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Real Estate Commission

Georgia Real Estate InfoBase

Author’s Preface

The goal for this book was to produce a comprehensive reference manual for Georgia real estate licensees. We hope that this manual achieves that goal. We appreciate the efforts of Charles Clark, Real Estate Commissioner, whose leadership and guidance were instrumental. We are also deeply indebted to the reviewers of the manuscript, Tice Brashear, Greg Dunn, Ben Farmer, Barry Richardson, Mary Shern, Tammy Fordham, and Ric Wilson, whose insightful comments produced numerous improvements to the text. Thanks also to Adrienne Black and Judith Weisman for their patient research and editing.

If you have any comments or suggestions for improvement of this manual, we would like to hear from you.

Dr. Roy T. Black
Dr. Joseph S. Rabianski
Department of Real Estate
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 4020
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-4020
(404) 651-2760

Explanatory Notes

Throughout this text, references to “O.C.G.A.” refer to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.  The Code is a compilation of the laws of Georgia and is broken down into titles, chapters, and sections.  For example, O.C.G.A. Title 43 Chapter 40 is the Georgia Real Estate License Law, a law that is periodically changed by the legislature.  A citation of O.C.G.A. § 43-40-9 refers to the section of the license law pertaining to nonresident licensees.  “USC” refers to the United States Code, a compilation of federal laws. References to “Rules” or “Rules and Regulations” refer to the Rules and Regulations of the Georgia Real Estate Commission.  These rules begin with the numerical prefixes 520-1, 520-2, 520-3, 520-4, and 520-5.  The complete text of the Georgia License Law and the Rules and Regulations of the Georgia Real Estate Commission is published separately by the Commission.

Table of Contents

Part One – Questions

Chapter 1 –
Questions Licensees Frequently Ask the Commission

Part Two – License Law and Regulation

Chapter 2 –
Individuals in Real Estate License Law
Chapter 3 –
Licensure
Chapter 4 –
Investigations and Disciplinary Procedures
Chapter 5 –
Opening and Closing a Real Estate Brokerage Firm
Chapter 6 –
Trust Accounts and Trust Funds
Chapter 7 –
Online Education

Part Three – Agency and Brokerage Practice

Chapter 8 –
Agency
Chapter 9 –
The Georgia Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act
Chapter 10 –
The Brokerage Engagement Agreement
Chapter 11 –
Commissions
Chapter 12 –
Antitrust and Related Laws
Chapter 13 –
Fair Housing Laws in Brokerage Practice

Part Four – Real Property Law

Chapter 14 –
Real Property and Personal Property
Chapter 15 –
Real Property and Ownership Rights
Chapter 16 –
Transfer of Ownership Rights and Interests
Chapter 17 –
Public and Private Limits and Controls on Real Property

Part Five – The Real Estate Sales Contract

Chapter 18 –
Concepts and Issues in Real Estate Sales Contracts
Chapter 19 –
Georgia Law for the Real Estate Sales Contract
Chapter 20 –
Drafting and Presenting Offers
Chapter 21 –
Earnest Money Procedures for Licensees
Chapter 22 –
Special Stipulations and Other Clauses in the Sales Contract

Part Six – The Listing Agreement (Brokerage Engagement)

Chapter 23 –
Concepts and Issues in Listing Agreements (Brokerage Engagement)
Chapter 24 –
Practical Aspects of the Listing Process
Chapter 25 –
The Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement (Brokerage Engagement)
Chapter 26 –
Showing Another Listing

Part Seven – Legal Descriptions

Chapter 27 –
Legal Descriptions Used in Georgia
Chapter 28 –
Legal Descriptions in the Sales Transaction

Part Eight – The Lease

Chapter 29 –
The Legal Relationship Between Landlord and Tenant
Chapter 30 –
The Legal Components of a Lease
Chapter 31 –
Additional Clauses in the Lease
Chapter 32 –
Security Deposits
Chapter 33 –
Preparing a Residential Lease

Part Nine – Pricing Real Property

Chapter 34 –
Concepts and Issues in Pricing Property
Chapter 35 –
The Appraiser’s Sales Comparison Approach
Chapter 36 –
The Broker’s Competitive Market Analysis Technique
Chapter 37 –
The Appraiser’s Cost Approach
Chapter 38 –
Appraising Income Property

Part Ten – Real Estate Finance

Chapter 39 –
The Security Deed and the Promissory Note
Chapter 40 –
Default and Foreclosure
Chapter 41 –
Financial Concepts and the Conventional Fixed Rate Loan
Chapter 42 –
Federal Housing Administration [FHA] and Veterans Administration [VA] Loan Programs
Chapter 43 –
The Adjustable Rate Loan, the Graduated Payment Loan, and Other Loan Arrangements
Chapter 44 –
Alternative Financing Agreements
Chapter 45 –
Primary and Secondary Mortgage Markets

Part Eleven – Closing the Transaction

Chapter 46 –
Contract to Closing
Chapter 47 –
The Closing
Chapter 48 –
The Closing Statement

Part Twelve – Property Management

Chapter 49 –
The Property Management Function
Chapter 50 –
Tenant Relationships and Policies
Chapter 51 –
Managing the Physical Asset
Chapter 52 –
The Rent and Tenant Management System
Chapter 53 –
Managing the Financial Aspects of a Real Property Asset
Chapter 54 –
Real Property Management

Part Thirteen – Community Assocation Management

Chapter 55 –
Creation of Community Associations
Chapter 56 –
Administration of Community Associations
Chapter 57 –
Operation of Community Associations
Chapter 58 –
Real Estate Arithmetic and Mathematics

Appendices

Appendix A –
Important Links to External Sites

Glossary

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