What does “as-is” mean?

Your Town Buyers buys homes as-is, which means homeowners do not need to make repairs, fix the property up, or prepare it for showings before selling.

What does an “all-cash offer” mean?

An all-cash offer means Your Town Buyers purchases the home directly without relying on traditional mortgage financing, reducing the risk of delays or financing falling through.

How fast is a fast closing?

Your Town Buyers states that it can make a no-obligation cash offer in as little as 24 hours and close in as little as 7 days.

What if I don’t need a fast closing?

Your Town Buyers says it can work on the homeowner’s time frame and schedule the closing on the day that works best for them.

Will you be listing my house on the MLS or actually buying it?

Great question. We're not agents, and we don't list houses. Here at Your Town Buyers, we are professional home buyers: We buy houses Memphis that meet our purchasing criteria, and we don't use bank financing so you don't have to worry about our ability to close on a deal. After purchasing, we may repair the house and resell it to another homeowner or keep it as a rental ourselves.

How are you different from a real estate agent?

Real estate agents list properties and hope that someone will buy them. The agent shows the properties to prospective buyers if there are any (the average time to sell a property in many markets right now is 4-6 months) and then takes a percentage of the sale price if they find a buyer. Oftentimes, the agent's commission is 3 to 6% of the sale price of your house. If it's a $100,000 house, you'll pay between $3,000 to $6,000 in commissions to an agent. Agents provide a great service for those that can wait 4+ months to sell and who don't mind giving up some of that sale price to pay for the commissions. But that's where we're different. We're not agents, we're home buyers. Our company buys the house directly from you. Since we pay with all cash and purchase the house from you, we can make a decision to buy your house within a couple of days (sometimes even the same day). Again, we make our living by taking the risk to buy the house with our own cash, repair the house, and market it ourselves to find a buyer.

Do you pay fair prices for properties?

Many of the houses we purchase are below market value. We do this so we can resell it at a profit to another homeowner. We are looking to get a fair discount on a property. In our experience, many sellers aren't necessarily expecting a large "windfall" on the property. Instead, they appreciate that we can offer cash, we close very quickly (no waiting for financing), and no time, effort, or expense is required on your part to fix up the property or pay agent fees. If that's what you're looking for and you see the value in getting your house sold fast, let's see if we can come to a win-win price for both parties. Our no-obligation pricing commitment means that you don't have to move forward with the offer we give… but it's good to know what we're offering!

How do you determine the price to offer on my house?

Great question, and we're an open book. Our process is very straightforward. We look at the location of the property, what repairs are needed, the current condition of the property, and the value of comparable houses sold in the area recently. Taking the many pieces of information into consideration, we come up with a fair price that works for us and works for you, too.

Are there any fees or commissions to work with you?

This is what makes us stand out from the traditional method of selling your house: there are NO fees or commissions when you sell your house directly to us compared to listing fees, where up to 6% comes out of your pocket. We'll make you an offer and, if it's a fit, then we'll buy your house with no hassles and no fees. We'll often pay for the closing costs, too! We make our money after we pay for repairs on the house and sell it for a profit. We're taking the risks here on whether we can sell it for a profit or not. Once we buy the house from you, the responsibility is ours and you walk away without the burden of the property and its payments, as well as cash in your hand.

Is there any obligation when I submit my information?

There is absolutely zero obligation for you. Once you tell us a bit about your property, we'll take a look at things, maybe set up a call with you to find out a bit more, and make you an all-cash offer that's fair for you and fair for us. From there, it's 100% your decision on whether or not you'd like to sell your house to us. We'll let you decide what's right for you.

Do you buy houses in any condition?

Yes. We buy houses in all conditions, including properties that need repairs, fire or water damaged homes, vacant houses, inherited properties, and homes with code violations.

Do I need to clean out my house before selling?

No. You do not need to clean, remove furniture, or clear out personal items. We buy houses as-is and handle everything after closing.

What if I'm not ready to sell yet?

That's completely fine. There is no obligation to accept our offer, and you are free to take your time deciding what works best for you.

How to File a Quitclaim Deed in Tennessee, Steps and Fees

A quitclaim deed can legally transfer nothing at all, and the register of deeds will still stamp it and file it away. That isn’t a flaw in the form. It’s the whole design. I’ve been buying houses across Tennessee for years, and quitclaims turn up in about half the tangled title situations I walk into.

What Is a Tennessee Quitclaim Deed?

A quitclaim deed hands over whatever ownership interest the grantor happens to hold. No more, no less. On the sales I’ve worked, that gap burns buyers far more often than sellers, and it makes zero guarantees about liens, boundary disputes, forgotten mortgages, or whether the grantor owned anything to begin with. Compare that to a warranty deed, where the grantor promises good title and agrees to defend it against claims that predate their ownership.

Tennessee recognizes a short statutory form for this kind of conveyance at Tenn. Code Ann. 66-5-103(2). Thirteen words do the work: “I hereby quitclaim to A. B. all my interest in the following land.” The wording you pick decides what you actually end up holding. A deed reciting “remises, releases, and forever quitclaims” still reads as a quitclaim. Slip in warranty language and you’ve changed the document into something else, along with how it gets taxed.

When Do You Need a Quitclaim Deed in Tennessee?

Memphis homes sold at a median of $187,276 over the three months ending August 2026, after 36 days on market, according to Redfin. At that price point, a clouded title isn’t a paperwork annoyance. It’s real money sitting frozen. Divorce settlements, adding a spouse after marriage, moving a rental into a revocable living trust, clearing a sibling off an inherited house: those are the spots where I’ve seen this deed do real work.

Not long ago I worked with an out-of-state heir whose mother’s place in Cordova held thirty years of belongings, including a garage stacked floor to ceiling with canning jars. Her two brothers wanted out clean, and they wanted it done before Thanksgiving. Quitclaim deeds from both brothers consolidated the title into her name, and we closed on the house as-is a few weeks later.

That’s the honest use case. A quitclaim moves ownership between people who already trust each other. If a tangled title is the only thing holding up a sale, here is how we buy houses in any condition, deed problems included.

What Are the Benefits of a Tennessee Quitclaim Deed?

I used to describe a quitclaim to sellers as the budget version of a warranty deed, which is a bad way to think about it. Each instrument does a different job, since one conveys interest and the other conveys interest plus a promise.

Speed is the obvious draw. A one-page deed, a notary, and a trip to the courthouse can resolve in an afternoon what a probate filing drags out for months.

Tax treatment helps too. Tennessee’s realty transfer tax normally runs on the greater of consideration or fair market value, but for a genuine quitclaim it’s figured on the actual consideration alone, per Shelby County’s filing guidelines and Tenn. Code Ann. 67-4-409. A family transfer where nothing is paid can show $0.00 on its face and owe no tax at all. Several transfers are exempt outright, including adjustments of property rights between divorcing parties and moves into a revocable living trust the owner created.

What Are the Drawbacks of a Tennessee Quitclaim Deed?

A homeowner who found us looking for cash home buyers in Bartlett once handed me a quitclaim from an uncle and assumed the debt question was settled. It wasn’t. An old deed of trust was still riding on the property, and the lender didn’t care whose name appeared on the new document.

In Tennessee, liens travel with the real estate rather than the signature. A quitclaim clears nothing: not judgments, not tax liens, not a mechanic’s lien. If the grantor never held valid title, you now own their nonexistent interest and have no recourse against them.

Does your property carry a mortgage? Talk to the lender before recording anything. Most deeds of trust contain a due-on-sale clause, and a transfer can trip it.

Title insurers get twitchy about quitclaims in the chain, which can slow a future sale. Buyers with conventional financing usually want a warranty deed instead, and I’ve watched closings stall over exactly that. My standing advice: use a quitclaim inside a family or a trust, and reach for something stronger in an arm’s length sale.

What Must a Tennessee Quitclaim Deed Include?

“Can’t I just write down the address and sign it?” No, and the register will hand it back.

Your deed needs the grantor and grantee identified by name, address, and marital status, plus the granting language. The legal description has to be copied exactly from the prior recorded instrument, never paraphrased off the assessor’s website. A derivation clause is required too, under Tenn. Code Ann. 66-24-110. It recites where the grantor got title and cites the earlier deed’s book and page or instrument number.

Then come the pieces homeowners skip: the preparer’s name and address, the parcel ID from the assessor of property, and the name and address of whoever gets the property tax bill going forward.

Signing comes next, and the grantor’s signature has to be acknowledged before a notary, or proved by at least two subscribing witnesses, though every register I’ve worked with expects the notary. One detail trips people constantly. The sworn oath of consideration comes from the grantee, the grantee’s agent, or a trustee, never the grantor, under Tenn. Code Ann. 67-4-409. Exempt transfers need no oath at all.

What Are Tennessee's Formatting Rules for Quitclaim Deeds?

Margins get deeds rejected more often than substance does. The first page should carry top and bottom margins of at least three inches, with one-inch side margins and one-inch margins throughout the later pages, as summarized in DeedClaim’s Tennessee requirements. The register’s recording stamp lands in that top block, and it isn’t decorative.

Documents have to be in English, or arrive with a translation backed by an affidavit, and they need to be legible enough to reproduce cleanly. Registers can refuse anything that fails either test.

County quirks sit on top of the Tennessee rules. Metropolitan-government counties, meaning Davidson, Moore, and Trousdale, want a property map number and a note on whether the parcel is improved. Shelby County asks for the property address unless the lot is vacant, plus a ward, block, and parcel number.

Type the document. Handwritten deeds still show up, and every one I’ve seen created an argument later about a smudged digit in the parcel number.

How Do You File a Quitclaim Deed with the Tennessee Register of Deeds?

Recording isn’t optional if you want the transfer to mean anything to the outside world.

Take the signed, notarized deed for recording to the register of deeds in the county where the land sits, which may have nothing to do with where you live. Tennessee has 95 registers, and most now accept e-recording with same-day turnaround. That has saved me a trip more than once while closing on a house out of town. The fee comes from state statute: $10 for a document of one or two pages, $5 for each page after that, plus a $2 data processing charge. So $12 covers a typical deed. The Shelby County Register of Deeds publishes its full schedule online.

Transfer tax runs $0.37 per $100 and gets paid by the grantee. The register collects it and can’t record the deed until it’s satisfied. Keep the stamped receipt. It fixes your priority date, and a missing stamp is the cheapest way to lose it.

I still pull the recorded copy a week later and read it. Registers scan thousands of pages, and the occasional book-and-page error or skipped exhibit only gets fixed quickly if you catch it quickly.

When Is a Quitclaim Deed the Wrong Tool?

A quitclaim transfers whatever interest the grantor owns, and nothing more. If the grantor owns nothing, the grantee receives nothing, and no promise exists to fall back on.

That makes it a poor fit for an arm’s length sale. Buyers paying real money should ask for a warranty deed, which carries covenants of title, or at minimum a special warranty deed limited to the grantor’s own years of ownership. Lenders and title underwriters tend to feel the same way. That is one reason a seller who needs to sell a house fast in Germantown often takes a cash offer and a clean warranty deed instead.

Quitclaims earn their keep in narrower spots: clearing a cloud on title, or adding and removing a spouse after marriage or divorce. They also handle moving property into a revocable living trust or an LLC you control, and correcting a misspelled name in an earlier deed. Anyone transferring property during a divorce should pause here, because a quitclaim moves title without removing anyone from the mortgage note. That takes a refinance or a written release from the lender.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a Quitclaim Deed Remove My Name From the Mortgage?

No. The deed changes who owns the property. Your note is a separate contract with the lender, and the only reliable exits are a refinance in the remaining owner’s name or a written release from the lender.

Do I Owe Tennessee Transfer Tax on a Gift or a Family Transfer?

Usually not, if the transfer runs through a quitclaim deed. Tennessee taxes a quitclaim on the actual consideration given, so a family gift with nothing paid owes nothing. Other deed types get measured on consideration or value, whichever is greater. Ask the register’s office which category yours falls in before you pay.

How Long Does Recording Take in Tennessee?

E-recorded deeds often come back the same business day. Walk-in filings are typically stamped while you wait, with the scanned copy available online within a few days, depending on the county.

Can I Write My Own Quitclaim Deed?

Tennessee law doesn’t require an attorney. It does require a legal description, proper execution, and the right tax handling, and those are where self-prepared deeds fail. A short review before recording costs far less than a corrective deed later.

What Happens If I Never Record the Deed?

The transfer can still bind the grantor and grantee, but an unrecorded deed loses to a later buyer or creditor who records first. Recording takes an afternoon, so there’s no good reason to wait.

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