JANUARY 9TH, 2019

We are in the 3rd week of the ongoing government shutdown, which could potentially have drastic effects on our industry. This month, federal workers have roughly $438 million in mortgage and rent payments due. The problem: they’re not being paid. In total, nearly 800,000 federal workers are not being paid, even though 420,000 of those are still working. According to an estimate by Zillow, federal workers who own their homes owe about $249 million in mortgage payments this month, and workers who are renting owe $189,000 in rent payments.

Federal workers aren’t the only ones facing challenges: there could be up to 39,000 mortgages in process that are being affected, leaving consumers in a state of “limbo” as they wait to see if their mortgage financing will go through. The FHA is especially feeling the effects as they work with limited staff to try to keep the in-process loan afloat. Unfortunately, reverse mortgage and home improvement loans cannot buy insured by the agency during the shutdown, leading to even more challenges for homeowners.