October 2026 Georgia Real Estate Agent Update: Low Appraisals, Saving Your Comps & September Contract Trends

Last month I shared that 30% of our August contracts terminated. In September, it was 16%.

That’s the good news. People got serious last month expecting that rates were going to rise.

The thing that’s been showing up in our files instead is low appraisals, so that’s most of what I want to talk about this month. When a value comes in short, the agents who have the easiest time are usually the ones who proactively saved their comps.

First, here’s what September looked like in RHRE transactions.

September Contract Trends

In contracts submitted to RHRE in September, the termination rate dropped from 30% to 16%. The average Due Diligence Period edged up from 7.2 days in August to 7.6 days.

Last month I said the numbers didn’t tell us that Due Diligence caused those terminations, and the same goes in the other direction. One month doesn’t prove a slightly longer Due Diligence Period kept more deals together.

There’s also some context that doesn’t show up in the numbers. A lot of the September contracts we received came from buyers trying to get ahead of a rate increase. That’s my observation from the files, not something we measured, but buyers who are motivated to lock in may also be less likely to walk away. It’s a much better month than August, and I’ll be watching whether it holds once that push is behind us.

Contingent contracts doubled, from 9% in August to 18% in September. Seller possession after closing went from 7% to 9%, and the average contract price was 98% of list price, compared with 99% in August.

These are RHRE transactions, not the Georgia market as a whole, but I think there is value in watching what moves through our files from month to month.

September Financing Mix

Our financing mix swung back toward conventional. In September, 50% of RHRE transactions were conventional (up from 33.9% in August), 31.5% were cash (up from 25%), 13% were FHA (down from 19.6%), 3.7% were VA and 1.9% were seller financing or other.

Last month I said it was too early to call VA’s jump to 14.3% a trend, and September backs that up. VA fell back to 3.7%, and USDA, which was 7.1% of our August files, didn’t show up at all. Our monthly numbers can move a lot with a handful of files.

The conventional number matters for this month’s topic. Half of our September files were conventional, which means half were working with the appraisal deadline that gets negotiated in the offer.

When the Appraisal Comes In Low

I don’t have a count on low appraisals yet, so this is an observation from our files rather than a statistic. But it’s been enough that I went back through what the GAR loan contingency exhibits actually say.

The short version: in Georgia, a low appraisal doesn’t end the contract and doesn’t lower the price on its own. It starts a process with deadlines.

On a conventional loan (GAR F404), the appraisal deadline you negotiate in the offer is how long the buyer has, from the Binding Agreement Date, to send the seller an Amendment to Sales Price (F713) with the low appraisal. A lot of agents think that’s the deadline for resolving the whole thing. It’s really the deadline for the first step, and if the buyer misses it, the buyer waives the right to ask.

On an FHA loan (GAR F407), the FHA amendatory clause says the buyer isn’t obligated to buy or lose earnest money if the property doesn’t appraise for the stated value. The buyer’s first deadline is three days from the date of the FHA value statement.

On a VA loan (GAR F410), the VA escape clause works the same basic way: the buyer isn’t obligated to go forward if the price exceeds the value VA establishes, but can choose to.

Once the amendment goes to the seller, the deadlines build on one another. The seller has three days to accept, reject or counter, and then your buyer has turnaround times in the exhibit they have to follow to protect their earnest money.

My advice: when an appraisal comes in low, read the exhibit, write down each deadline as it’s triggered, and involve your broker.

I put the full breakdown, including what each exhibit says and what options the parties usually have, in a new article: What Happens When an Appraisal Comes In Low in Georgia?

Save Your Comps. Then Use Them.

Here’s the habit I’d ask every agent to build.

When you list a property, save the comps you used to recommend the price in a Google Drive folder for that listing. Save them again every time you give the seller an update or recommend a price reduction.

When you write an offer for a buyer, save the comps you used to land on the offer price.

Before the appraisal, put those comps to work. A lot of agents meet the appraiser at the property with a short list of the comps that support the price and, maybe more importantly, the ones that shouldn’t apply and why. A low-value cash sale with no interior photos that you know had renter damage isn’t a fair comparison for a turnkey home, and the appraiser may not know that unless you tell them. I know one agent who takes the lockbox off so the appraiser has to meet them in person. Others email their comps package ahead of time. This is allowed. Giving the appraiser information is fine; pressuring them to hit a number is not.

Then, if the appraisal still comes in low, pull those same comps out and look at three things. Did anything else close since you saved them that’s going to hurt your value? Do the appraiser’s comps line up with yours, or is something off like square footage, condition or a different section of the neighborhood? And is there any reason your comps may not apply anymore? Concessions, a full renovation or a market that cooled can all make a comp weaker than it looked at the time.

If your comps hold up, that’s what supports a reconsideration of value through the buyer’s lender. If they don’t, you’ll know that early, and you can help your client make a decision instead of fighting a number you can’t support.

Heads Up: The Appraisal Report Is Changing

All of this is about to look a little different. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s redesigned appraisal report (built on the new Uniform Appraisal Dataset, UAD 3.6) is required for conventional appraisals submitted on or after November 2, 2026. But in late September they announced a temporary exception: lenders who aren’t ready can request permission to keep using the old format through May 19, 2027. So depending on the lender, you may start seeing the new report in November, or not until spring. The familiar forms like the 1004 are on their way out either way. How appraisers value a home isn’t changing, but the report will look different, and square footage and features are broken out in more detail, including finished basement area reported separately.

FHA, VA and USDA have their own timelines that hadn’t been fully announced as of this writing, so ask your lender partners what they’re seeing.

Have you taken a class on the new report yet? I haven’t. If you’ve found a good one, I’d love to hear about it.

4,873 Agent Hours Saved in 2026

Through September 30, we estimate RHRE has given 4,873 hours back to agents in 2026. That’s time agents can spend with clients, on lead generation, on negotiation, or just away from the computer.

Upcoming Holidays & Office Closures

• Monday, October 12, 2026: Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day

• Wednesday, November 11, 2026: Veterans Day

• Thursday, November 26, 2026: Thanksgiving Day

• Friday, November 27, 2026: Black Friday (RHRE closed)

• Thursday, December 24, 2026: Christmas Eve (RHRE closed)

• Friday, December 25, 2026: Christmas Day

  
  

Federal holidays can affect banks, wire transfers, government offices, lenders and closing attorney schedules. Right Hand Real Estate Services is closed on all federal holidays, plus Black Friday and Christmas Eve.

Want More Transaction Tips? Follow Along.

I only send one marketing email a month. The contract tips, file observations and other useful things I come across in between go on Instagram and Facebook.

Need an Extra Right Hand?

We track appraisal deadlines in every file we manage, along with due diligence, financing and closing dates. If your transactions are taking time you need somewhere else, schedule a call with RHRE.

This update is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, lending, appraisal, financial or brokerage advice. Always refer to the current version of the GAR forms and consult your broker or a real estate attorney about your specific transaction.