Expert Insights with Real Estate Attorney Mark Seib, President of Ganek
Selling a home isn’t only emotional, logistical, and financial — it’s a legal transaction, and even small missteps can delay closing, cost you money, or expose you to liability.
In this episode, Judy Jernigan sits down with Mark Seib, President of Ganek, one of Georgia’s most established real estate law firms, to break down the legal essentials every Atlanta homeowner must understand before listing.
This is a must-listen for any home seller who wants a smooth, drama-free closing with zero surprises.
A clear, seller-focused walkthrough of the legal issues that commonly interfere with smooth closings, including:
What must be disclosed, what should be disclosed, and why transparency protects you.
From missing paperwork to conflicting agreements, Mark explains how to avoid preventable setbacks.
Understand the difference between cosmetic issues and legally significant hidden defects.
Smart, legally correct ways to respond to inspection requests without risking breach of contract.
Liens, boundary disputes, unpaid taxes — what Mark’s team looks for and how to fix problems early.
Tips for accuracy, clarity, and avoiding misrepresentation claims.
What you’re responsible for, what the buyer handles, and how insurance reduces closing risk.
Mark explains when it is possible, when it’s not, and the legal consequences of getting it wrong.
Legal issues are one of the top deal-killers in real estate.
Even honest mistakes—like forgetting an old repair, miscommunicating what stays with the home, or overlooking a title issue—can have big consequences.
This episode helps you:
Stay compliant with Georgia law
Protect your equity
Reduce risk during due diligence
Communicate clearly with buyers
Avoid delays, disputes, and legal exposure
When you understand your legal obligations — and work with the right REALTOR® and attorney — you stay in control, reduce stress, and create the conditions for a smooth, on-time closing.
How Title Insurance Protects Your Sale (with Kirsten Howard)
What Home Buyers Really Notice During Showings (with Kristy Kadolph)
Pre-Listing Inspections: Should You Get One? (with Pelorus Home Inspections)
“Judy is exceptional. Her knowledge, communication, and organization made our closing unbelievably smooth. She anticipated issues before they arose and kept every detail on track. We could not have asked for a better advocate during our sale.”
— Verified Google Review
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Transcript
[Speaker 2] Selling a home is a major transaction. Legal missteps can cost you time, money, and even the deal itself. What disclosures are required? What happens if a buyer finds an issue during the inspection? And how do you protect yourself from unexpected legal pitfalls? Before you sign on the dotted line, listen in as we uncover the most common legal mistakes home sellers make and how to avoid them. Selling a home isn't just about putting up a for sale sign. It's about strategy, marketing, and negotiation. But how do you know if you're making the right moves? I'm Judy Jernigan, recognized among the top 5% by the Atlanta Realtors and your host of How to Sell Your Atlanta Home with Sage and Grace, smart homeowner strategies, successful real estate sales. With a background in broadcasting, negotiation, and education, I bring a unique perspective to home sales, helping homeowners sell faster for top dollar and with less hassle, while understanding not just the financial side, but also the logistical and emotional considerations of a move. This show helps you plan ahead, navigate the market, and work more effectively with a realtor like me. You'll get expert insights from my guests, plus real actionable strategies to sell with confidence. Now here's the show, moving you forward with Sage advice and grace. Today, we're joined by Mark Sieb, president of Gannek, a real estate law firm serving Atlanta since 1978. Mark has extensive experience representing home buyers, sellers, developers, builders in both residential and commercial transactions. He also teaches continuing education for real estate agents and serves on the board of directors for the Georgia Real Estate Closing Attorneys Association. Gannek handles residential and commercial real estate relocation transactions and title insurance while navigating the legal complexities of property sales. Today, Mark shares key legal insights for home sellers, including common legal pitfalls, disclosure requirements, and handling inspection and repair requests. Hi, thanks for joining us. [Speaker 1] Thanks, Judy. I appreciate you inviting me to join you. [Speaker 2] What are some of the most common legal pitfalls you see home sellers make? [Speaker 1] Well, I can say organized sellers who are prompt to provide the necessary information that we ask for really make my life a lot easier and the life of my staff members. Whenever we open a file, one of the things we do day one is we email the seller with a request for seller information. And we have a questionnaire that's four or five pages long, and it's designed to help us avoid the pitfalls that we often encounter as we prepare for closing. [Speaker 2] So get that questionnaire filled out right away. [Speaker 1] That would be very helpful. [Speaker 2] And being organized. [Speaker 1] We love those sellers. [Speaker 2] The fact that they're not being organized is the big thing. It can cause legal slowdowns. [Speaker 1] Yeah. Well, I can give you an example of a few of the questions that we ask. For example, one is, are you as a seller currently in a divorce proceeding? And if they are, that could really ultimately postpone our closing by days or weeks because we're waiting to make sure that a settlement agreement has been reached in the divorce proceeding, and that has to be accepted by the court. [Speaker 2] So not just the fact that it exists, but maybe not telling you about it right away can be even a bigger problem. [Speaker 1] If they answer our questionnaire completely and accurately, then we can help them avoid delays. But if they dragged their feet getting us the questionnaire or they don't answer all the questions completely, then we could end up discovering something at the 11th hour and everybody's going to be unhappy because the closing might have to be delayed. [Speaker 2] So that's a really good one. And it's an easy one. Fill out the questionnaire as soon as you can, as accurately and completely as possible. [Speaker 1] That's right. [Speaker 2] I love that easy solution. Let's move on to talk about disclosures. [Speaker 1] Okay. [Speaker 2] What are homeowners, home sellers legally required to disclose in the state of Georgia? [Speaker 1] They are not legally required to disclose anything other than the big exception is latent or hidden defects. So if it's something that they know about that a reasonable inspection would be unable to discover, they are obligated to share that information with their prospective buyers. [Speaker 2] So Georgia is a, help me with my, is it- Caveat. Caveat emptor. [Speaker 1] Caveat emptor state. Let the buyer beware. [Speaker 2] Let the buyer beware. So what is a latent defect? [Speaker 1] That could be a sewer line that's underneath the house that they have some knowledge of that an inspector would not necessarily be able to discover. That's just the first one that came to mind. [Speaker 2] But it's a big picture latent defect is a defect that could not be found through a normal- Through a reasonable inspection. So if a home seller isn't sure about a home's condition, should they still disclose potential issues? [Speaker 1] I think the majority of the real estate community does encourage a seller to complete a seller's disclosure document. That's one of the forms that's promulgated by the Georgia Association of Realtors. And it ultimately in part serves to protect the seller because as long as they complete the disclosure, again, completely and accurately, then they may insulate themselves from some form of future lawsuit. [Speaker 2] Exactly. And we have different versions of the form. If you say never lived in the home, maybe you inherited it, there's a shorter version than if you have lived there. [Speaker 1] And a good example would be a lender who has taken a property back, what we call REO or real estate owned. You're typically not going to get a seller's disclosure in that scenario because the owner has really no knowledge. So a disclosure wouldn't be worth very much because it would just be don't know all the way down the page. But your more traditional sellers, of course, again, are encouraged to do that. And I think it ultimately probably gets more traffic because if a prospective buyer or a buyer's agent sees a property listed and it doesn't include a seller's disclosure, that could be a red flag. [Speaker 2] Yes. And the disclosure form that we use has a really handy page on it that also has, it's a checklist of things that will or will not convey with the property. It's the things that will convey. And that's just really helpful to keep everyone on the same page. [Speaker 1] Absolutely. And again, it's really important to be careful how that form is filled out and maybe take a look at it right before your movers show up to remind yourself what you promised you were going to leave behind. Because yes, that can be a very uncomfortable situation at the closing table. We've just come from our final walkthrough and the refrigerator that was in the garage is gone. Well, there could be a refrigerator in the kitchen and a refrigerator in the garage. So if you're going to leave the one in the kitchen and take the one in the garage, you need to tell your buyers that. Otherwise, maybe you need to leave both refrigerators behind. Washer-dryer is another one that often seems to come up. Not often, but when we're talking about that situation, a washer-dryer is one of the more common ones. [Speaker 2] Yes. And your real estate professional should help you make sure that you're filling out the form to your intentions. If you intend to move with your refrigerator, then check the box. [Speaker 1] And that is our advice when agents are asking us for guidance on that form. I think best practice is to sit with your seller and go over it together because not every seller will understand the implication of some of those questions. And so having guidance from an expert such as yourself becomes really helpful for them. [Speaker 2] So the longer version of the form, which is most often used by people who have been living in the home and know it well, and it's asking them questions about when did you disclose? When have you made any updates? Have you replaced the water heater? Have you replaced the roof? And it's a chance for them to actually brag about updates they've made. Exactly. Repairs they've taken care of, maintenance that they've been good about doing or maybe not doing. [Speaker 1] Right. Well, we want them to make sure that they're being as honest as possible when they're answering the questions, but they also don't have to speculate as to answers. So if there's something that they don't know and can legitimately say, I don't know. But my general advice would be, when in doubt, try to disclose things that you do have knowledge of to the best of your ability. And sometimes there's the additional comments section. So you can fill in extra information there to try and be as forthcoming as possible. And that also will help protect the seller down the road. [Speaker 2] Perfect. So what happens if a home buyer later on claims that they think a seller withheld important information? [Speaker 1] Well, I mean, a home buyer can't always bring a lawsuit. The question is, can they find an attorney that's willing to proceed? And obviously it will boil down to what evidence do they have? If they have a smoking gun, there's a receipt for repair to a septic system. And there's somewhere in the paperwork that the septic company recommended that it be replaced in its entirety. That could potentially be a successful lawsuit down the road. [Speaker 2] So it's back to, again, it's buyer beware state. So sellers aren't really required to disclose anything, but they... I'm not sure I'm saying this right. Correct me if I'm wrong. They can't hide things. [Speaker 1] That's right. [Speaker 2] Make an aggressive action to hide things. Right. [Speaker 1] So they're required to be honest when they answer the questionnaire. So they can't lie and expect to maybe have problems down the road. So lying on the seller's disclosure, hiding defects, or as we talked about, the hidden defects. So that would be passively not disclosing something that they do have knowledge of. [Speaker 2] So easy. If you're going to fill it out, be as forthright as you can. [Speaker 1] That's right. But if there was a water leak, let's say it's a condo and the roof, there was a unit above had a water leak and the damage wasn't completely repaired, just covering up with paint, that would be actively concealing a problem. That would be not good for sellers to do. As opposed to something like we talked about the sewer line earlier, just something that the seller has knowledge of. And if they stay silent and the buyer would be unable through their inspector to discover that item, but the seller has knowledge, that would also be a problem as we discussed. [Speaker 2] Okay. I'm with you. All right. Good tips there. Let's talk about now. So a home buyer is encouraged to use their due diligence, period. Use their time to do their due diligence and have a home inspection. Buyer beware state, you need to make sure that you are thoroughly investigating the home you want to buy. [Speaker 1] And it's important to pick a really good inspector. I'm sure you have inspectors that you recommend that will be thorough and provide a complete and accurate report. [Speaker 2] Yeah. There's many really good inspectors in our area. And I'm of course happy to connect you with them. That's a good conversation for another day. [Speaker 1] That's some of the value that you offer. Right? [Speaker 2] That's for sure. When that home buyer does and their inspector does find some surprises, some issues they didn't know about, maybe the homeowner didn't even know about them. What are the seller's legal obligations as far as repairing any issues? [Speaker 1] A buyer is always, has the contractual right to request repairs, but the seller is not obligated to agree to make them. [Speaker 2] I think that that may be different in other states, but in Georgia, there's nothing a seller is required to fix, right? [Speaker 1] That's correct. [Speaker 2] If the home buyer has a due diligence period, they're not obligated to buy the home, but there's nothing the seller's obligated to repair. [Speaker 1] Yeah. So the due diligence period is sometimes referred to as the free look. Right? So they can do inspections. They're all described in the body of the purchase and sale agreement. But how the seller responds is completely up to the seller. [Speaker 2] So just to ask again, from a legal standpoint, does a home seller have to negotiate further once they're under contract? [Speaker 1] They are not required to further negotiate. Now, hopefully they are represented themselves by a good seller's agent, and the seller's agent hopefully would encourage them to consider maybe not making the repairs. I know buyer's agents will often say, we don't want the seller to make the repairs. We'd rather have some form of concession, either a contribution towards closing costs or a contribution towards the buyer's agent's commission. So some other monetary way of solving the problem. [Speaker 2] Which is a way to keep cash in the home buyer's pocket so that they can then use those funds to take care of the concern after closing. [Speaker 1] Yeah. When I do have a contract that requires the seller to make the repairs, we can often have last minute issues like the day of the closing or even at the closing table, where the buyer shows up and says, we just came from our final walk through, which we wish that they would not wait until an hour or two before the closing to inspect those repairs that they required the seller to make. And they're often unsatisfied with the quality of work that was performed. So a safer bet is just to negotiate a dollar amount and get that out of the way early on in the process. And then we don't have any last minute issues cropping up. [Speaker 2] Another legal aspect of closings, a big part of it is issues that can arise with title. I know that's something you are an expert on. [Speaker 1] Well, I am an expert when it comes to title. Absolutely. I've been practicing at this law firm for 25 years and have a couple of years even beyond that before I joined GANIC. We hate and never want a title issue to come up at the last minute. So our process is we open a file the day we get the contract or the title order from the lender and we order the title search immediately. Those usually come back in five to seven business days, and we immediately begin clearing the report. Some defects to title take a while to fix. [Speaker 2] So many home sellers, homeowners don't think about this every day. What do you mean by a defect in title? [Speaker 1] A simple defect. Well, let's not say, let's talk about normal title clearance. I'm going to look for how many mortgages does seller have? Does the seller have any liens in their name? Do they owe money on a judgment? Do they owe money to the IRS? Do they owe money to the Georgia Department of Revenue? Do they owe money to their condominium association? So depending on which type of payoff we have to order, some of those can take a while. I mean, the IRS, unfortunately, we have an insider that we can get a payoff from quickly. Not every law firm has that. But Department of Labor liens is one that sometimes we require multiple emails and faxes to get the payoff. A second mortgage may require seven to 10 business days before we can get that. So we want to begin that process as early as possible. And going all the way back to the beginning, our seller information form completed helps us with that process. So in the form, there's one spot where we're asking for the seller to provide their social security number. A lot of payoffs I can't order unless I have the last four of their social. Some lenders require a signature on the form. So we have to submit that via fax. So those are like the easy title problems to solve. But let me give you another one. So someone buys a property at a tax sale. What they may not realize if they're not a sophisticated tax sale purchaser is that the former owner of the property, the person who owned it when the tax sale occurred, they have a one-year right of redemption to go back and get the title to their property back by paying the amount paid at the tax sale. So even if your one year has come and gone, after that, there are further steps that have to be taken, a quiet title action, in order to have insurable title. So that one, that was sort of like the other end of the spectrum, like the most complicated, one of the more complicated matters that we would have to deal with. [Speaker 2] It can get really complicated. This is why we use real estate attorneys for our closings, because you are experts in this, and why something called title insurance exists. [Speaker 1] That's right. So under the title standards for the state of Georgia, and that's something that's promulgated by the real estate section of the bar, an examiner is required to do a full 50-year search. So they start with the current owner, what we call the most recently filed deed in the chain of title called the vesting deed. They run title backwards, checking grants or grantee, until they have 50 years worth of ownership in their report. And then every party who's had an interest in the property, through that 50 years, we have to search each of their names to see what might come up. A common example of something we might have to deal with is our seller bought the property, and their seller had a lien. And we're looking to see, has that lien been released? If it hasn't been released, then we need to go to the last closing attorney and say, hey, what did you do about this lien? And a lot of times they can produce a settlement statement, show where the lien was paid off, but yet never got released down at the courthouse. So we can maybe rely on that last closing attorney's settlement statement, or the seller's title insurance policy, or both, to get us to closing and allow us to close on time. Basically, we can insure over is the language that we use. So we ignore that issue because we have evidence that it has been cleared by a previous transaction. [Speaker 2] So for a home seller to be able to deliver, according to the way our contracts are written, the home seller needs to be able to deliver a home that can be insured by a title insurance company. So a title insurance company is willing to insure over- Yep. Any defects, then the sellers go together. [Speaker 1] Yep. There's language in the Georgia Association of Realtors Purchase and Sale Agreement that defines insurable title, and that's subject to only standard exceptions. So we take an exception, for example, to the current year property taxes, because they haven't been published yet, so we don't know what that amount is. [Speaker 2] And you have a special form for that. Is that right? Is that what the form is? [Speaker 1] So I'm actually very proud of that. So there was a year, maybe six, seven years ago, when Fulton County, the tax commissioner's office, we went the full calendar year and they never published that year's property tax bills. So we normally expect those to come out late summer. [Speaker 2] They just didn't bill people that year? [Speaker 1] They just kept delaying because they had a fight going on between the assessor's office and the tax commissioner's office. So that was a very unique situation, and we had to come up with additional disclosures to our buyers and sellers that said, here's what's happening this year. Here's what we expect to happen down the road. [Speaker 2] You came up with the form that you're still using today. [Speaker 1] So after that year, finally, we got the bills, I think in early January, and we knew we'd get lots of questions and that form came in so handy. I decided, you know what? We just need to keep this tradition. So GANIC does have that form in use throughout our entire organization now. [Speaker 2] And what's on it? [Speaker 1] So it includes just answers to the most basic questions that we get about property taxes, like if the seller receives the bill, what should they do? If the buyer receives the bill, what should they do? It also includes the number of days each party was responsible for. It includes contact information. So if, for example, the seller lived in the property, they've moved to their new address. The postal services forwarded the tax bill that came out after closing. They tried to mail it to the property address, but the postal service forwarding order sends it to the seller at their new address. They can now scan it and email it over to the buyer because their email address is typically filled in on that form. [Speaker 2] Very handy. [Speaker 1] And then when the buyer receives the bill, they can look at it and they can say, oh, this is maybe a lot higher than last year's bill. In that case, the seller would owe them some more money. So with the days of each ownership, it's very easy to calculate what those numbers should be. [Speaker 2] What the prorations would be. [Speaker 1] And then we also have an Excel spreadsheet that we created as a tool to assist our buyers and sellers with that, which we can email them. It's a standalone document saved in our records. So tax assignment gets emailed along with that Excel spreadsheet. Maybe a copy of the settlement statement. They have everything they need to do the math and know what the seller now owes in additional prorations. [Speaker 2] Right. The prorated amount through the days of closing. So smart. I love that. So we've talked about some really advanced topics. Bring it back to something really basic. [Speaker 1] Okay. [Speaker 2] Mentioned the purchase, the contract that we use, a purchase and sale agreement used in the vast majority of home sales. Is this a legally binding contract? Can the seller back out of the contract? [Speaker 1] Not if it's fully executed. [Speaker 2] Right. Meaning everyone has signed it. [Speaker 1] Right. So, I mean, we sometimes get into some questions as to, do we have, does the seller have the authority? Do we have all of the necessary sellers signing all the, so that could be something like that could maybe make a contract voidable. But, and, and, and they're subject to contingencies. So there's, there's ways. [Speaker 2] Well, not the home seller usually. [Speaker 1] Well, title. So if they cannot deliver clear title as described in the purchase and sale agreement, subject only to standard exceptions, then at that point, the seller's in default, but what's the remedy? Refund of the earnest money to the buyer. Gotcha. [Speaker 2] That's what I wanted to know. All right. Where can we find you? [Speaker 1] All over. So I'm based here in our Midtown office. Again, the law firm is Ganick PC. So our website, www.ganickpc.com. You can reach me here at the Midtown office, but we have a footprint of 10 offices total, and I actually perform closings in all of them. [Speaker 2] Fantastic. Thank you for doing this. [Speaker 1] My pleasure. [Speaker 2] Selling a home comes with a lot of moving parts and understanding the legal side can help you and your realtor avoid costly mistakes and move forward with confidence. I'm Judy Jernigan, a licensed real estate broker in Georgia and North Carolina coming from a family of educators. I believe in empowering homeowners with the information they need to make the best, most well-informed decisions for themselves and their families. I also grew up negotiating and my family's antique business, which shaped my ability to secure the best outcomes for my clients. When you have questions about selling your home or want expert guidance tailored to your personal situation, head to sageandgracere.com to connect with me directly. You can also find all past episodes there, including discussions on title insurance, how to buy before you sell, home staging, proactive home inspections, estate sales, and much more. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. And if you found this helpful, share it with a friend or neighbor who might be thinking about making a move. See you next time. Thanks for joining us on How to Sell Your Atlanta Home with Sage and Grace. I'm Judy Jernigan, and I love helping homeowners sell smarter with less stress and better results. Who do you know with real estate questions? Please connect us so we can make confident, well-informed decisions and get the best possible outcomes together. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a five-star review. It helps more homeowners get the smart strategies they need for a successful sale. Head to sageandgracere.com to learn more about working with me and the Sage and Grace real estate team. Explore all our show episodes. And when you're ready, book a chat directly with me, Judy Jernigan, moving you forward with Sage advice and grace.