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Tax Sale Atlas

New Mexico tax sales

New Mexico redemption period

New Mexico redemption: None after the sale. The owner can stop a sale only by paying all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs, or signing an installment agreement with the department, by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the sale. Tax Sale Atlas reads it from NMSA 1978, Chapter 7, Article 38 (7-38-60 through 7-38-74), checked Sep 25, 2026.

In New Mexico, the redemption period is the window during which the delinquent owner can pay off what they owe and stop you from taking the property. Here is how long it runs, who can redeem, and what they pay.

The short answer

None after the sale. The owner can stop a sale only by paying all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs, or signing an installment agreement with the department, by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the sale.

New Mexico runs 2 different redemption windows

Which one applies is decided by the parcel, not by the state, so read the condition before trusting the headline figure.

New Mexico redemption windows by parcel condition
When it appliesHow longAfter the sale
Ordinary delinquent real property offered at the Property Tax Division's in-person public auction under 7-38-67.NMSA 1978, 7-38-65, 7-38-66, 7-38-70until 5:00 p.m. on the day before the saleNone. The former owner may only challenge the conveyance in district court within two years of the sale.
Abandoned real property (vacant pre-1980 subdivision lots delinquent at least ten years) offered on the Property Tax Division's continuous online platform under 7-38-67.1(D).The cutoff runs from the date the parcel is offered online, not from the date a bid is accepted, so an online listing can no longer be stopped by payment once it is live.NMSA 1978, 7-38-66(A), 7-38-67.1until 5:00 p.m. on the day before the property is first offered on the division's websiteNone. Same two-year limit on challenging the conveyance.

How the clock works

The pre-sale window is long even though there is no post-sale redemption: taxes go delinquent thirty days after each due date, the account transfers to the state after two years, the property cannot be sold until three years after the first delinquency date on the list, and the owner must receive certified-mail notice twenty to thirty days before the sale, as must each recorded lienholder whose address is reasonably ascertainable. Installment agreements run up to thirty-six months at one percent a month and cannot be entered on or after the date of the initial sale. After the sale the only exposure is the former owner's two-year window to challenge the conveyance in district court, and, where a federal tax lien is recorded, the 120-day federal redemption right the Property Tax Division's terms warn about.

Who can redeem

Before the sale, the owner or anyone paying the full amount due, or the owner through an installment agreement with the department. No one after the sale, apart from the United States under a federal tax lien.

What the owner pays to redeem

All delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs due, paid to the Taxation and Revenue Department (or to a county treasurer the department has authorized as its agent) by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the sale.

How your interest accrues

Not applicable to investors. Interest of one percent a month under 7-38-49 and the penalty under 7-38-50 accrue to the state and the taxing units on the unpaid tax, never to a private holder, because no certificate is issued.

How the sale works

Not applicable. New Mexico runs no interest-rate auction. Do not treat the July 1 delinquency list transfer or a county treasurer's manufactured home sale as a real property tax sale: neither is one. The real auction is the state Property Tax Division's delinquent property tax auction, scheduled county by county on its Delinquent Property Tax Auctions page.

What happens when it ends

Real property taxes delinquent for more than two years go onto the county treasurer's tax delinquency list by July 1 and the account transfers to the Taxation and Revenue Department. The department may sell the property at any time after three years from the first delinquency date shown on that list, and must offer it within four years of that date (or within one year after a legal bar on selling ends), unless all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs are paid, or an installment agreement is signed, by 5:00 p.m. on the day before the sale. Since January 1, 2014 the department must offer at least one listed property for sale in each county every year unless the Property Tax Division director and the county treasurer sign a written agreement to postpone. The July 1 list itself is not a sale.

A redeemed certificate, plus your accrued interest, is what makes the wait profitable; see how redemption periods work across states. An unredeemed certificate is instead your path to the property through a tax deed sale, which still does not convey marketable title on its own, so budget for a quiet title action.

Verified Sep 25, 2026 against New Mexico statutes.

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.

See New Mexico counties

Redemption is statewide, but sale dates and platforms are set county by county.