Ware County, GA tax sales

New here? Read how Georgia tax sales work, the difference between a lien and a deed, and redemption periods.

Notes for Ware County

• •The dedicated Tax Sales page in the Tax Commissioner's main navigation (tax-sales.html) is an empty template: it renders the heading and the contact sidebar with no sale dates, bidder terms, or property list. The full Property Tax Sale Information section lives on the News page instead, which is where all verified sale logistics below come from.
• •Sale venue is the Ware County Administration Building, Board of Commissioners Room, 305 Oak Street, Waycross, GA 31501. This is the same building as the Tax Commissioner's office, not the Ware County Courthouse at 800 Church Street.
• •Legal advertising runs in the Saturday edition of the Waycross Journal Herald, in the legal section under the heading Sheriff Sales, for four consecutive weeks before the sale. That newspaper run is the only advance public notice of which parcels are going to sale.
• •The pre sale property list is available only in person in Room 115A of the Administration Building, at least one week before the sale. Parcels drop off the list as owners pay, so the list an investor picks up early will shrink by sale day.
• •Payment is due immediately at the close of the sale in cash or certified funds, and bidders must show valid state issued identification. No financing window and no post sale settlement period are offered.
• •Excess funds from prior sales are published as a downloadable Excel file linked from the Excess Funds page, along with a Ware County Excess Funds Policy PDF. Claims go to [email protected].
• •Office staff named on the Contact page: Roger Collins, Tax Commissioner; Laura Cox, Chief Deputy Tax Commissioner; Annette Perritt, Deputy Tax Commissioner. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm. Fax is (912) 287-4468.
• •The site publishes two different phone numbers for the same office. The Contact page and every page sidebar give (912) 490-4305, while the FAQ and News pages give (912) 287-4305 for billing and collection questions. Try (912) 490-4305 first.
• •The News page carries a stale 2022 holiday schedule alongside the sale procedure text, so treat the sale procedure as the county's standing practice and confirm the current sale date and terms by phone before traveling.
• •Delinquency mechanics per the FAQ: real and personal property taxes are due November 15. For bills issued July 1, 2016 and later, interest accrues at the Federal Reserve prime rate plus 3 percent, with a 5 percent penalty added every 120 days up to a 20 percent maximum. After 90 days delinquent, a fi. fa. lien is recorded with the Clerk of Superior Court, and the Tax Commissioner may then levy on the property.
• •For pre bid diligence, the Ware County Board of Assessors is at 305 Oak Street, Suite 154, Waycross, GA 31501, (912) 490-4383, Chief Appraiser Billy Carter. The Board of Assessors page links property record search to the qPublic portal for Ware County. The county covers roughly 25,000 real property parcels.
• •Deed copies come from the Clerk of Superior Court record center in the Ware County Courthouse, 800 Church Street, per the Tax Commissioner FAQ.
• •The Search and Pay Taxes portal at warecounty.governmentwindow.com is bot protected and could not be loaded for verification, so nothing from that portal is reported here. It is a tax billing and payment system, not an auction site.