What are the main ways in which the shutdown could slow housing?

First, the shutdown means that hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed. Lenders are unlikely to approve loans for borrowers who are furloughed unless they can qualify for the loan without their government salary.

Second, the shutdown (and the more recent brinksmanship over the debt ceiling) could undermine consumer confidence, hurting housing demand. Of course, this aspect of the shutdown will be harder to quantify and it won't be decipherable from official housing statistics for several weeks.

Third, mortgage processing is more difficult for some loans. Lenders generally require borrowers to sign a form processed by the Internal Revenue Service so that they can verify incomes. The IRS isn't currently processing those forms, which means lenders have to decide whether they're willing to process loans without them.

Concerns over form-related issues appear to have been overblown because many mortgage investors have temporarily suspended the need for such forms, said Alex Stenback, a mortgage banker with Alerus Mortgage in Minnetonka, Minn.

"Most of the loans that are closing next week, they would have already had that information in," said Paul Abreu, a lawyer who handles real estate closings in Norton, Mass. He has five loans that are closing next week, none of which have been delayed by the shutdown, while purchase-and-sale agreements that are under review this week won't close until November.

The Federal Housing Administration is still insuring mortgages, though it is operating with a reduced staff, which means loans that need extra attention may be delayed until the government reopens. The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, isn't approving loans for its rural lending program, which means loans that didn't close before Oct. 1 are on ice until the government reopens. While overall mortgage applications were up last week from the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, applications for government-backed loans declined.

"There's a ripple effect," said Mr. Stenback. "The longer this drags on, you'll start to see more and more anecdotal stories about closings that haven't happened. But those are second- and third-order effects in many cases."

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After being scanned many Registries return the document immediately to the person who records the document and other Registries will mail the original back to the return address on the document.  Most Registries also do electronic recording now, so the original document is just scanned and filed electronically with the Registry.

So the original deed can be obtained from the office that recorded the deed for you (usually the closing attorney's office) or the Registry will mail it to you directly.  However, do not panic if you do not have the original deed, it is not like the title to a car.  You do not need the original deed when you go to sell your property.  A copy of your deed is a permanent record at the Registry of Deeds, you can always get a copy there if you need one.  You can either go directly to the Registry of Deeds and the personnel can help you make a copy or you can go to their website.

To find land records in Massachusetts go to www.masslandrecords.com  this is a website managed by the Secretary of State's office.  Once there just click on your county and it will bring you to a search page.  Type in your last name and first name and you will see all the records that have been recorded in your name.  Click on any document and you can view that document or print it out.  There is an "Advanced" tab if you have a common name so you can narrow the search by town and dates, because the results can bring up many documents making it difficult to find the one you are looking for. 

If you cannot find anything under your name then your property may be what is called "Registered Land".  At the top of the search page go to "Search Criteria" and then click on "Registered Land - Name Search".

You should be aware there are companies that will try to scam you by sending you an official looking letter stating you need a copy of your deed and they will send it to you for the "reasonable" fee of up to $100!  As you see above it is very easy to get a copy yourself, if you went to the Registry it would only cost a $1 a page for a copy of your deed.  So you can see what a scam it is.