In Georgia, owner-financed sales run from Atlanta rental houses to timber and farm tracts in the south of the state. We shop your note to several buyers and show how each price was worked out.
Gaps that cost Georgia note holders money at the quote stage.
The same worksheet comes with every offer.
| Remaining balance | $129,400 |
|---|---|
| Payments left | 168 |
| Buyer’s target yield | 8.0% |
| Purchase price | $115,000 |
| Discount from balance | 11.1% |
| Our fee | shown on every offer |
| Sell the whole note | Sell 60 payments | Keep it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash today | $115,000 | $56,200 | $0 |
| Payments still coming to you | None | 108 payments of $1,140 | 168 payments of $1,140 |
| Total you receive | $115,000 | $179,320 | $191,520 |
| What you give up | Every future payment | The next five years | A lump sum now |
Illustrative example. Totals add up the payments as scheduled; they assume the payer keeps paying and are not adjusted for the value of money over time.
The promissory noteThe mortgage or deed of trustA payment historyThe closing statement from the saleLook at the heading on your paperwork. In Georgia it will probably say security deed, or deed to secure debt, where another state’s would say mortgage. The payer signed a note promising to pay you and a security deed that conveys a form of title to you until the debt is cleared. From a note holder’s seat it does the job that a mortgage or a deed of trust does elsewhere.
The clause that matters most is the power of sale. Where a security deed contains one, it generally allows a non-judicial foreclosure, meaning the property can be sold after a default by following steps set by state law, with no full lawsuit. Georgia is commonly described as a non-judicial state for that reason. A home-drafted security deed may leave the clause out, so read yours, and ask a Georgia attorney or title company if the wording is unclear.
Metro Atlanta and its ring of counties, Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton among them, is where investors have sold rental houses to tenants and other buyers on owner financing for decades. Savannah, Augusta, Macon and Columbus produce the same kind of note on a smaller scale.
Land is the other source. South Georgia has farm and timber tracts that pass between neighbors and families with the seller carrying the loan, and in the north, mountain lots and cabins around Blue Ridge, Ellijay and Lake Lanier are sold the same way. A note on a house someone lives in and a note on forty acres of pine are priced by one method, yet the buyer weighs the two properties very differently.
Buyers price to the return they need on what they pay you. Part of that return covers the chance that the payer stops and the buyer has to recover the property. Where recovery generally happens outside the courts, that part weighs a little less, so a well-documented Georgia note with a power of sale starts from a reasonable position.
The rest of the file decides how far it gets from there. A buyer wants a recorded security deed, a first lien (the claim that is paid first if the property is sold), on-time payments and a property worth clearly more than the balance. On rural tracts, expect to be asked about legal access, whether the timber has been cut, and who is paying the county taxes. Cut timber matters because the trees were part of what secured the loan.
Closings are a local matter too, one of the parts of a note sale that change from state to state. Georgia has its own customs about who conducts a real estate closing, and whether your note sale needs an attorney depends on the transaction, so raise it with the title company before a date is set.
Few private sellers keep a formal payment ledger. You can prove the payment history on a note with bank statements showing each deposit, with copies of checks, or with a servicer’s history if a servicing company collects for you.
Put those with the note and the recorded security deed, then tell us about your Georgia note, including whether the property is a house or acreage.
It is the document Georgia commonly uses in place of a mortgage. It is also called a deed to secure debt. The payer conveys a form of title to you as security until the note is paid, and the deed usually contains a power of sale. It is recorded in the county where the property sits.
Non-judicial foreclosure under a power of sale is the common route in Georgia, and a court process is also available. Which one applies to your note depends on what your security deed says. A Georgia attorney can confirm it from the document.
Yes. Notes on farm, timber and recreational tracts can be sold. Buyers look hard at the down payment, road access and how the land's value was established, because raw land is easier for a payer to walk away from than a home.
Georgia has its own customs about who handles real estate closings, and attorneys play a larger part there than in many states. Whether your note sale needs one depends on the transaction. Ask the title company or a local attorney before closing is scheduled.