By Kimberly Miller, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.

Nov. 1--First-time home buyers seeking the $8,000 tax credit aren't just racing a Nov. 30 deadline to buy a house, they're also competing with Thanksgiving, traditionally a 3-day work week for financial institutions integral in closing a home deal.

Realtors and lenders say they doubt anyone was thinking of Thanksgiving when the deadline was set earlier this year with the approval of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Nov. 30 is a Monday, meaning paperwork would mostly have to be completed the previous week, which includes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, and the unofficial shopping holiday of "Black Friday."

"Really, the first-time home buyer deadline couldn't have come at a worse time," said Brian Colon, a mortgage loan officer for Bank of America in Boca Raton. "Come Wednesday afternoon, people's mindset is all about leaving early. You know how it is when you have three days off."

It's possible the popular $8,000 credit, which has already benefited 1.4 million people nationally and 106,000 in Florida, will be extended.

There's bi-partisan support in Congress to make it available through next year, and Senators last week agreed to extend it to first-time buyers who close on a home before the end of June.

The proposed legislation would also offer a credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years.

But Realtors, lenders and title companies aren't banking on an extension from Washington.

"National City told me if you want someone to close by the end of the month, have a contract in by Monday (Nov. 2) or it's not going to happen," said Boynton Beach Keller Williams Realtor Yvonne Westerman. "I absolutely know the short month is going to mess things up for a lot of people."

Even during the best of times, home closings would take about 30 days from the time a contract is signed to the key exchange. Now, with short sales and foreclosures, the 30-day rule is more like 45 days or even several months.

"I wouldn't want to be a lending institution or a title company trying to close all these last minute deals with the holiday coming," said Scott Agran, head of Lang Realty in Boca Raton. "It's going to be chaotic beyond chaotic."

Colon said his loan officers are prepared to work late to contend with the holiday.

But so many institutions are involved in finalizing a closing that if one is closed or a lot of employees take off, a deadline could be missed.

"It really has to be a joint effort," Colon added.

Skip McDonough, a broker with Family Mortgage in Jupiter, said he had a closing contract come in recently that was dated Nov. 30.

They rescheduled to Nov. 20 because of Thanksgiving. That was only doable though because the buyer started the process three months ago, McDonough said.

And it's not just Thanksgiving threatening a bottleneck.

The end of the month is traditionally the busiest time for closings. That's when leases expire for renters becoming home owners. It also means lower closing costs because the prepaid interest required on mortgages is less.

"What we've got is a double whammy," McDonough said, referring to the regular end-of-the-month traffic and the tax credit deadline.

Add Thanksgiving, and it's a triple.

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