Closing Costs When Selling a House in Georgia

An attorney has to close your sale. That is not optional.

In Georgia, closing a real estate transaction is the practice of law. The State Bar of Georgia issued UPL Advisory Opinion 2003-2, covering the preparation and execution of a deed of conveyance, and the Supreme Court of Georgia approved it on November 10, 2003. The practical effect: a licensed Georgia attorney has to prepare the deed and oversee the closing. A title company, a notary, or an out-of-state escrow officer cannot substitute.

You can read the opinion list directly from the State Bar at gabar.org, where 2003-2 is listed as "Preparing and executing a deed of conveyance."

Two consequences for you as the seller. First, there is an attorney fee on every Georgia closing, no matter how simple the sale. Second, the closing attorney represents one party, and in most Georgia transactions that party is the buyer or the lender. If you want someone reviewing the file on your behalf, you hire your own.

Transfer tax: $1 per $1,000, and the seller owes it

The Georgia Department of Revenue sets the real estate transfer tax at $1 for the first $1,000 of consideration, plus 10 cents for every additional $100. That works out to roughly one tenth of one percent of the sale price. On a $250,000 sale it is $250.

DOR is explicit about who owes it: "The seller is liable for the real estate transfer tax, though frequently the parties agree in the sales contract that the buyer will pay the tax." So it is negotiable, but the default sits with you. The declaration form is the PT-61, filed through the Georgia Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority when the deed is recorded. Source: Georgia Department of Revenue.

The full seller-side list

Georgia does not publish a standard seller closing cost schedule, because most line items are negotiated in the contract rather than fixed by statute. Here is what actually shows up on a Georgia settlement statement, and who normally absorbs it.

Commission, attorney fee, and title costs are the three that move the most, and none of them are fixed by Georgia law. Get the number in writing before you sign anything.

What a direct cash sale removes

A direct sale does not change Georgia law. An attorney still closes it and the transfer tax is still owed. What changes is the negotiated half of the list.

• No commission, because there is no listing agreement.
• No repair credits or inspection renegotiation, because the purchase is as-is.
• No buyer concessions, because there is no mortgage for the buyer to finance.
• No holding costs during a listing period. Taxes, insurance, and utilities stop at your closing date.

What does not change: your mortgage payoff, any liens against the property, and prorated property taxes through the closing date. Those come out of proceeds either way. If you owe more than the house is worth, read owing more than it is worth before going further.

Where to go next

Closing costs only matter next to the offer they come out of. To compare the two routes properly, start with how much cash buyers actually pay in Augusta, then run the side-by-side in cash offer vs listing with an agent. If you are still deciding whether a direct sale is even right for you, should I sell to a cash buyer is the honest version, including who should not.

Getting your paperwork together? See documents needed to sell a house in Georgia. For local pricing context, see the Augusta housing market page.