GAR Changes on Closing Costs – Part IV Buyer Beware

The standard contract used by licensed real estate brokers and agents is the form provided by the Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) and known as the GAR Contract. This form is tweaked from year to year to clarify any terms that may have caused confusion in the past.  

Georgia is a ‘Buyer Beware’ state that puts the responsibility of doing the inspections of the house and neighborhood onto the Buyer.  

The 2023 GAR Contract changes the wording of. paragraph 9(b) by removing the word ‘duty’ and replacing it with ‘right.’  If the Buyer does not do any due diligence, the sale can still happen and the terms of the contract still apply. The buyer does not really have a duty or requirement to complete the due diligence before the purchase. The new contract also added a paragraph to clarify that the right to inspect continues until closing. 

It is always a good idea to have the property inspected because the buyer takes the risk of buying the property ‘as is’ 

Regardless of the right of the buyer to inspect the property, the seller is still required to disclose any latent or hidden defects in the property that would not show in an inspection.  


John C. Bennett is a real estate closing attorney and owner of Origin Title and Escrow, Inc.. Since 2003, Origin Title has handled real estate transactions – purchases, refinances, reverse mortgages – quickly and professionally. There will be no surprises, nothing misunderstood. Title searches are thorough and well-reasoned, to avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road. Calculate your closing costs in Georgia or Florida using our calculator or contact Origin Title using this form.

GAR Changes on Closing Costs – Part III Who Does the Closing Attorney Represent?

The standard contract used by licensed real estate brokers and agents is the form provided by the Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) and known as the GAR Contract. This form is tweaked from year to year to clarify any terms that may have caused confusion in the past.  

In the 2021 GAR contract, the closing attorney represents the Buyer’s lender at closing. This may sound strange.  In representing the lender, the closing attorney must make sure the title is conveyed properly and the lender has a valid encumbrance on the property.  Part of this process is making sure a good title is conveyed to the Buyer, and that the Buyer understands the loan terms and documents. If there is no lender, the closing attorney then represents the Buyer.  The 2023 GAR contract clarifies this paragraph to limit that representation to clearing title and conducting the closing.


John C. Bennett is a real estate closing attorney and owner of Origin Title and Escrow, Inc.. Since 2003, Origin Title has handled real estate transactions – purchases, refinances, reverse mortgages – quickly and professionally. There will be no surprises, nothing misunderstood. Title searches are thorough and well-reasoned, to avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road. Calculate your closing costs in Georgia or Florida using our calculator or contact Origin Title using this form.

GAR Changes on Closing Costs – Part II Closing Date Extensions

The standard contract used by licensed real estate brokers and agents is the form provided by the Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) and known as the GAR Contract. This form is tweaked from year to year to clarify any terms that may have caused confusion in the past.  

The GAR contract allows either the buyer or seller to unilaterally extend the closing date for specific reasons. One accepted reason is that the lender or closing attorney is delayed and is not ready to close the transaction. The paragraph clarifies that the party may extend the contract for eight days due to a delay with the mortgage lender, even if the financing contingency has expired or if there was no financing contingency.  

If given two to three weeks to prepare everything, the closing attorney should be ready by the closing date. Once we receive the sales contract and title order, we start our full title search to make sure we can correct any possible title issues well before closing. Getting the title search completed and sent to the lender will also reduce the chance that the lender will not be ready to close by the closing date. 


John C. Bennett is a real estate closing attorney and owner of Origin Title and Escrow, Inc.. Since 2003, Origin Title has handled real estate transactions – purchases, refinances, reverse mortgages – quickly and professionally. There will be no surprises, nothing misunderstood. Title searches are thorough and well-reasoned, to avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road. Calculate your closing costs in Georgia or Florida using our calculator or contact Origin Title using this form.

GAR Changes on Closing Costs – Part I Wiring and Mail Fees

The Georgia Association of Realtors (GAR) provides a standard purchase and sale agreement for licensed brokers and agents to use. The form is tweaked almost every year.  One of the changes for 2023 is a clarification on closing cost. Page one of the GAR purchase and sale contract lists the total Seller’s contribution towards closing costs. This made it easy to list on the closing statement, and was straight-forward (or so it seemed). Yet many closing attorneys started charging sellers additional fees for wires or other random fees in addition to the seller’s contribution towards closing costs. Often, the reason given was that the seller should pay for any fees the attorney charges for sending a loan payoff, or wiring funds to the seller.  

The 2023 GAR contract has been changed to state that in additional to the seller contributing towards closing costs, the seller shall pay the closing attorney’s fees for any loan or lien pay off, and pay any fee to handle and deliver seller proceeds from the sale. Closing attorneys charge anywhere from $25 to $150 per wire or payoff. Closing attorneys often charge more than the actual wire fee charged by the bank. A few hundred dollars is often not noticed when selling a house for hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it is an unnecessary fee. There are definitely instances where the attorney is required to send a check overnight or has an unusual number of payoffs to send, and that should be an extra cost. We realize that most real estate purchases will require us to send funds to the seller, and probably one or two mortgage lenders .  At Origin Title, we do not charge sellers a fee for wiring their proceeds, or for wiring funds to pay off a mortgage. This service is included in our settlement fee.    


John C. Bennett is a real estate closing attorney and owner of Origin Title and Escrow, Inc.. Since 2003, Origin Title has handled real estate transactions – purchases, refinances, reverse mortgages – quickly and professionally. There will be no surprises, nothing misunderstood. Title searches are thorough and well-reasoned, to avoid unpleasant surprises later down the road. Calculate your closing costs in Georgia or Florida using our calculator or contact Origin Title using this form.

PAYING OFF YOUR MORTGAGE EARLY MAKES YOUR APR GO UP

The annual percentage rate, or APR, is the total cost of borrowing money over the full term of the loan, expressed as a yearly number.

You’ll find it on page 5 of the closing disclosure, with the proviso that “this is not your interest rate.”  The purpose of the APR is to make it easier for borrowers to compare mortgage offers (including closing costs) over the life of the loan.  It’s a more realistic comparison than interest rate alone.

Paying off a mortgage early will save money, but it will adversely affect the APR.

Here’s an example:

If you borrow $100,000 for 10 years at 4%, and you pay $100 in closing costs:

  • The $100 in closing costs, paid over 10 years is a 0.1% cost each year
  • Your APR will be 4.1%

If you pay off the loan in 5 years, the $100 in closing costs is spread over 5 years instead of 10:

  • The $100 in closing costs, paid over 5 years is a 0.2% cost each year
  • Your APR will be 4.2%

In this scenario, your total costs will be lower because you pay off the loan early, but resulting APR would go up.

A qualified closing attorney will be able to explain every calculation and every term and condition during the closing process.

Real estate agents who work mostly with buyers – especially first-time buyers – will enjoy working with a closing attorney who not only can explain but enjoys explaining everything at the closing table.

DO CLOSING ATTORNEYS CHARGE JUNK FEES?

Sadly, yes – some closing attorneys do add what we would consider “junk fees” to the costs of closing a real estate loan.

We worked with a client who was the seller in the transaction and used the closing attorney the buyer had stipulated in the sales contract. That attorney added a $250 charge to get tax liens released. While it’s true that occasionally the tax commissioner fails to release a lien when it’s been paid in full, all that’s required is a faxed-in request for release, and we take care of that as a part of our standard closing fee, at no extra charge.

Common “junk fees” you might see on the closing disclosure are wire fees, post-closing fees, document-handling or document-prep fees. Origin Title & Escrow performs all those tasks, but it’s included in the $450 settlement fee. Our total fee for title search and settlement is $750 for a refinance and $850 for a purchase. The only additional charge would be for title insurance.

The buyer picks the closing attorney and is typically the one who pays the closing costs. Real estate agents who work mostly with buyers – especially first-time buyers – will enjoy working with a closing attorney with a simple and transparent fee structure.