How to Fill Out and Sign a Georgia Real Estate Purchase Agreement

A Georgia real estate purchase agreement is a written contract between a buyer and seller that fixes the price, terms, and conditions for transferring ownership of a property. Georgia’s statute of frauds requires any contract for the sale of land to be in writing and signed by the party being held to it, so a verbal promise is unenforceable no matter how detailed the conversation was.¹ Most residential deals use the standardized forms published by the Georgia Association of Realtors, which are only available to GAR members and licensed agents who buy access. Buyers and sellers working without an agent will need a Georgia-licensed attorney to draft or review the contract instead.²

What Makes the Agreement Enforceable

Four elements turn the document into a binding contract. It must be in writing. Both the buyer and seller, or someone lawfully authorized to act for them, must sign it. There must be consideration, meaning the purchase price the buyer agrees to pay. And the agreement must identify the property with a legal description precise enough to distinguish it from every other parcel in the county.

A street address alone will not do that job. The description should reference the deed book and page number, or the lot and block from a recorded plat, which you can pull from the most recent warranty deed or the county clerk’s records.

The contract becomes binding when every party has signed and the fully executed copy is delivered back to the buyer. From that point, both sides owe each other the duties written into the agreement, and walking away without a contractual right to do so can carry legal consequences.

Terms the Agreement Has to Cover

A well-drafted purchase agreement goes well beyond the price. The terms below are the ones where vagueness causes problems:

Full legal names of every buyer and seller. If an LLC or other entity owns the property, both the entity name and the authorized signer belong in the document.
Legal property description, referencing deed book and page number or the lot and block from the recorded plat.
Purchase price, written out in both words and figures.
Earnest money amount and the party holding it. Georgia law requires brokers who accept earnest money to deposit it into a separate, federally insured trust or escrow account at a Georgia financial institution.³
Financing terms: cash, conventional mortgage, FHA, VA, or another method. If a financing contingency applies, include the loan amount, interest rate cap, and loan type.
Offer expiration date. Without a hard deadline for the seller to accept, the offer can linger.
Proposed closing date, when title transfers and funds change hands.
Personal property inclusions. If appliances, fixtures, or other items convey with the home, list them. Disputes over what stays and what goes are common.

What the Seller Has to Disclose

Georgia does not require sellers to fill out a standardized disclosure form the way many other states do. The state operates under caveat emptor, which puts the burden on the buyer to inspect before closing. That principle has limits, though, and sellers who ignore them invite lawsuits.

Known Latent Defects

Sellers have an affirmative duty to disclose known latent defects, meaning hidden problems a buyer could not reasonably discover through a standard inspection. A cracked foundation concealed behind drywall, a history of basement flooding that leaves no visible trace, or a failing septic system buried underground all qualify. Georgia courts treat silence about a known hidden defect as fraud. The decisive question in any suit is whether the seller knew and deliberately concealed.

Deaths and Prior Occupants

Under O.C.G.A. § 44-1-16, sellers have no obligation to volunteer that a homicide, felony, suicide, or death by natural causes occurred on the property, and the same protection extends to prior occupancy by someone with an infectious disease unlikely to be transmitted through a dwelling. If a buyer asks directly, though, the seller must answer truthfully.⁴ Lying in response to a direct question opens the door to a misrepresentation suit.

Lead-Based Paint

Federal law adds a separate, non-negotiable disclosure for any home built before 1978. Before the buyer is obligated under the contract, the seller must disclose any known lead-based paint or lead hazards, provide any available inspection or risk assessment reports, and give the buyer a federally approved lead hazard pamphlet. The buyer also gets a 10-day window, unless both parties agree to a different timeframe, to conduct a lead inspection at their own expense.⁵ Skipping this disclosure exposes sellers to civil penalties, and willful violations can bring criminal charges.

Due Diligence and Contingencies

The due diligence period is a negotiated window, commonly seven to fourteen days, during which the buyer can terminate the contract for any reason and recover the earnest money. This is when the real investigation happens: home inspection, HOA documents, flood maps, neighborhood evaluation. If something turns up that the buyer doesn’t like, written notice to the seller before the window closes is enough to walk away clean.

Beyond general due diligence, most Georgia purchase agreements build in contingencies tied to specific deal-breakers:

A financing contingency protects the buyer if the mortgage application is denied or the lender cannot commit to the terms specified. Without it, a buyer who cannot get a loan may lose the earnest money or face a breach claim.
An appraisal contingency gives the buyer an exit if the property appraises below the purchase price. Depending on how the clause is written, the buyer can renegotiate, pay the gap in cash, or terminate.
An inspection contingency lets the buyer request repairs or a price reduction based on findings from a professional inspection, or terminate if the seller refuses.

Each contingency carries its own deadline, and missing one strips the buyer of that protection. Calendar every date in the contract the moment it’s signed.

How Earnest Money Is Handled

Earnest money is the buyer’s good-faith deposit, typically one to three percent of the purchase price, signaling serious intent. It is usually delivered within a few days of signing by wire transfer or certified check.

A Georgia broker holding the deposit must keep it in a designated trust or escrow account separate from the broker’s personal or business funds.³ The broker cannot pull any part of the deposit as commission until closing or formal termination. At closing, the deposit usually applies toward the buyer’s down payment or closing costs. If the buyer backs out for a reason not covered by a contingency, the seller may be entitled to keep the deposit as liquidated damages, but only if the contract includes a liquidated damages provision. Without that clause, the parties may fight over who gets the money.

Closing the Transaction

Georgia is an attorney-closing state. Only a lender or an attorney licensed by the State Bar of Georgia may conduct a residential real estate settlement and disburse funds, as codified in O.C.G.A. § 44-14-13. In practice, the closing attorney handles the title search, prepares the closing documents, oversees the signing, and records the new deed with the county.

A title search is a review of county land records to confirm the seller actually owns the property and to surface any liens, easements, judgments, or other encumbrances. If the search turns up problems, the seller is responsible for clearing them before closing. A buyer who skips this step risks inheriting someone else’s debts.

If the buyer is financing, federal law requires the lender to deliver a Closing Disclosure at least three business days before the loan closes. The document itemizes every cost: loan terms, monthly payment, closing costs, and cash due at the table. Certain changes, such as a significant jump in the annual percentage rate, a different loan product, or the addition of a prepayment penalty, trigger a new three-day waiting period.⁶

At the closing table, the seller signs the warranty deed transferring ownership. The buyer signs the mortgage note and deed to secure debt, if financed, along with the various affidavits and disclosures. The attorney then disburses funds, pays off any existing mortgage on the property, distributes proceeds to agents and other parties, and records the new deed in the county land records.

Taxes and Costs at the Table

Several Georgia-specific taxes apply at closing and tend to surprise first-time buyers and sellers:

Real estate transfer tax: $1.00 for the first $1,000 of the sale price (or fractional part) and $0.10 for each additional $100 or fractional part of $100. On a $350,000 sale, that works out to $350. The seller customarily pays, though the contract can shift it.⁷⁸
Intangible recording tax: when a new mortgage is recorded, Georgia charges $1.50 for every $500 of the loan amount (or fractional part), capped at $25,000 on any single note. On a $280,000 mortgage, that is $840. The buyer pays this.⁹

Beyond taxes, both sides should budget for attorney fees, title search and title insurance premiums, lender charges, recording fees, and prorated property taxes. The Closing Disclosure breaks all of this out line by line.

If Someone Backs Out After Signing

Walking away from a signed purchase agreement without a valid contingency or contractual right to terminate is a breach of contract. The consequences depend on which side breaches and what the agreement says about remedies.

If the buyer breaches by refusing to close with no contingency to fall back on, the seller’s most common remedy is keeping the earnest money as liquidated damages, provided the contract includes that provision. The seller can also sue for actual damages if the contract allows, though proving the exact financial loss from a failed sale is often complicated.

If the seller breaches by refusing to convey despite a binding agreement, the buyer can seek specific performance, a court order forcing the seller to go through with the sale. Georgia courts have long recognized that real estate is unique, which means money damages alone are often inadequate when a seller backs out.¹⁰ The buyer can also sue for damages, measured as the difference between the contract price and the property’s market value, plus expenses incurred in reliance on the deal.

Disputes over earnest money, when both sides claim the other breached, are common enough that many Georgia contracts include a mediation or arbitration clause. If your agreement has one, it typically must be followed before filing suit.

1
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 13 Contracts 13-5-30
2
Georgia Association of REALTORS. Downloadable Contract Forms
3
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 43 Professions and Businesses 43-40-20
4
Justia. Georgia Code 44-1-16 – Failure to Disclose in Real Estate Transaction That Property Was Occupied by Diseased Person or Was Site of Death
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
6
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure FAQs
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Georgia Department of Revenue. Real Estate Transfer Tax
8
Justia. Georgia Code 48-6-1 – Transfer Tax Rate
9
Georgia Department of Revenue. Intangible Recording Tax
10
Justia. Georgia Code 23-2-130 – When Specific Performance Decreed