In-home daycares are pretty uncommon, here. None of the moms I know use them, their kids all go to either something like tutor-time, another daycare center, or stay with family.
In fact, I've never even seen an in-home daycare here where the owner spoke fluent english...it seems to only be a popular option with the spanish-speaking community.
There have been a number of horror stories happening in in-home day cares in this area...sexual abuse, shaken-baby syndrome, kids choking to death, etc....and these people were licensed with no criminal records and good references. I don't know if that has anything to do with their lack of popularity.