"I love my bank." That's said about as often as, "I hope I get the Swine Flu," and with good reason.

Four or five years ago, when the sky fell in the world of mortgage lending, banks understandably slashed their workforce. Now that rates are crazy low and demand for new mortgages and refinanced loans is crazy high, lenders aren't staffing up to handle the demand. With fewer employees and lower costs, banks are now making more than twice the usual margin on their loans. That makes them and their shareholders happy, but what does that mean for the rest of us?

That means hurry up and wait. Whereas the standard for closing a home purchase used to be 30 days, it's now 45 days, at least. Refi's can take even longer. So adjust your expectations if you're getting ready to buy a house or refinance. It's still a historically great time to do so, it's just going to take you a bit longer to get it done.

And don't think twice about taking an extra Dum Dum the next time you're at the bank. 

For more details, read: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/19/14563232-banks-responding-too-slowly-to-mortgage-demand?lite