How does Escondido stack up?

If you are considering moving to ...or from...Escondido in the near future, there are many factors that can help you make the decision. Family, a job opportunity, or going away to attend college are often reasons.

If the world is your oyster, though, you might consider visiting Sperling's Best Places online to rate your city. There Escondido compares well statistically to similar cities like Chula Vista or Murrieta; how does your city compare?

You might also compare a region's economics. The Milken Institute says that the San Diego economy, which was ranked #1 in 2002, has steadily fallen to #72 in the 2007 report. Whereas Ocala, FL, which was rated 117 in 2002 is now rated #1.

Calculate Your Mortgage Payment

In the era before computers, people would frequently come to the library to look for books of loan amortization tables. That's because they were NOT exciting reads, were seldom referred to, and were never owned by ordinary people. So, they are a fabulous example of why people needed libraries.

Now, most people calculate loan payments online or with special software. A good website for that is on Yahoo Finance. Other calculators there allow you to compare various loan terms, or whether it's best for you to pay points in order to qualify for a lower interest rate.

What is a librarian to do without storing and dusting thousands of boring, seldom read books? We get to spend more time helping people and the library's shelves get to hold books that are exciting and seldom sit long enough to need dusting.

San Diego County Fair

Although San Diego County may not be the Agricultural Mecca it once was, there is still a very large and very popular County Fair held every summer in Del Mar. As a master gardener, you can show off your most beautiful flowers in the Paul Ecke Jr. Flower & Garden Show. As a carpenter, you can check out the woodworking exhibits.

Entrance forms are available at the Escondido Public Library in April and the entrance deadlines are usually in the beginning of May.

Correction 4/4/2008 Entrance forms are no longer being sent to public libraries. In order to participate, please click on the logo and then on "Win a Blue Ribbon" to obtain an entry form online.

Landlord's Be Cautious

Landlords should be cautious in deciding to whom to rent their home or apartment. Unscrupulous tenants can easily cost them several thousand dollars in lost rent and legal fees. Even higher amounts if they vandalize the property. Sites like criminalwatchdog.com or youcheckcredit.com provide answers, but at a price. Also, they often require proof of the tenant's consent to do the background checks.

An easier and free way to check how often someone is involved in the San Diego Court system is by performing a Court Index Inquiry. If you search on their name and they are involved as a defendent in a civil case with a number that starts with a U, then they were most likely sued for Unlawful Detainer in an attempt to evict them.

This is by no means fool proof. There are easily over 50 unlawful detainer lawsuits against people with the common name of Jose Garcia. There are more than 100 criminal cases against a Jim or James Jones. Even when a name is uncommon, there is no way of saying, using this index, that your prospective tenant was not evicted outside of San Diego County.

For more security there is always criminalwatchdog.

Gardener's Must Reads

We like to highlight our new books, but frequently our older books are the ones gardeners consider essential. Here are three excellent examples:

Reader's digest practical guide to home landscaping. / Pleasantville, N.Y. : Reader's Digest Association, [1995] - 14th printing
Call #: OVER 712.6 R
Description: 479 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.

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The Ortho home gardener's problem solver / created by the editorial staff of Ortho Books ; editor, Cheryl Smith. - 3rd edition
San Ramon, CA : Solaris Group, c1993.
Call #: OVER 635 O
ISBN: 089721255X
Description: 399 p. : col. ill., col. maps ; 28 cm.

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Sunset new western garden book / by the editors of Sunset books and Sunset magazine. Menlo Park, Calif. : Lane Pub. Co., - 8th Edition
Call #: Over 635 S
ISBN: 0376038853
Description: 1 v. : ill. ; 28 cm.

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