Tiger Woods' new $54 million commitment -- to his mortgage

Many have speculated that Tiger Woods has a tough time keeping his commitments. But someone seems to think his word is worth something -- his banker.

Today, reports surfaced that Woods signed on to a $54 million mortgage on his in-progress Jupiter Island, Florida mansion/compound. Reportedly, Woods is listed on the real estate documents as a single man, which means the home loan must have closed within the last week, as his divorce was just finalized on August 23.

Speculation abounds, as typical with all things Tiger, that the new mortgage may indicate a cash flow crisis. From a real estate perspective, though, it may simply be an astute business move to finance the home and its completion, while mortgage money is so cheap, rather than to make that size of cash outlay while, ahem, so much other cash is exiting Tiger's treasure chest.

The average American home buyer might wonder what it takes to get a $54 million loan, when it seems like a struggle for so many to qualify for loans a fraction of that size. You might have heard of a jumbo loan: loans above $417,000 are currently designated as beyond the conforming loan limit, which earns them the title of jumbo loan and the dubious distinction of slightly higher interest rates. When loans get above $1-$1.5 million, though, they fall into the category of Super-Jumbo Loans.