How Oregon Tax Sales Work

Oregon is a tax deed state, and the investor arrives last. No certificate is ever sold. The county forecloses its own tax lien in circuit court, the court orders every parcel sold to the county, and the owner then has two more years to redeem before the county takes a deed. Only then does a parcel reach the public, and since 2025 it reaches the public on terms that make the cheap tax deed many buyers expect hard to find.

Three things separate Oregon from most tax deed states. The wait is long: at least 60 months after the taxes go delinquent. Houses the former owner lived in go to a real estate broker first. And the auction opens at two-thirds of market value, with any surplus returned to the former owner. The governing chapter is ORS Chapter 312, with the county sale mechanics in ORS chapter 275.

Start with the Oregon tax sales hub for county offices and sale details, or how to buy tax-foreclosed property in Oregon for the buyer's sequence. If the two instruments still blur together, read tax liens compared to tax deeds first.

Step 1: The May 15 deadline passes

Oregon property taxes are payable in thirds, due November 15, February 15 and May 15, with a discount for paying in full by November 15. Tax on real property not paid by May 15 is delinquent. Late installments accrue interest at one and one-third percent per month, or fraction of a month, which is 16 percent a year.

That interest goes to the county, and no investor collects it. The tax is a lien from July 1 of the year it is levied, and under ORS 311.405 it outranks every other lien, judgment and mortgage regardless of recording date.

Step 2: A 36-month wait, then one lawsuit against every parcel

Under ORS 312.010 real property becomes subject to foreclosure once 36 months have passed from its earliest delinquency. Within two months after the day of delinquency each year, the tax collector prepares the foreclosure list, and three months after that day the tax collector and the district attorney file one general in rem proceeding in circuit court covering every listed parcel.

The foreclosure list is published once in a newspaper under ORS 312.040. It looks like a sale list and is not one. It is notice of the lawsuit, and nothing on it can be bought. Before judgment the owner can still pull a parcel out by paying what is owed, plus a five percent penalty once the list has been published.

Step 3: The court sells every parcel to the county

The court enters judgment and, under ORS 312.100, orders the parcels sold directly to the county for the taxes and interest owed. The certified copy of the judgment serves as the county's certificate of sale. That order is a paper transfer that starts the redemption clock. Nobody bids. From judgment on, the amount carries interest at the legal rate for judgments, nine percent a year under ORS 82.010.

Step 4: Two years of redemption, owner in possession

The redemption window under ORS 312.120 is 2 years from the foreclosure judgment. During that time the former owner keeps possession unless waste is committed. Any person with an interest in the property at the date of judgment may redeem, as may heirs, devisees, lienholders of record and municipal corporations holding a lien. Redemption costs the judgment amount with interest, a five percent penalty and a fee: 50 dollars before the certified-mail notice of expiration, and afterward the greater of 50 dollars or the county's title search cost.

The tax collector mails that notice at least one year before the period ends and publishes a general notice 10 to 30 days before the end. A county that has adopted an ordinance under ORS 312.122 can cut the period to 30 days for property found after a hearing to be wasted, or abandoned for six consecutive months while depreciating. Compare how other states time the same right in redemption periods explained.

One more route back for the owner sits outside redemption. ORS 275.180 lets the county governing body sell a parcel back to the record owner or contract purchaser of record at any time, without notice, for the taxes and interest plus six percent a year. That is county discretion, and it is one reason a parcel can leave a county's list before sale day.

Step 5: The deed to the county ends every redemption right

Parcels still unredeemed are deeded to the county under ORS 312.200, and all rights of redemption terminate when that deed is executed. That is the fact that matters most to a buyer here: by the time you can bid, no one holds a right to take the property back by paying the taxes.

Under ORS 312.270 the county's title is free of all liens and encumbrances except local improvement assessments of a municipal corporation, and a private purchaser at the county's resale takes free of those assessments as well. The statutes do not address every interest, such as federal liens, so order a title report before bidding. See what survives a tax deed for the categories to check, and budget for a quiet title action after a tax deed if a lender or insurer will need marketable title.

Step 6: The county decides what to sell, and how

ORS 312.520, added by Oregon Laws 2025, chapter 475, sets the order of choices. The county may first keep a parcel for public use or give it to a nonprofit, after an independent appraisal. A parcel in a residential zone that was the former owner's home when the taxes were assessed must be listed with a private real estate broker or agent at the highest price it is reasonably expected to bring. It moves to auction only if the county cannot list it after three tries or the broker cannot sell it within 12 months.

For an investor, that pulls many houses out of the auction pool. What reaches the sheriff's sale is land, parcels outside residential zones, houses the former owner did not live in, and homes that failed to sell on the open market.

Step 7: The auction opens at two-thirds of market value

Every other parcel goes to a public high-bid auction with a minimum starting bid of two-thirds of fair market value, meaning the real market value on the most recent tax statement or a higher independent appraisal where one was required. The winning bid must also exceed the outstanding taxes and the county's allowable costs. A parcel that does not sell goes to a second auction whose minimum is the taxes and costs.

Oregon sets no sale month. The county governing body orders the sale under ORS 275.110 and directs the sheriff to hold it; most counties hold one auction a year. The sheriff publishes notice once a week for four consecutive weeks, and the auction must also appear in a multiple listing service for at least 30 days. The sale may be adjourned day to day for up to 30 days and may include real-time online bidding.

No statewide deposit amount. ORS 275.110 leaves the conditions and terms of sale to the county governing body's order, and the notice of sale states them. Deposits, bidder registration, and accepted forms of payment therefore vary by county; read the county's notice of sale before the auction.

Under ORS 275.190 the county sells for cash, or for at least 10 percent down with the balance in equal installments over no more than 20 years at a rate the county sets. County officers, their family members and intermediaries may not buy, and neither may a county employee with an actual conflict of interest. Run the habits in due diligence before a tax sale, then set a ceiling with the tax deed max bid calculator. With a floor at two-thirds of value, any margin has to come from your read of the property.

Step 8: The surplus goes to the former owner

Under ORS 312.530 the county subtracts its allowable costs from the sale price, including the judgment, interest, later taxes, maintenance, title work and sale fees. It determines the surplus within 60 days, gives the former owner an itemized accounting and sends the surplus to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property. These rules apply where the owner received the ORS 312.125 notice on or after May 25, 2023. Tax deed surplus funds covers how claims work elsewhere. None of this changes what the buyer pays.

After the auction: leftover parcels

Oregon has no statewide list of unsold land. Under ORS 275.200 a county may sell a parcel left over from the sheriff's sale privately, for no less than the highest bid made or, with no bid, a price it considers reasonable but at least 15 percent of the minimum. ORS 275.225 allows private sale of unbuildable parcels worth under 15,000 dollars after notice and a 15-day wait. Neither statute says how those older sections fit with the 2025 rules in ORS 312.520, so confirm current practice with the county before counting on a private sale. The mechanics differ from the over-the-counter purchases found in lien states.

Each county sets its own date, format and terms. Browse every Oregon county for the office that runs the sale and what it publishes online, and read the notice of sale itself before you register.