McPherson County, KS tax sales

County offices

County notes

• •The Treasurer's office at 200 N. Maple Street, Suite 100 in McPherson publishes the sale terms and the annual delinquent real estate list, and takes payoff on delinquent taxes at 620-241-3664, open Monday through Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The Sheriff conducts the auction under the district court's order of sale and issues the deed. Useful county numbers are Sheriff 620-241-1225 and District Court 620-241-3422.
• •Real estate becomes subject to a county tax foreclosure suit once taxes are due and unpaid for three years, and the property can then be sold at public auction. Sales follow the court docket rather than a set month, so track the Treasurer's tax foreclosure page and the published sale bill instead of expecting a fixed annual date.
• •Bring funds that clear on the day. Cash works, and so does a first party personal check made out to McPherson County District Court, but the Sheriff banks every check right after the sale, so a check drawn on a third party or an account without funds will not hold the purchase.
• •Budget the recording fee on top of the bid. Each winning purchaser pays $12 for the first page and $8 for each additional page, made payable to the Register of Deeds and collected at the registration desk. The county records the Sheriff's deed for you and mails the original to the address you provide there.
• •The parcel list the county posts online is the Treasurer's annual delinquent real estate publication, archived by year back to 2007 with the 2023 publication the most recent posting. The operative notice for a specific auction is the published sale bill that runs in a local newspaper for three consecutive weeks before the sale.
• •Diligence is entirely on the bidder. Neither McPherson County, the Sheriff, nor their agents will comment on the value, quality, condition or potential of a parcel, and no abstract or title evidence is provided. Pull the deed record and check zoning and access before you bid, and talk to a local title company about whether a specific parcel can be insured after the sale.
• •The owner's right to redeem runs through the clerk of the district court and ends on the day of the sheriff's sale, so there is no post sale redemption to wait out. A former owner does have twelve months to ask the court to open, vacate or set aside the judgment or the sale. Price that as a title risk on the front end rather than as a redemption right.

Kansas rules

Redemption

Kansas redemption has two stages, and both close before the auction. Stage one is K.S.A. 79-2401a: once the treasurer bids the parcel off to the county in September, the county holds it for three years for a homestead under section 9 of article 15 of the Kansas Constitution and for all real estate not described in K.S.A. 79-2401a(a), two years where the parcel was bid off for both delinquent taxes and special assessments, and one year for an abandoned building or structure and the land accommodating it, meaning one that has been unoccupied for at least a year with a failure to perform reasonable maintenance. During that window the owner pays the county treasurer directly. On the three-year track a PARTIAL redemption is allowed: paying the taxes for one or more years, starting with the earliest year the parcel was carried on the tax-sale book, plus interest at the K.S.A. 79-2004 rate, pushes back the date a foreclosure sale may be commenced by the number of years paid. The Johnson County paragraph applies the same partial payment to the most recent year instead of the earliest, and it does not carry the extension sentence. Stage two is K.S.A. 79-2803: after the petition is filed the treasurer may no longer take ordinary payments, but the owner or holder of record title, their heirs, devisees, executors, administrators, assigns, or any mortgagee or mortgagee's assigns may still redeem at any time BEFORE THE DAY OF SALE by filing an application to redeem with the clerk of the district court and paying the clerk a share of the costs, being whatever the court orders or, absent an order, 5 percent of the lien amount stated in the petition for that parcel plus any charges chargeable separately against it. The treasurer then computes the full taxes, charges, interest, and penalties, issues a redemption certificate in triplicate, and the sheriff strikes the parcel from the order of sale. Once the sale happens the right is gone. Kansas gives no post-sale redemption period and no right to buy the property back after the sheriff's deed. What exists after the sale is a twelve-month window under K.S.A. 79-2804b to open, vacate, modify, or set aside the judgment, the order of sale, or the sale. That is a title challenge, not redemption: it is available to parties attacking the proceedings, it requires grounds, and it does not let a former owner simply pay the taxes and take the parcel back.K.S.A. 79-2401a - Redemption of real estate bid off by county; period of redemptionK.S.A. 79-2401aVerified Aug 23, 2026

Deed deposit

Kansas fixes no statewide deposit percentage and no statutory bidder registration. K.S.A. 79-2804 is silent on deposits, so the terms are whatever the sheriff publishes for that sale. The statute does require one payment at the auction itself: the register of deeds filing fee for the sheriff's deed is collected from the successful bidder at the time of sale and deposited with the register of deeds at recording. Confirm the county's accepted funds, any registration step, and the payment deadline before bidding, and expect certified funds.K.S.A. 79-2804 - Order of sale; publication notice; sheriff's sale; deed, execution and recordationK.S.A. 79-2804Verified Aug 23, 2026

Surplus proceeds

If a parcel sells for more than the judgment lien for taxes, interest, penalty, and charges plus its share of the costs, charges, and expenses of the proceedings and sale, the court orders the excess paid, upon due proof, to the owner or the party entitled to it. The court apportions costs across the parcels sold as soon as practicable after the sale, deducts the total costs from the gross proceeds, and equitably apportions the balance to each parcel that sold for more than its share. The clerk pays that balance to the county treasurer, who prorates it among the state, city, township, school district, and other taxing units in proportion to their interest in the lien, and cancels the taxes charged against the parcel. Tax liens on every parcel sold or redeemed in the action are satisfied and discharged of record.K.S.A. 79-2803 - Judgment; redemption before day of sale; apportionment of costs and surplusK.S.A. 79-2803Verified Aug 23, 2026

Governing statute

K.S.A. Chapter 79, Article 28 (79-2801 et seq.)K.S.A. 79-2801 - Action to enforce lien for unredeemed real estate bid in by countyK.S.A. 79-2801Verified Aug 23, 2026

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.

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