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Tax Sale Atlas

Mercer County, ND tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Mercer County, ND tax sale, one of 2,606 counties in 31 states. North Dakota sells the deed itself, so no statutory investor interest rate applies. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Sep 4, 2026.

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

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

Format
In person
Registration
Mercer County publishes no online bidder registration and no pre-registration form.
County office
701-745-3292
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Sep 4, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Mercer County sells delinquent taxes

No tax lien certificate sale

North Dakota sells no tax lien certificate to investors. Under N.D.C.C. 57-28-09 the county auditor issues the tax deed to the county itself once the lien is foreclosed, so the county is the only party ever holding the delinquency.

Tax deed sale

In person
Run by
Mercer County Auditor
Frequency
annual
Registration
Mercer County publishes no online bidder registration and no pre-registration form.
Sale list
Notice of Foreclosure of Tax Lien
When it runs
The Auditor "conducts a sale of property on the third Tuesday in November." Private sales of foreclosed property that did not sell at auction run throughout the rest of the year.
Registration and deposit

Mercer County publishes no online bidder registration and no pre-registration form. Call the Auditor at 701-745-3292 ahead of the third Tuesday in November to confirm sale-day check-in, the exact sale location inside the courthouse, and accepted payment.

Sale format and venue
Mercer County forecloses its own tax liens and takes the deed, then resells land it already owns. Taxes unpaid by October 15 are delinquent, and after three years the Auditor serves a foreclosure notice and the county becomes the owner. The Auditor then sells that land on the third Tuesday in November at a published minimum price per parcel, and offers anything left over at private sale during the year. Bidding is in person at the courthouse in Stanton and the county uses no online auction platform, so plan to attend or send a representative. The Auditor publishes the foreclosure list on the county website and in the Hazen Star and Beulah Beacon.
Source: Auditor Department Page, Mercer County ND· Verified Sep 4, 2026

Mercer County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Mercer 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. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Notice of Foreclosure of Tax Lien for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.

  2. Register to bid

    Mercer County publishes no online bidder registration and no pre-registration form. Full requirements are in the sale card above.

  3. Sale day

    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 Mercer County Auditor as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Mercer County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Notice of Foreclosure of Tax Lien. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Mercer County publishes no online bidder registration and no pre-registration form. Call the Auditor at 701-745-3292 ahead of the third Tuesday in November to confirm sale-day check-in, the exact sale location inside the courthouse, and accepted payment.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the North Dakota due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in North Dakota before you price the title work.

  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

Any parcel that does not sell at the November auction may be bought from the county auditor at private sale before the next annual sale, for not less than its minimum sale price. Some boards also list unsold parcels through licensed real estate brokers.

New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what North Dakota calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax sale office

Mercer County Auditor

701-745-3292

Mercer County Courthouse, 410 Van Slyck Ave, PO Box 39, Stanton, ND 58571-0039

Official website

County notes

  • The Auditor's foreclosure list covers parcels in Beulah, Hazen, Stanton, Zap, Pick City, Golden Valley and rural Mercer County, and prints the owner of record, the legal description, the street address where one exists, and the minimum amount needed to satisfy the tax lien. Minimums on the current list run from roughly $70 to about $12,500.
  • The notice signed by Auditor Carmen Reed and published August 6, 2026 covers 2023 delinquent taxes and set October 1, 2026 as the last day for owners to pay the tax, special assessments, interest, penalties and foreclosure costs. Parcels not redeemed by that date become the absolute property of the county and feed the November sale.
  • Land taken by tax deed stays subject to the lien for installments of special assessments certified to the county auditor or falling due after the foreclosure notice was served, so price out the assessment balance before bidding.
  • The courthouse at 410 Van Slyck Ave in Stanton is open 8am to 4pm Monday through Friday. The Auditor's mailing address is PO Box 39, Stanton, ND 58571-0039 and the fax line is 701-745-3793.

North Dakota rules

Redemption
There are two distinct windows and neither is a redemption against a private buyer. Up to October 1, paying the amount in the foreclosure notice stops the process. After the tax deed vests in the county, the former owner, the former owner's executor or administrator, or a parent, spouse or child of the former owner may repurchase the property so long as the county still holds tax title, for cash or on a contract for deed. A city holding a delinquent special assessment has a prior right to buy at the appraised value, exercisable within 30 days of the auditor's notice. Once the county sells at the annual auction, the purchaser's deed is not subject to any of this.
Deed deposit
None. Chapter 57-28 sets no bidder deposit and no registration fee. Each parcel is sold at auction to the highest qualified bidder for no less than the minimum sale price, and the terms are settled at the sale: the full amount in cash paid promptly to the county treasurer, or one quarter of the purchase price in cash with the balance in equal annual installments over not more than ten years under a contract for deed. A bidder who owes delinquent property taxes in any North Dakota county is disqualified from purchasing.
Governing statute
N.D.C.C. ch. 57-28

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 North Dakotarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Mercer County, North Dakota sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax deeds. North Dakota sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the County Auditor sells the property itself at a public tax sale.

How often does Mercer County hold tax deed sales?

Mercer County holds its tax deed sale once a year. 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. North Dakota's redemption rule: None after the county's annual sale. Before that, the owner may satisfy the tax lien up to the October 1 foreclosure date, and after the county takes the deed a statutory right of repurchase runs for as long as the tax title remains in the county. Call the Mercer County Auditor 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 Mercer County tax sale list?

Mercer County posts its tax sale list at mercercountynd.com. 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 Sep 4, 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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Compare sale calendars, platforms, and rules across the state, or read the guides before you bid.

North Dakota tax salesDue diligence guide
Call Mercer County Auditor