Quick answer (as of November 2026) You can buy a house in Tennessee from another state and do most of the steps from home. Get preapproved with a loan officer authorized for Tennessee, tour by recorded video and one short trip, finish inspections inside the inspection period written into your contract, and confirm every wire by phone. Tennessee has allowed online notarization since July 1, 2019, though your lender and title company decide how you sign. Tennessee doesn't tax earned income, and your property tax depends on the county and city the address sits in.
The listing photos look great and the price fits. But you live in another state, and you're about to wire earnest money on a house you've never stood in, without knowing which county it's in or what the tax bill will be.
I've made this move myself. I sold real estate in San Diego before I moved to Middle Tennessee, and I live in Canterbury in Thompson's Station. I've been selling real estate since 2013, with more than 500 transactions behind me. Here's every step of buying here from out of state, with the Tennessee rules that apply to each one. Tell me where you're moving from and when. DM me, text or call 615-392-1186.
Can I buy a house in another state if I don't live there?
Yes. You can buy a house in Tennessee while you still live in another state, and most of the work happens by phone, email and video. The parts that take planning are seeing the house, signing at closing and sending money.
How do you buy a house in Tennessee from another state?
You buy a house in Tennessee from another state in nine steps, and you can do most of them from home. Here's the order I run it in with out-of-state buyers.
- Get preapproved with a loan officer authorized to do business in Tennessee.
- Sign a written buyer agreement with your agent before you tour, in person or by video.
- Send me addresses, and I check the county, the city limits, the property tax and the flood map on each one.
- Watch the recorded walkthroughs I send as unlisted YouTube links.
- Make one short trip to see the top few homes.
- Write the offer with the inspection days, the closing date and any home-sale contingency spelled out.
- Finish your inspections inside the inspection period.
- Close in person, with a notary where you live, or online if your lender and title company allow it.
- Confirm every wire by phone on a number you saved early.
| Step | Can you do it from home? | What to watch in Tennessee |
|---|---|---|
| Preapproval | Yes | The loan officer shows as authorized for Tennessee on NMLS Consumer Access |
| Touring | Yes, by recorded walkthrough | A written buyer agreement comes first, for virtual tours too |
| Address check | Yes | County, city limits, property tax and flood map |
| Offer | Yes | Inspection days, closing date, and whether your loan depends on selling your current home |
| Inspection | Yes | A Tennessee-licensed inspector, with your response delivered inside the deadline |
| Final walkthrough | Yes | I'm there when I represent you |
| Closing | Often | Your lender and title company decide how you sign |
| Earnest money and closing funds | Yes, by wire | Instructions come from the title company, and you confirm them by phone |
Who should you get preapproved with when you buy in Tennessee from out of state?
Get preapproved with a loan officer who is authorized to do business in Tennessee, and check that before you send an application. NMLS Consumer Access is a free lookup that confirms whether a lender or loan officer is authorized to do business in a state. The Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions takes every loan officer license application through that same system.
Tell your lender up front if you have to sell your current home before you can buy. On the standard Tennessee REALTORS purchase agreement, your loan isn't contingent on selling another property unless the agreement says so. If you need that sale to close first, it has to be written into the contract.
Can you buy a house sight unseen in Tennessee?
Yes, you can buy a house in Tennessee without seeing it in person, but plan on more checking than you'd do on a house you could walk through. When you can't get here, I record a video walkthrough of the house and send you an unlisted YouTube link. You can rewatch it as many times as you need and show it to anyone else in the decision.
Before any tour, in person or by video, you'll sign a written buyer agreement. The National Association of Realtors says you'll be asked for one before touring a home with an agent "either in-person or virtually," and that agent pay is negotiable and not set by law.
A video can't show you everything, so read the paper too. Under Tenn. Code § 66-5-202, the seller of most resale homes gives you either a disclosure statement on the home's condition or, only if you waive that, a disclaimer. Look the address up on FEMA's flood map before your inspection period ends, and read what not to do when buying a house before you sign anything.
How do you plan a short house-hunting trip to Middle Tennessee?
Plan one short trip after you've watched the walkthroughs and cut your list to a few homes. I line up your top homes back to back so the trip counts, and you drive the commute at the hour you'd really drive it.
I work Franklin, Thompson's Station, Spring Hill, College Grove and Nashville. Start with my guides to Franklin, Thompson's Station, Spring Hill, College Grove and Nashville. For drive times, see how far Franklin is from Nashville and commute times from Thompson's Station. If you're buying in Thompson's Station from out of state, I wrote a page just for that.
Flying in? My guide to the closest airport to Franklin has the drive from BNA and a two-day house-hunting plan.
How does the inspection period work in Tennessee?
In Tennessee, the inspection period is the number of days you and the seller write into the purchase contract, counted from the day the agreement becomes binding. On the standard Tennessee REALTORS form, your inspections, including the wood destroying insect report, have to be done and your written response delivered inside that window.
Your written response picks one of three paths:
- End the contract with a written list of your objections. Your earnest money comes back to you.
- Accept the house as it is.
- Send a list of repairs you want. That starts a resolution period, a set number of days to agree on repairs in writing. If you don't reach a written agreement in that time, the contract ends and your earnest money comes back, unless you accept the house as it is.
Miss the deadline and you take the house in its current condition. From another state, that's the date I watch hardest, so book the inspector the day you go under contract.
Tennessee licenses home inspectors through the Department of Commerce and Insurance, in a program created in 2005, and you can verify a license on that site. The form also gives you the right to a final inspection on closing day or within a set number of days before it. When I represent you, I'm at the final walkthrough. My guide to how much to offer on a house covers the rest of the offer terms.
Can you close on a house in Tennessee remotely?
Often, yes. Tennessee has allowed online notarization since July 1, 2019, and a Tennessee online notary can notarize for you wherever you are, as long as the notary is in Tennessee. Your lender and your title company decide which documents you can sign that way, so ask them both in your first week under contract.
A title company or closing attorney usually runs a Tennessee closing. They work the title, prepare the settlement statement, handle the money and send the deed to the county Register of Deeds. From another state, you have three ways to sign:
- Fly in and sign at the title company's office.
- Sign before a notary where you live. Tennessee law lets a document be acknowledged outside the state before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments there (Tenn. Code § 66-22-103). Your title company tells you what each document needs.
- Sign online with a Tennessee online notary over two-way audio and video, under the state's Online Notary Public Act and Tenn. Code § 8-16-307, if your lender and title company accept it.
Budget for your side of the costs with my guide to closing costs in Tennessee and the Tennessee buyer closing cost calculator.
How do you avoid wire fraud when you buy a house from out of state?
Never send money because an email told you to. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warns that days before closing, scammers send emails posing as your agent with last-minute changes to the wiring instructions. Buying from another state, you'll wire your earnest money and your closing funds, so this applies twice.
The Tennessee REALTORS purchase agreement carries its own warning: "Never trust wiring instructions sent via email." It also tells buyers never to accept wiring instructions from their agent or broker. Your instructions come from the title company. If any ever look like they came from me, don't use them.
Here's what the CFPB tells buyers to do:
- Write down the contact information for two trusted people, like your agent and your settlement agent, and consider a code phrase only they know.
- Treat any last-minute change to the closing process as a red flag.
- Don't use phone numbers or links from an email. Call the numbers you saved.
- Don't email financial information.
- If you've sent money to a scammer, call your bank or wire company right away to stop or reverse the transfer, and file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Should you sell your home before you buy in Tennessee?
Decide that with your lender before you shop, because it changes how you write the offer. If you need the sale of your current home to close first, that contingency has to be written into your Tennessee contract.
If the home you're leaving has been your main home, IRS Publication 523, the edition for 2025 returns, lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain from the sale, or $500,000 if you're married filing jointly. To get the full exclusion, you generally need to have owned the home and lived in it for at least 24 months of the 5 years before the sale. Ask your CPA how the timing of your sale fits that rule.
Tax figures on this page are the federal rules as published for 2026 and are for planning only. I am a licensed Realtor (TREC 369038), not a tax professional or a lender. Confirm your own situation with a CPA, and any borrowing limit with your lender, before you rely on a number.
I'm licensed in Tennessee, so selling the home you're leaving needs an agent licensed in that state. If you don't have one, I'll interview Realtors there for you, free. I can see their production, so I check their actual sales track record and whether they're a good fit for you. The interviews are free to you. If you hire a Realtor I refer, I collect a referral fee from their brokerage.
Coming from California? My California Equity Calculator shows what your equity buys here, and moving from California to Tennessee covers the California tax rules on the sale.
What should newcomers know about Tennessee taxes and county lines?
Tennessee has no state income tax on earned income, so there's no state withholding from your paycheck, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue. The Hall tax on interest and dividends was repealed January 1, 2021.
Property tax works by county. The county assessor sets your home's appraised value, state law assesses a home at 25 percent of that value, and the county commission sets the rate. The Tennessee Comptroller uses this illustration: a $400,000 home is assessed at $100,000, and at a rate of $2.50 per $100 of assessed value, the tax is $2,500. Your real rate depends on the county, and on the city if the home is inside city limits.
Spring Hill sits in both Williamson and Maury counties, and the City of Spring Hill collects its property taxes separately from both counties. The city also asks new owners who don't receive a tax bill to contact its office, since accounting for every parcel is the owner's job. Before you write an offer, run the address through the U.S. Census geocoder. It shows the county and whether the home is inside city limits. My guides to what county Spring Hill is in and Spring Hill property taxes show how much the answer changes the bill.
Property tax figures are the county and city rates published for the year shown and are for planning only. Your actual bill depends on the assessed value, any exemptions and the city or district the home sits in. Confirm with the county assessor or trustee and your tax professional before you rely on a number.
For your license, plates and the rest of the move, start with my moving to Tennessee guide. Moving on military orders? Here's my 30-60-90 day PCS plan.
After closing, my guide on how to become a Tennessee resident lists every deadline, and your closing papers count as one proof.
What do out-of-state buyers say?
"I was out of state to start the process of home buying and Kimo still regularly called to check in and answer any questions I had." Joey P.
My family and I love living here and wouldn't change it. If you want the full picture of how I work with buyers moving in, read how I help out-of-state buyers.
Buying in Middle Tennessee from another state?
Send me the addresses you've been saving, even if it's a long list. I'll check the county, the city limits, the property tax and the flood map on each one, and record walkthroughs of the ones worth a closer look. DM me, text or call 615-392-1186.
Frequently asked questions
Can I buy a house in another state if I don't live there?
Yes. You can buy a house in Tennessee while you still live in another state, and most of the work happens by phone, email and video. The parts that take planning are seeing the house, signing at closing and sending money.
Can you buy a house sight unseen in Tennessee?
Yes, you can buy a house in Tennessee without seeing it in person, but plan on more checking than you'd do on a house you could walk through. When you can't get here, I record a video walkthrough of the house and send you an unlisted YouTube link. You can rewatch it as many times as you need and show it to anyone else in the decision.
How does the inspection period work in Tennessee?
In Tennessee, the inspection period is the number of days you and the seller write into the purchase contract, counted from the day the agreement becomes binding. On the standard Tennessee REALTORS form, your inspections, including the wood destroying insect report, have to be done and your written response delivered inside that window.
Can you close on a house in Tennessee remotely?
Often, yes. Tennessee has allowed online notarization since July 1, 2019, and a Tennessee online notary can notarize for you wherever you are, as long as the notary is in Tennessee. Your lender and your title company decide which documents you can sign that way, so ask them both in your first week under contract.
Does Tennessee have a state income tax?
Tennessee has no state income tax on earned income, so there's no state withholding from your paycheck, according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue. The Hall tax on interest and dividends was repealed January 1, 2021.
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