When you sell a house for cash in Tennessee, the buyer normally covers the closing agent's fee, the title work, the recording costs, and the state transfer tax, and you pay off whatever is owed against the house out of your sale proceeds. That is the honest version of "we pay all closing costs." It means the buyer picks up the transaction costs. It does not mean your mortgage balance, your delinquent property taxes, or the lien a contractor filed against you disappear. Those come out of your side at the table, and they are the reason a $200,000 offer does not always mean a $200,000 check.

Below is every line that can show up on a Tennessee settlement statement in a cash sale, who normally pays it, and which ones are actually negotiable. I would rather you understand this before you sign anything, including anything with my name on it.

There are two piles of money, and people confuse them constantly

Pile one is transaction cost. This is what it costs to move the house from your name to someone else's name. Title search, title insurance, the closing agent's fee, recording the deed, the state transfer tax. In a cash purchase from a buyer like us, the buyer typically absorbs all of it.

Pile two is what you owe against the property. Mortgage payoff, home equity line, property taxes, HOA dues, judgment liens, IRS liens, mechanics liens. Nobody can pay those for you. They get satisfied out of the proceeds so the buyer receives clear title, and whatever is left is your check. This pile is the same whether you sell to a cash buyer, list with an agent, or sell to your neighbor.

When a cash buyer says "no closing costs," they are talking about pile one. When you hear a number and picture a check, you are thinking about pile two. Both parties can be telling the truth and still be talking past each other.

Pile one, the transaction costs, line by line

Title search and examination. A search of the county register's records to confirm you own what you are selling and find anything recorded against it. Usually a few hundred dollars. Buyer pays in a typical cash purchase.
Owner's and lender's title insurance. Priced off the sale price. In a cash purchase there is no lender policy, only the owner's policy that protects the buyer. Buyer pays.
Closing or settlement fee. What the title company or closing attorney charges to run the closing, prepare the settlement statement, and disburse funds. Buyer pays in most cash purchases.
Tennessee realty transfer tax. Set by state law at $0.37 per $100 of the greater of the sale price or the property's value, collected by the county Register of Deeds at recording. On a $200,000 sale that is $740. It is legally owed by the grantee, which means the buyer, and it is customarily the buyer's line in Tennessee. It is negotiable in writing, so read your contract rather than assuming.
Recording fees. The county's charge to record the deed and any lien releases. Modest, usually buyer paid.
Deed preparation. The attorney or title company drafting the warranty deed. Buyer side in most cash transactions.
Survey. Often skipped entirely in an as-is cash purchase. If a buyer wants one, that is the buyer's cost.

Notice what is not on that list, because it matters more than anything on it. There is no real estate commission, no lender origination fee, no appraisal fee, no discount points, and no buyer closing cost credit. Those are the costs that make a listed sale expensive, and they are the reason the comparison between a cash offer and a list price is never apples to apples. If you want to run that comparison honestly on your own house, I wrote out the full math in cash offer vs listing in Tennessee.

Pile two, what comes out of your side

Mortgage payoff

The title company orders a payoff statement from your lender that is good through a specific date. It is not your last statement balance. It includes interest accrued through the payoff date, and it can include a recording fee for the release of the deed of trust. If the closing slips past the payoff date, the title company orders an updated figure, and the number goes up slightly. That is normal, not a bait and switch.

Second mortgages, HELOCs, and solar loans

Anything recorded against the property has to be released. A home equity line has to be frozen and closed, not just paid down, or the lender will not release the lien. Financed solar panels are the one that catches people, because the equipment may carry a UCC filing that has to be handled separately. Tell your closing agent about it on day one, not the day before closing.

Property taxes, the Tennessee timing quirk

Tennessee property taxes are billed for the current calendar year with bills going out around October 1, payable through the end of February. That means if you close in June, the current year's bill does not exist yet, so the seller credits the buyer for January 1 through the closing date and the buyer pays the whole bill in the fall. If you close in November and the bill is already out and unpaid, it usually gets paid in full at closing and you are credited only for the days after closing.

If you are behind on taxes, the delinquent years get paid at closing, plus interest and penalty, and in some counties attorney fees if the county has already filed suit. This is a real number and it is worth asking the trustee's office for a payoff before you sign a contract, so nothing surprises you.

Liens and judgments

A judgment against you personally attaches to real property you own in that county. So do IRS liens, state tax liens, child support liens, HOA liens, and mechanics liens filed by a contractor who did not get paid. All of them have to be satisfied or released before a buyer gets clear title, and all of them come out of your proceeds. If you know of one, say so early. If you suspect one, the title search will find it, and it is far better to find it in week one than the morning of closing. I walked through the common ones and how each gets cleared in the article on selling a house with a tax lien.

HOA dues, transfer fees, and estoppel letters

If the property is in an HOA, expect unpaid dues to be collected at closing, and expect the association to charge something for the statement of account it provides. Some associations also charge a transfer fee. Who pays that one is genuinely negotiable and depends on the contract.

Utilities and municipal bills

Some Tennessee municipalities can attach unpaid water and sewer to the property. Final readings get handled at or shortly after closing.

A worked example, clearly labeled as an example

These are illustrative numbers, not a quote and not a real deal. Say the agreed cash price is $200,000 on a house with a $138,000 mortgage payoff, $2,100 in delinquent property taxes from last year, a $1,900 tax proration credit for the current year, and a $4,500 mechanics lien from a roofer.

Sale price: $200,000
Less mortgage payoff: $138,000
Less delinquent taxes: $2,100
Less current year tax proration credit to buyer: $1,900
Less mechanics lien payoff: $4,500
Less seller transaction costs: $0 in a typical buyer-pays-costs cash purchase
Seller proceeds: about $53,500

The offer was $200,000 and the check is roughly $53,500, and not one dollar of the difference was a fee charged to you. It was your own debt against the house. The same house listed at $230,000 would have subtracted commission, repair credits, and several more months of mortgage payments and taxes from that gap. That is the real comparison.

What to ask any cash buyer before you sign

"Send me a seller net sheet." Any legitimate buyer or title company can produce an estimate of your proceeds. If someone will not, that tells you something.
"Which closing costs are you paying, specifically?" Get the list, not the slogan.
"Are there any fees paid to you or your company at closing?" There should not be. Admin fees and processing fees charged to a seller are a warning sign.
"Which title company, and can I call them directly?" You should be able to reach the closing agent yourself.
"Is this price contingent on an inspection or a partner's approval?" An offer that gets renegotiated after you are under contract is not really an offer.

Those last three are the ones that separate a real buyer from someone shopping your contract. If you want the longer version of that warning list, it is worth reading before you talk to anyone.

Getting a real number for your house

Every one of these lines is knowable before you commit. Your lender can give you a payoff. The county trustee can give you a tax figure. A title company can run a search. And any buyer worth working with can hand you a net sheet in writing.

We buy houses across Middle Tennessee, and we walk sellers through this whether or not they end up selling to us. If you want to see exactly how we get to a number and what happens between the offer and the closing table, that is laid out in our buying process. And if the house needs work you have no interest in doing, selling as is in Tennessee explains what that actually means legally and what you still have to disclose.

This is general information about how Tennessee closings work, not legal or tax advice. For a lien, a judgment, or a tax question specific to your situation, talk to a real estate attorney or a CPA.

Who Pays What at Closing When You Sell a House for Cash in Tennessee