2900 Cliffside Rd

A 1938 brick cottage on 1.7 acres in the Cliffside neighborhood of Kingsport, listed at $389,000 with six bedrooms, three full baths, two kitchens and a sunroom across three levels. The listing pitches the second kitchen and the finished basement as an in-law suite. Sullivan County records the house with two baths and 2,219 finished square feet, and the listing itself says the house went under contract in August and came back because the buyer could not get financing. It sold for $310,000 in September 2021, and the county’s appraisal nearly doubled in 2025.

The land and setting

The listing gives 1.7 acres, one parcel, 076D A 00600 000, with dimensions of 262 by 474.52 feet on an irregular triangular lot in the Cliffside Development subdivision, lot P1. Sullivan County has the same parcel at 74,052 square feet, 1.7 acres, with the same dimensions. The two agree.

The photos show a level front lawn under large trees, a sloping side yard, a fenced back yard with a climbing dome, and a paved drive to a detached garage. Behind the house a concrete patio sits inside brick retaining walls with a door into the basement. The listing lists the lot as level and the fencing as back yard.

The listing’s zoning field reads R 1A, which is a City of Kingsport residential zoning district, and the county record puts the parcel in Sullivan County. Cliffside Road’s surface, ownership and maintenance are not listed. No HOA.

The house

Built in 1938, cottage style, brick per the listing, with a shingle roof and hardwood floors. Sullivan County records a 1989 renovation, a siding exterior, and a 360 square foot unfinished detached garage. The photos show brick on the front and vinyl siding on the side and back, with an upstairs balcony door on the siding side.

The listing gives 2,419 square feet of living area, 2,854 of structure, and 483 finished below ground. The floor plan in the listing photos totals 2,859: 1,176 on the main floor, 693 upstairs and 990 in the basement, with the sunroom, porch, patio and utility room excluded. The county has 2,219 finished square feet, 3,394 for the building and 1,175 of unfinished basement.

The main floor has a living room with a fireplace, a dining room, a kitchen with wood cabinets and granite counters, two bedrooms, a bath, and a brick-walled sunroom with arched windows. Upstairs are two bedrooms, a bath, a hall and the balcony. The basement has a second kitchen, a laundry, a bath, a utility room, and two rooms the plan labels bedroom and room. That is five bedrooms and a room on the plan, six bedrooms on the listing, and no bedroom count at the county.

Heating and cooling are a heat pump, and two units stand against the side of the house in the photos. The listing counts two gas log fireplaces. The county counts two coal or wood fireplaces. The listing lists laundry hookups and no appliances, and the photos show a range, a dishwasher, a refrigerator and a microwave in the main kitchen and a range and microwave in the basement kitchen.

Water is public. Sewer is listed as at road. The county’s utility record says private sewer, which is a septic system. A propane tank stands beside the garage in the photos, and the listing does not mention propane.

The facts

What to know before you call

A buyer already failed to get financing, and the listing says so. The remarks open with it: back on market at no fault of the seller, the buyer was unable to obtain financing. That can mean the buyer’s credit, or it can mean the house. A 1938 cottage with a basement apartment, two kitchens, a propane tank and a sewer field that reads one thing on the listing and another at the county is the kind of house where an appraiser or an underwriter finds something. Ask which it was, whether an appraisal was done, what it came in at, and whether the lender raised any condition on the house.

Six bedrooms and three baths on the listing, two baths at the county. The listing counts six bedrooms and three full baths. The floor plan draws five bedrooms and a room, and three baths, one on each level. Sullivan County records two baths with six fixtures and no bedroom count. The 2021 listing described the basement as about 500 finished square feet with a bedroom, living space, a full bath and a kitchen, and the county still records the basement as unfinished. Ask when the basement was finished and the third bath and second kitchen went in, and whether the City of Kingsport permitted the work. Unpermitted rooms and baths are what lenders and appraisers discount, which brings you back to the first flag.

Sewer at road on the listing, private at the county. The listing says sewer is at the road. The county says the house is on a private system. Both can be true if a sewer line runs past the house and the house has never been connected. Ask whether the house is on septic, where the tank and field are, when it was last pumped, and what Kingsport charges to connect.

Inside the city, and what that does to the tax bill. The zoning code on the listing, R 1A, is a Kingsport city district, and Cliffside is inside the city. Property inside Kingsport pays both Sullivan County and city taxes. The county’s figure of $1,964 may or may not include the city bill. Ask the Sullivan County trustee and the City of Kingsport for both bills.

The appraisal nearly doubled in 2025. The county’s appraisal went from about $125,700 to $238,800 in 2025, and the bill went from $1,412 to $1,964. That is Sullivan County’s reappraisal. Tennessee does not reassess on sale, so a purchase at $389,000 does not move the number by itself, but the next reappraisal will value the house on its own cycle and the assessed value is already 25 percent of a figure well below the asking price.

Brick on the front, siding on the sides. The listing says brick. The county says siding. The photos show both: a brick front and vinyl siding on the side and rear, where the balcony door is. The 1989 renovation the county records is probably where the siding came from. Ask what is under it.

A propane tank the listing does not mention. A tank stands beside the garage in one photo. The listing lists heat pumps for heat and gas logs for the fireplaces. Ask what the tank feeds, whether it is owned or leased, and whether the gas logs are on it.

The price against the last sale. It sold for $310,000 in September 2021 after listing at $400,000 and coming down three times. It is asking $389,000 now, five years later, with no updates named in the remarks. The 2021 sale was as-is with a seller-paid termite treatment. Ask what has been done since 2021 and for the termite history.

Earlier sales. Public records show $75,000 in 1999 and $19,000 in 2008. The 2021 listing called that sale the first time the house had ever been on the market, which may mean the earlier transfers were within a family. Ask.

What conveys. The house is furnished and lived in throughout the photos, including a loft bed, bunk beds and a playhouse. Nothing in the listing says what stays.

What is not shown. The garage interior, the utility room and the heat pump air handlers, the septic area, the attic, and the sixth bedroom, if the sixth is not the basement room the plan labels room.

You can see everything else we have listed on the properties page. In Tennessee we have a log home on 5.3 acres above the Obey River in Celina and an 1800s log cabin grown into a 2,068 square foot house on 1.17 acres in Seymour.

To ask about this one, call Andy Lowe on 423-408-0189, email RealtorAndyLowe@gmail.com, or call Realty ONE Group Home Team on 423-840-2891, and reference MLS 9999720. Tell them where you saw it.