I'm Officially in Escrow - - Budgeting for The Expiration of the Payroll Tax Cuts

Good news: The second mortgagee, Wells Fargo, consented to the short sale on 11/30/2011. Although the first mortgagee, BofA, has not agreed to extend its consent that expired on 11/25, I'm told that this is common and that it will likely do so later. Once a bank consents to a short sale, it is highly unlikely to refuse an extension, especially when there's a willing buyer. Or so I'm told.

I guess this means we're now officially off to the races. I just paid $315 for an inspection and another $400 for the appraisal. I was hoping to close by the end of the year, but looks like the target closing date is 1/15/2012.

Bad news: Interest rates are inching up right now because the stock market is doing gangbusters for whatever reason. I managed to lock in an interest rate of 3.875% (2.125 discount points) for the next 50 days. Knowing my luck, the rates will subsequently dip. *shrug* I'm okay because I doubt it will go down by much. I'd rather have the peace of mind of knowing what my rates will be for budgeting purposes.

Speaking of budgets, I've estimated that my paycheck will be approximately $95 less per pay period. The reason is two-fold: (1) my out of pocket costs for health/dental/AD&D insurance is going up by about $15/paycheck, and (2) my pay will decrease by $80/paycheck if our moron Congress members fail to come to any consensus regarding the Social Security payroll tax cuts. I will be flabbergasted if Congress makes a decision one way or the other by 12/31/2011.

I personally don't like to see my pay go down approximately $200/month, but I can absorb it. After all, when the payroll tax cut was implemented, I decided to hoard it rather than spend it. I wasn't a very good citizen since I didn't use the tax cuts to stimulate the economy.

Do you think the Social Security payroll tax cut will be extended? If so, are you preparing for this possibility?