Germantown is a separate incorporated city in Shelby County with its own government and its own municipal school district. It is not a Memphis neighborhood, and the difference is not cosmetic. It is most of the reason a Germantown house is usually worth more on the open market than it is worth to us.
We will say that plainly on this page, because if you are reading it we would rather you left knowing what your house is actually worth than call us and find out later.
Predominantly 1970s through 1990s traditional construction — brick, two stories, large wooded lots — with newer subdivisions built out toward the eastern edge and a smaller stock of 1960s ranch homes closer to the older part of town.
What tends to show up after forty years:
None of that is distress. It is a well-maintained housing stock reaching the age where the expensive components come due at once.
Original owners downsizing, or an estate. Germantown's 70s and 80s subdivisions were bought by young families who stayed for decades. Those houses are reaching the estate stage now, and the children are frequently in other states. If that is your situation, start here: inherited a Memphis house and you live out of state.
Relocation on a fixed date that a listing timeline will not accommodate.
Divorce, where the house has to be converted to cash and divided: selling a house during a divorce in Memphis.
Germantown has consistent buyer demand, driven heavily by the school district, and its houses are generally financeable. A financed buyer competing against other financed buyers pays more than any cash buyer will. On a Germantown house in ordinary condition, a retail sale typically nets more even after a full commission — and often meaningfully more.
This is the most likely outcome of a Germantown call. We would rather tell you in the first ten minutes than take up your afternoon.
If the house is sound and you are not under a deadline, talk to a local agent before you talk to us.
Top Dollar Home Offer is an Oklahoma-based home-buying company that has bought houses in Tulsa for more than 25 years. We are new to Shelby County.
We buy as-is with the contents in place, we buy from out-of-state sellers using remote signing and a mail-away closing, and we close through a title company on the date you choose. Where the house should be listed instead, we say so — and in Germantown that is usually the answer.
No. Germantown is a separate municipality with an elected mayor and board, and in 2014 it opened Germantown Municipal School District. The detail sellers miss is that a Germantown address does not guarantee a Germantown school. When the districts separated in 2014, Germantown Elementary, Germantown Middle and Germantown High stayed with the county system. Buyers here check the school zone early, so look up the current zone for your address before you price the house.
Rarely, and we will not pretend otherwise. A cash buyer starts from what the house would sell for after repairs, then subtracts the repairs, the holding and selling costs, and a margin. On a sound Germantown house that gap is large, because the retail price is high and the repairs are small. It narrows when the house cannot be financed as it stands, or when a guaranteed closing date is worth the difference to you. Ask any cash buyer to show you that arithmetic. We will.
Yes. Those two items together are often what pushes an otherwise good Germantown house out of the financeable range, which is exactly the situation where a cash sale is worth comparing against a listing. Get a repair quote first — if the total is modest against what the house would bring on the open market, making the repairs and listing is usually the better outcome.
They can. Inspectors note limbs over the roof, trees close to the foundation, and roots near the sewer line, and on a forty-year-old Germantown lot all three are common. A sewer camera inspection is inexpensive and tells you whether roots have reached the line before a buyer's inspector does. Trimming limbs off the roof is worth doing before you list. Taking out a healthy mature tree usually is not, because the trees are part of what buyers come to Germantown for.
The ones a buyer's lender or insurer will raise: a roof near the end of its life, an HVAC system that does not work, active leaks, and polybutylene supply lines if an insurer will not cover them. Fix those or price them in. Kitchens, baths and paint usually are not worth it, because buyers competing for the school district expect to update a dated house and offer accordingly. On a house this age, a pre-listing inspection shows you the list before a buyer uses it to negotiate.
Get a no-obligation cash offer or an honest read on what the house is worth — call (901) 437-0069 or request an offer online.