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Tax Sale Atlas

Red Willow County, NE tax sales

How tax lien sales work in Red Willow County, seat of McCook: 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
No scheduled public tax deed auction.
Format
In person
County office
308-345-6515 ext. 1
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 24, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Red Willow 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
Red Willow County Treasurer
Frequency
annual
Typical timing
Annually on the first Monday in March at the Red Willow County Courthouse in McCook.
Next expected
on the first Monday in March, 2027 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
Sale list
Delinquent Real Property Advertising List
When it runs
Annually on the first Monday in March at the Red Willow County Courthouse in McCook. The Treasurer's registration form and the current sale notice both set the start at 8:30 a.m. in the third-floor Commissioners Room, while the office's standing description reads "The county Tax Sale is held the first Monday in March each year at 9:00 A.M. at the County Courthouse," so arrive by 8:30 a.m. and confirm the hour with the Treasurer. Purchasers sign in the morning of the sale, and it closes once every participant passes in turn.
Registration and deposit

Pre-register with the Treasurer using the county's Public Tax Sale Registration Form together with a completed W-9 and a $25 non-refundable registration fee. The county states two filing deadlines, the Thursday before the first Monday in March on its tax sale page and the close of business the Friday before the sale on the form itself, so file by the Thursday to satisfy both. Bidders must be at least 19 years old and must attend in person; one bidder cannot bid for more than one company. The Treasurer also requires a blank check payable to Red Willow County Treasurer, or a credit or debit card on file, and will not issue certificates without one. Each certificate carries a $20 non-refundable fee, and re-assigning a certificate costs another $20.

Sale format and venue
Red Willow County runs this sale in person at the courthouse rather than on an online platform. Certificates are allocated by a draw-order rotation, not by bidding. Each purchaser draws a number at sign-in, and that number fixes the order of choice from lowest to highest. Every round gives each purchaser one pick of a single parcel, named by legal description or parcel ID, and a purchaser may buy or pass. Anyone arriving after a round starts joins at the end of the next round in number order, and the sale ends when all participants pass their turn. Nothing is bid down or bid up: interest is fixed at 14 percent per year under Nebraska law, so pick order is the only thing that separates bidders. You are buying delinquent taxes, not the property, and you must pay subsequent taxes each year through the three-year redemption period. Pay by cashier's check or money order; a personal check is accepted only with a letter of credit from your bank. The office takes no purchases by fax or telephone. Parcels that draw no purchaser at the public sale remain available afterward through the county's private tax sale. The delinquent list runs in the local paper for three consecutive weeks in February and online through Nebraska Taxes Online.
Source: Public Tax Sale Information, Red Willow County Treasurer· Verified Aug 24, 2026

Red Willow County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Red Willow 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 Real Property Advertising List for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Ask the county office how and when to register; many counties close registration days or weeks before the sale.

  3. Sale day

    No scheduled public 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 Red Willow County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Red Willow County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Delinquent Real Property Advertising List. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Pre-register with the Treasurer using the county's Public Tax Sale Registration Form together with a completed W-9 and a $25 non-refundable registration fee. The county states two filing deadlines, the Thursday before the first Monday in March on its tax sale page and the close of business the Friday before the sale on the form itself, so file by the Thursday to satisfy both. Bidders must be at least 19 years old and must attend in person; one bidder cannot bid for more than one company. The Treasurer also requires a blank check payable to Red Willow County Treasurer, or a credit or debit card on file, and will not issue certificates without one. Each certificate carries a $20 non-refundable fee, and re-assigning a certificate costs another $20.

  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.

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County offices

Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)

Red Willow County Treasurer

308-345-6515 ext. 1

502 Norris Ave, McCook, NE 69001 (mailing: PO Box 490, McCook, NE 69001)

Official website

County notes

  • Certificates are allocated by a draw-order rotation with no bidding on rate or ownership interest. Interest is fixed at 14 percent per year and cannot be bid down, so the lien method here is a fixed rate with no bidding.
  • Certificates are held in the Red Willow County Treasurer's office for safekeeping, and on request the office forwards payment when a certificate is redeemed.
  • Redemption runs three years. If the owner has not redeemed by the end of that period, the certificate holder has six months to foreclose on the property.
  • The Treasurer keeps no mailing list and no parcel packet for bidders, so research every parcel yourself before the sale.
  • Red Willow County holds a public sheriff sale once a year on county-held tax sale certificates. The County Attorney sets the date and time and that office knows which county certificates go up in a given year.
  • Certificates from the public, private, and county sales may all be assigned, and a re-assignment costs $20.
  • The Treasurer's office gives no legal guidance on tax sale certificates. Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1801 through 77-1941 cover buying and foreclosing, and the county advises consulting an attorney as certificates mature.
  • An asterisk before a parcel number on the county's delinquent list means that parcel already carries one or more tax certificate liens, whether public, private, or county held.

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 Red Willow 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 Red Willow County tax certificate sale?

Annually on the first Monday in March at the Red Willow County Courthouse in McCook. The Treasurer's registration form and the current sale notice both set the start at 8:30 a.m. in the third-floor Commissioners Room, while the office's standing description reads "The county Tax Sale is held the first Monday in March each year at 9:00 A.M. at the County Courthouse," so arrive by 8:30 a.m. and confirm the hour with the Treasurer. Purchasers sign in the morning of the sale, and it closes once every participant passes in turn. The sale is held in person. Always confirm the exact date with the County Treasurer before the sale.

How often does Red Willow County hold tax deed sales?

Red Willow County holds its tax deed sale once a year. No scheduled public 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 Red Willow County Treasurer 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 Red Willow County tax sale list?

Red Willow County posts its tax sale list at nto.us. 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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