President's Message
Welcome to the official website of GRECAA, the true voice for real estate attorneys across the state of Georgia. We are true advocates for our profession and are oftentimes the last line of defense for our clients and the consumer. Real estate fraud continues to rise and as closing attorneys, we are uniquely qualified to protect all of the various interests represented at the closing table.
There are many groups that you may join for our profession. Some are required, such as the state Bar, while others are optional, such as the Real Property Law Section of the state Bar. If you’ve practiced for long in our state, you’ve noticed that their goals and interests don’t always align with those of us primarily handling residential real estate closings. For example, the lack of focus on protecting against witness-only closings and unauthorized practice of law come to mind.
As we boldly move forward into the future, our industry continues to face changes and challenges. It seems that all the media wants to talk about is artificial intelligence and, closer to home, our industry continues to face the realities of Remote Online Notarization (RON). GRECAA is focused on ensuring these new ideas and practices are handled properly and consistently to maintain the integrity of our deed records and the closing process as we are one of the few ‘attorney states’ remaining.
GRECAA has been instrumental in making improvements to and protecting the process of closing real estate transactions. We successfully championed legislation to standardize recording fees throughout Georgia and attempted to reel in the out-of-control practices of HOA management companies. Our current focus remains on ensuring RON is utilized in a way that protects our Georgia consumers, not simply rewarding out of state companies that have no accountability once the transaction is completed.
The key focus for my two-year tenure is to grow our ranks and to continue to be the “Voice of the Closing Attorney''. We can’t do it alone and we seek your support! Join us at a meeting, whether it is in person or online. We meet every other month and have speakers that bring us important information for our practices, and it allows us to meet and break bread with our peers. It’s one thing to share knowledge and (sometimes) a laugh on the real property Listserve, but there’s no substitute for sitting down and chatting with one another and learning about what is or isn’t working in our day-to-day lives. Welcome to GRECAA; join us and you’ll see what amazing resources we share with our members.
Bo
