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Tax Sale Atlas

Clay County, NE tax sales

How tax lien sales work in Clay County, seat of Clay Center: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.

New to tax sales? Read how Nebraska tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.

Next sale
Nebraska holds no tax deed auction.
Format
In person
Registration
Pre-registration is required.
County office
402-762-3505
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 24, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Clay County sells delinquent taxes

From lien to deed

Nebraska holds no county tax deed auction. A certificate holder reaches title down one of two roads, and which road is available depends on how much equity is in the parcel. Three years after the date of the tax sale, and after serving the Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1831 notice at least three months in advance, the holder may apply to the county treasurer for a tax deed. That road is open only where 110 percent of the parcel's assessed value at the time of the application, less the amount that would be needed to redeem it, is twenty five thousand dollars or less. Where the equity is larger the holder must instead foreclose the certificate in the district court of the county where the land lies, in the same manner as a real estate mortgage foreclosure. Either step has to be taken within nine months after the expiration of three years from the date of sale, or nine months after two years where the holder is a land bank and the parcel qualifies as vacant and abandoned. Missing the window voids the certificate.

Tax certificate sale (lien)

In person
Run by
Clay County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Registration
Pre-registration is required.
Next expected
on the first Monday in March, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Delinquent tax advertising list and bidder forms
When it runs
Held on the first Monday in March each year at the Clay County Courthouse, 111 W Fairfield St in Clay Center, in the second-floor Board of Supervisors room. The Treasurer's rules sheet states that "Tax sales are held on the first Monday in March each year at 9:30 a.m." and asks pre-registered bidders not to arrive before 9:00 a.m.
Registration and deposit

Pre-registration is required. Complete the Treasurer's investor registration form and mail it with a $25.00 non-refundable registration fee and a signed W-9 to Clay County Treasurer, PO Box 134, Clay Center, NE 68933, or request the form by email from the deputy treasurer at [email protected]. The office must have it by 4:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the first Monday in March. Registrations on hand at that deadline are drawn to set the bidding order; anyone registering later is drawn separately on the morning of the sale, and late arrivals after bidding opens go to the end of the order. Bidders must be at least 19, a representative has to attend in person, and one individual may not represent more than one entity.

Sale format and venue
Clay County sells by round robin rather than by auction, so there is no bidding on rate or price. The Treasurer draws the registered bidders to set an order, seats them in that order, and then bidder one picks a parcel, bidder two picks next, and the rotation continues until every parcel has been offered. Each round is one choice per bidder, who may take a parcel or pass. Certificates are sold for the delinquent taxes, interest, advertising and any other delinquent tax charged to the parcel, and a redeemed certificate pays the statutory 14 percent from the date of sale to the date of redemption. Fees are $20 per certificate purchased, $20 for an assignment and $20 for a treasurer's deed, and the $20 purchase fee is not returned on redemption. At the close of bidding the buyer gives the office a blank check payable to the Clay County Treasurer for the computed total; cashier's checks and money orders are also accepted, and a personal check only against a letter of credit from the bidder's bank. The office keeps the original certificates for safekeeping and mails copies. Parcels already in public tax sale, in foreclosure or bankruptcy, or owned by government entities are not offered, and the office generally passes over mobile homes and improvements on leased land. Once the public sale closes, taxes that went unsold remain available through private tax sale at the Treasurer's office. No assignments are made on the day of the sale.
Source: Public Tax Sale Information, Clay County Treasurer· Verified Aug 24, 2026

Clay County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Clay 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Delinquent tax advertising list and bidder forms for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Pre-registration is required. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    Nebraska holds no tax deed auction. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.

  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use County Treasurer for the administrative deed, or the sheriff under a district court decree as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Clay County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Delinquent tax advertising list and bidder forms. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Pre-registration is required. Complete the Treasurer's investor registration form and mail it with a $25.00 non-refundable registration fee and a signed W-9 to Clay County Treasurer, PO Box 134, Clay Center, NE 68933, or request the form by email from the deputy treasurer at [email protected]. The office must have it by 4:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the first Monday in March. Registrations on hand at that deadline are drawn to set the bidding order; anyone registering later is drawn separately on the morning of the sale, and late arrivals after bidding opens go to the end of the order. Bidders must be at least 19, a representative has to attend in person, and one individual may not represent more than one entity.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Nebraska due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.

  4. 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

Two routes reach parcels outside the March sale, and both run through the county treasurer. Any parcel that stayed unsold at the public sale for want of bidders must then be sold at private sale at the treasurer's office to any person who pays the taxes, penalty, and costs; the certificate issued that way is marked sold for taxes at private sale. Separately, where the county board bought a parcel in the county's name because it drew no bidder, the treasurer holds that certificate and may assign it at any time to anyone willing to pay the face amount plus 14 percent interest from the date of the certificate, with the county clerk endorsing the assignment and the twenty five dollar issuance fee due from the buyer. If the parcel lies inside a municipality that has created a land bank, the treasurer must give the land bank the first opportunity to acquire the county's certificate. Ask the county treasurer which parcels are open to private sale and which county held certificates are available for assignment.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Clay County Treasurer

402-762-3505

111 W Fairfield St, PO Box 134, Clay Center, NE 68933

Official website

County notes

  • The Treasurer's printed rules give a 9:30 a.m. start while the office's summary of the sale lists 9:00 a.m., so confirm the hour when you pre-register.
  • The delinquent list runs in the Clay County News for three consecutive weeks in February and is posted on the Treasurer's tax sale page and on Nebraska Taxes Online.
  • Redemption runs three years from the sale. Clay County's rules warn that a certificate generally expires at three and a half years, sometimes stated as three years and nine months, and that the office sends no reminder, so the holder has to calendar the statutory notice and any filing well before that.
  • Two paths lead to title and they are not interchangeable. A holder may serve the statutory notice on the owner and then apply to the Treasurer for a treasurer's tax deed, which the county charges $20 to issue, or file a foreclosure action in district court. The county's rules sheet reports local attorney quotes for foreclosure at $750 and up, and a holder who files one must notify the Treasurer's office or risk losing foreclosure fees.
  • Within the certificate's life the purchaser must notify the owner of record in writing under Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1818, by personal or residence service and, if that fails, by certified mail. The notice has to state that the certificate was issued, describe the owner's redemption rights, identify the property by the street address on the assessor's records, give the total taxes, interest and cost, name the purchaser, and warn prominently that failure to act may forfeit the property. A $150 administrative fee is then charged to the owner and collected for the certificate holder on redemption.
  • Paying subsequent delinquent taxes is optional in Clay County. Delinquency dates are May 1 and September 1, and the office asks holders to call in the second week of those months because it cannot sell subsequent taxes until current-tax payments are processed.
  • There are no refunds on purchased certificates, so research parcels before the draw. The Treasurer's office states plainly that it will not give guidance or legal advice on certificates, deeds or foreclosure.

Nebraska rules

Max interest rate
14% per year, fixed by statute (nothing is bid)
Minimum return
No statutory floor; every certificate earns the same statutory rate
Redemption
Nebraska does not run a redemption clock that simply expires. The right to redeem stays open until the certificate holder files the application for a tax deed with the county treasurer, and the treasurer may not accept a redemption after the close of business on the day that application arrives. Because the holder cannot apply until three years after the sale, and must first serve a notice at least three months before applying that says in sixteen point type UNLESS YOU ACT YOU WILL LOSE THIS PROPERTY, the ordinary parcel carries a redemption window of about three years and three months and the owner gets a written warning inside it. Several conditions of the parcel or of its owner change that window, and they are recorded as tracks below. On the foreclosure road the window is different again: redemption stays open until the district court confirms the sheriff's sale.
Surplus proceeds
Nebraska returns the owner's equity on both roads. On the administrative road, within thirty days after the deed is recorded the grantee must pay the surplus to the previous owner. The surplus is the resale price if the grantee has already sold the parcel, or the assessed value shown in the county assessor's records at the time of the deed application if the grantee has not, less the amount that would have been needed to redeem the parcel, less the amount needed to pay all encumbrances on it, and less an administrative fee of five hundred dollars, or reasonable attorney fees in the case of a judicial foreclosure, which the grantee may keep to offset the cost of getting the deed. On the foreclosure road, any surplus remaining after all costs and taxes on a parcel are satisfied is applied the way surplus is applied in a mortgage foreclosure, and proceeds from one parcel may not be applied to the taxes on another except as the decree directs.
Governing statute
Neb. Rev. Stat. Chapter 77, Article 18 (77-1801 et seq.)

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.

See the full Nebraskarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Clay County, Nebraska sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax lien certificates. In Nebraska investors buy the lien, not the property; the County Treasurer runs the sale.

When is the Clay County tax certificate sale?

Held on the first Monday in March each year at the Clay County Courthouse, 111 W Fairfield St in Clay Center, in the second-floor Board of Supervisors room. The Treasurer's rules sheet states that "Tax sales are held on the first Monday in March each year at 9:30 a.m." and asks pre-registered bidders not to arrive before 9:00 a.m. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Clay County hold tax deed sales?

Clay County holds its tax deed sale none. Nebraska holds no tax deed auction. Each sale is scheduled and advertised in advance, so check the county's tax deed calendar for the next posted date.

I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?

Often yes, by paying the overdue taxes, interest, and costs before the deadline. Nebraska's redemption rule: 3 years from the tax sale before the holder may apply for a treasurer's tax deed, and the owner may redeem right up to the day that application is filed. Call the County Treasurer for the administrative deed, or the sheriff under a district court decree as early as possible for your exact payoff and options; deadlines are strict. Free help: lawhelp.org lists legal aid programs, and consumerfinance.gov lists HUD-approved housing counselors.

Where can I find the Clay County tax sale list?

Clay County posts its tax sale list at claycounty.ne.gov. Lists go up ahead of each sale and keep changing until the sale date, so confirm every parcel against the county's legal advertisement before you bid.

Verified Aug 24, 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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