Question 1

What do Tennessee recordation taxes add to a Nashville double close?

Accepted Answer

Budget the realty transfer tax twice. Tennessee charges $0.37 per $100, calculated on the greater of the consideration or the value of the property, and the statute puts it on the grantee. A double close is two conveyances, so on a $300,000 A-to-B leg that is $1,110 out of your side, and your end buyer pays their own on the B-to-C. There is a second tax to know about: the indebtedness tax, 11.5 cents per $100 of debt with the first $2,000 exempt, owed by the debtor whenever a note is recorded. On a $300,000 recorded note that runs about $343, and every recorded debt instrument has to carry the legend stating the maximum principal indebtedness for Tennessee recording tax purposes. Price both lines into the spread before you sign, and have the exact figures confirmed on your settlement statement.

Question 2

Do I need a real estate license to wholesale in Nashville?

Accepted Answer

That is a question for a Tennessee real estate attorney, and we will not pretend otherwise. The one statute we can point to is TCA 62-13-104, which exempts an owner of real estate acting with respect to property they own from the broker licensing requirements. The carve-back is the part that matters to a wholesaler: the exemption does not cover acts performed as a vocation, or where compensation is tied to the value of the property. Whether a given assignment or double-close structure sits inside or outside that line depends on facts we are not in a position to judge, and we could not source current Tennessee Real Estate Commission guidance on wholesaling. Get your contract, your assignment language, and your disclosures reviewed by Tennessee counsel before you run a program on them. We are a lender, not your attorney.

Question 3

I am wholesaling a teardown lot to a tall-skinny builder. What changed in Nashville's code?

Accepted Answer

The height envelope got shorter and the entitlement got easier, both at the end of 2025. BL2025-1006 passed on December 16, 2025 and took effect December 26, 2025, with the height table effective February 27, 2026. It cut the maximum from 3 stories to 2.5 across the single-family and two-family bulk table, capped height to the eave at 24 feet and to the ridge at 35 feet, and kept the tall-skinny ratio at 1.0 horizontal to 1.5 vertical for each of two detached units on one lot. Inside the loop bounded by I-65, I-40 and I-24, a 3-story, 45-foot envelope still applies. Running the other way, the old five-part conditions test for two-family was deleted in full, so two-family is now permitted on any lot legally created under state law or within an approved final plat that meets the district minimum lot size. Note the RS districts are single-family only. If your buyer priced the lot off a 3-story pro forma outside the loop, the yield changed, and that is worth confirming with them before you go under contract on the B-to-C.

Question 4

My end buyer wants to run it as a short-term rental. Does the seller's permit come with the house?

Accepted Answer

No. A Davidson County short-term rental permit dies at closing. The ordinance text is explicit that a permit shall not be transferred or assigned to another individual, person, entity, or address, and Tennessee's own preemption statute at TCA 13-7-601 and following ends grandfathered status on sale or transfer. On top of that, new not-owner-occupied permits are not available in AR2A, R, RS or RM zoning, which is the entire conventional residential stack. They issue only as a use permitted with conditions in mixed-use, office, commercial, downtown and shopping-center districts. So if you are marketing a residentially zoned house on the seller's short-term rental income, the buyer will not inherit that income or the permit. Sell the property, not the pro forma, and send your buyer to Metro Codes before they underwrite the exit.

Question 5

How much lead time does a Tennessee foreclosure sale give me to line up an end buyer?

Accepted Answer

At least 20 days from the first publication, and the date is knowable in advance. Tennessee forecloses by non-judicial power of sale under TCA 35-5-101 and following. The notice runs three times in a newspaper in the county where the property sits, with the first publication at least 20 days before the sale, and a copy goes to the debtor and any co-debtor by registered or certified mail on or before that first publication. That publication window is your working time to confirm an end buyer and get funding lined up against a date that is already set. Sales can be postponed within one year without republishing, announced at each scheduled date, with 10 days of mailed notice if the postponement runs more than 30 days, so verify the current sale date rather than the one you first read. Tennessee also has a two-year redemption right under TCA 66-8-101 that can be expressly waived in the deed of trust. Whether it was waived on a specific property is a title question. Have your closing team answer it in writing before you commit to a resale.

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