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Tax Sale Atlas

Izard County, AR tax sales

How tax deed sales work in Izard County, seat of Melbourne: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Arkansas tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Once a year, at 10:00 a.m. Central.
Format
In person
Registration
Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and there is no fee.
County office
(870) 368-7247
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Izard County sells delinquent taxes

No tax lien certificate sale

Arkansas sells no tax lien certificates to investors, and Ark. Code Ann. 26-37-101(a)(2) states that tax-delinquent lands shall not be sold at the county level.

Tax deed sale

In person
Run by
Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Once a year, at 10:00 a.m. Central.
Registration
Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and there is no fee.
Sale list
Public Auction Catalog, Izard County parcel list and sale date
When it runs
Once a year, at 10:00 a.m. Central. The Commissioner of State Lands schedules Izard County for September 17, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. in the Ozarka College Lecture Hall auditorium, 218 College Drive, Melbourne. Arkansas sets no statutory sale month and the Commissioner rotates the state in regional blocks, so confirm the following year's date and host city in the Public Auction Catalog rather than assuming mid-September.
Registration and deposit

Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and there is no fee. Fill out a numbered bidder registration card, hand the completed form to a Commissioner of State Lands employee, and keep the opposite half as your bidder number. Parcels are called in sale number order as printed in the catalog. The minimum bid is the taxes, interest, penalty and costs due as of the sale date, shown beside each parcel, and the purchase price is that minimum plus any competitive bidding. Winning bidders pay in full immediately after the sale by personal or business check, cashier's check, money order, or credit or debit card, in the exact amount owed. Cash is not accepted and card payments carry a 4% non-refundable processing fee.

Sale format and venue
Izard County is one of the largest catalogs in the state. The September 17, 2026 list runs from sale number 9342 to 10672 and offers 1,003 parcels, with 328 numbers in that range marked as cancelled entries. Fulton County parcels are called in the same 10:00 a.m. session at Ozarka College, so the room works through two counties in one morning and the Izard list alone is long enough to fill it. The composition matters more than the count: 793 of the 1,003 parcels, close to four in five, are platted lots tied to the Horseshoe Bend improvement district, and only 15 parcels in the entire catalog list any acreage at all. Minimum bids are correspondingly small. The median parcel owes $100.79, 96 percent owe less than $200, and only 8 parcels carry more than $1,000, the largest at $8,003.36. Cheap entry is not the same as cheap ownership, because improvement district assessments, city liens and property owner association fees usually transfer with the property and become the new owner's obligation. Each catalog entry shows the owner, legal description, parcel number, recorded interested parties and the tax amount that sets the minimum bid, with a link to the assessor's property card behind the parcel number. This is a live auction with no online bidding, so a bidder or an agent has to be in the room. The winner receives a limited warranty deed that transfers only the interest the state held, with no guarantee of usability, accessibility, existence or clear title, and the sale carries a 90-day litigation period from the date the deed is issued, so hold off on major improvements until it closes. Recorded liens sit with the circuit clerk, so price in a title search. Parcels that draw no qualifying bid move to the Commissioner's online post-auction sale 30 days after the live auction at auction.cosl.org, where the first $100 per parcel is charged to the registered card and the balance is due within 10 business days of the close. Auction questions go to the Commissioner's office at 501-324-9422.

Izard County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Izard County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Public Auction Catalog, Izard County parcel list and sale date for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.
  2. Register to bid

    Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and there is no fee. Full requirements are in the sale card above.
  3. Sale day

    Once a year, at 10:00 a.m. Central. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.
  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Izard County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Public Auction Catalog, Izard County parcel list and sale date. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.
  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Registration opens one hour before the auction at the sale site and there is no fee. Fill out a numbered bidder registration card, hand the completed form to a Commissioner of State Lands employee, and keep the opposite half as your bidder number. Parcels are called in sale number order as printed in the catalog. The minimum bid is the taxes, interest, penalty and costs due as of the sale date, shown beside each parcel, and the purchase price is that minimum plus any competitive bidding. Winning bidders pay in full immediately after the sale by personal or business check, cashier's check, money order, or credit or debit card, in the exact amount owed. Cash is not accepted and card payments carry a 4% non-refundable processing fee.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Arkansas due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.
  4. Set a walk-away number

    Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.

Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases

Thirty calendar days after the live auction, every parcel that drew no qualifying bid moves to the Commissioner's online unsold-property auction and stays there until it sells, is redeemed, or is withdrawn. Nothing is priced over a counter: the first online bid starts a 30-calendar-day auction period that closes at 8:00 p.m. Central on the thirtieth day, other registered bidders may outbid during it, and the Commissioner mails the owner and interested parties notice when the first bid arrives. Within two years of the live auction the reserve stays at the taxes, penalty, interest, fees and costs; two years or more after it, the Commissioner may negotiate a price he determines is in the best interest of the state and the local taxing units. Online bidders must pass an identity check as a United States resident and keep a card on file; the winner's card is charged $100 in earnest money immediately and the balance is due in certified funds within 10 business days.

Commissioner of State Lands post-auction sales (search by county)

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax sale office

Izard County Tax Collector

(870) 368-7247

South Spring Street, Suite C, P.O. Box 490, Melbourne, AR 72556

Official website

County notes

  • Arkansas runs tax sales at the state level. The Izard County Tax Collector bills the taxes from the first business day in March through October 15, adds a 10% penalty after that date, prepares the delinquent real and personal property list and delivers it to a legal newspaper in the county for publication, then certifies parcels that stay unredeemed to the Commissioner of State Lands, who sets the auction date, publishes the parcel list, conducts the sale and issues the deed. The county holds no auction of its own.
  • Melbourne is the Izard County seat and also the host city for this sale, so Izard bidders have the shortest trip of any county in the regional block. Fulton County parcels are offered in the same session at Ozarka College, so plan for two counties of bidding in one morning.
  • Nearly four in five parcels on the Izard list are small platted lots in the Horseshoe Bend improvement district, with minimum bids that commonly sit under $200. Treat the improvement district assessment as a recurring carrying cost on any such lot, and confirm access, buildable status and utilities before bidding, because the state warrants none of them.
  • The county publishes no separate tax sale calendar. Work from the Commissioner of State Lands Public Auction Catalog at cosl.org for the live sale, check auction.cosl.org for parcels that went unsold, and call the Izard County Tax Collector at (870) 368-7247 for what a specific parcel currently owes and whether it has been redeemed.

Arkansas rules

Redemption
The clock is long even though the deadline is hard. The county collector holds the delinquent land for one year after the October 15 delinquency date, certification to the Commissioner of State Lands follows no later than July 1 of the next year, and the sale date must be no earlier than one year after certification, so an owner normally has more than two years from the missed payment. What the owner does not get is any post-sale window. The Commissioner's office states that, effective July 1, 2023, parcels sold through its office cannot be redeemed and all sales are final, at live auctions and through the online unsold-property auction alike. Payment has to be received by the 4:00 p.m. deadline; postmarks are not accepted. A quoted redemption figure holds for 30 days unless the parcel sells, the county amends its records, or further costs accrue.
Deed deposit
There is no statutory bidder deposit at the live auction and no registration fee. Registration opens one hour before the sale at the sale site against a photo ID and a driver's license number, and the successful bidder tenders the full purchase price at the time of the sale. The online unsold-property auction works differently: registration requires identity verification and a card on file, and the winning bidder's card is charged $100 in earnest money immediately on notification.
Surplus proceeds
Money above the taxes, fees, penalties, interest and costs due at the time of sale is excess proceeds. Within one year of receipt the Commissioner pays penalties, collection fees and sale costs to his own office and the delinquent taxes, interest and costs to the county. The remainder is held for one year from the date of the limited warranty deed, then applied on application to delinquent personal property taxes, state tax certificates of indebtedness and delinquent solid waste assessments. Of whatever is left, 10 percent up to a maximum of $500 goes to the Commissioner for administering the distribution and the rest is payable to the former owner on a complete claim packet. Excess proceeds are held two years and then escheat by operation of law to the county. A former owner, part owner or interested party who buys the parcel at the tax sale is not entitled to any distribution, and a third-party recovery agent's fee may not exceed 10 percent.
Governing statute
Ark. Code Ann. Title 26, Chapter 37

A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.

See the full Arkansasrules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Izard County, Arkansas sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax deeds. Arkansas sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the Commissioner of State Lands sells the property itself at a public tax sale.

How often does Izard County hold tax deed sales?

Izard County holds its tax deed sale once a year. Once a year, at 10:00 a.m. Central. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Arkansas's redemption rule: Until 4:00 p.m. Central time on the last business day before the sale date. There is no redemption after the sale. Call the Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Izard County tax sale list?

Izard County posts its tax sale list at cosl.org. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Aug 22, 2026 against official county and state sources.

Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.

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