Transaction coordinator in Georgia: GAR F201 deadlines, attorney closings and costs

What does a transaction coordinator do on a Georgia deal?

Most Georgia resales are written on the Georgia REALTORS Purchase and Sale Agreement, GAR form F201, which the association revises every year. A coordinator works from the Binding Agreement Date, because every clock in the form starts there. Then the work is steady and practical. Confirm the earnest money reached the holder, put the Due Diligence Period on the calendar, track the loan contingency and keep the closing attorney supplied with what the attorney's office needs to prepare the closing.

Georgia files differ from title-company states in one big way. The closing runs through a Georgia lawyer, so much of a TC's chasing points at a law office rather than an escrow officer. The coordinator's job is to make sure the attorney has the contract, amendments, lender contact and payoff information early, and that nothing reaches the closing table as a surprise.

Does a transaction coordinator need a license in Georgia?

Georgia has no transaction coordinator license, but the Georgia Real Estate Commission has a detailed rule for support staff. Rule 520-1-.07(6) of the GREC rules says support personnel "may perform only ministerial duties, those that do not require discretion or the exercise of the support personnel's own judgment." The firm must put the permitted and prohibited duties in a written agreement with them.

The rule then lists examples. Support staff may check on the status of loan commitments after a contract has been negotiated, assemble documents for closings and type contract forms as directed. They may arrange dates and times for inspections, a mortgage application, a pre-closing walk through or a closing. They shall not answer questions on title, financing or closings other than the time and place. Nor may they discuss or explain a contract with anyone outside the firm, or collect or hold deposit monies received from an owner or a prospective buyer.

GREC has named this role directly. Its June 2026 newsletter warned that "the listing support person or the transaction coordinator" offers services that "could cross a line of providing professional advice." It added that the rule's list is not all inclusive. An unlicensed Georgia TC should stay on the scheduling and paperwork side of that list, and the agent should keep every conversation about terms.

Which Georgia contract deadlines does a TC track?

Georgia counts days differently from most states. Georgia REALTORS' guidance on counting from the Binding Agreement Date sets out the rules. A day is a calendar day unless the contract says business days. A 10-day Due Diligence Period ends at midnight on the tenth day after the Binding Agreement Date. Deadlines are Georgia time. Under the F201, "no time deadline under the Agreement shall be extended by virtue of it falling on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday except for the date of Closing".

The Due Diligence Period is what makes Georgia contracts distinctive. In the 2019 edition of F201, it turned the agreement into "an option contract in which Buyer may decide to proceed or not proceed with the purchase of the Property for any or no reason". The buyer paid $10 in nonrefundable option money, plus any additional option money written into the form. That makes the last day of the period the single most important date on a Georgia calendar. Georgia REALTORS notes that many listing brokers stay up until midnight to see whether a termination arrives, which is why Special Stipulation #627 lets the parties pick an earlier hour.

The 2026 forms changed two things a TC handles every week. The 2026 GAR forms guide explains that the 8-day unilateral closing extension can now be used twice, once by each side. The buyer may extend only if the lender or closing attorney is not ready, and the seller only for a title problem or an unready attorney. A loan denial letter that doesn't state why the loan was denied is no longer a valid denial letter. Because the closing date rolls past weekends and nothing else does, an 8-day extension can stretch to 10 or 11 days. Our contract deadline calculator shows the difference, and the guide to counting days by contract form compares Georgia with other states.

Which other 2026 GAR changes reach a TC's desk?

Earnest money picked up two changes. If the holder accepts a check or ACH, it now has to be drawn on a financial institution located in the United States. Georgia REALTORS says the change responds to the higher fraud risk of checks from foreign institutions, and a wire from abroad is still allowed if the holder permits it. A new form, F528, gives the holder a standard way to notify all parties when earnest money arrives late, a check or ACH is dishonored, or the buyer fails to cure an earnest money default.

The Seller's Property Disclosure Statement, form F301, changed too. Its instructions now say a seller must "promptly revise" the disclosure if anything material changes after the Binding Agreement Date. The flooding section was substantially rewritten, with a new definition of "Flood" that separates exterior water from plumbing leaks and a series of new questions on flood insurance claims and flood repairs. A TC who collects the F301 early, and asks for an updated one if the seller reports a change, gives the buyer the full Due Diligence Period to react.

Who closes a home sale in Georgia?

A Georgia attorney does, and that comes from the state's highest court rather than custom. In In re UPL Advisory Opinion 2003-2, 277 Ga. 472, the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed that "only a licensed Georgia attorney may prepare or facilitate the execution of a deed of conveyance". It said it had consistently held it to be the unauthorized practice of law "for someone other than a duly-licensed Georgia attorney to close a real estate transaction".

The attorney does not have to sit at the same table. The State Bar's Formal Advisory Opinion 23-1 allows a lawyer to close by video conference "so long as the lawyer is in control of the closing process from beginning to end." For a TC that means scheduling around the attorney's calendar and getting signing logistics confirmed with the law office, not just the lender.

Georgia charges a transfer tax at closing. The Georgia Department of Revenue sets it at $1 for the first $1,000 of the sale price and 10 cents for each additional $100. The department says the seller is liable, "though frequently the parties agree in the sales contract that the buyer will pay the tax." It is paid before the deed can be recorded with the clerk of the superior court. The PT-61 declaration is filed online through the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority.

Which association and MLS will a Georgia TC work with?

Georgia REALTORS is the state association and the publisher of the F201 and its exhibits. Two large MLSs overlap across much of the state:

• FMLS, which Real Estate News reported in August 2026 covers much of Georgia and serves more than 57,000 subscribers. It also shares data with MLSs in Alabama.
• Georgia MLS, which says its listings reach all 159 Georgia counties and that more homes are sold through it than through any other MLS in the state.

How busy is the Georgia market a TC works in?

Georgia REALTORS' 2025 annual housing report counted 123,440 closed sales statewide, down 1.1% from 2024. Homes spent 56 days on market until sale and sold for 95.4% of their original list price. The report draws on the state's MLSs, and its area breakdown shows how concentrated the work is around Atlanta.

How does TC work differ across Georgia?

Atlanta. The 28-county metro produced more than half of the state's closed sales in 2025. Townhomes and condos made up 28.7% of sales inside the City of Atlanta but 12.0% across the wider metro, so association documents turn up far more often on in-town files. The city's water lien rules add a payoff step that we cover on the Atlanta page.

Savannah, Columbus, Macon and Augusta. These smaller markets move at their own speed. Augusta homes averaged 87 days on market until sale in 2025, while Columbus homes took 43. A TC covering several regions should set expectations with clients by market, not by the state average. None of these four has enough distinct material for its own page yet.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in Georgia?

Independent TCs usually charge a flat fee per closed file. We have not found a public Georgia-based price card we can cite. Our tally of 20 public price cards across the country, read on October 19, 2026, put one side between $300 and $550 with a median of $400. The fee per file calculator compares those prices with a salaried assistant at your volume.

How do you hire a transaction coordinator in Georgia?

Begin with GREC's support-personnel rule. Put the TC's duties in the written agreement the rule requires, and keep anything that needs judgement with a licensee. If the TC holds an active license with another firm, the rule needs written consent from the broker of each firm.

Then ask Georgia questions. A good Georgia coordinator knows the Due Diligence Period ends at midnight unless a stipulation says otherwise, that only the closing date rolls past a weekend, and which closing attorneys you work with. Ask how they report status, whether they work in FMLS, Georgia MLS or both, and whether a terminated file costs anything. Our coordinator checklist template helps you compare their process with what you expect.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a Georgia agent?

The table sets the usual options side by side. A good freelance TC is worth every dollar on a messy file. What most agents are really paying for, though, is someone who never misses a date and always chases the lender. Software does that on every file at once.

To see what the gap means across a year of files, put your numbers into the TC fee per file calculator.

Compare plans on the DeedSpring pricing page.