Long County, GA tax sales
How tax lien certificate and tax deed sales work in Long County, seat of Ludowici: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
Verified Jul 27, 2026 against official county and state sources.
New here? Read how Georgia tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.
How Long County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
Details are being verified for this county.
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Long County Tax Commissioner (Becky S. Fowler)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- No sale is on the calendar right now. The Tax Commissioner's News page states: "No Tax Sales events are currently planned. Please check this page for next Long County Tax Sale announcement." The office publishes no month, no recurring date, and no standing annual schedule, so an investor has to watch that page and the county legal organ. Georgia sales that do go forward are levied and cried on the first Tuesday of the month at the county courthouse.
Registration and deposit
The Tax Commissioner publishes no bidder registration form, deposit rule, or online pre-qualification step. Because no sale is currently announced, bidding terms would arrive with the advertised sale notice. Call the office at 912-545-2127 to confirm procedures before planning to bid.
Long County runs a traditional Georgia courthouse redeemable deed sale, not an online auction. No auction platform is named anywhere on the Tax Commissioner site or the county website, and no vendor link exists, so plan on bidding in person in Ludowici when a sale is advertised. As of this check the office says no tax sale is planned. The path to a sale starts with a recorded lien: the office's FAQ says that when taxes stay unpaid more than 90 days past due, "the taxes are subject to a tax fifa (lien) being recorded in the Office of the Clerk of Superior Court," and that "if the property taxes remain unpaid, the Tax Commissioner has the right and responsibility to levy on the property for non-payment," which the office calls a last resort. Interest runs at 1% per month starting 60 days after the bill is mailed, with a 10% penalty on taxes unpaid within 90 days of the deadline, except on homesteaded property with a liability under $500. A buyer at a Georgia sale takes a redeemable deed, so the owner or any lienholder can redeem for the statutory premium during the 12 month redemption window.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
285 South McDonald Street, Ludowici, GA 31316 (mailing: P.O. Box 628, Ludowici, GA 31316)
Official websiteNotes for Long County
- No tax sale is scheduled. The Tax Commissioner's News page carries the sale announcements and currently reads "No Tax Sales events are currently planned," so treat Long County as an opportunistic, watch-the-page market rather than a fixed annual sale.
- There is no online bidding platform. Neither the Tax Commissioner site nor the county site names GovEase, Bid4Assets, RealAuction, or any other vendor, so expect an in-person courthouse sale in Ludowici when one is advertised.
- The office is small: Becky S. Fowler is Tax Commissioner, with Lindsey Dinkins as Deputy Tax Commissioner. Hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed most major holidays. Email is [email protected] and the fax is 912-545-2023.
- Property tax bills and payments moved to a new portal at https://longproperty.assurancegov.com/Property/Search. The Tax Commissioner site warns that its old taxpayer search and pay tab no longer works.
- For values and parcel research, the Board of Tax Assessors is a separate office at 912-545-9111.
- The county's Legal Notices page at https://www.longcountyga.gov/legal-notices publishes notices for reference only and carried no tax sale advertisements at the time of this check. The page states that only notices published in the county legal organ newspaper are official under O.C.G.A. 9-13-140 et seq., so the newspaper remains the authoritative place a Long County levy would appear.
- Bill due dates on the office site are inconsistent: the FAQ says real estate and business personal property taxes are due December 22, while the home page posts "Long County Real Estate Taxes: May 12, 2026" and a mobile home due date extended to June 1, 2026. Verify the current year's due date with the office, since delinquency timing drives when levies are possible.
- The Tax Commissioner site is an AngularJS application served from longcountytax.com. Its pages load under hash routes such as /#/news and /#/contact, and plain crawlers see only a loading shell, so the underlying content was read directly from the site's own content endpoints.
Georgia statewide rules
- Redemption
- The right to redeem runs for 12 months from the date of the sale and does not end there. It continues after the year until the tax deed purchaser forecloses it by serving and publishing the statutory barment notice, which cannot be started until 12 months have passed. The purchaser delivers the notice to the sheriff at least 45 days before the redemption deadline named in it, and publishes it once a week for four consecutive weeks in the six months immediately before that deadline. Redemption puts title back in the defendant in fi. fa. subject to the liens that existed at the sale, and the purchaser must execute and record a quitclaim deed. Title under a tax deed recorded on or after July 1, 1996 ripens by prescription four years after recording. Judicial in rem foreclosures under Article 5 run on a different clock: the owner has 60 days after the sale to redeem by paying the minimum bid price into the superior court.
- Deed deposit
- Georgia sets no statewide percentage deposit. A purchaser at a judicial sale may tender cash or a cashier's or certified check drawn for the purchase price and issued or certified by a federally insured financial institution. Counties publish their own payment terms, and many require payment in full at the close of the sale, so confirm the terms with the tax commissioner before bidding.
- Surplus proceeds
- Excess funds left after taxes, costs, and the expenses of the sale belong to the former owner and to recorded lienholders in order of priority. The officer who sold the property must mail notice of the excess funds by first-class mail within 30 days to the record owner at the time of the sale, to the holder of each security deed, and to every other party with a recorded equity interest or claim, and may file an interpleader action in superior court. Funds still unclaimed five years after the sale are paid over to the Georgia Department of Revenue, after which only a court order from an interpleader action releases them.
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 Long County, Georgia sell tax liens or tax deeds?
- Long County follows Georgia's redeemable deed state system.
How often does Long County hold tax deed sales?
- annual. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.
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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