example, I lived in San Marcos in a west facing home on a slight hill and we had great ocean breezes. A mile away you could have a street that has a hill blocking the west breezes and temperatures can get as much as 5-10 degrees hotter in the summer with no breezes. San Elijo Hills gets great breezes, less cloud cover than areas near the coast, and temperatures are much cooler than areas on the other side of the hill in the same city. On my way back from Vegas last year I started looking at the outside temp at the 78/I-15 junction. It was 95 at the junction and it dropped 1-2 degrees every mile as I drove west.

IMO the best climate in the world exists in an area roughly 5 miles inland from the ocean and 5 miles west of I-15. Rancho Santa Fe, Vista, parts of San Marcos, parts of eastern Carlsbad/Encinitas etc. Not much coastal fog layer, much more sun, warmer but not too hot like areas further east, and you can still get ocean breezes. On days when it is foggy and 65 in coastal Encinitas, it is sunny and 72 in San Marcos.

CB
Elfin Forest is basically the same climate as San Elijo Hills which is right next to it. Take your boys for a hike up to the Olivenhain Resevoir some weekend. they'll love it. It's about 1.5 miles uphill. You wont believe something like that exists so close to the congestion of where we live.

SDR

The commute from Escondido to San Diego is not easy right now at rush hour, but in a year or two, it will be much better.

Currently there are two reversible car pool lanes from Highway 56 to 163 in Miramar, but there are going to be four car pool lanes from Escondido to 56 by the end of the year, and Caltrans is going to make it four lanes from 56 to 163 also. There will be 3 lanes going south in the AM, and one lane going north, and for the afternoon rush hour, the lanes will be reversed.

Single riders will be able to purchase Fastrak so they can get in the car pool lanes also. When the four additional lanes are completed from Escondido to 163, the commute should be very easy.

aka "Hidden Valley"

i bought a townhouse 2/2 1 car garage in 1988, paid 80K, saw the price go down to 50K, but later sold it for 400K

as far as I remember, it was a nice tranquil city. Very convenient.

it did not make me feel that I was living in california,
or san diego.

I usually took 15S to 163S to claremont blvd to hang out at
the few asian places on convoy street. At that time, there was no 99 ranch.

--
i bought my home (5/4 3 car garage, 92130) in 1998. I have lots of cash on top of home equity. if you are one of the ones who outbid my offers for the 3 years, I am just laughing at you and how does it feel now to be a sucker?