About This Site and Who Runs It
Program and regulatory figures verified September 19, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
A lender's site that spends a lot of its space telling Georgia owners to be careful, because the data says so.
Why the site is shaped this way
Most writing about buying before selling comes from the real estate side and focuses on the offer. What decides whether a Georgia move-up buyer can act is usually the financing, and here the binding constraint is unusually simple: time.
Georgia has the longest marketing times of any state we build for, and seven of its metros got more than two weeks slower in a single year. That is the fact everything else follows from, and it is why several pages here end with a version of "consider selling first".
That is not the answer we are paid to give. It is the one the numbers support in parts of this state.
On the assessment cap
We report HB 581, the opt-outs, and SB 33 because they are genuinely confusing right now and a lot of published material is out of date on them.
We verified SB 33 from the enacted text rather than from summaries: it is short-titled the Homeownership Opportunity and Market Equalization Act of 2026, it was signed May 11, 2026, and its purpose clause includes making the state-wide base year homestead exemption mandatory for all political subdivisions from the 2027 tax year.
We do not publish a list of which counties, cities and school districts opted out. Three separate bodies decided independently for the same parcel, the combinations differ, and the whole question expires in 2027. Your county tax commissioner is the right source.
What we deliberately do not do
We do not advise on purchase contracts, contingencies or offer terms. We are lenders, not licensed real estate agents or attorneys. We do not administer the homestead exemption. And we do not publish Georgia's intangible recording or transfer tax rates, because we did not verify them at a primary source and a wrong closing-cost figure is worse than none.
Reach us on the contact page, or start with the Georgia guide.
Frequently asked questions
Are you a real estate agent?
No. Mike Certo is a mortgage loan originator, NMLS #260555, with Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We finance the purchase; your agent represents you in it.
Can you tell me whether my county opted out of the assessment cap?
Your county tax commissioner can, and they are the right source. Counties, cities and school districts each decided independently by March 1, 2025, so a single parcel can sit under three different choices. From the 2027 tax year SB 33 makes the cap mandatory for all of them.
Do you lend throughout Georgia?
Yes, Georgia statewide. The $832,750 conforming limit is the same in all 159 counties, but marketing times range from 44 days in Columbus to 94 in Brunswick, so your specific market matters a great deal here.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or real estate advice. Homestead exemption status, local opt-out decisions and assessment practice change and depend on your facts; your county tax commissioner, your CPA or a Georgia attorney, and your real estate agent each handle their own part. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.