FHA Loans in Alpharetta, GA: Homes Priced at the Fulton County Limit and the City's Own Tax Bill

Alpharetta homes sell for about what FHA is allowed to lend on them, and that changes your down payment. Redfin's Alpharetta market page put the median at $749,643 for the three months ending September 2026, and HUD's 2026 limit for a one-unit FHA loan in Fulton County is $718,750. On a home at that median, the smallest down payment that keeps the loan at the limit is $30,893, about 4.1 percent.

An FHA loan works on much of what sells in Alpharetta. On a home priced near the median you put down a little more than the 3.5 percent minimum, because the Fulton County loan limit caps what FHA will lend. I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, a mortgage broker licensed in Georgia through C2 Financial Corporation, and I have been in the mortgage business since 1996. My office is in Bluffton, South Carolina, and I work with Alpharetta clients by phone and email.

My page on Alpharetta itself covers the city, its history and the North Point plan for any kind of loan, and the Atlanta area page covers the 29 counties. This page stays with what changes when the loan is an FHA loan and the home is in Alpharetta. The FHA rules below come from HUD's Handbook 4000.1, which is HUD's rulebook for lenders making FHA loans, and I checked every local fact on November 4, 2026. The Georgia FHA page covers the program basics and lists the limit for every county in the state.

The 2026 FHA limit in Fulton County against what Alpharetta homes sell for

The whole city is in Fulton County, and HUD's 2026 limits file sets the one-unit FHA limit there at $718,750, the same figure as neighboring Forsyth County. The limit applies to the base loan, which is the loan before FHA's upfront mortgage insurance premium is added. FHA will lend 96.5 percent of the price or the appraised value, whichever is lower, and the base loan stops at the limit if the limit comes first.

Alpharetta's median lands on both sides of that limit, depending on who is counting and over how many months. Redfin's three-month figure through September 2026 was $749,643, above it. Momentum Realty's Alpharetta market page, a brokerage's own data page refreshed on November 2, 2026, put the twelve-month median at $705,000 across the 773 sales it analyzed, below it. Neither one is the price of the home in front of you, and a single sale in Alpharetta can run well under or well over either figure. The two medians together show the arithmetic:

Illustration: FHA base loan at two Alpharetta medians	Redfin, three months to September 2026	Momentum, twelve months to November 2, 2026
Home price	$749,643	$705,000
96.5 percent of the price	$723,406	$680,325
Base loan FHA will insure	$718,750, the Fulton County limit	$680,325
Down payment	$30,893, about 4.1 percent	$24,675, the 3.5 percent minimum
Upfront premium, 1.75 percent of the base loan, financed	$12,578	$11,906
Total loan with the premium financed	$731,328	$692,231

On the lower median the 3.5 percent minimum does the work. On the higher one the limit takes over and asks for $4,655 more at closing than 3.5 percent would. The crossover is a price of $744,819, where 96.5 percent of the price equals the limit, and above that every added dollar of price is an added dollar of down payment.

The upfront premium goes on top of the limit, so your final loan can run a little over $718,750 when you finance it. The loan-limits box below this article shows the Fulton County figures.

Mortgage insurance on an Alpharetta FHA loan

Every FHA loan carries two premiums. The upfront one is 1.75 percent of the base loan, financed into the loan or paid in cash at closing, and the table above shows it on both medians. The annual one is collected in monthly installments, and its rate depends on the size of the base loan and how much you put down.

For a loan term longer than 15 years, the Handbook's premium chart draws a line at a base loan of $726,200. Loans at or under that line with more than 95 percent financing pay 0.55 percent a year for the life of the loan, and loans above it pay 0.75 percent. Fulton County's limit is under that line, so an FHA purchase loan in Alpharetta pays the lower rate. At the full $718,750 base loan, 0.55 percent is about $3,953 a year, or $329 a month, and it falls in step with a smaller base loan. Put down 5 percent or more and the rate drops to 0.50 percent. Put down 10 percent or more and the premium ends after 11 years.

A credit score of 580 or higher allows the 3.5 percent minimum. A score from 500 to 579 limits the loan to 90 percent of the value, which means 10 percent down. These figures cover only the loan and its mortgage insurance. Your full payment also includes property tax, homeowners insurance and any association dues, and I quote no rate on this page.

Two property tax bills inside one FHA escrow payment

The City of Alpharetta's own 2026 Property Tax Guide answers the question "My mortgage company is responsible for paying my property taxes, what do I need to do?" with one line: forward a copy of the tax bill to your mortgage company so there is no delay in payment. A home inside the city limits gets two property tax bills a year, Fulton County's and the City's, and the lender's escrow department, the group that collects your tax and insurance money each month, has to pay both.

The escrow account is where your lender collects a twelfth of your tax and insurance bills each month and pays them when due. FHA counts those taxes in your total payment, along with homeowners insurance, flood insurance where it applies, the annual premium and any association dues. The lender has to estimate your monthly tax escrow accurately when it figures that payment, so I run an Alpharetta payment on both bills.

A mill is one dollar of tax for every $1,000 of assessed value, and Georgia assesses a home at 40 percent of its fair market value. The City's guide, updated October 2026, sets the city rate for 2026 at 5.750 mills, unchanged, with 5.050 mills for general government and 0.700 mills for debt on voter-approved bonds. City taxes are due December 1. The City's basic homestead exemption takes $45,000 off the assessed value for the general government part of the bill and leaves the debt part alone. The City also caps the yearly growth in a homesteaded home's taxable value at 3 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Illustration: City of Alpharetta tax on the Redfin median, before credits
Home value used	$749,643
Assessed at 40 percent	$299,857
General government, 5.050 mills, after the $45,000 exemption	about $1,287
Bond debt, 0.700 mills, no exemption	about $210
City bill with the basic homestead exemption	about $1,497 a year, or $125 a month
City bill with no exemption	about $1,724 a year

The exemption is not on the bill in your first year for most closings. The City's guide says you have to own and occupy the home as your permanent residence on January 1, and Fulton County's March 2026 notice set the application deadline at April 1 for that year's bill. A client who closes in March 2027 did not own the home on January 1, 2027, so the first bill with the exemption on it is the 2028 bill. The escrow I set up at closing uses the bill the home will actually get, and it comes down after the exemption posts. You file the basic exemption with the Fulton County Board of Assessors at its Maxwell Road office in Alpharetta or online, and the City's guide sends the city's basic exemption application to that same office. My post on filing the Georgia homestead exemption after closing walks through it.

Fulton County's bill carries the county and school taxes, and this year it came on its own calendar. The county's 2026 tax digest was not final in time, so a judge let the county send temporary bills at 2025 millage rates, due October 15. CBS News Atlanta reported that Alpharetta, Milton and Roswell were left out of that order. Alpharetta sends its own city bill, due December 1. The lender collects a twelfth of each bill every month and pays each one when it comes due.

An Alpharetta mailing address does not settle which bills a home gets. Parts of Roswell carry Alpharetta addresses in the 30009 and 30022 ZIP codes, Patch reported, and Halcyon carries an Alpharetta address but is in southern Forsyth County, outside the city limits. The Fulton County assessor's record for the parcel shows which city taxes it, and that record is what I use.

Georgia's intangible recording tax on an Alpharetta FHA loan

Georgia charges a tax when the security deed, the document that pledges the home as collateral for your loan, is recorded. The Georgia Department of Revenue sets it at $1.50 for each $500, or fraction of $500, of the face amount of the note, with a statutory cap on any single note. The lender owes it and may pass it to you, so it shows up as a line in your closing costs.

The tax is figured on the whole note, so a financed upfront premium counts. On the $731,328 total loan in the table above, that is 1,463 units of $500 at $1.50 each, or about $2,195. On the $692,231 loan, about $2,078. FHA lets a seller or builder contribute up to 6 percent of the sales price toward your closing costs, prepaid items (such as the first tax and insurance deposits) and discount points (money paid up front to lower the rate). That credit can cover the intangible tax. My article on seller extras under FHA walks through the cap and what happens above it. Georgia closes through an attorney, and the Georgia page covers the attorney's role and the transfer tax, which falls on the seller unless the purchase contract says otherwise.

Sixty days to move in, and the April 1 filing

FHA is for the home you live in. At least one client on the loan has to move in within 60 days of signing the security deed and intend to stay at least a year. FHA also insures only one home per client as a principal residence, with a short list of exceptions. That move-in is what the homestead exemption is built around, so an FHA closing and the exemption fit together: you move in, you own and occupy on the next January 1, and you file by April 1.

Townhomes near downtown and at North Point: fee simple or condominium unit

Two of the for-sale projects reported near Alpharetta's centers are townhomes. Trilogy Investment's Uptown Rowe is 16 townhomes on 2.2 acres near downtown. Move-ins were expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, Atlanta Agent Magazine reported, and in July 2023 the council rezoned 8.6 acres at North Point for 85 for-sale townhomes by The Providence Group, according to Appen Media. Neither report says whether the townhomes are fee simple, where you own the home and the lot outright, or condominium units, and that difference decides what FHA asks for.

A fee simple townhome works like any other home. A condominium unit has three routes to FHA. It can be in a project on HUD's approved list, it can pass a single-unit approval, or it can be a site condominium, where your unit is the home and the land under it. For a project on the approved list, the lender confirms that at least 35 percent of the units are owner-occupied. I have not checked any Alpharetta project against HUD's list, so I read the recorded declaration, the document filed with Fulton County that says how the community is owned, before you settle on a price. My article on condo warrantability covers the rest of the review, and the association's dues go into the payment from the association's own dues statement.

Big Creek and flood insurance in the FHA payment

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for Big Creek near Alpharetta in May and again in July 2026, and the July 24 warning said the water was starting to reach parts of the Big Creek Greenway. The USGS has published flood-inundation maps for a 12.4-mile reach of Big Creek built with the cities of Alpharetta and Roswell. For a specific home, FEMA's Flood Map Service Center shows whether any part of it is in a Special Flood Hazard Area, which is FEMA's high-risk zone, one beginning with A or V.

If it is, the Handbook requires flood insurance for the life of the loan, and the premium is part of the total mortgage payment next to the tax escrow. The zone is set by the map for the lot rather than by the neighborhood, so I run the address and get the premium quoted before you write the offer.

Things to look up on an Alpharetta address

• The Fulton County assessor's record for the parcel, which shows whether the home is inside the City of Alpharetta and which bills it gets.
• The current year's City of Alpharetta bill and Fulton County bill, with and without the homestead exemption, so the escrow is set on the bill you will actually get.
• The FEMA flood zone for the specific lot.
• For a townhome, the recorded declaration, fee simple or condominium unit, and the association's current dues statement.
• Your documents for the pre-approval. When you're ready, please provide your complete income tax returns, all pages and schedules, please. We will need the past two years for your personal returns and for any business that you may have an interest in. Please also provide your complete bank and asset statements, all pages, even if the last page is intentionally left blank. Pre-approval in Georgia lists the rest and what the letter should say.

Once you have an address or a community in mind, I can run the FHA payment with the parcel's two tax bills, the annual premium, the flood premium if the zone requires one and the association's dues in it. I will also set the down payment against the Fulton County limit. You'll see pricing for your scenario, choose a rate option, which you can change later, and the application opens from there. You are also welcome to call me and talk it through first.

Nothing on this page is a loan approval, a denial or a commitment to lend, and it is not tax advice. Fulton County's assessor sets the value, the City of Alpharetta and Fulton County set the exemptions and the bills, FEMA's map decides the flood zone and HUD's list decides a condominium project's status. Please confirm each before you rely on a figure here.

Common questions

What is the FHA loan limit in Alpharetta, GA for 2026?

It is HUD's 2026 one-unit limit for Fulton County, which includes all of the City of Alpharetta, and the limit section above and the loan-limits box below give the figure. The limit applies to the base loan before the upfront premium is added. Alpharetta's median sale price lands close to it, above it on Redfin's three-month figure and below it on a brokerage's twelve-month figure.

Is the FHA down payment in Alpharetta 3.5 percent?

Only when the price is low enough that 96.5 percent of it stays under the Fulton County limit. At Redfin's three-month median the limit takes over and the down payment is about 4.1 percent, and every dollar of price above that crossover adds to the down payment.

Does an FHA escrow in Alpharetta pay the city tax bill?

Yes. A home inside the city limits gets a City of Alpharetta bill due December 1 and a Fulton County bill for the county and school taxes. The lender's escrow collects a twelfth of both each month and pays each one when it is due. The City's own tax guide asks homeowners to forward the city bill to their mortgage company.

Does the Alpharetta homestead exemption lower my FHA payment right away?

Not in the first year for most closings. You have to own and occupy the home on January 1 and file with the Fulton County Board of Assessors by April 1, so the first bill with the exemption is usually the year after you close. The escrow starts on the bill without it and comes down after the exemption posts.

Can I use an FHA loan on an Alpharetta townhome?

Yes, once I know how the community is set up. A fee simple townhome works like any other home. A condominium unit needs the project on HUD's approved list, a single-unit approval, or site condominium status, and the recorded declaration filed with Fulton County shows which one you have.

How much is Georgia's intangible tax on an FHA loan in Alpharetta?

It is one dollar and fifty cents for each five hundred dollars of the note, including a financed upfront premium, with a statutory cap on any single note. The lender owes it and may pass it to you, and a seller credit within FHA's 6 percent cap can cover it.