There is a blank line on every Georgia purchase contract that decides more of a deal than the sale price does, and most buyers still fill it in on autopilot. It is the Due Diligence Period, the stretch of days after a contract is signed when a buyer can inspect everything, ask for anything, and walk away for any reason with earnest money in hand. It is not set by state law. It is a number the buyer and seller write in themselves. And the number that made sense in Savannah two years ago is quietly working against buyers who are still defaulting to it in 2026.
If you are getting ready to write an offer or accept one, this is the mechanic worth understanding before you get to the negotiating table, not after.
A Blank Line, Not a Deadline
Georgia's standard purchase contract, the GAR F201, does not hand buyers a fixed inspection period the way some states do. Instead, the Due Diligence Period is negotiated and written directly into the contract, starting on what the form calls the Binding Agreement Date, the day both sides have signed. From that date, the buyer has an unrestricted right to inspect the property, review any HOA documents, get insurance quotes, and terminate for any reason or no reason at all, with earnest money returned in full. Once the window closes, that broad exit disappears and only narrower contingencies, like financing, remain.
Because the length is filled in rather than fixed, it moves with the market. Georgia Title & Escrow describes the customary range as ten to fourteen days. Other Georgia real estate attorneys put it closer to seven to ten days, with some contracts running as short as three to five days in competitive situations. There is no single right number. There is only the number that fits the deal in front of you, and the market in front of you has changed more than most people negotiating a Due Diligence Period right now realize.
A short Due Diligence Period signals urgency. A long one signals leverage. In 2026, more of that leverage sits with buyers than it has in years.
The Reflex That Made Sense in 2024 and Doesn't Anymore
Two years ago, a well-priced home in Ardsley Park or the Victorian District could go under contract within 72 hours. Buyers who wanted a real shot at those homes learned to shorten everything, including the Due Diligence Period, to look more serious than the next offer. A five-day DDP wasn't a strategy so much as a survival habit.
That habit is now out of date. Redfin's data for the three months ending May 2026 puts Savannah's median sale price at $339,000, down 3.1 percent from the same window a year earlier, with homes taking an average of 82 days to sell compared to 57 days the year before. Zillow's separate tracking shows an average home value of $335,719, down half a percent year over year. Mortgage industry analysis of the local market describes the same shift in blunter terms: homes in those same in-demand pockets, Ardsley Park and the Victorian District included, are now averaging 80 to 90 days before going under contract, alongside a 7 to 8 percent price pullback from the 2025 peak. Different trackers slice the numbers slightly differently, which is normal, but they all point the same direction. This is the most balanced Savannah's market has been in years.
A slower market changes what a short Due Diligence Period is actually worth. When homes were moving in three days, a shortened DDP was the price of admission to even be considered. When homes are sitting for three months, a buyer offering a five-day window is giving away leverage that nobody is asking them to give away. Sellers in this market have less room to reject a buyer's request for a fuller inspection period, more room to negotiate repairs found during that period, and less ability to simply move on to a backup offer the way they could two years ago. The buyer who still reflexively shortens the DDP out of habit is negotiating against a market that no longer requires it.
Here is what that shift tends to look like in practice, compared to the habits that carried over from the tighter market:
| Contract term | Seller's-market habit | 2026 fit |
|---|---|---|
| Due Diligence Period length | Shortened to 3-5 days to look competitive | Set closer to the customary 10-14 days, sized to your actual inspection and any assistance program timeline |
| Repair requests | Often waived to win the bid | Negotiated using the inspection findings before the window closes |
| Appraisal gap coverage | Frequently absorbed by the buyer to compete | Increasingly a point of negotiation rather than an automatic concession |
| Seller flexibility on terms | Limited, multiple offers on the table | Greater, given longer average market time |
None of this means every deal should stretch to fourteen days. A well-maintained newer build in a competitive price band can still move fast, and some sellers will still push for a shorter window. What has changed is which side is negotiating from strength, and buyers who don't recalibrate are leaving room on the table without knowing it.
When You're Using Down Payment Assistance, the Clock Gets More Complicated
If you're a first-time buyer working with the City of Savannah's DreamMaker Home Purchase Assistance program, the Due Diligence Period isn't just about your own comfort level. The city's Housing and Neighborhood Services Department requires a home inspection on every property before it will issue a funding commitment letter, and any repairs flagged by that inspection have to be completed by the seller and confirmed by city staff before that letter goes out. That is a second inspection-and-repair sequence layered on top of your own, and it doesn't move at the same pace as a standard home inspection.
A Due Diligence Period built for a conventional loan buyer, ten days, a single inspection, a quick repair negotiation, often isn't long enough to also accommodate a city-required inspection and seller-completed repairs before a lender will commit. Buyers using DreamMaker, or pairing it with the state's Georgia Dream Homeownership Program, need a DDP length that accounts for both processes running in sequence, not a number borrowed from a friend's conventional purchase. This is exactly the kind of detail that gets missed when a buyer treats the Due Diligence Period as boilerplate instead of a term to actually think through with their agent and lender together.
A Disclosure Requirement That Didn't Exist a Year Ago
Georgia has long operated on a caveat emptor standard for home sales. Outside of a seller knowingly hiding a defect, there has been no general statutory requirement to disclose property condition, and the customary GAR disclosure forms have been just that, customary rather than mandatory. As of January 1, 2026, that changed in one specific way. House Bill 618 now requires sellers of one to four family homes in Georgia to disclose known flood history in writing before the sale.
This is a new procedural step, not a reason to treat any particular Savannah address differently than another. It applies statewide, to every qualifying sale, regardless of neighborhood. What it means practically is that both sides now have one more document to account for before the Due Diligence Period even starts, and buyers should expect to see this disclosure as a matter of course rather than something unusual to the property they're considering. It doesn't replace your own inspection during the DDP. It adds one more piece of information to the file before that window opens.
What This Means If You're About to Sign
If you're a buyer, don't hand over a shortened Due Diligence Period out of habit. Ask what the market is actually doing on the specific street and price point you're considering, because a 2026 Savannah market that averages 80-plus days on market rarely requires the concessions that a 72-hour market did. If you're using DreamMaker or Georgia Dream, build your DDP length around both your own inspection and the city's repair-confirmation process, not just your lender's minimum. And if you're a seller, understand that a buyer asking for the customary ten to fourteen days in this market isn't being difficult. They're negotiating from a position the market itself has handed them.
A Few Direct Questions
Is there a legal minimum Due Diligence Period in Georgia? No. The length is negotiated and filled into the GAR contract by the buyer and seller. Ten to fourteen days is customary, but the actual number is whatever both sides agree to and write in.
What happens if I don't use the full Due Diligence Period? Once the window closes, your unrestricted right to terminate and recover earnest money for any reason goes away. After that, only the contingencies still active in your contract, most often financing, give you an exit.
Does the DreamMaker program work on any home in Savannah, or only new construction? DreamMaker applies to homes within Savannah's city limits and includes both resale and new construction, with the assistance tier depending on the property's location and construction type. Every property still has to pass the city's required inspection and repair confirmation before funding is committed.
The Due Diligence Period is one of the few parts of a Georgia contract you get to write yourself. In a market that has slowed down as much as Savannah's has this year, that blank line is worth filling in on purpose. If you want help thinking through the right number for your situation, whether you're buying, selling, or coordinating a purchase around down payment assistance, Lachandra Bodison is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a free consultation and let's build a plan around where the market actually stands today.
