The laws governing mortgages and foreclosures can vary greatly from state to state. Foreclosure rates in Georgia are the seventh highest in the nation, and the state's protections for homeowners are somewhat mixed. Foreclosures in Georgia typically take about 90 days to complete, which is about average.

Georgia is both a deed-of-trust and two-party mortgage state, meaning that either mortgage arrangement is legal. Deed of trust loans require a third party's participation and a deed of trust, which establishes the third party as a trustee and specifies the terms under which the property is to be foreclosed. The trustee keeps possession of the deed to the property until the loan is paid in full, and if the borrower defaults the trustee is responsible for handling the foreclosure process. Traditional two-party mortgage arrangements are also allowed under state law, but are less common. In a two-party mortgage, a lender must sue the borrower successfully to recover the property upon default.

One beneficial aspect of laws governing Georgia is that the borrower is entitled to something called “right of redemption”. This rule, which is embraced by many states, allows the borrower to retake possession of a property by bringing the loan current and paying fees and legal costs that the lender has accrued during the foreclosure process.

However, lenders in the state can get a deficiency judgment , which allows them to recoup further money from a mortgagor who has defaulted after the property has been sold. For instance, if a bank loaned out $120,000 on a home loan and is only able to sell the repossessed home for $80,000, it can get a judgment against the borrower for the difference.

Georgia foreclosure statistics for 2009 went up even more than in most other states (about 25 percent.) There were 106,110 homes foreclosed upon last year, and Georgia ranked seventh in the country in foreclosure rate (about 2.7 percent.)