About This Site and Who Runs It
Program and regulatory figures verified September 19, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
A lender's site about a Tennessee problem that is half financing and half a county-by-county property tax lookup nobody does for you.
Why the site is shaped this way
Most writing about buying before selling comes from the real estate side and focuses on the offer. That is their expertise. What usually decides whether a Tennessee move-up or move-down buyer can act is the financing, and here it is entangled with a property tax freeze that exists in some counties and not others.
An owner frozen since 2008 who moves restarts at 2026 taxes, or gets nothing at all if the destination county never adopted the program. That difference is permanent and it sits inside the payment we underwrite, which makes it our problem as much as anyone's.
Why we publish the county table
Because nobody publishes it for this audience. The Comptroller maintains the list of adopting counties and cities with their income limits, and it is authoritative, but it is a government table aimed at trustees rather than at someone deciding where to buy.
Putting it next to the financing question is the whole point of that page. The list changes as jurisdictions adopt, which is why we date it and tell you to confirm with your county trustee.
One example of how we check
Several widely circulated pages state Tennessee's 2026 property tax relief figures as $32,700 of market value and $37,530 of income. The Comptroller's own 2026 brochure says $33,600 and $38,470. The circulating figures are the prior program year.
We use the brochure. That is the general rule here: where a secondary source and a primary source disagree, the primary source wins, and if we cannot verify a figure at all we leave it off rather than repeating it.
What we deliberately do not do
We do not advise on purchase contracts, contingencies or offer terms. We are lenders, not licensed real estate agents or attorneys. We do not administer the freeze or the relief program or determine eligibility; your county trustee does. We do not publish county tax rates, because Tennessee rates are set locally and reset at reappraisal, and a stale rate is worse than a pointer to the trustee.
Reach us on the contact page, or start with the Tennessee guide.
Frequently asked questions
Are you a real estate agent?
No. Mike Certo is a mortgage loan originator, NMLS #260555, with Cornerstone First Mortgage, NMLS #173855. We finance the purchase; your agent represents you in it and handles the contract. Different licences, different jobs.
Can you tell me whether I qualify for the Tennessee tax freeze?
No. Your county trustee or city collecting official administers the program and determines eligibility, and applications are filed annually with them. What we do is take the outcome seriously when modelling your payment, because the property tax line sits inside the debt ratio that decides your approval.
Do you lend throughout Tennessee?
Yes, Tennessee statewide. The financing rules are the same across the state, but the property tax freeze is a local option adopted by only 27 of 95 counties and 36 cities, and conforming loan limits differ between the Nashville block and everywhere else, so your specific county matters a great deal here.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or real estate advice. Local tax freeze adoption, income limits, and landlord-tenant rules change and depend on your facts; your county trustee, your CPA or a Tennessee attorney, and your real estate agent each handle their own part. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.