No house - yet

I was hoping to celebrate my late brother's birthday today by closing escrow on the house that I'm trying to buy. But no such luck. Thanks to all the mortgage mess, it takes much longer than it used to; on the recommendation of my friend Stephanie, I asked for a 45-day escrow period (30 days used to be the norm). My agent Bernard and I did the final walk-through during a lull in the rain on Tuesday afternoon, and he mentioned that Stephanie had asked him to get us a five-day extension as she was still waiting for the lender to give her the okay to order the closing documents. So maybe next week . . . ?