Sell a House With Back Taxes in Cordova, Memphis

In Cordova, back taxes usually do not end at a tax sale. They end at your mortgage. Most houses out here are financed, and a servicer that spots a delinquent tax bill pays it to protect its own lien position — then hands you the cost back as an escrow advance. Your payment jumps a few hundred dollars, you cannot cover it, and the letters arriving are foreclosure letters, not Trustee letters. That clock is far shorter than the one every “we buy houses” article warns you about. We buy Cordova houses in exactly this spot — arrears paid at closing, no repairs, no cleanout. Call (901) 531-9917 and we will run the payoff math first.

Why Cordova owners behind on taxes call us

Cordova’s median sale price sat near $325,000 in September 2026, with homes going under contract in about 36 days — roughly 40% faster than a year ago (Redfin). A fast market sounds like an argument for listing, until you add the 30–45 days a financed buyer needs to fund. That is ten weeks minimum, and it assumes their title work does not surface a tax suit and kill the loan — which is exactly what happens on delinquent parcels.

How a back-taxes sale works in Cordova

1. We figure out which bills you actually have. Not every Cordova address has a City of Memphis bill, and some have one for only part of their history — the most misunderstood thing about taxes in this ZIP.
2. We ask who has been paying — you or your servicer. If the mortgage company advanced the taxes, the debt moved off the Trustee’s ledger and onto your loan, which changes both the deadline and the payoff.
3. We check whether the parcel is in suit. Once the delinquent tax attorney files, statutory attorney fees, court costs and a title-search charge attach on top of tax and interest.
4. Written offer within 24 hours, arrears included. The title company pays the county and the city out of the purchase price. You bring nothing.
5. We close as-is on your date. Cordova stock is mostly 1,800–3,000 sq ft homes built 1988–2006, original HVAC, roofs at end of life. Typical close is 7–14 days.

A real Cordova back-taxes scenario

An owner on a street off Sanga Road in South Cordova had a 2003 two-story, financed since 2011. When Memphis released his section back to unincorporated Shelby County, he did what most of his neighbors did — concluded he was “out of the city” and stopped thinking about a Memphis tax bill. Two city years from the period when the house was inside the city limits had never been paid: about $4,800 in base tax before interest.

Separately, his servicer caught a missed county installment, advanced roughly $2,850, and re-ran his escrow. His payment rose $310 a month, he missed two, and the loan went into default. By the time he called us, the combined number — county, city, interest at 1.5% a month, and the fees that attached once the city account reached suit — was just under $11,900. We offered $289,000, paid every line at closing, and wired him about $274,000 on day ten. The alternative on the table was a substitute trustee’s sale in five weeks.

The Cordova wrinkle: a Memphis tax bill for years you were in Memphis

Memphis annexed South Cordova in 2012. Seven years later the City Council reversed course and voted to deannex a large piece of it, moving roughly 2,000 homes back into unincorporated Shelby County. Those owners stopped receiving a City of Memphis bill.

Here is the part nobody explains: deannexation changes what you owe going forward. It does not erase a tax already levied. For every year the parcel sat inside the city limits, that year’s City of Memphis bill remains a debt against the parcel, enforceable in Chancery Court like any other delinquency. So pulling your current tax bill proves nothing — today’s bill is county-only by design. The city years are a separate lookup, and they sit unnoticed for half a decade.

The second Cordova quirk: the city-limits line runs through the community, not around it. Parts of 38016 and 38018 are inside Memphis and parts are unincorporated, so two houses on the same road can carry different obligations. Advice from a neighbor is worth nothing here.

Why “just set up a payment plan” usually is not the answer

The Shelby County Trustee does offer payment arrangements, and they are worth a look. Three conditions surprise almost everyone:

• The parcel generally has to already be scheduled for a current tax sale to qualify. Being behind is not enough to get in.
• Every delinquent year must be included, and the plan cannot exceed 24 months, payments due by the 20th. Deep arrears divided by 24 often exceeds the mortgage payment.
• Partial payments apply to court and miscellaneous costs first, then interest, and to base tax last. You can pay faithfully for a year on a suit-stage balance and find the principal barely moved.

Meanwhile the 1.5% a month — 1% interest plus a 0.5% penalty — does not pause while a plan is pending.

Why a local end-buyer beats Opendoor or a wholesaler here

Cordova is the market an iBuyer likes: uniform subdivisions, recent builds, easy comps. The problem comes after the offer. An automated title review that turns up a tax suit, or an unpaid city year from the annexation period, gets a file cancelled rather than solved — and you have burned three weeks. Wholesalers are worse: the texts hitting your address are not from buyers. They tie the house up, shop it to an investor list, and walk if nobody bites. We do not assign your contract. We are the end buyer, our funds are in escrow at signing, and the number we quote is what the title company disburses. Tennessee’s SB909 disclosure rules exist because of that bait-and-switch.

FAQ

Q: Do I have to pay the back taxes before I can sell?
A: No. The arrears come out of your proceeds at closing.

Q: My section of Cordova was deannexed. Do I still owe Memphis anything?
A: For years the parcel was inside the city limits, yes — that levy does not disappear. We pull both county and city history before quoting.

Q: My mortgage company already paid the taxes. Am I in the clear?
A: Not really. That advance raises your escrow payment, and missing the new payment is a default under your deed of trust.

Q: What if suit has already been filed?
A: Still workable. Fees and court costs enlarge the payoff, but a sale that pays the suit in full ends it.

Q: Will you deduct for the roof and the 1990s HVAC?
A: No. As-is means as-is — no repair list, no re-trade after inspection, no appraisal contingency.

Q: What does this cost me?
A: Nothing. No commission, no seller closing costs, no fee for the offer.

Get your no-obligation cash offer

If a servicer has already advanced your taxes, the useful window is measured in weeks. Call (901) 531-9917 or use our cash offer page for a written number within 24 hours with the tax payoff worked in. Our office is at 5100 Poplar Ave Suite 2705, Memphis TN 38137. More answers on our FAQ page, plus selling a house with back taxes in Hickory Hill and selling an inherited house in Cordova.