Washington Mutual was a good sized player in the subprime markets. They also have been very active in piggyback loans or second mortgages. The news out tonight is that they are shutting down many offices and laying off thousands.
What I wonder about is earlier in 2007, we, as agents, heard that banks were staffing up their “Loss Mitigation” departments in order to be able to deal with all the foreclosures, delinquencies and short sales. But I wonder, given the massive layoffs already announced in the banking sector, will it be even more difficult now to get through to a banker to discuss a short sale or get a decision on a foreclosure? Only time will tell.