When the disclosure is due
A licensee must give a written disclosure to both buyer and seller revealing the party for whom the firm acts and from whom it will receive valuable consideration, timely but in any event not later than the time any party first makes an offer to purchase, sell, lease or exchange.
A buyer-customer who views a listing Monday and asks the agent to write an offer Wednesday must have it by Wednesday, when the offer is made; best practice is first substantive contact Monday. Deferring to closing is the frequent error.
Puffing versus misrepresentation
Puffing is opinion or exaggeration — "the best view in town" — and is not actionable. A false statement of material fact, such as saying the roof was replaced last year when the licensee knows it was not, is misrepresentation, and any substantial misrepresentation is an unfair trade practice under license law.
Georgia rule: adverse facts and stigma
A seller's broker must disclose all adverse material facts actually known about the physical condition of the property, and all material facts about adverse physical conditions in the immediate neighborhood within one mile that a diligent inspection or government records would not reveal. A known landfill 0.8 mile away, invisible and unrecorded, is inside that zone. Client status is no excuse; the duty is affirmative and runs to all parties.
Georgia creates no cause of action for failing to volunteer that a homicide, felony, suicide, or natural death occurred there. But if asked directly, the licensee shall answer truthfully to the best of that person's individual knowledge, unless fair housing law forbids the answer.
Georgia rule: self-interest and fines
No licensee may list, sell, buy, exchange, rent, lease or option real estate in the licensee's own name without first advising the broker in writing, and acting as agent and undisclosed principal is an unfair trade practice. Buying through an owned LLC is the entity trap: it does not remove the personal interest.
GREC fines run up to $1,000 for each violation, capped at $5,000 per citation or proceeding. Seven violations: 7 × $1,000 = $7,000 by rate, but the cap makes $5,000 the maximum.