The 50 terms below come straight from PeachPrep RE's flashcard deck, organized by subject area — spanning both portions of the exam — including the Georgia-only concepts (BRRETA, security deeds, the intangible recording tax) that national study material skips entirely.
Topic 1 of 10
GA Real Estate Practice
BRRETA
The Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act, Georgia's law setting out how brokers work with clients and customers and the duties owed to each.
Brokerage Engagement
The written contract that makes a seller, buyer, landlord, or tenant the client of a broker. Without one, the person is only a customer.
Client
A person a broker represents in an agency capacity under a written brokerage engagement. Clients are owed full agency duties, including loyalty and confidentiality.
Customer
A person the broker does not represent, but for whom the broker may perform ministerial acts. Owed honest dealing only, not representation.
Ministerial Acts
Routine tasks that require no professional judgment or skill, such as identifying available properties, giving market information, or filling in a pre-printed form.
Adverse Material Fact
A known problem with a property's physical condition that a buyer could not find through a reasonably diligent inspection. Must be disclosed if actually known.
Dual Agency
One broker representing both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. Allowed in Georgia only with the written consent of all clients.
Designated Agency
The broker assigns different affiliated licensees to represent the buyer and the seller separately in the same transaction. Properly done, it is not dual agency.
Topic 2 of 10
GA License Law & Rules
GREC
The Georgia Real Estate Commission, the state agency that licenses and regulates brokers, salespersons, and community association managers.
Unfair trade practice
Conduct listed in the license law for which the Commission may sanction a licensee, such as substantial misrepresentation or dishonest dealing.
Substantial misrepresentation
Making a materially false statement, or failing to reveal known material information about a defect. A listed unfair trade practice.
Reprimand
A formal official rebuke of a licensee. The mildest of the sanctions the Commission may impose.
Cease and desist order
A Commission order to stop a prohibited activity. Violating one can bring a fine of up to $1,000 for each transaction involved.
Topic 3 of 10
GA Finance & Closing
Security Deed
Georgia's primary mortgage instrument. The borrower conveys legal title to the lender as security for the loan while keeping possession and use of the property.
Power of Sale clause
The provision in a security deed letting the lender advertise and sell the property at auction after default, without going to court.
Deficiency Judgment
A judgment for the balance still owed when the foreclosure sale brings less than the debt. In Georgia it requires court confirmation first.
Intangible recording tax
$1.50 for each $500 of the face amount of a long-term note secured by real estate.
Ad valorem tax
A tax levied according to the value of the property, charged annually by the county to fund local services.
Homestead exemption
Reduces the assessed value of an owner's primary residence for property tax purposes. The owner must occupy the home and apply for it.
Topic 4 of 10
Contracts
Statute of Frauds
The rule requiring certain contracts, including those for the sale of real estate, to be in writing to be enforceable.
Consideration
Something of value each side gives up. In a sale, the buyer gives the purchase price and the seller gives the property.
Void Contract
An agreement with no legal effect from the start, as though it never existed. An illegal agreement is void.
Voidable Contract
A contract that stands until the party with the right to escape cancels it, such as one signed under duress.
Earnest Money
A good-faith deposit showing the buyer is serious, credited toward the price at closing. It is not required to make a contract valid.
Specific Performance
A court order forcing the seller to actually convey the property. Available because every parcel of land is considered unique.
Topic 5 of 10
Ownership & Title
Fee Simple Absolute
The most complete ownership possible. It lasts indefinitely and passes freely to heirs.
Joint Tenancy
Co-ownership with equal shares and the right of survivorship, so a deceased owner's share passes to the surviving co-owners and avoids probate.
Easement
The right to use someone else's land for a specific purpose, such as a shared driveway or a utility line.
General Warranty Deed
Offers the buyer the most protection. The grantor warrants the title against all defects, including ones arising before they owned it.
Quitclaim Deed
Transfers whatever interest the grantor may have, with no warranties at all. Often used to clear up a cloud on the title.
Topic 6 of 10
Agency & Property Management
Fiduciary
Someone in a position of trust who must place another person's interests ahead of their own.
Procuring Cause
The broker whose efforts directly brought about the sale. Used to settle commission disputes between cooperating brokers.
Exclusive Right to Sell Listing
The broker earns a commission no matter who finds the buyer, including the seller. The most common listing type.
Constructive Eviction
The landlord's neglect makes the property unlivable, forcing the tenant out and ending their obligation to pay rent.
Topic 7 of 10
Financing
Amortization
Paying off a loan through regular payments covering both interest and principal until the balance reaches zero.
Acceleration Clause
Lets the lender demand the entire remaining balance at once if the borrower defaults.
PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance)
Protects the lender when a conventional borrower puts down less than 20%. It can be dropped once enough equity builds up.
Secondary Mortgage Market
Where existing loans are bought and sold by investors, returning money to lenders so they can make new loans.
Topic 8 of 10
Valuation & Math
Market Value
The most probable price a property should bring in a competitive, open market, with a willing buyer and seller and neither under pressure.
Highest and Best Use
The legally permissible, physically possible, and financially feasible use that gives a property its greatest value.
Depreciation
Any loss in value of an improvement from any cause. Land itself is never depreciated.
Cap Rate
Cap Rate = Net Operating Income ÷ Value. Rearranged, Value = NOI ÷ Cap Rate. A higher cap rate means a lower value.
Topic 9 of 10
Land Use & Disclosures
Police Power
The government's authority to regulate land use to protect public health, safety, and welfare. Zoning and building codes come from it.
Variance
Permission to deviate slightly from a zoning requirement, such as a setback, granted when strict enforcement would cause a hardship unique to that property.
Nonconforming Use
A use that was lawful before the zoning changed and may continue. Often called grandfathered, it usually cannot be expanded or rebuilt if destroyed.
Stigmatized Property
A property some buyers find undesirable for reasons unrelated to its physical condition, such as a notorious past event.
Topic 10 of 10
Real Estate Practice
Blockbusting
Scaring owners into selling by suggesting that people of a protected class are moving into the neighborhood. Also called panic peddling.
Steering
Channeling buyers toward or away from particular neighborhoods based on a protected class rather than on what the buyer actually asked for.
Redlining
Refusing to lend or insure in a neighborhood because of the protected characteristics of the people who live there.
Price Fixing
Competing brokers agreeing on commission rates or fees. Commission is always negotiable between a broker and their own client.
Keep Going
50 Down. The Exam Draws From Hundreds.
These 50 give you the highest-value core, but the exam's vocabulary pool runs deeper — and recognition under time pressure is a different skill than reading a list. That's what spaced-repetition flashcards are for: the terms you miss keep coming back until they stick.
