Does Tennessee have a state income tax?

No. Tennessee has no state income tax.

What property tax rate should I assume for a Tennessee DSCR calculation?

This directory lists Tennessee's property tax rate at 0.7%, which is 0.13 points below the South average of 0.83%. Use it as a starting assumption, not a substitute for the actual county tax bill on a specific property.

By state · South

Tennessee investor property lending

Q: Which lenders lend in Tennessee?

This directory does not publish a lender-by-state list. State licensing for private and hard money lenders is not uniform, so coverage has to be confirmed directly with each lender.

Tennessee charges no state income tax — a real, ongoing input into hold economics for a rental investor, even though it never appears inside a DSCR ratio itself. Property tax runs 0.7%, 0.13 points below the South average of 0.83%.

Carrying cost and DSCR

Tennessee's property tax rate in this dataset is 0.7% — 35 of the other 49 states run a higher rate, 12 run a lower one, and it comes in 0.13 points below the South average of 0.83%. That rate isn't decorative: it sets the monthly escrow line inside a DSCR loan's PITIA, and a higher escrow means a higher rent is needed to clear the same coverage ratio at the same purchase price. Run Tennessee's rate through the DSCR calculator against a real rent and price to see where a specific deal actually lands.

Tennessee also charges no state income tax, which doesn't touch the DSCR ratio itself but does change what an investor actually keeps from the rent that clears it.

What's specific to Tennessee

Tennessee no state income tax. Memphis among deepest cash flow markets. Nashville STR contested. Smoky Mountains STR (Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg) major market.

This site's classifications for Tennessee

The four labels below are this site's own directional classification — not a lender's underwriting policy, a law firm's opinion, or a licensing determination. Each one states its basis; where the research note above doesn't specifically support a label, that's said plainly rather than dressed up.

DSCR-friendliness

medium

This site classifies Tennessee's DSCR-friendliness as its own directional read, not a lender's underwriting policy or a legal standard. The basis is carrying cost: a property tax rate of 0.7% (0.13 points below the South average of 0.83%) feeds directly into the monthly PITIA a DSCR ratio is measured against, and Tennessee charges no state income tax, which helps hold economics even though it plays no part in the DSCR math itself. Our research notes on Tennessee also describe specific rent-to-price or cash-flow characteristics in its metros, which factored into the label.

LLC-friendliness

high

LLC-friendliness here reflects this site's general, directional read of the state's entity-formation and landlord-tenant posture. This dataset doesn't include state-specific LLC statute detail for Tennessee, so treat the label as directional, not legal guidance — confirm entity requirements with an attorney licensed in Tennessee.

Prepayment-penalty treatment

standard

Tennessee is classified on prepayment-penalty treatment as this site's own directional read, not a citation to Tennessee law. Nothing in this dataset cites a specific statute or case; the label reflects a general sense of how restrictively the state treats prepayment penalties on business-purpose investor loans. Confirm the actual prepayment structure in the loan documents themselves, not from this label.

Short-term-rental rules

restrictive

Short-term-rental rules are classified from the STR-specific detail in the research note above — that's the direct basis for Tennessee's label.

Top metros in Tennessee

The metros this dataset flags for investor activity in Tennessee: Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga. This directory doesn't publish metro-level pages, so none of those names link anywhere further — treat the list as context for where activity concentrates, not a ranked or exhaustive list.

Which lenders write loans in Tennessee?

This directory does not maintain a lender-by-state list. Only 13 of the 37 lenders tracked here publish a statesCovered figure at all, and that figure is a count of how many states a lender covers — not a list of which ones. Nothing in this dataset maps a specific lender to Tennessee. State licensing for private and hard money lenders is not uniform, so a lender active next door may or may not be licensed here. Confirm coverage directly with each lender in the lender directory.

South in context

Across the 14 South states in this dataset, the average property tax rate is 0.83% and the average top income tax rate is 3.92%. Tennessee runs 0.13 points below the South average of 0.83% on property tax.

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