A Realtor Letter is a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about one specific Old Hickory Lake property. It tells the reader the shoreline classification next to that lot, and it is the Corps' mechanism for correcting deficiencies in the existing shoreline use permit — the permit a dock sits on — before the property sells. It is issued only to the current owner, generally within fourteen days, and it is valid for ninety. A seller needs one because an uncorrected permit problem blocks the Corps from issuing the buyer a new permit, even after the property changes hands.
There is a dock at the end of the yard. It is in the listing photos, and by the time an out-of-state buyer lands they have already decided which side the boat goes on. Almost nobody asks the question that decides whether that dock is still there after closing.
Why the Corps is involved at all
Old Hickory is a federal reservoir; the Corps' Nashville District owns and operates it. In most places the United States owns a strip of dry land between a private lot and the water, so the lot ends at a surveyed federal line, not at the water's edge.
So a dock is not a fixture on your property. It is a structure on public land allowed by a Shoreline Use Permit — and the Corps is direct about what that is: these uses "are privileges, not rights." Permits normally run a five-year term.
What the plan actually says about the letter
The letter is set out in the 2020 Old Hickory Lake Shoreline Management Plan — the operative document, under revision as of 2026. In the plan's words:
Realtor letters are a valuable tool to inform prospective realtors or buyers of the shoreline classification adjacent to their lot and/or correct any deficiencies with the existing permit prior to sale of the property. These letters are provided to the current owner(s) ... and are valid for ninety (90) days. Generally, Realtor Letters are issued within fourteen (14) days of a completed application.
Three scheduling facts for a seller: current owner only, about 14 days to get it, 90 days of shelf life.
What does the Realtor Letter cover?
One — the shoreline classification next to the lot. The Corps sorts roughly 440 miles of Old Hickory shoreline into categories, and the category decides whether a private dock is even on the table. About 0.11% is Prohibited Access. About 14% is Public Recreation, where dock permits "cannot be granted." About 36% is Protected Shoreline, where "[p]rivate docks and/or residential mowing privileges are not permitted in Protected Areas." The remaining half is Limited Development, and the plan splits it: about 33% of the lake's total shoreline is allocated for private docks and mowing, about 17% for mowing only.
That 17% is the number nobody expects — shoreline you may mow but not dock on, because it is "impractical for moorage of floating docks because of steep bluffs, narrow coves, shallow water, or impacts to navigation."
Two — it is the mechanism for correcting permit deficiencies before the sale. The plan's phrase is "and/or correct any deficiencies with the existing permit prior to sale of the property." That is a purpose, not a table of contents: the letter is how a permit problem gets worked out before closing instead of at the closing table.
What the letter does not do
It does not move the permit to the buyer. Nothing does.
It does not promise a dock. Even inside the dock-allocated third, the plan is explicit: "this designation does not guarantee that a dock permit will be issued at a specific location within that area." That is decided at a site inspection, and water depth is one of the tests.
It does not locate your property line. Before a new permit the government line has to be clearly identified, which can mean a licensed surveyor and a stake survey at the owner's expense.
And the state disclosure does not fill the gap: Tennessee's residential property condition disclosure asks nothing about dock permit status, permit compliance, shoreline classification, or where the government line runs. That gap is the reason this letter exists.
Two things people repeat that are not true
"The permit comes with the house." It does not. The plan states that shoreline use permits are non-transferable. Permit Condition 23: "Upon the sale or other transfer of the permitted facility or the death of the permittee and his/her legal spouse, this permit is null and void."
What replaces it is a clock. Condition 29 requires the seller or buyer to notify the Resource Manager prior to finalization, and then: "The new owner must apply for a Shoreline Use Permit within 14 days or remove the facility and restore the use area within 30 days from the date of ownership transfer."
Note that this is a different 14 from the one above. The Corps' turnaround on the letter is a stated general practice — letters are "generally" issued within fourteen days. Condition 29's fourteen days is a binding deadline on the new owner. Same number, opposite ends of the transaction, and only one of them is a deadline.
"There's no transfer fee." There is no transfer at all, so there is nothing to transfer for free. A new permit "may be issued to a new property owner after he or she submits a completed application and the required fees. The permit will be issued only after the fee is paid." The Corps publishes no dollar amount for a dock permit — only that "[a] schedule of current fees ... is available from the Resource Manager."
What comes off the dock at a change of ownership
Several items come off by rule when the property changes hands: stairs or other access to a dock roof must be removed or permanently restricted; a pre-existing enclosed boathouse loses its sides; boat lifts that do not float with the dock come out before ownership changes; so do unused side floats and certain licensed land items.
A seller who goes to the Corps before the listing has months to deal with these. A seller who meets them two days before closing has a problem.
Non-compliance follows the property
The sentence that should send every Old Hickory seller to the Corps early: "Until non-compliance issues are satisfactorily resolved, the permit will not be reinstated or reissued, even if the property changes ownership. It is the property owner's responsibility to inform potential purchasers of any restrictions imposed by the Corps due to non-compliance with permit conditions."
An unresolved permit issue does not wash off in the sale. It waits for the buyer's application.
What to do
Sellers: email the request to the Corps' resource manager for this lake, at OldHickoryLake@usace.army.mil. That office also holds the official Shoreline Allocation Map. Ask before the listing goes live, not after an offer: budget about 14 days, and remember it runs out at 90.
Buyers: you cannot order this letter. Ask the seller to. If a listing's RealTracs "Dock" field reads Dock on Property or Dock Permit, that is a claim to verify against the letter, not a conclusion — and on the land form, "Permit" means a permit exists, not that a dock does. The separate question of where the lot actually ends is covered in the surveyed federal line behind the lawn.
Both: read the source. The governing document is the Old Hickory Lake Shoreline Management Plan, 2020 (Appendix M to the Operational Management Plan), approved December 7, 2020 — USACE digital collection id p16021coll7/id/16510. A tracked-changes draft dated September 2025 is in review, comments closed February 13, 2026, and as of September 2026 no approval has been published, so the 2020 plan governs.
For the parcel's flood zone, look the address up at the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, msc.fema.gov.
Questions on a specific Old Hickory address — the classification, the letter, the clock: 615-265-1000.
