First American Title was hacked last week (most likely on the 21-22) and as a result, many many houses due to close are now locked in purgatory as the company has turned off all of their computer access in order to deal with the hack.

Which I get.

But... this is the SECOND time it's been hacked, and it's joining many, many title companies who've been hacked in the last 18 months or so.

My daughter and her husband just bought their new house, and signed all the papers with First American on Thursday. Monday transferred, etc. Then the systems went down. The sale transaction is marked as complete but there is no way to move the money from whatever escrow account it's sitting in to the sellers. Until the sellers get their money, my daughter and s-i-l can't take possession.

And of course they were planning on moving in last weekend, so their house is fully packed up. They both took vacation time in order to be able to do some minor touch-ups, painting, have scheduled a mattress delivery (which had to be cancelled), and of course the actual move itself.

They are now looking at having to take unpaid time off in order to move, which as first time homebuyers, is costly. They have a nest egg after the down payment and closing costs, but if they need to lose a week or more of pay that will hit them hard.

The title company says it will reimburse moving expenses that were scheduled and had to be cancelled, rescheduled, etc., with receipts. But in this case they had hoped to save some money by doing things themselves and now may have to hire it all to be done while they're at work.

Fingers crossed that the title company figures their carp out fast, and agrees to pay them the cost of a local move.

Blergh. Sooooo annoying.

In the meantime there has been ZERO updates from the title company (national) since Dec. 22. I'm so bummed for my daughter and husband! This is not how you want to remember your first home buying experience.

Hacked in 2019 and again in 2023.
They should enough from paying damages to shrink the company.

This is the sort of thing that makes me angry.

Ugh. What a mess.

Nina, I am so so sorry to hear this! It sounds like an absolute nightmare!

And the money details — having to take unpaid leave, esp. unplanned, is awful.

Best of luck to them! Let us know how it goes!

Oh wow.

First National has suggested that they move things to another company, but the bank can't figure out how to do it.

Hopefully they'll get it sorted. Potential pony in the room of you-know-what is that if they have to redo everything the bank (also mortgage holder) has agreed to lower their rates.

It's soooo frustrating! They currently have a giant (new) king mattress in their living room, which had been slated for delivery to their new abode.

Nina, how are things going? I hope there’s some resolution in sight!

The bank finally figured out how to move the entire thing to a new title company, so they got their keys exactly one week ago! They are sooo excited and have spent all of their time moving stuff from old to new, painting, and selling things on the FB marketplace.

I'm excited for them and simultaneously thrilled that it isn't me having to move (channeling Jodi )

Thanks for asking!

Whew, glad to hear it! So hopefully they didn’t end up having to take unpaid time off?

Moving is stressful enough as it is, without having to worry about this kind of thing!

No unpaid time off, but instead of having multiple full days, they are now moving at night and on weekends--an annoyance but not impossible. Fortunately their landlord (me LOL ) is giving them some flexibility on actual move-out dates.

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they are now moving at night and on weekends--an annoyance but not impossible

Ugh. It's good they didn't have to take unpaid time off, but the whole thing has just been a mess hasn't it! I'm sure everyone will be relieved when it's all finished!

I'm glad it had a fast resolution.

I think the explosion of class action suits may have had something to do with it.

As an armchair attorney, I do wonder about the legality of things. In my kid's case, all contracts were signed, all money transferred into the various escrow accounts, etc., etc., and the title company just stopped everything. So the seller and buyer had completed their portion of the contract, but the title company didn't complete theirs.

As an aside, my kid and husband were inconvenienced. I think the seller really got hammered, as they were needing the income from the close in order to close on their new place. Ugh. We've had home sales that were tight (close one the house we sold and then close on the house we bought on the next day) and that was hard enough....

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the seller really got hammered, as they were needing the income from the close in order to close on their new place

Oh that must have been awful!! Were they ultimately able to close?

Yes, the entire deal closes at the same time.