Touring homes after August 2024: one Lumpkin County buyer, start to finish

Our search on October 19, 2026 for “buyer agent commission georgia” put a Reddit thread in first place, in which a buyer asked whether people in Georgia are still paying the agent fees they used to. The honest answer is that it depends on what you agree to, and the order of the steps changed in 2024. The clearest way to see the change is to follow one buyer through it.

The date the rules changed

NAR's settlement practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024. (National Association of REALTORS®, checked 2026-10-19)

These are practice changes that came out of a national settlement and apply through the MLSs. They are not a new Georgia statute. Since August 17, 2024, MLS participants who work with a buyer generally need a written agreement with that buyer before touring a home. Separately, Georgia’s brokerage law has long said that representation rests on written authority.

Under Georgia's Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act (BRRETA), agency means a broker represents a client by the client's written authority. (O.C.G.A. 10-6A-3(1), checked 2026-10-19)

Step 1: a Saturday open house

Jordan starts by walking into an open house near Dahlonega. No paperwork is needed for that.

NAR says a buyer does not need a written agreement just to visit an open house alone or to ask an agent about their services. (National Association of REALTORS®, checked 2026-10-19)

In Jordan’s case the host is the listing agent, who works for the seller. Jordan is a customer there, not a client, so Jordan asks questions about the house and keeps the top price and the moving deadline private.

In Georgia a client is represented by a broker under a brokerage engagement; a customer is not represented, though the broker may perform ministerial acts for them. (O.C.G.A. 10-6A-3(6) and (8), checked 2026-10-19)

Step 2: an agreement before the first private showing

Jordan wants to see three more homes with an agent. Before the first showing, the agent Jordan chooses asks for a signed buyer agreement.

Under the practice changes, a buyer working with an agent who is a REALTOR signs a written agreement with that agent before touring a home, in person or by live virtual tour. (National Association of REALTORS®, checked 2026-10-19)

Jordan interviews two agents first, using our interview scorecard, and reads the agreement line by line. The pay section is where the 2024 changes show most.

So the agreement cannot say “whatever the seller offers.” It names an amount or a rate, and that figure is the most the agent can receive from anyone. Jordan also asks to shorten the term and to list the services in writing, which is allowed.

NAR tells buyers they can negotiate any part of a buyer agreement, including the services, the length of the agreement and the compensation. (National Association of REALTORS®, checked 2026-10-19)

Every Georgia brokerage engagement must tell the prospective client the types of agency relationships the broker offers, any known conflicting relationships, the broker's compensation and whether it will be shared, and the broker's confidentiality duties. (O.C.G.A. 10-6A-10(a) (text effective Jan. 1, checked 2026-10-19)

Step 3: touring homes in Lumpkin County

Jordan’s agent pulls listings from the MLS. One thing is no longer there: any offer from the seller to pay the buyer’s agent.

So before each showing, Jordan’s agent asks the listing office directly whether the seller is offering anything toward the buyer’s side. The answer goes into Jordan’s planning, not into the MLS.

Two of the homes are inside the City of Dahlonega and one is in the unincorporated county, which matters for what can be done with each property. The house in the county lists a septic system, and Jordan’s agent knows where the records are kept.

Step 4: the offer, and where the agent’s pay comes from

Jordan picks the house in the county. The agent’s pay can now come from three places, alone or in combination:

• The seller agrees to pay some or all of the buyer’s agent’s fee.
• Jordan asks for a seller concession toward Jordan’s costs.
• Jordan pays whatever is left under the agreement.

A concession request is a line in the offer asking the seller to contribute a stated amount toward the buyer’s costs. Exactly how it is worded, and what it can be used for, are questions for Jordan’s agent, lender and closing attorney before the offer goes out. If the seller offers more than Jordan’s agreement allows, the cap still applies. And whoever ends up paying, it does not change whose side the agent is on.

In Georgia, who pays or promises to pay a broker does not by itself decide whom the broker represents. (O.C.G.A. 10-6A-11, checked 2026-10-19)

Before signing the offer, Jordan runs the numbers in our commission and net calculator, typing in the agreed amount, the seller’s offer if there is one and the concession request.

Step 5: inspections and due diligence

With the offer accepted, Jordan orders inspections and checks the county records and the flood map. The agent helps, but the law is clear about whose job the inspection is.

Georgia's brokerage law creates no duty for a broker to go looking for defects, and it does not reduce the buyer's own obligation to inspect the property and neighborhood. (O.C.G.A. 10-6A-5(b), checked 2026-10-19)

FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) is the official public source for flood hazard information, and you can search it by address. (FEMA, checked 2026-10-19)

Our page on what a Lumpkin County agent should know lists the other county and city checks.

Step 6: closing with an attorney

The last step runs through a law office. In Georgia, preparing the deed and overseeing its signing is a lawyer’s job, under a ruling of the state’s Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court of Georgia held in 2003 that only a licensed Georgia attorney may prepare a deed of conveyance for another or facilitate its execution. (Supreme Court of Georgia, checked 2026-10-19)

Where Jordan could have chosen differently

The steps above are one path, not the only one. At several points Jordan had a real choice.

• Before signing: Jordan could have kept to open houses and asked agents about their services without signing anything, as long as no private tour was involved.
• At the agreement: Jordan could have asked for a shorter term, a narrower list of services or a different way of stating the fee. Each of those is a term to negotiate, not a fixed part of the form.
• At the listing office: if the home Jordan picked had been listed by the office Jordan’s agent works for, the office would have had to explain how it handles that, and Jordan would have had to agree in writing before any dual agency. Our article on dual agency in a small town walks through those choices.
• At the offer: Jordan could have offered a higher price with a concession, or a lower price without one. Which works better depends on the house, the seller and the lender, so Jordan compared both in the calculator first.

Jordan’s path had more paperwork than a buyer’s path before August 2024, but each paper answered a question Jordan would have wanted answered anyway: who works for me, what do they cost, and who is paying.

Questions people ask

Next step: read our buyer brokerage agreement guide before your first showing, and when you are ready to look, browse our Dahlonega homes for sale page. To see how one brokerage handles these steps, read how Gold Peach Realty works with buyers.

Written by the Dahlonega Realtors Guide Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact before it publishes.

Laws, forms and practices change. Every rule on this page links to the office or statute that sets it; confirm with that source, or a Georgia attorney, before you rely on it.