MCALLEN – The federal government shutdown created unintended consequences for homebuyers in the Rio Grande Valley and across the nation.

"Most people don't feel connected to the federal government, but we're all connected,” a local realtor says.

Mark Hanna tells CHANNEL 5 NEWS he spent the last three days of the government deadlock connecting the dots for prospective homebuyers. He says together they were running into obstacles.

"With the government being shut down, if people need to request copies, your tax transcripts – your W-2 transcripts, there's going to be a major delay," he says.

He says that could mean losing out on a home.

"What happens there is sellers won't wait for the government to get their things together. If there's a cash buyer or someone that has funds available, that person that was getting a loan may not be able to purchase the home in the long run,” he explains.

Johnny Arguelles, a lender at Academy Mortgage, says they anxiously watched the proceedings in Washington, D.C. While they powered up their computers to file home loans, the IRS was shut down.

"We order what's called a 4506-T and that has to match up to whatever the W-2 the borrower provides us," Arguelles says. “So, when the government shuts down that can be a problem because we may not be able to get those back in a timely manner.”

Arguelles says they also couldn't verify Social Security information on Monday. He added it's steps that the staff at Academy Mortgage say lenders can skip temporarily.

However, they say it does lead to everyone waiting on an expected bottleneck of requests at the government level.

"There may be small delays in the loan process for some people. It depends on the type of loan," says Arguelles. “Certain loans require more information.”

It's something both men say will happen again, each time the government turns off the lights.

"The federal government, it doesn't deal with only certain political party constituents. It serves everyone,” Hanna says. “We need this government up and running. That's why people pay their taxes on time.”