What We're Hearing

So, how's the jumbo and "super jumbo" market holding up these days? Here's some intelligence from one industry veteran: "In many long time expensive housing markets like Palm Beach, Beverly Hills and Greenwich (Conn.), values are off as much as 50% from their highs, and are still in a free fall as a direct result of no liquidity for this sector of the housing market." He notes that banks are no longer friendly to non-resident aliens, and that foreign buyers "better have all cash." He cautions that "As long as rates remain low we may avoid anarchy in the streets of the super jumbo housing market. If rates move up, all of the pay options and hybrid ARMs are going to explode." In case you're wondering some of the biggest POA holders include: Wells Fargo, which inherited Wachovia's portfolio, which orginally came from Herb and Marion Sandler's World Savings. It also means JPMorgan Chase should worry about Washington Mutual's portfolio, and Bank of America needs to think carefully about Countrywide's POAs…