The California Escape Manual: Your Guide to Finding A New Hometown [Paperback]

Mark S. Bacon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1998

The California Escape Manual is a comprehensive guide for urban Californians interested in relocation out of state. It contains a gold mine of ideas, resources, tables, checklists...and entertaining stories from ex-Californians. The author shows readers how to find their perfect hometown by exploring vast sources of free information on destination cities and town. The book is based on interviews with relocation executives, headhunters, Realtors, movers, school district officials, and other experts. The book also includes interviews with families that found happiness outside urban California.

Chapters tell readers how to find a job, how to spruce up their homes for a quick sale, and how to settle into a new community and get along with locals. Other topics include packing and moving, interstate business networking, and helping children adjust to relocation. The book includes:

- Dozens of Web site recommendations - 12 pages of tables (on weather, crime, housing costs, etc.) - 19 pages of resources (directories, magazines, chambers of commerce, state and federal agencies, employment recruiters, etc.) - Check lists for financial planning, networking, home buying, exploring new towns - Profiles of 30 towns (including some hidden gems and overlooked small cities)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Remember Ross Perot's "giant sucking sound"? According to the author, the new sound being heard around the West Coast is a giant clanking sound as the Golden Gate slams shut behind an estimated 500,000 former residents of California who flee the state each year looking for greener pastures elsewhere in the West. Since many of them came to California looking for something better than what they'd left behind, one can only wonder whether they are doomed to be landlocked "Flying Dutchmen" seeking what they consider to be paradise. Bacon, a business writer who moved to Las Vegas from the Orange County area (from one Disneyland to another?), has compiled a smart and sassy guide for those considering escape from earthquakes, mud slides, traffic jams, high prices, droughts, and O.J. This book is hard to pigeonhole; its main focus is relocation, but there are also strong chapters on buying and selling homes, job hunting, Internet searching, and retirement planning. The book will have its greatest impact in California libraries, but surrounding states will also want to grab a copy to prepare for the apparent influx of escaping Californians.?Joseph L. Carlson, Vandenberg AFB Lib., Lompoc, Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Mark S. Bacon is a business writer who relocated to Nevada after living most of his life in urban California. He and his family were so taken by the positive changes brought about by life in a sparsely populated state that Bacon decided to write this book. Bacon is a former newspaper reporter and financial marketing director. He previous books have been selected by four book clubs and translated into four foreign languages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: Archer & Clark Publishing (January 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966000021
• ISBN-13: 978-0966000023
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,850,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out of date stats but still a great book, August 7, 2004

By 

D. Storz "bashful4" (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The California Escape Manual: Your Guide to Finding A New Hometown (Paperback)

This book has cost of living, etc. stats from 1996, but many of the trends still seem accurate when I compare them to the research I have done. I highly recommend this book for someone ready to get out of California. The advice and experiences of the author and others who have relocated are practical and very helpful.