FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A cyberattack against Fulton County has caused a number of services to be knocked offline, including one service impacting home sales across the county.
Julian Rather, who is an Associate Broker at Engel & Völkers, said due to the cyberattack, he was informed by his closing attorney that they couldn't run the title, which means he can't sell his house by the deadline of the contract.
Rather said his Glenwood Park townhome went under contract ten days ago, and he and his buyers were hoping for a quick sale.
"It's supposed to close this Friday," Rather said.
That was until Fulton County confirmed their systems were compromised. The cyberattack crippled many of their services some remain offline today. Not being able to pull titles is a crucial service when it comes to buying and selling homes in Fulton County.
"No one is going to buy a property, whether it's cash or using a mortgage without knowing you have a clear title on it," Rather said.
While it's not an issue with the sale of his home, he said if the issue continues, it could potentially cost the buyer.
"Yes, you would definitely be, you know having exposure for losing your rate because the bank isn't going to care that you couldn't get the title," he said.
Rather said it could go beyond just the buyers and sellers impacted; as a realtor himself, they're paying close attention.
"We are, by the way, heading into what all signs are indicating to be a very strong Spring market," Rather said, adding if titles continue to be held up, "It's going to be a huge inconvenience."
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Rather said as of Monday night, he's not been able to get any update on a timeframe.
"The contracts weren't written with this, you know, anticipating this possibility. Normally, the most time-sensitive thing we're concerned about is the timeframe for a lender to approve a loan, you know, a financing contingency, an appraisal contingency," Rather said.
He pointed out, "You know, those could be 14 days, 21 days, but you wouldn't write a title contingency, you know, on the amount of time to get your title policy, because that's normally something that's been done very, very quickly by the closing attorneys."
Rather, also pointed out, in some states, this wouldn't be an issue.
"If this was happening in New York, it wouldn't be as big an issue contractually because they are, you know, an on-or-about the state. We are a time of the essence state," he said. "If a contract has 'X' amount of days in it, you know, at midnight on that on that day, you know, people are out of contract and have liability. There isn't a fudge time built into the contracts for something like this."