Escondido?

[michael]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

no comment

[sdrealtor]

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.

[34f3f3f]

“…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???

[sdrealtor]

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.

[Doofrat]

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.

[Anonymous]

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/compare.htm?c1=Escondido&s1=CA&c2=Boise&s2=ID

Peoria/Escondido:
http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm?c1=Escondido&s1=CA&c2=peoria&s2=IL

Ft. Collins/Escondido:
http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm?c1=Escondido&s1=CA&c2=fort+collins&s2=CO

Madison/Escondido:
http://escondido.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm?c1=Escondido&s1=CA&c2=madison&s2=WI

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-California.html)

[Anonymous]

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/compare.htm?c1=Escondido&s1=CA&c2=montgomery&s2=AL

[CardiffBaseball]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

[sdrealtor]

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

[Steve Beebo]

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.

[Author]

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