Straight answers on buying, selling and property taxes in Georgia, written by a licensed agent, with the numbers and the sources behind them.
Canton closed 158 single-family homes in July 2026, and the median sale price was $545,000. That’s up 9% from a year ago. If you own a 2,000 square foot ranch in Canton and you just read that sentence, I want to be direct with you. That number is not about your house. What actually happened … Read more
Georgia’s standard homestead exemption removes $2,000 from the assessed value of your primary residence. You have to own the home and live in it as of January 1, and you have to apply. Nobody applies it for you, and it does not transfer from the previous owner. Here is the part that gets skipped. That … Read more
Most financed purchases in Georgia close about 30 days after the contract becomes binding. Three weeks is achievable and is what we usually aim for. The fastest we have closed a financed purchase is two weeks. The date isn’t an estimate from the lender. It’s a date written into the contract that everyone works backward … Read more
Refinancing does affect your credit, and the damage is smaller than the paperwork suggests. A single mortgage inquiry costs most people fewer than five points. Inquiries make up 10% of a FICO Score, and they stop counting after twelve months. The part nobody warns you about is the age of your accounts. You aren’t modifying … Read more
For 2025, the total property tax rate in unincorporated Cherokee County was 26.251 mills. Inside a city, the county-level portion was 23.363 mills, and the city adds its own rate on top. On a $400,000 home before exemptions, unincorporated works out to roughly $4,200 a year. The number most homeowners never see is where that … Read more
A listing agent represents the seller. A buyer’s agent represents the buyer. Both hold the same Georgia real estate license, complete the same continuing education, and are legally qualified to do either job. The difference is not training — it is who the agent owes fiduciary duty to in that specific transaction. That distinction matters … Read more
Getting pre-approved for a mortgage does affect your credit, but far less than most buyers expect. A mortgage inquiry typically costs a few points and fades within months. Skipping the pre-approval costs you the house. The number people are afraid of is smaller than the risk they take by avoiding it. How much does a … Read more
In Georgia, closing costs are technically the buyer’s responsibility. In practice they are negotiable, and it is common for a seller to cover part or all of them as part of the deal. How much a seller is allowed to contribute depends on the loan program, not on how good a negotiator anyone is. The … Read more
Most homes in Cherokee County go under contract within 30 to 45 days, and close about 30 days after that. Here’s what actually moves that number.