Grand Traverse County, MI tax sales
How tax deed sales work in Grand Traverse County, seat of Traverse City: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Michigan tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Late summer.
- Format
- County site
- Registration
- Bidding is online.
- County office
- 231-922-4735
On this page
How Grand Traverse County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Grand Traverse County Treasurer's Office, acting as the foreclosing governmental unit, with Title Check, LLC as the auctioneer and authorized agent
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Late summer.
- Registration
- Bidding is online.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Bidding is online. Create a free account at tax-sale.info; the rules say you "should create such an account no less than 48 hours prior to the auction" so it is active in time to bid, and identity is verified against a government issued ID. Before bids are accepted you must post a deposit, either "a $1000 pre-authorization on a Visa, MasterCard, or Discover credit card or by tendering $1,000 in certified funds to the Auctioneer". The hold lasts 30 days and must be renewed after that. Advance bidding opens 30 days before the sale. Winners have 5 business days to send payment and notarized paperwork, and owe the winning bid plus a 10% buyer's premium, current taxes, and a $30 deed recording fee. Bidders without computer access can arrange an absentee bid on the same $1,000 deposit terms.
Sale format and venue
Grand Traverse County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Grand Traverse 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.
Get the advertised list
Use Grand Traverse County auction catalog for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Late summer. Bidding runs on Michigan public land auction schedule and parcel lists; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Grand Traverse County Treasurer's Office, acting as the foreclosing governmental unit, with Title Check, LLC as the auctioneer and authorized agent as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Grand Traverse County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Grand Traverse County auction catalog. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Bidding is online. Create a free account at tax-sale.info; the rules say you "should create such an account no less than 48 hours prior to the auction" so it is active in time to bid, and identity is verified against a government issued ID. Before bids are accepted you must post a deposit, either "a $1000 pre-authorization on a Visa, MasterCard, or Discover credit card or by tendering $1,000 in certified funds to the Auctioneer". The hold lasts 30 days and must be renewed after that. Advance bidding opens 30 days before the sale. Winners have 5 business days to send payment and notarized paperwork, and owe the winning bid plus a 10% buyer's premium, current taxes, and a $30 deed recording fee. Bidders without computer access can arrange an absentee bid on the same $1,000 deposit terms.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Michigan due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.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.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Deed state. The Grand Traverse County Treasurer is the foreclosing governmental unit and conveys the deed at auction; there is no tax lien certificate to buy.
- The sale runs entirely online at tax-sale.info, conducted by Title Check, LLC as the Treasurer's authorized agent.
- Grand Traverse parcels are auctioned in a shared regional sale with Benzie, Lake, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, and Wexford counties, alongside a Michigan DNR catalog for Lake County that is governed by separate DNR rules.
- Total cost to a winning bidder is the bid plus a 10% buyer's premium, current taxes, and a $30 deed recording fee, due within 5 business days.
- The county page listing properties for sale lags the platform calendar by a season, so treat tax-sale.info as the current date of record.
- Redemption ends at 5:00 p.m. on March 31 of the foreclosure year, after which the former owner has no right to redeem.
Michigan rules
- Redemption
- Michigan has no post-sale redemption. The right to redeem runs during the forfeiture year and ends when the foreclosure judgment takes effect. Property forfeited to the county treasurer may be redeemed at any time on or before the March 31 immediately succeeding entry of a judgment foreclosing it, or within 21 days of entry in a contested case. On that date all redemption rights expire and fee simple title vests absolutely in the foreclosing governmental unit. Measured from the March 1 the taxes were returned as delinquent, that is about 25 months, and roughly three years from the year the taxes were levied. A circuit court may withhold a property from foreclosure for one year, or enter an order extending the redemption period as it finds equitable, if the owner is a minor heir, is incompetent, is without means of support, or is undergoing substantial financial hardship, so a parcel can drop off an auction list late.
- Deed deposit
- Michigan fixes no statutory deposit. The foreclosing governmental unit may adopt its own procedures governing the conduct of the sale and payment for conveyance, so registration deposits, refunds, and any bidding caps are set county by county and by the auction platform. On Tax-Sale.info, the platform most Michigan counties use, bidding requires a $1,000 pre-authorization hold on a major credit card rather than a cash deposit. Confirm the figure in the county's published auction terms before registering.
- Surplus proceeds
- A person who held a legal interest in the property immediately before the judgment of foreclosure became effective may claim the remaining proceeds. Remaining proceeds are the amount paid to the foreclosing governmental unit for the property, minus the minimum bid, minus other fees and expenses of forfeiture, foreclosure, sale, maintenance, repair, and remediation not already inside the minimum bid, minus a sale commission payable to the unit equal to 5 percent of the amount paid for the property. The claimant must submit a notice of intention on a Department of Treasury form by the July 1 immediately following the effective date of the foreclosure, then file a motion in the same circuit court proceeding in which the foreclosure judgment was effective, during the period beginning February 1 immediately after the property was sold and ending the following May 15. The court sets a hearing, decides the relative priority and value of each claimant's interest, and orders payment. Once the order enters, any further claim relating to that property is barred.
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 Grand Traverse County, Michigan sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Grand Traverse County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Grand Traverse County tax sale list?
Verified Aug 7, 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 county office before you bid.
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