ContractsCounsel has assisted 297 clients with real estate contracts and maintains a network of 147 real estate lawyers available daily. These lawyers collectively have 21 reviews to help you choose the best lawyer for your needs. Customers rate lawyers for real estate contract matters 4.81.
A Georgia real estate contract, often called a residential purchase and sale agreement, is a legally binding contract that is entered into by two parties (a buyer and seller) when transferring the ownership of real property.
The contract is drafted when a buyer makes an offer on a property that is for sale by a seller. Once the seller accepts the offer, the contract becomes legally binding and enforceable as long as it adheres to all applicable real estate and contract law.
A real estate contract must include specific details about the transaction in addition to tasks and requirements that must be met to finalize the deal. It is common to see the following issues addressed in a real estate contract:
There are several types of Georgia real estate contracts that each serve a different purpose. These contracts include:
When purchasing residential real estate in Georgia, the most common contract used is the Georgia Association of Realtors purchase and sale agreement. This form is approved by the association and includes all necessary components of a valid real estate contract.
In Georgia, there are 4 essential elements that make a real estate contract valid and enforceable. These elements are:
If any of these elements are missing from the contract, the contract will be deemed invalid and unenforceable by law.
Yes. Georgia follows the laws of caveat emptor, commonly called “buyer beware”. This means that buyers cannot win a fraud claim against a seller for failing to disclose a defect in the property if the defect could have been found by inspection. This principle puts the burden on the buyer to ensure that thorough inspections of the property are conducted prior to agreeing to purchase the house.
It is possible for a buyer to back out of a real estate contract in Georgia because buyers are protected by contingencies within the real estate contract. A contingency is a term that must be met to finalize the sale of the property. Common contingencies include the appraisal contingency and the financing contingency.
Many Georgia real estate contracts also include a due diligence period. During the due diligence period, a buyer can terminate the contract for any reason. This gives buyers the time to complete a home inspection, research the neighborhood, and ensure that they are committed to purchasing the home.
Due diligence periods are negotiable but the most common time frame for this period is between one and two weeks.
ContractsCounsel is not a law firm, and this post should not be considered and does not contain legal advice. To ensure the information and advice in this post are correct, sufficient, and appropriate for your situation, please consult a licensed attorney. Also, using or accessing ContractsCounsel's site does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and ContractsCounsel.
Bobby E. Hill, Jr. is a native of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and holds undergraduate degrees in music and business administration from Xavier University of Louisiana. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Miami School of Law where he was a staff and articles editor for the school’s Race & Social Justice Law Review and a student attorney in the institution’s Immigration Clinic. In addition to freelancing, Bobby is currently a litigation associate at Johnson & Freeman, LLC, a boutique litigation firm in Atlanta, Georgia, where he practices in the firm's Condemnation, Probate, Real Estate Litigation, Real Estate Transactions, E-Discovery and Business and General Civil Litigation Practice areas. In this role, Bobby has acquired appreciable experience in drafting memoranda of law for partners and senior counsel, and all litigation related pleadings including pleadings related to dispositive motions, discovery, appeals, and other post-judgment relief.
I am a corporate Attorney licensed in the state of Georgia and Ghana. My professional career started in 2016 as a litigator in a private law firm in Ghana. Subsequently in 2018, I moved in house to work for the University of Ghana and this is where my corporate transactional work experience began. Since coming to the US in 2019, I have gained significant transactional experience through internships at Verizon and Tricentis (a software testing company) during law school at UGA. Since graduating from UGA law school, I have worked as a corporate transactional attorney of an AmLaw 200 firm. In that role, I helped foreign companies entering the US market to establish a presence and comply with applicable corporate laws while doing business. I also assisted customers and service providers in the software and technology industry by reviewing SaaS and similar contracts. Also, I helped energy utilities in the renewable energy space navigate regulatory and policy issues and establish contractual business relationships through contract reviews.
I currently focus on estate planning, uncontested divorces, mobile real estate closings, and contract review for small businesses after starting my firm after leaving my position a partner at a national law firm specializing in creditor rights and real property.
At Whalen Legal Group, PC, we strive to ensure that our clients are provided with the highest quality legal representation. Our team is committed to providing you with personalized and effective legal advice. We specialize in Business Law, Estate Planning and Trust, and Real Estate Law and have years of experience in these fields.Our goal is to provide our clients with the best possible service and to ensure that their legal matters are handled with compassion, integrity, and transparency. We understand that every situation is different and we take the time to listen and understand each and every one of our clients’ needs.
I worked at immigration law firms before and recently started my own law firm. My experience includes investor visas, family immigration (spouse, parents, children), change of status, and citizenship applications.
To begin his legal career, Ben was a legal fellow with Georgia Lawyers for the Arts. Ben also assisted Michigan State University in protecting its registered intellectual property as lead intellectual property (IP) intern for Michigan State University's Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection (A-CAPP Center). During this time, Ben organized and moderated a panel discussion with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents for A-CAPP's annual Brand Protection Strategy Summit. Ben was selected to join a team of law student interns in Lovran, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Croatia, to handle matters involving cybercrime, international copyright, the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy and the General Data Protection Regulation. Before studying law, Ben worked for Core Security and Meridian Link as a software QA engineer. As a member of Million Dollar Minds Entertainment (Est. 2006) Ben produced countless commercial music recordings, engineered hundreds of songs, and served as executive producer seven studio albums. Ben enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters. He is an alumnus of The South Carolina State University and Michigan State University College of Law.
