Sell a House With Back Taxes in Frayser, Memphis
If you owe years of delinquent property taxes on a Frayser house, you can still sell it, and you do not have to come up with the money first — the back taxes come out of the closing proceeds the same way a mortgage payoff does. What you cannot do is wait. The assumption almost every Frayser owner makes about the tax-sale clock is wrong, and it is wrong in a way that costs people their houses.
Why Frayser sellers with back taxes call us
Frayser carries one of the highest concentrations of tax-delinquent parcels in Shelby County, and it is not because people here are careless. Much of the 38127 stock went up between 1955 and 1972 as worker housing for the Ford and International Harvester plants, and a large share of it is now owned free and clear — paid off decades ago or passed down to children. No mortgage means no escrow, and no escrow means nobody was quietly paying the tax bill on the owner’s behalf. The delinquency builds silently for years. Meanwhile the median sale price in Frayser sits near $105,000, up 19.3% year over year per Redfin, so a $15,000 tax balance is no rounding error — it is 14% of the house.
How a back-taxes sale works in Frayser
- Pull both bills, not one. Frayser sits inside Memphis city limits, so every parcel gets a City of Memphis bill and a Shelby County bill, billed and collected separately. Owners routinely pay one and assume they are square. City taxes go delinquent after August 31 and accrue 1.5% per month.
- Find out where you actually are. There is a real difference between “delinquent,” “suit filed by the Clerk & Master,” and “sold at tax sale.” Since April 2024, Shelby County tax sales run online through SRI at ZeusAuction.com — the sale can happen without you ever seeing a crowd on the courthouse steps.
- We inspect and make a written offer in 24 hours. No repair list. We know the 950–1,400 sq ft slab-built brick ranch that makes up most of Frayser, and we buy them with the roof gone.
- The taxes get paid at the closing table. Our title attorney orders the payoffs, and the delinquent taxes, interest, and any Clerk & Master court costs come off the top of the settlement statement. You sign, the rest is yours.
A real Frayser back-taxes scenario
A man in his sixties owned his late father’s 1961 three-bedroom brick ranch on Corning Avenue, a few blocks off Rangeline Road near Frayser High. Free and clear — his father burned the note in the 1980s. No mortgage, no escrow, and after his father died nobody opened a bill addressed to a dead man. By the time he called us he owed $9,400 to Shelby County and $6,100 to the City of Memphis, six years deep, with a Clerk & Master suit filed. We offered $98,000. At closing, $17,240 satisfied the taxes, interest, and court costs, about $2,100 covered title, and he walked out with $78,660 on day 12. Through a tax sale instead, any surplus sits with the court until he petitions for it.
The Tennessee redemption rule Frayser owners get wrong
Nearly everyone believes they get one year after a tax sale to buy their house back. That is only the default. Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 67-5-2701, the redemption period is tiered by how long the taxes have been delinquent:
- One year — delinquent five years or less
- 180 days — more than five years but less than eight
- 90 days — eight or more years delinquent
- 30 days — if the property is shown to be vacant or abandoned, regardless of how many years are owed
That last tier matters more in Frayser than anywhere else in Shelby County. The statute lets a purchaser show vacancy through inspections over a two-month window — three or more turning up evidence of abandonment is enough. Frayser is full of inherited, unoccupied houses. If yours sits empty while you decide what to do with it, you may have 30 days, not 365. And the clock starts when the court enters the order confirming the sale, usually within 45 business days of the auction.
Why a local end-buyer beats Opendoor or a wholesaler here
Opendoor does not meaningfully buy in 38127, and no iBuyer algorithm will touch a parcel with a Clerk & Master suit on it — the title exception alone kills the deal. Wholesalers will take your call, though. They sign a contract, then spend three weeks shopping your address to an investor list while your redemption window burns, and if they never find a buyer they walk. We do not assign your contract. We are the end-buyer, our own funds close the deal, and our office at 5100 Poplar Ave Suite 2705, Memphis TN 38137 is a place you can drive to. Tennessee’s SB909 wholesaler-disclosure rules exist because of exactly that contract-flipping.
FAQ
Q: Do I have to pay the back taxes before I can sell?
A: No. They are paid from the sale proceeds at closing, exactly like a mortgage payoff. You bring nothing to the table.
Q: What if the taxes are more than the house is worth?
A: Call us anyway at (901) 531-9917. Court costs and interest are sometimes negotiable, and a sale can still make sense just to stop the liability from growing.
Q: My house already sold at tax sale. Is it too late?
A: Not necessarily. If the redemption period has not run, you may still redeem and sell — but find out which tier you are in first, because it may be 30 days, not a year.
Q: The deed is still in my late parent’s name. Can I sell?
A: Very common in Frayser. It takes a probate or heirship step first — start with selling an inherited Frayser house.
Q: Will you buy it if it needs everything?
A: Yes. Bad roof, no HVAC, fire damage, furniture left behind — as-is, and we haul away what you leave.
Get your no-obligation cash offer
If a Clerk & Master suit has been filed on your Frayser parcel, the useful window is measured in weeks. Call (901) 531-9917 or use our cash offer page and we will have a written number to you within 24 hours, both tax balances pulled so you know what you would net. Still weighing options? Our seller FAQ covers the alternatives. Mortgage default on top of the taxes: selling before foreclosure in Frayser. Just over the line: Raleigh back-taxes sales. (901) 531-9917.