Effingham County, IL tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Effingham County, IL tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Illinois sells tax lien certificates paying up to 9%. 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 Effingham County, seat of Effingham: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Illinois tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next tax deed sale
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
- Format
- In person
- County office
- 217-342-6844
On this page
How Effingham County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Effingham County Treasurer and Collector (the County Treasurer serving as ex officio County Collector)
- Frequency
- annual
When it runs
Registration and deposit
For the December 18, 2025 sale, the county's Certificate of Registration, executed under 35 ILCS 200/21-220 and filed with the Effingham County Treasurer and Collector, set a registration fee of $250.00 per bidder, used laptops supplied through Joseph Meyer & Associates for bidding, and priced the delinquent list for tax buyers at $100.00. Because the county has resolved to acquire every tax certificate at the January 7, 2027 sale, ask the Treasurer's Office at 217-342-6844 whether any private bidder registration will be offered before planning to attend.
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Sheriff or a court-appointed private selling officer, under an order of the circuit court. A county acting as trustee runs its own tax deed auctions.
- Frequency
- as ordered by the circuit court
- Typical timing
- Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.
Sale format and venue
Effingham County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Effingham 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
No link to the county's sale list is on record here. Get the current list from the Effingham County Treasurer and Collector rather than relying on a copied one.Register to bid
Ask the Effingham County Treasurer and Collector how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.Sale day
Within 120 days after the court order authorizing the auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the Effingham County Treasurer and Collector before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the Effingham County Treasurer and Collector as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Effingham County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
This page has no link to the county's sale list. Ask the Effingham County Treasurer and Collector where the list is published and confirm the advertised parcels before you price a bid.Confirm registration and deposit
Terms of a judicial tax deed auction, including whether it runs online, in person, or both, and what deposit is required, are set in the court's order and published in the notice of tax deed auction. That notice runs once a week for 3 consecutive weeks, starting no more than 45 days and ending no less than 7 days before the auction. Read the notice for each parcel; there is no statewide platform or standing bidder registration.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Illinois 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 Illinois 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
Certificates nobody bids on at the annual sale are forfeited to the county as trustee for the taxing districts. The county may then assign a forfeited certificate to any party or sell property it has acquired, which many counties handle through a delinquent tax agent rather than a public counter. Counties may also offer county-held certificates at a scavenger sale with a minimum bid of $250, or half the tax when total liability is under $500. Ask the county collector and the county clerk which program the county runs and who may buy.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Illinois 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
- Effingham County has elected under Public Act 104-0553 to acquire all delinquent real estate taxes as trustee for the taxing districts, so private buyers should expect no real estate certificates at the January 7, 2027 tax sale.
- The annual tax sale is held in person in the North room of the Effingham County Office Building, 101 N Fourth St., Effingham. The prior sale ran on December 18, 2025.
- Redemption is processed by the Effingham County Clerk at 217-342-6535, which issues the Estimate of Redemption, while the Treasurer runs the sale.
- County-held real estate is resold by sealed bid through Joseph E. Meyer and Associates on ILTaxSale.com, which also sells a list of assignable tax lien certificates. Recent sealed bid auctions ran in October.
Illinois rules
- Redemption
- Property sold at an Illinois tax sale may be redeemed at any time before the redemption period expires. Public Act 104-0553 set the standard period at 3 years from the date of sale for tax certificates issued on or after July 10, 2026. Certificates issued between January 1, 2024 and July 9, 2026 run on the earlier 2.5 year (30 month) track, and on that track the certificate holder could file a written notice with the county clerk extending redemption to a date no later than 3 years from the sale. A short 1 year period applies when the parcel was, on the date of sale, vacant non-farm property, commercial or industrial property, or improved with a structure holding 7 or more residential units. Certificates the county holds or assigns as trustee run on their own schedule under Section 21-385, and an assignee must file notice within 60 days of assignment setting a redemption deadline no later than 3 years from the assignment.
- Deed deposit
- Illinois does not fix a statutory deposit percentage. Deposit and payment terms are set in the court's order authorizing the auction and by the selling officer, so read the notice of tax deed auction for each sale. A purchaser who fails to complete the sale forfeits any deposit already made to the county surplus equity fund, and the court orders a new auction of the property.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any amount by which the winning bid exceeds the minimum bid is surplus. Once 30 days have passed after the court confirms the sale, the selling officer deposits the surplus with the county treasurer, who notifies everyone who received the Section 22-10 take notice that the owner at the time of the sale may file a claim for it. A county running its own tax deed auction deposits surplus with the treasurer within 30 days of the sale and notifies interested parties within 60 days. Separately, a previous owner who lost equity through a tax deed can claim an award from the county surplus equity fund, capped at the value of the property when the deed issued less mortgages, liens, and the taxes the purchaser paid.
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 Effingham County, Illinois sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Effingham County tax certificate sale?
How often does Effingham County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
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.
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