James and Kathleen,  Did you know 255 mortgage companies have closed since 2006?  That means there are a lot fewer companies doing about the same numbers of loans.  With housing markets slumping and sales of homes in some areas lower, these lenders are not willing to hire additional staff until they hjave numbers to support the need.  So, it looks like for the time being the over burdened underwriters are not getting any help until home sales increase to support it.  I know a rhetorical cycle.

Hi Jimmy!  My husband James was told by some of the mortgage professionals we work with that a lot of the people working with govenement loans were laid off or let go so there are about 50-60% of them still working and they are doing 100% of the underwriting.  It makes sense: you cut jobs, you create a slower pace of getting things done.  The same thing would happen to top agents that do high volumes and have an assitant or team working for them. If they decide that because the market has slowed down or prices have come down so they can't make as much money they are going to lay off some of their team players, they will be causing their own volume of work to increase for the same or maybe less profit.  Eventually their services will not be as good as they once were due to being overloaded and there will be delays in their response times to clients and to leads that they are having to handle on their own because they are not willing to keep on board an assitant.  The economy is bad, but I think that there are ways to find good people to do the jobs needed or ways for these underwriters to get these loans written on time.  I am still waiting on deals that were supposed to close on February 15th to close due to underwriting and loan tie ups. 

This is why choosing the right lender for your transaction is imperative.  I also use a major lend who gaurantees an on close date.