What, you're closing on your new home this Christmas? How wonderful! How charming! How stressful! This time of year always runs fast, but because Christmas falls on a Thursday, that fact alone can cause a few wrinkles. Wasn't it just yesterday you were driving to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving? Welcome to the fastest six weeks in the mortgage business.

If you just signed a contract on a house and expect to move in by the end of the year, you might take heed of a few calendar facts that only line up like this every few years or so. And it's not just Christmas, as Hanukkah began last Friday and runs through the Christmas holiday. And since Christmas is on a Thursday this year, it wreaks a little extra havoc on employee vacations. In the mortgage business, that means fewer people working on your loan.

It started last month, the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving was on the last Thursday of the month, and even though the next day was not an official holiday, you probably noticed that more people seemed to be off of work than on. Not only that, many people left work just a little early on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Still others took the entire week off and went on vacation. As far as the mortgage business getting a whole lot of work done that week, well, let's just say it's not the most productive five days in the business.

The next week was the first week of December, which consisted of making up a lot of the work that was missed due to Thanksgiving holidays the previous week. Now we have a little break. And now you need to make sure your lender is working on your loan during the day and not taking a shopping break at the mall. Christmas Eve falls on a Wednesday. Many will be leaving early that day or taking the day off entirely. Everyone will be closed on Thursday and will reopen on Friday. But you can bet that the Friday after Christmas will be running with a skeleton crew.

What about next week? New Year's Eve is on a Wednesday. Take that for what it's worth, but you know there will also be a few people who will take a vacation day on the very last day of the year.

Plus, everybody's got the flu, right?

You see where this is leading. You need to be on top of your loan application as much as possible. Don't let anything slip. Be a pest to your lender; your title company; your attorney. The last two weeks of the year have effectively just four business days to work on your closing. Yeah, I know everyone knows that. But time does indeed fly at this time of year. Don't let the end of the year control you. Be the boss. Close on time.

Published: December 22, 2003

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