The Quick Version
- Buyers pay roughly 2% to 5% of the price: about $7,400 to $18,500 on a $370,000 home.
- Sellers pay less in fees but more in dollars, because commission averages 5.66% statewide.
- Georgia’s transfer tax works out to about $1 per $1,000 of price. The seller owes it by statute.
- The intangible recording tax, $1.50 per $500 of loan, is the line most buyers have never heard of.
- Every Georgia closing needs a licensed attorney, typically $500 to $1,500.
- Last updated September 2026.
Closing costs in Georgia split unevenly. A buyer pays about 2% to 5% of the purchase price in fees, taxes and prepaid escrow, which comes to roughly $7,400 to $18,500 on the $370,000 statewide median. A seller pays a shorter list, but commission at an average 5.66% makes the total larger in dollars.
Below is the line-by-line breakdown for both sides. There is a table of who customarily pays what, plus two worked examples: one at the Georgia median, one at the Fannin County median. Every figure is current as of 2026 and traced to a source.
What are the closing costs in Georgia for a buyer?
Eight lines cover most financed purchases. The intangible recording tax, lender origination, the appraisal, the home inspection, the closing attorney’s fee, deed recording, prepaid homeowners insurance, and the initial escrow deposit. Title work and a survey may appear on top. Two of those are specific to Georgia, and both catch buyers moving in from Florida or the Midwest.
Only three are negotiable in practice. Origination is quoted by the lender and can be shopped. The inspection is yours to choose. Everything else is set by statute, by the county, or by the insurer.
What is Georgia’s intangible recording tax?
It is $1.50 for every $500 of the face amount of a long-term note secured by real estate, capped at $25,000, per the Georgia Department of Revenue. On a $296,000 loan that is $888. The note holder owes it, and the lender routinely passes it to the borrower at closing.
One 2025 change matters. Since July 1, 2025, House Bill 586 defines a long-term note as one falling due more than 62 months out, replacing the old three-year line, and it applies to every instrument recorded on or after that date. A five-year balloon now escapes the tax entirely.
It is a loan tax, not a sale tax, so a cash buyer never pays it. That single distinction changes the closing statement by four figures, which is why I raise it early with anyone weighing cash against financing.
Why does every Georgia closing include an attorney fee?
Because Georgia treats a real estate closing as the practice of law. The Supreme Court of Georgia said so in Formal Advisory Opinion 86-5 and in In re UPL Advisory Opinion 2003-2. A licensed Georgia attorney must run the table, cash sale or financed.
Flat fees typically run $500 to $1,500. In a financed closing that attorney customarily represents the lender, not you, which surprises buyers who assumed they had hired counsel. You can retain your own, and on a complex mountain parcel I often suggest it.
What does the seller pay at a Georgia closing?
Four lines: commission, the state transfer tax, prorated property taxes through the closing date, and any credits negotiated with the buyer. Georgia charges sellers no county transfer tax and no escrow-company fee, which keeps the list unusually short.
Commission averages 5.66% in Georgia. The split runs about 2.80% on the listing side and 2.86% on the buyer side, per a February 2026 Clever Real Estate survey of 533 real estate professionals. Since the 2024 NAR settlement, buyer-side compensation is negotiated separately rather than published in the MLS. For the full seller math, see my seller closing cost calculator for Blue Ridge and North Georgia.
Who pays what at a Georgia closing?
The table below reflects Georgia custom under a standard purchase agreement. Custom is not law: nearly every line can be shifted by contract, and in a slower market buyers regularly ask sellers to cover part of theirs.
| Line item | Customarily paid by | Typical amount (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Real estate commission | Seller | 5.66% of price, average |
| Transfer tax | Seller (by statute) | About $1 per $1,000 of price |
| Intangible recording tax | Buyer (passed on by lender) | $1.50 per $500 of loan |
| Closing attorney fee | Buyer, in a financed sale | $500 to $1,500 |
| Loan origination | Buyer | Lender-quoted; shop it |
| Appraisal | Buyer | $700 on Georgia’s VA fee schedule |
| Home inspection | Buyer | $325 to $500 |
| Deed recording | Buyer | $25 per instrument |
| Prepaid insurance and escrow | Buyer | 12 months plus a 2-month cushion |
| Prorated property taxes | Split at closing | By days of ownership |
Recording, appraisal and inspection: the small lines
Recording is the cheapest surprise on the statement. Under House Bill 288, effective January 1, 2020, Georgia charges a flat $25 per real estate instrument, page count irrelevant. A deed plus a security deed is $50 total.
An appraisal runs more, and Georgia has a published government number for it. The Department of Veterans Affairs fee schedule for Georgia, effective May 1, 2026, sets a single-family appraisal at $700, rising to $800 in six counties. Georgia appraisers quote roughly $400 to $750 on conventional work.
A general home inspection runs $325 to $500 for a typical house, and past $600 on something larger or older. I walk through the quotes and the add-ons in what a home inspection costs in Georgia. Both are buyer costs, and both are worth paying for properly.
What do prepaid escrow and insurance actually add?
Prepaids are not fees. They are your own future bills, collected early, and they are the reason a closing statement runs higher than a fee list suggests.
Lenders commonly collect 6 to 12 months of homeowners insurance up front, and the CFPB’s model Closing Disclosure shows a full 12. Then they hold a reserve. Under Regulation X that cushion is capped at one sixth of the year’s total escrow disbursements, taxes and insurance together, which is two months.
Read that as a ceiling, not a requirement. On $2,000 of insurance and $2,400 of property tax, one sixth of $4,400 is about $733. Quote the cushion off both lines, not off the premium alone, or you will underbudget it.
A worked example at the Georgia median
Take a $370,000 purchase, the statewide median sale price in July 2026 per the Georgia Association of REALTORS, with 20% down and a $296,000 loan.
| Buyer line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Intangible recording tax | $888 |
| Closing attorney | $900 |
| Appraisal (top of the conventional band) | $700 |
| Home inspection | $400 |
| Recording, two instruments | $50 |
| Subtotal, fixed and statutory lines | $2,938 |
Those are the lines you can pin down before you shop a lender. Two more sit on top and no article can price them for you: loan origination, which the lender sets and you can negotiate, and prepaid insurance and escrow. Add those and a Georgia buyer lands inside the CFPB’s 2% to 5% band. On the same sale the seller owes $370 in transfer tax and about $20,942 in commission.
What changes in the North Georgia mountains?
The percentages hold. The dollars do not. Fannin County single-family homes carried a $815,000 median sale price in July 2026 across 109 closed sales. The year-to-date median was $650,000, up 8.3% year over year, per the Georgia Association of REALTORS local market update.
At $815,000 the transfer tax is $815, a tidy illustration of the $1-per-$1,000 rule. A 20% down loan of $652,000 carries $1,956 in intangible tax, and commission at the state average reaches $46,129. Property taxes prorate off a bill that Fannin County mails in mid-September against a December 20 due date, so spring and summer closings prorate from the prior year’s figure. I break that timing down in Fannin County property taxes.
Where I see buyers and sellers get the number wrong
I’m Thomas Echea, a Luxury Real Estate Advisor with E+E Group at Compass, and I own homes in Blue Ridge and Fort Lauderdale. Two mistakes recur. Buyers budget a down payment and treat closing costs as rounding, then meet an $8,000 statement three days out. Sellers read “2% to 5%” and assume it applies to them, when their number is commission plus a few hundred dollars.
The market decides who ends up paying. Fannin County closed at 95.5% of list price in July 2026, with 90 days on market and 10.9 months of supply. At that inventory level buyers routinely ask for closing-cost credits, and sellers who priced to the comps have room to give them. Ask your lender for a Loan Estimate early, and read the prepaid section first.
Frequently asked questions
How much are closing costs on a house in Georgia?
A buyer pays roughly 2% to 5% of the purchase price, which is about $7,400 to $18,500 on the $370,000 Georgia median. On a $370,000 purchase with a $296,000 loan the fixed and statutory lines come to about $2,938, with lender origination and prepaid escrow on top. A seller pays commission, averaging 5.66%, plus a transfer tax of about $1 per $1,000 and prorated property taxes.
Who pays closing costs in Georgia, the buyer or the seller?
Both, on different lines. The seller owes the transfer tax by statute and pays the commission. The buyer pays the loan-related costs: intangible recording tax, origination, appraisal, recording, prepaid insurance and escrow, plus the closing attorney in a financed sale. Every line except the statutory ones can be shifted by contract, and buyer credits are common in a slow market.
What is the intangible recording tax in Georgia?
It is a tax of $1.50 per $500 of the face amount of a long-term note secured by Georgia real estate, capped at $25,000. The Georgia Department of Revenue places the liability on the note holder, but lenders pass it to the borrower at closing. On a $296,000 loan it is $888. Cash buyers never pay it because there is no note to record.
Do you need a lawyer to close on a house in Georgia?
Yes. The Supreme Court of Georgia treats conducting a real estate closing as the practice of law, so a licensed Georgia attorney must handle it whether the purchase is financed or cash. Flat closing fees typically run $500 to $1,500. In a financed closing that attorney customarily represents the lender, so buyers who want their own counsel need to retain someone separately.
Are escrow fees and closing costs the same thing?
No. Closing costs are the full set of fees and taxes due at the table. Escrow is one part of that: the prepaid tax and insurance a lender collects to fund your monthly account. Lenders commonly take 6 to 12 months of homeowners insurance up front; the CFPB’s model Closing Disclosure shows a full 12. Regulation X then caps the cushion at one sixth of the year’s total escrow disbursements, taxes and insurance together.
How much are real estate commissions in Georgia?
Georgia’s average total commission is 5.66% of the sale price, split about 2.80% on the listing side and 2.86% on the buyer side, per a February 2026 Clever Real Estate survey of 533 real estate professionals. On a $370,000 sale that is $20,942; on an $815,000 Fannin County sale it is $46,129. Rates are negotiable, and since the 2024 NAR settlement buyer-side compensation is negotiated separately.
