I don’t think I have ever had a week long period of time in my career when I received as many calls as I have in the last week. Nearly every client I am currently working with has called me with some horror story they heard on the news about a customer losing a contract on a house because of the shutdown. And about half of my clients who have closed on a mortgage in the last 6 months have called me with similar stories and fears.

With each one of them, I explain exactly what impact the government shutdown will and will not have on them. Fortunately for about 90% of them, the impact is virtually nothing. For those who are affected, it is nothing more than a delay in processing. And while a delay in financing can certainly be upsetting, I’ve yet to hear of a seller pulling out of a deal because the government shutdown is causing delays.

The reason for any delays right now is that we need to verify certain information with the government, and we can’t while the people we would normally talk to are on furlough. The most common holdups are verification of tax returns and verification of social security numbers. So if your loan is past that point, you have nothing to worry about. And if your loan does not require these verifications, or if you have a good loan file, there are some banks which will waive these requirements.

The only other major delay is for actual government employees. For the most part, we can still process a loan for furloughed government employees as if they were normally employed. But if we have not yet verified their employment, it can be difficult to do that right now.

But I can assure you, loans are still getting approved and people are still buying houses. Just today, I had closings for houses in Farmington Hills, Southfield, Ferndale, and Livonia.

If you have any other questions about how the government shutdown will affect your mortgage, please contact me. And if you have anything to add about the effects of the shutdown, please leave a comment.