Well, no matter which side of the isle you are on, the government shutdown could affect you. As far as Real Estate transactions go.... this is a big deal.
President Obama said specifically that "Federal loans for rural communities, small business owners, families buying a home will be frozen,"
Yesterday, I went into each of the loan products and what the impact would be. Well, if you aren't already in process, there will be significant delays regardless of the loan product.
Mortgage companies use a system to verify SSN's and another system to verify tax returns/income. These systems are obviously run by the IRS. And, these systems are currently shut down.
Until the government is started back up, cash offers should carry even more weight than normal.