June foreclosures stats just in… drum roll please..

[hugo]

“The foreclosure problem is getting worse and will stay with us well into the next decade,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said in an interview. “The job market is eroding and homeowners have less equity. Lenders are much less willing to work with you if you’ve got negative equity, and you’re more likely to give up your house if you’re deeply underwater.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abT98mv4UtNI&refer=home

[Coronita]

Regarding biotech companies.

Here’s what my sources have said about this sector. Take it with a grain of salt. I’m no bioengineer, so wouldn’t be able to tell you

1) My sources tell me biotech pay is pretty crappy relative to other engineering professions factoring degree credentials one needs to obtain plus the the risk to reward ratio. Yes, a few biotech employees did well at pharma companies when a drug hit the markets. But it’s often a lengthy process, and sometimes even though the surest thing appears eminent, sh!t happens with approvals.

Case in point Neurocrine. I believe this publically traded company was a high flyer because they were producing and co-licensing one drug with a bigger pharma company (it was either merck or pfizer). At the height, employees were jubilant, the company was swimming in equity, and they even purchased that huge lot in Carmel Valley next to the the police station (across the street from Crest Del Mar) community and built their office there. It seemed like they product was a sure thing. Well, apparently not. The drug ran into snags with FDA, and the bigger pharma company dropped them as a partner, or something like that. Company stock tanks , had to layoff a bunch of people, and more recently had to sell off their building and the land around it and rent it back, I guess to conserve cash.

2)The outsourcing of pharma/biotech is sort of overblown, according to biotech firms hq’d overseas. At a friend’s wedding, I met an Indian gentlemen that owns an biotech/pharma company headquartered in india. In the discussion, he mentioned he was setting up R&D facilities in the states, and curious as i was, I asked him why, considering India must have a huge pool of talent and cost must be cheaper.

His response was that “cheaper” really wasn’t really the case. For one, there is still a lag in skillset according to his observation. Second, with all the bureaucracy surrounding governmental FDA approvals and regulations, he mentioned it was far easier and more cost effective to setup shop in the states versus in india, as an overseas facility/etc require d entirely more complicated steps/processes/procedures/regulation/etc.

3)Third, no matter what else, this doesn’t preclude biotech companies from screwing biotech engineers after a project/research makes it to production. As some of my friends have mentioned..Quite often, biotech companies hire a bunch of biotech engineers to get something through approval/regulations. And right about the time something goes into production, the layoff most of scientists, and repeat this process. I think this is probably the case for this industry, as research and release are more or less seperate processes, unlike say software engineering where sometimes the best way to job security is when a product/service has a bunch of bugs/defects and lacks any documentation that no one else knows how to manage and fix (did I say that?)

How this relates to housing in CV? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say all residence here are biotech workers ,and hence a layoff in one are or another I think wouldn’t in itself have *that* much of an impact. For instance, there’s plenty of attorneys and firms that bill out at $400+/hr and other professions that reside in CV.

Now, have a big recession, which impacts just about everyone, that’s a different story.

[Coronita]

Regarding biotech companies.

Here’s what my sources have said about this sector. Take it with a grain of salt. I’m no bioengineer, so wouldn’t be able to tell you

1) My sources tell me biotech pay is pretty crappy relative to other engineering professions factoring degree credentials one needs to obtain plus the the risk to reward ratio. Yes, a few biotech employees did well at pharma companies when a drug hit the markets. But it’s often a lengthy process, and sometimes even though the surest thing appears eminent, sh!t happens with approvals.

Case in point Neurocrine. I believe this publically traded company was a high flyer because they were producing and co-licensing one drug with a bigger pharma company (it was either merck or pfizer). At the height, employees were jubilant, the company was swimming in equity, and they even purchased that huge lot in Carmel Valley next to the the police station (across the street from Crest Del Mar) community and built their office there. It seemed like they product was a sure thing. Well, apparently not. The drug ran into snags with FDA, and the bigger pharma company dropped them as a partner, or something like that. Company stock tanks , had to layoff a bunch of people, and more recently had to sell off their building and the land around it and rent it back, I guess to conserve cash.

2)The outsourcing of pharma/biotech is sort of overblown, according to biotech firms hq’d overseas. At a friend’s wedding, I met an Indian gentlemen that owns an biotech/pharma company headquartered in india. In the discussion, he mentioned he was setting up R&D facilities in the states, and curious as i was, I asked him why, considering India must have a huge pool of talent and cost must be cheaper.

His response was that “cheaper” really wasn’t really the case. For one, there is still a lag in skillset according to his observation. Second, with all the bureaucracy surrounding governmental FDA approvals and regulations, he mentioned it was far easier and more cost effective to setup shop in the states versus in india, as an overseas facility/etc require d entirely more complicated steps/processes/procedures/regulation/etc.

3)Third, no matter what else, this doesn’t preclude biotech companies from screwing biotech engineers after a project/research makes it to production. As some of my friends have mentioned..Quite often, biotech companies hire a bunch of biotech engineers to get something through approval/regulations. And right about the time something goes into production, the layoff most of scientists, and repeat this process. I think this is probably the case for this industry, as research and release are more or less seperate processes, unlike say software engineering where sometimes the best way to job security is when a product/service has a bunch of bugs/defects and lacks any documentation that no one else knows how to manage and fix (did I say that?)

How this relates to housing in CV? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say all residence here are biotech workers ,and hence a layoff in one are or another I think wouldn’t in itself have *that* much of an impact. For instance, there’s plenty of attorneys and firms that bill out at $400+/hr and other professions that reside in CV.

Now, have a big recession, which impacts just about everyone, that’s a different story.

[Coronita]

Regarding biotech companies.

Here’s what my sources have said about this sector. Take it with a grain of salt. I’m no bioengineer, so wouldn’t be able to tell you

1) My sources tell me biotech pay is pretty crappy relative to other engineering professions factoring degree credentials one needs to obtain plus the the risk to reward ratio. Yes, a few biotech employees did well at pharma companies when a drug hit the markets. But it’s often a lengthy process, and sometimes even though the surest thing appears eminent, sh!t happens with approvals.

Case in point Neurocrine. I believe this publically traded company was a high flyer because they were producing and co-licensing one drug with a bigger pharma company (it was either merck or pfizer). At the height, employees were jubilant, the company was swimming in equity, and they even purchased that huge lot in Carmel Valley next to the the police station (across the street from Crest Del Mar) community and built their office there. It seemed like they product was a sure thing. Well, apparently not. The drug ran into snags with FDA, and the bigger pharma company dropped them as a partner, or something like that. Company stock tanks , had to layoff a bunch of people, and more recently had to sell off their building and the land around it and rent it back, I guess to conserve cash.

2)The outsourcing of pharma/biotech is sort of overblown, according to biotech firms hq’d overseas. At a friend’s wedding, I met an Indian gentlemen that owns an biotech/pharma company headquartered in india. In the discussion, he mentioned he was setting up R&D facilities in the states, and curious as i was, I asked him why, considering India must have a huge pool of talent and cost must be cheaper.

His response was that “cheaper” really wasn’t really the case. For one, there is still a lag in skillset according to his observation. Second, with all the bureaucracy surrounding governmental FDA approvals and regulations, he mentioned it was far easier and more cost effective to setup shop in the states versus in india, as an overseas facility/etc require d entirely more complicated steps/processes/procedures/regulation/etc.

3)Third, no matter what else, this doesn’t preclude biotech companies from screwing biotech engineers after a project/research makes it to production. As some of my friends have mentioned..Quite often, biotech companies hire a bunch of biotech engineers to get something through approval/regulations. And right about the time something goes into production, the layoff most of scientists, and repeat this process. I think this is probably the case for this industry, as research and release are more or less seperate processes, unlike say software engineering where sometimes the best way to job security is when a product/service has a bunch of bugs/defects and lacks any documentation that no one else knows how to manage and fix (did I say that?)

How this relates to housing in CV? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say all residence here are biotech workers ,and hence a layoff in one are or another I think wouldn’t in itself have *that* much of an impact. For instance, there’s plenty of attorneys and firms that bill out at $400+/hr and other professions that reside in CV.

Now, have a big recession, which impacts just about everyone, that’s a different story.

[Coronita]

Regarding biotech companies.

Here’s what my sources have said about this sector. Take it with a grain of salt. I’m no bioengineer, so wouldn’t be able to tell you

1) My sources tell me biotech pay is pretty crappy relative to other engineering professions factoring degree credentials one needs to obtain plus the the risk to reward ratio. Yes, a few biotech employees did well at pharma companies when a drug hit the markets. But it’s often a lengthy process, and sometimes even though the surest thing appears eminent, sh!t happens with approvals.

Case in point Neurocrine. I believe this publically traded company was a high flyer because they were producing and co-licensing one drug with a bigger pharma company (it was either merck or pfizer). At the height, employees were jubilant, the company was swimming in equity, and they even purchased that huge lot in Carmel Valley next to the the police station (across the street from Crest Del Mar) community and built their office there. It seemed like they product was a sure thing. Well, apparently not. The drug ran into snags with FDA, and the bigger pharma company dropped them as a partner, or something like that. Company stock tanks , had to layoff a bunch of people, and more recently had to sell off their building and the land around it and rent it back, I guess to conserve cash.

2)The outsourcing of pharma/biotech is sort of overblown, according to biotech firms hq’d overseas. At a friend’s wedding, I met an Indian gentlemen that owns an biotech/pharma company headquartered in india. In the discussion, he mentioned he was setting up R&D facilities in the states, and curious as i was, I asked him why, considering India must have a huge pool of talent and cost must be cheaper.

His response was that “cheaper” really wasn’t really the case. For one, there is still a lag in skillset according to his observation. Second, with all the bureaucracy surrounding governmental FDA approvals and regulations, he mentioned it was far easier and more cost effective to setup shop in the states versus in india, as an overseas facility/etc require d entirely more complicated steps/processes/procedures/regulation/etc.

3)Third, no matter what else, this doesn’t preclude biotech companies from screwing biotech engineers after a project/research makes it to production. As some of my friends have mentioned..Quite often, biotech companies hire a bunch of biotech engineers to get something through approval/regulations. And right about the time something goes into production, the layoff most of scientists, and repeat this process. I think this is probably the case for this industry, as research and release are more or less seperate processes, unlike say software engineering where sometimes the best way to job security is when a product/service has a bunch of bugs/defects and lacks any documentation that no one else knows how to manage and fix (did I say that?)

How this relates to housing in CV? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say all residence here are biotech workers ,and hence a layoff in one are or another I think wouldn’t in itself have *that* much of an impact. For instance, there’s plenty of attorneys and firms that bill out at $400+/hr and other professions that reside in CV.

Now, have a big recession, which impacts just about everyone, that’s a different story.

[Coronita]

Regarding biotech companies.

Here’s what my sources have said about this sector. Take it with a grain of salt. I’m no bioengineer, so wouldn’t be able to tell you

1) My sources tell me biotech pay is pretty crappy relative to other engineering professions factoring degree credentials one needs to obtain plus the the risk to reward ratio. Yes, a few biotech employees did well at pharma companies when a drug hit the markets. But it’s often a lengthy process, and sometimes even though the surest thing appears eminent, sh!t happens with approvals.

Case in point Neurocrine. I believe this publically traded company was a high flyer because they were producing and co-licensing one drug with a bigger pharma company (it was either merck or pfizer). At the height, employees were jubilant, the company was swimming in equity, and they even purchased that huge lot in Carmel Valley next to the the police station (across the street from Crest Del Mar) community and built their office there. It seemed like they product was a sure thing. Well, apparently not. The drug ran into snags with FDA, and the bigger pharma company dropped them as a partner, or something like that. Company stock tanks , had to layoff a bunch of people, and more recently had to sell off their building and the land around it and rent it back, I guess to conserve cash.

2)The outsourcing of pharma/biotech is sort of overblown, according to biotech firms hq’d overseas. At a friend’s wedding, I met an Indian gentlemen that owns an biotech/pharma company headquartered in india. In the discussion, he mentioned he was setting up R&D facilities in the states, and curious as i was, I asked him why, considering India must have a huge pool of talent and cost must be cheaper.

His response was that “cheaper” really wasn’t really the case. For one, there is still a lag in skillset according to his observation. Second, with all the bureaucracy surrounding governmental FDA approvals and regulations, he mentioned it was far easier and more cost effective to setup shop in the states versus in india, as an overseas facility/etc require d entirely more complicated steps/processes/procedures/regulation/etc.

3)Third, no matter what else, this doesn’t preclude biotech companies from screwing biotech engineers after a project/research makes it to production. As some of my friends have mentioned..Quite often, biotech companies hire a bunch of biotech engineers to get something through approval/regulations. And right about the time something goes into production, the layoff most of scientists, and repeat this process. I think this is probably the case for this industry, as research and release are more or less seperate processes, unlike say software engineering where sometimes the best way to job security is when a product/service has a bunch of bugs/defects and lacks any documentation that no one else knows how to manage and fix (did I say that?)

How this relates to housing in CV? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say all residence here are biotech workers ,and hence a layoff in one are or another I think wouldn’t in itself have *that* much of an impact. For instance, there’s plenty of attorneys and firms that bill out at $400+/hr and other professions that reside in CV.

Now, have a big recession, which impacts just about everyone, that’s a different story.

[capeman]

From my experience you’ve pretty much nailed the biotech argument on the head.

Biotech doesn’t pay as well as high tech due to the massive amount of overhead involved in getting products out. Everything from cogs to research and equipment is very expensive and clinical/regulatory work adds exponentials to the cost. Wages are getting better over time but for dollars-technical skills ratios high-tech is much better. As for outsourcing R&D there are cultural/skillset issues that offset the benefit in cost reduction and time. It’s not very cost/time effective for cutting edge R&D. Generics development is very effective overseas.

Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch!

[capeman]

From my experience you’ve pretty much nailed the biotech argument on the head.

Biotech doesn’t pay as well as high tech due to the massive amount of overhead involved in getting products out. Everything from cogs to research and equipment is very expensive and clinical/regulatory work adds exponentials to the cost. Wages are getting better over time but for dollars-technical skills ratios high-tech is much better. As for outsourcing R&D there are cultural/skillset issues that offset the benefit in cost reduction and time. It’s not very cost/time effective for cutting edge R&D. Generics development is very effective overseas.

Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch!

[capeman]

From my experience you’ve pretty much nailed the biotech argument on the head.

Biotech doesn’t pay as well as high tech due to the massive amount of overhead involved in getting products out. Everything from cogs to research and equipment is very expensive and clinical/regulatory work adds exponentials to the cost. Wages are getting better over time but for dollars-technical skills ratios high-tech is much better. As for outsourcing R&D there are cultural/skillset issues that offset the benefit in cost reduction and time. It’s not very cost/time effective for cutting edge R&D. Generics development is very effective overseas.

Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch!

[capeman]

From my experience you’ve pretty much nailed the biotech argument on the head.

Biotech doesn’t pay as well as high tech due to the massive amount of overhead involved in getting products out. Everything from cogs to research and equipment is very expensive and clinical/regulatory work adds exponentials to the cost. Wages are getting better over time but for dollars-technical skills ratios high-tech is much better. As for outsourcing R&D there are cultural/skillset issues that offset the benefit in cost reduction and time. It’s not very cost/time effective for cutting edge R&D. Generics development is very effective overseas.

Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch!

[capeman]

From my experience you’ve pretty much nailed the biotech argument on the head.

Biotech doesn’t pay as well as high tech due to the massive amount of overhead involved in getting products out. Everything from cogs to research and equipment is very expensive and clinical/regulatory work adds exponentials to the cost. Wages are getting better over time but for dollars-technical skills ratios high-tech is much better. As for outsourcing R&D there are cultural/skillset issues that offset the benefit in cost reduction and time. It’s not very cost/time effective for cutting edge R&D. Generics development is very effective overseas.

Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch!

[Coronita]

[quote]Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch![/quote]

I don’t dispute this. I just don’t subscribe to the argument that “profession x” is going to have problem and hence since “profession x” is a “major” profession for CV residence (or any area for that matter), CV will decline because of “profession x”.
First, rarely “profession x” has a sustained problem. Biotech companies, like any other tech company come and go. Some fail some start up some fail again some start up. It’s how the process works. No different from your average tech company in that regards.

Second, this isn’t BayArea, we don’t have a predominantly dominant enginerd herd here in san diego. It’s probably pretty diverse in what people do. While this sucks from a job selection for particular types of enginerds, overall for the SD economy diversity is a good thing, because it does provide some level of insulation from a disaster in one profession at a point in time. The problem, again, is the economy being in the sh!t can is/will impact everyone.

What I have *heard* from recent sources is that there is some VC money is coming to town for startups. I have not yet confirmed this, but this is from a deemed reliable source.

[Coronita]

[quote]Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch![/quote]

I don’t dispute this. I just don’t subscribe to the argument that “profession x” is going to have problem and hence since “profession x” is a “major” profession for CV residence (or any area for that matter), CV will decline because of “profession x”.
First, rarely “profession x” has a sustained problem. Biotech companies, like any other tech company come and go. Some fail some start up some fail again some start up. It’s how the process works. No different from your average tech company in that regards.

Second, this isn’t BayArea, we don’t have a predominantly dominant enginerd herd here in san diego. It’s probably pretty diverse in what people do. While this sucks from a job selection for particular types of enginerds, overall for the SD economy diversity is a good thing, because it does provide some level of insulation from a disaster in one profession at a point in time. The problem, again, is the economy being in the sh!t can is/will impact everyone.

What I have *heard* from recent sources is that there is some VC money is coming to town for startups. I have not yet confirmed this, but this is from a deemed reliable source.

[Coronita]

[quote]Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch![/quote]

I don’t dispute this. I just don’t subscribe to the argument that “profession x” is going to have problem and hence since “profession x” is a “major” profession for CV residence (or any area for that matter), CV will decline because of “profession x”.
First, rarely “profession x” has a sustained problem. Biotech companies, like any other tech company come and go. Some fail some start up some fail again some start up. It’s how the process works. No different from your average tech company in that regards.

Second, this isn’t BayArea, we don’t have a predominantly dominant enginerd herd here in san diego. It’s probably pretty diverse in what people do. While this sucks from a job selection for particular types of enginerds, overall for the SD economy diversity is a good thing, because it does provide some level of insulation from a disaster in one profession at a point in time. The problem, again, is the economy being in the sh!t can is/will impact everyone.

What I have *heard* from recent sources is that there is some VC money is coming to town for startups. I have not yet confirmed this, but this is from a deemed reliable source.

[Coronita]

[quote]Now back to the foreclosure topic, at almost 4X the foreclosure rate of the peak in the 90’s and not letting up, I’d say we’re still in for some serious price declines still. That would be additive to SD’s mention of rate increases and unemployment. With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being claimed insolvent publicly and the chance of them going down we could see rates go to the moon in the near term as the Gov’t attempts to backstop and bailout. Ouch![/quote]

I don’t dispute this. I just don’t subscribe to the argument that “profession x” is going to have problem and hence since “profession x” is a “major” profession for CV residence (or any area for that matter), CV will decline because of “profession x”.
First, rarely “profession x” has a sustained problem. Biotech companies, like any other tech company come and go. Some fail some start up some fail again some start up. It’s how the process works. No different from your average tech company in that regards.

Second, this isn’t BayArea, we don’t have a predominantly dominant enginerd herd here in san diego. It’s probably pretty diverse in what people do. While this sucks from a job selection for particular types of enginerds, overall for the SD economy diversity is a good thing, because it does provide some level of insulation from a disaster in one profession at a point in time. The problem, again, is the economy being in the sh!t can is/will impact everyone.

What I have *heard* from recent sources is that there is some VC money is coming to town for startups. I have not yet confirmed this, but this is from a deemed reliable source.

[Author]

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