HB 399 just turned one — here's who's quietly listing

One Year Into HB 399: Out-of-State Landlords Are Quietly Listing — Here's How to Find Them First

Hey — Josh here.

July 1 marked one year since Georgia's HB 399 took effect. Quick recap if you missed it: any out-of-state owner of a single-family or duplex rental in Georgia is now required to hire a licensed, in-state property manager to handle tenant communications. Self-managing from Ohio or California isn't an option anymore, and non-compliance can mean fines and local enforcement action.

A year is long enough for that requirement to sink in — and long enough for a chunk of those owners to decide the math doesn't work anymore. A GA-licensed property manager typically runs 8–10% of monthly rent on top of whatever leasing and maintenance fees already existed. For an out-of-state owner who was self-managing to keep their numbers tight, that's a real hit to cash flow, layered on top of a market that's already asking more of landlords.

That's the opening. Here's the current market backdrop, and then the exact list I'm building to find these sellers before they hit the MLS.

Where the market sits right now

• Metro Atlanta inventory is loosening: FMLS reported 30,116 homes for sale in July, up 5.4% across all property types, with average sales price at $567,566 (up 3.9% year-over-year for detached homes).
• Sale-to-list price ratio is holding essentially flat at 96.3%, meaning well-priced, well-prepared listings are still moving — but there's less urgency pushing sellers than a year or two ago.
• Broader BHHS Georgia data has months of supply sitting in the high-3s to mid-4s range through the spring, up from the ultra-tight conditions of a few years back. Buyers — and investors making offers — have more room to negotiate than they've had in a while.

None of that is dramatic on its own. What it means for you: sellers aren't getting bailed out by a hot market the way they were in 2021–2022. An out-of-state landlord who's on the fence about compliance costs isn't looking at a market that's going to solve the problem for them by appreciating fast. That's what's pushing some of them toward selling instead of hiring a PM.

The 3-list stack for finding them

This is the exact sourcing sequence I'm running this month:

• County tax assessor absentee-owner filter. Pull records where the mailing address doesn't match the property address, and the mailing ZIP is out of state. Most metro Atlanta counties let you export this from their online GIS/tax portal.
• Cross-reference against the GA Secretary of State LLC search. If the property is held in an LLC and the registered agent is also out of state — or the LLC's registration has lapsed — that's a second signal the owner isn't set up to comply cleanly.
• Overlap both lists against the county delinquent tax roll. Owners who show up on all three lists are carrying the most financial pressure in the pool. That's your priority call/mail list.

Skip trace the overlap, not the full list — it's a smaller, higher-intent group and your response rate will be meaningfully better than a blind absentee-owner mailer.

Zip codes to prioritize

If you're not sure where to start, metro Atlanta's traditionally landlord-heavy pockets are still a good filter to layer on top of the absentee-owner list: East Point, College Park, Decatur, Kirkwood, and Grant Park all have a higher concentration of small-portfolio out-of-state ownership than the metro average. Start there, then expand.

This week's move

Pull your county's absentee-owner list this week. Even if you don't get to the full 3-list overlap by Sunday, having the raw absentee list in hand puts you a step ahead of the investor who's still only working the MLS.

Build wealth. Build community. Build Atlanta.

— Josh
Dealmaker Atlanta

Sources:
Atlanta REALTORS® Market Brief
Metro Atlanta Market Update: Supply, Affordability & Predictions — BHHS Georgia Properties
Georgia HB 399: New Law Requires a Property Manager for Out-of-State Owners — RentAppeal
HB 399 (AS PASSED HOUSE AND SENATE) — Georgia Governor's Office