Hamilton County, NE tax sales
How tax lien sales work in Hamilton County, seat of Aurora: 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
- County office
- 402-694-2291
On this page
How Hamilton 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)
- Run by
- Hamilton County Treasurer
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- The first Monday in March.
- Next expected
- on the first Monday in March, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Registration closes before sale day and is handled at the Hamilton County Treasurer's office. The 2026 instructions state "Registration is required by Friday, February 27th, 2026 prior to your participation in the sale." Each bidder completes the county's Tax Sale Registration Form, pays a $25.00 registration fee, files a W-9, and agrees to leave a blank signed check. Bidders must be at least 19 years of age on the day of the sale and must supply a Taxpayer Identification Number or Social Security Number. One bidder may not represent multiple entities, and an entity may not be represented by multiple bidders. Registered bidders receive printed copies of the most recent delinquent tax list, ordered from the highest dollar amount down, just before the sale starts.
Sale format and venue
Hamilton County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Hamilton 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 Hamilton County Treasurer tax sale instructions and registration form for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.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.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 Hamilton County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Hamilton County Treasurer tax sale instructions and registration form. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
Registration closes before sale day and is handled at the Hamilton County Treasurer's office. The 2026 instructions state "Registration is required by Friday, February 27th, 2026 prior to your participation in the sale." Each bidder completes the county's Tax Sale Registration Form, pays a $25.00 registration fee, files a W-9, and agrees to leave a blank signed check. Bidders must be at least 19 years of age on the day of the sale and must supply a Taxpayer Identification Number or Social Security Number. One bidder may not represent multiple entities, and an entity may not be represented by multiple bidders. Registered bidders receive printed copies of the most recent delinquent tax list, ordered from the highest dollar amount down, just before the sale starts.
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.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 certificates
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)
County notes
- The Treasurer of record is Joann M. Griffith and the Deputy Treasurer is Christy M. Wert; the instructions direct tax sale questions to the Treasurer at 402-694-2291 or [email protected].
- The sale room is the Jury Room on the second floor of the Hamilton County Courthouse at 1111 13th Street in Aurora. The courthouse opens at 8:00 a.m. and bidding starts at 8:30 a.m., so arriving early matters when the rotation numbers are drawn.
- The county's delinquent tax list runs in the Aurora News Register for three consecutive weeks in February. The county does not post a parcel list online, so the newspaper run and the printed copies handed out at registration are the two ways to see it before bidding.
- The instructions direct bidders to Nebraska Taxes Online at nto.us and to the county GIS mapping site for parcel research, both searched by parcel identification number.
- Real property and personal property taxes are due December 31, the first half becomes delinquent the following May 1 and the second half on September 1. Those dates set what is available at the March sale and when subsequent taxes can be added to a certificate.
- The Treasurer's instructions say plainly that the office is not made up of attorneys and will not give legal advice or guidance on the sale, so plan on your own counsel for the notice and foreclosure steps that follow a purchase.
Nebraska rules
- 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.
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 Hamilton County, Nebraska sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Hamilton County tax certificate sale?
How often does Hamilton County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Hamilton County tax sale list?
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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