Arapahoe County, CO tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Arapahoe County, CO tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Colorado sells tax lien certificates paying up to 13%. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Oct 12, 2026.
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Arapahoe County, seat of Littleton: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Colorado tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next certificate sale
- Certificate sale scheduled for November 5, 2026.Thursday · 2026
- Format
- RealAuction
- Registration
- What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright.
- County office
- 303-795-4550
On this page
How Arapahoe County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Arapahoe County Treasurer's Office
- Frequency
- annual
- Next expected
- by the second Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Register on the auction site at https://arapahoe.coloradotaxsale.com, which the county says "is open for registration year-round." You submit name, address and similar details, and the site builds an IRS W-9 that is passed to the county. Registration itself costs nothing and requires no deposit, but returning buyers must re-register each year to keep their tax lien buyer number, and every number used by family members or business associates must be registered separately. Before bidding, fund a deposit equal to 10 percent of what you intend to spend, paid by ACH electronic check through the site's deposit wizard. Bidding is by premium: the auction awards each lien to the highest premium bidder at one dollar above the second highest bid, and liens close in batches at times posted on the auction site. Winning bidders pay the remaining balance by ACH or certified check no later than 4:00 p.m. MST on the payment deadline, or they forfeit the bid and the next highest bidder takes the lien. Unused deposits are returned about two weeks after the auction ends. Realauction posts training videos behind the Training link on the sale site, and the county links a practice sale site for new bidders.
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- on application
- Typical timing
- There is no fixed calendar.
- Registration
- What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright. The treasurer may only accept bids above the combined amount owed to the lawful holder plus the treasurer's fees and costs. County officials, county employees acting in their individual capacity, and their immediate family members may not bid. Payment is by cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. Any overbid goes to junior lienors who filed a notice of intent to redeem and then to the property owner. Confirm the notice, the bidding rules, and the auction venue with the county treasurer.
Sale format and venue
Arapahoe County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Arapahoe 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Use Tax Lien Sale Files (viewable sale list, county-held certificates, supplemental sale file) as a starting reference. Check which sale or list it covers; a Lands Available or office information page is separate from an auction parcel list. Ask the sale office for the advertised parcels for the auction you plan to attend.Register to bid
Sale day
Certificate sale scheduled for November 5, 2026. Bidding runs on RealAuction; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Arapahoe County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open Tax Lien Sale Files (viewable sale list, county-held certificates, supplemental sale file). Confirm whether this reference contains the auction parcels or covers a different list. Get the advertised parcel list from the county before you price a bid, and recheck it before the sale.Confirm registration and deposit
What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright. The treasurer may only accept bids above the combined amount owed to the lawful holder plus the treasurer's fees and costs. County officials, county employees acting in their individual capacity, and their immediate family members may not bid. Payment is by cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. Any overbid goes to junior lienors who filed a notice of intent to redeem and then to the property owner. Confirm the notice, the bidding rules, and the auction venue with the county treasurer.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Colorado due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Colorado before you price the title work.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
unsold liens and deeds
Liens that draw no bid are struck off to the county and the treasurer issues the county a certificate of purchase. The county may then assign, sell, or transfer those certificates in the manner, at the times, and on the terms set by resolution of the board of county commissioners, which is how county-held liens are sold between annual auctions. A certificate on property owing more than ten thousand dollars in taxes needs the property tax administrator's approval after published notice. Whether a county maintains a published county-held list, and on what terms, varies. Contact the county treasurer.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Colorado calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- Michael R. Westerberg is the Arapahoe County Treasurer, listed on the department contact page and signing the published sale notice.
- The county's Delinquent Tax Publications page carries the newspaper notices for real and personal property, with the mobile home notice listed as coming soon; the 2026 real estate notice ran Thursday October 8, 15 and 22, 2026.
- The Viewable File page is populated only in the weeks before the sale; the county states the viewable file "is available only up to three weeks before the tax lien sale begins," and it now posts the 2026 sale file, updated October 12, 2026.
- The Supplemental Sale File page reports no supplemental file available at this time.
- The Treasurer's office publishes a standing disclaimer that it cannot warrant anything about any lien sold, that liens may not be first or only liens, and that bidders must do their own due diligence.
Colorado rules
- Redemption
- Redemption may be made at any time before a treasurer's deed is executed, so the practical window runs past the three-year mark and into the Article 11.5 process. Once a deed application is pending, the owner must file an intent to redeem with the treasurer no later than seven calendar days before the scheduled public auction, then pay the amount on the redemption statement while it is in effect, and must redeem the entire property. The auction itself is set 30 to 60 calendar days after the treasurer mails the notice of public auction. A separate rule lets an owner who was under a legal disability when a tax deed was executed under Article 11 redeem within nine years of the deed being recorded, at 15 percent per year plus the present value of any improvements.
- Deed deposit
- The treasurer may require the applying lawful holder to deposit up to one thousand dollars plus statutory fees when the application is accepted, applied against the treasurer's fees and costs, and all Article 11.5 fees and costs are chargeable as additional amounts owing under the certificate of purchase. A third-party winner may be charged up to three hundred dollars for processing. The statute sets no bidder deposit percentage, so payment terms come from the treasurer's written auction policies.
- Surplus proceeds
- Junior lienors whose liens were recorded before the application for treasurer's deed may file a claim for overbid money within eight business days after the auction. Between the ninth and fifteenth business day the overbid is paid to them in order of recording priority, each up to the unpaid lien plus fees and costs, and whatever remains goes to the property owner. The treasurer mails the owner a notice within thirty days after the claim period ends. Unclaimed overbid stays in escrow for two years without interest to the claimant. Amounts under twenty-five dollars left unclaimed for six months go to the county general fund, and larger amounts left unclaimed for two years go to the state treasurer as unclaimed property. An agreement to pay someone to recover an unclaimed overbid is enforceable only if the fee is capped at ten percent and the agreement is made at least two years after the transfer.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Arapahoe County, Colorado sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Arapahoe County tax certificate sale?
How often does Arapahoe County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Arapahoe County tax sale list?
Verified Oct 12, 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 office that runs the sale before you bid.
More Colorado counties
Browse all 64 Colorado counties
Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.