What is the maximum conforming residential loan amount in California?

Answer 1

417,000$

Answer 2

Conforming is set at $417000 for 2006. However there are plenty of ways to get higher loan amounts without getting slammed with a super high interest rate. Lenders want to fund loans so they have come up with ways to stretch the boundaries of amounts they can lend.
Some markets such as CA have homes that are way in excess of the conforming limit therefore lenders have designed programs to accomodate them.
Hope this helps. If you need any more help just let me know - I am in the lending industy but am independent and all advice is free :)