How a Listing Agreement Works in Georgia
Home Selling
Home Selling
Before a home in Cobb, Cherokee or Paulding County goes on the market, the seller signs a written contract with a listing brokerage. That document, usually called a listing agreement in Georgia, sets out who represents the seller, how long the relationship lasts, how the broker is paid and how the property will be marketed. This guide walks through how the agreement works, which state laws apply and what to read closely before signing. It explains the process only. For legal questions about a specific agreement, speak with a Georgia real estate attorney.
A listing agreement in Georgia is a written brokerage engagement between a seller and a real estate broker. Under Georgia's Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act, a brokerage engagement is a written contract in which the seller becomes the broker's client and agrees to compensation for the broker producing a ready, able and willing buyer or performing other brokerage services.
The law is found in Title 10, Chapter 6A of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A. 10-6A-1 through 10-6A-16), often shortened to BRRETA. Under Section 10-6A-3, a seller who signs a listing agreement becomes a "client" represented in an agency capacity, rather than a "customer" for whom a broker only performs ministerial acts.
Many Georgia brokerages use forms published by Georgia REALTORS. In its summary of the 2026 forms changes, Georgia REALTORS identifies the seller listing form as GAR Form F101, the Exclusive Seller Brokerage Engagement Agreement. Brokerages are not required to use these forms, so the document you receive may look different.
O.C.G.A. 10-6A-10 requires every brokerage engagement to advise the prospective client of four things: the types of agency relationships available through the broker, any known brokerage relationships with other parties that would conflict with the client's interests, the broker's compensation and if it will be shared with other brokers, and the broker's obligations to keep information confidential. If any of those points is unclear in the draft, ask before you sign.
Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-5, a broker engaged by a seller must perform the terms of the engagement, promote the seller's interests, exercise reasonable skill and care, comply with applicable law including fair housing statutes, and keep confidential any information the seller expressly asks to be kept confidential. Promoting the seller's interests includes seeking a sale at the seller's price and terms and timely presenting all offers.
The full text of O.C.G.A. 10-6A-5, duties of a broker engaged by a seller, also requires the broker to disclose material facts the broker actually knows about the transaction, advise the seller to get expert advice on matters beyond the broker's expertise, and timely account for money and property in which the seller has an interest. The statute adds that the broker is not obligated to seek additional offers while the property is under contract unless the brokerage engagement says so, which makes it a term worth discussing.
Subsection (b) of the same section requires the seller's broker to timely disclose, to all parties with whom the broker is working, adverse material facts about the physical condition of the property that the broker actually knows and that a reasonably diligent inspection by the buyer would not reveal, along with certain known adverse physical conditions within one mile of the property. A listing agreement does not change these duties.
O.C.G.A. 10-6A-12 allows a broker to represent both seller and buyer in the same sale only with the written consent of all clients, including a statement that the client does not have to consent.
Broker compensation in a Georgia listing agreement is negotiated between the seller and the brokerage and written into the agreement. The National Association of REALTORS states that agent compensation for buyers and sellers continues to be fully negotiable. Georgia law also requires the engagement to state the broker's compensation and if it will be shared with brokers representing other parties to the transaction.
The National Association of REALTORS settlement changed how compensation is communicated. According to NAR's explainer, what the NAR settlement means for home buyers and sellers, the practice changes took effect on August 17, 2024. Offers of compensation are no longer allowed on Multiple Listing Service platforms. Sellers can still offer compensation off the MLS and can offer buyer concessions on the MLS, such as concessions toward a buyer's closing costs. NAR also explains that buyers working with an agent need to sign a written agreement with that agent before touring a home.
For a seller, the listing agreement is where these decisions are recorded: what the listing brokerage is paid, and what, if anything, the seller authorizes the brokerage to offer a buyer's broker.
A Georgia listing agreement lasts for the term written into it. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-9, the relationship begins when the client engages the broker and continues until the engagement is completed or, if it is not, until the earliest of the agreed expiration date, an authorized termination, or one year after it began when no expiration date is stated.
Local market pace is one input when discussing a term. The Atlanta REALTORS Association's market brief for August 2026, which covers 11 metro counties including Cobb, Cherokee and Paulding, reported that homes spent an average of 27 days on market, with 34 cumulative days on market, alongside 20,720 active listings and a 4.7-month supply of homes. The association's July 2026 brief reported an average of 24 days on market, 30 cumulative days and 20,863 active listings.
These are metro-wide averages, not a forecast for any single home, which is why the term, the list price and the market analysis behind it are usually discussed together. Our guide to pricing your home with a market analysis covers that side of the conversation.
A protected period, sometimes called a tail period, is a window after a listing ends during which the broker can still be owed compensation. Under the Georgia REALTORS Exclusive Seller Brokerage Engagement Agreement, the broker is entitled to a commission if, during the Protected Period, the seller contracts to sell to any buyer the broker showed the property to, in person or virtually, during the term.
Georgia REALTORS' summary of the 2026 forms changes describes two updates to this part of GAR Form F101. If the agreement is terminated unilaterally before its expiration date, the Protected Period is still counted from the original expiration date, not the date of termination. Showing a property virtually was also clarified to mean showing it by video or sending a video tour to the buyer. The length of the Protected Period is a term to read in the agreement itself.
Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-9, a Georgia listing agreement ends when the engagement is completed, typically at closing, when the agreed expiration date arrives, or when the relationship is terminated in a way the agreement or the parties authorize, such as a mutual written termination. If no expiration date is stated, the statute ends the relationship one year after it began.
How termination works in practice depends on the agreement's wording, including terms that continue afterward, such as the protected period. Georgia law also limits what a residential brokerage engagement can do. Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-10, it cannot purport to bind future owners of the property, cannot be assigned without the owner's notice and agreement (outside a sale or merger of a brokerage firm), and cannot create a recordable lien on the property.
When a listing reaches its expiration date without a sale, a seller may reassess price, condition and marketing before relisting. Our post on understanding expired listings covers that next step.
The listing agreement is where a seller authorizes the brokerage to submit the property to a multiple listing service and to market it. In the 2026 version of GAR Form F101, Georgia REALTORS rewrote the marketing section (Section A.3) to give sellers several options for marketing in REALTOR-owned MLSs, including an immediate public marketing option and a Coming Soon option.
At Clareo Real Estate, our approach is full open-market exposure, so the home reaches the widest pool of buyers and their agents. Ask when the listing will go live on the MLS and how photographs and showings will be handled, then confirm those choices appear in the signed agreement.
Before signing, a seller should be able to answer basic questions from the document itself: when it expires, what the brokerage is paid and when, what compensation, if any, may be offered to a buyer's broker, how long the protected period runs, how the agreement can be terminated, and which MLS marketing option has been selected. Anything you cannot answer from the page deserves a question.
Questions about the agent and the listing plan are a separate conversation, covered in our guide to questions to ask before hiring a listing agent. For the agreement itself, also ask: Will the broker keep marketing while the home is under contract? What is the brokerage's policy on dual agency? Which items do you want kept confidential, and have you said so in writing? If a clause raises a legal question about your situation, a Georgia real estate attorney can review the agreement before you sign.
Does a listing agreement have to be in writing in Georgia? Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-3, a brokerage engagement is defined as a written contract in which the seller becomes the broker's client. The listing agreement is that written contract.
What happens if my listing agreement has no expiration date? Under O.C.G.A. 10-6A-9, if no expiration is provided and no authorized termination has occurred, the relationship ends one year after the brokerage engagement began.
Can my broker still earn a commission after the listing ends? Under the Georgia REALTORS form, yes, if during the Protected Period the seller contracts with a buyer the broker showed the property to during the term. Check the agreement for the length of that period.
A listing agreement in Georgia is a written brokerage engagement shaped by BRRETA, which sets the broker's duties and default rules, while the agreement records the negotiated term, compensation, protected period and MLS marketing. If you are preparing to sell in Cobb, Cherokee, Paulding or north metro Atlanta, contact Clareo Real Estate for a conversation about your home and your timeline.
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