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Tax Sale Atlas

Ward County, ND tax sales

Tax Sale Atlas maps the Ward 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 the county’s own official pages on Sep 4, 2026.

How tax deed sales work in Ward County, seat of Minot: 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
County office
701-857-6420
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Sep 4, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Ward 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
Ward County Auditor/Treasurer's Office
Frequency
annual
Sale list
Foreclosure Properties for Sale
When it runs
The Auditor/Treasurer "prepares tax deeds on all land foreclosures and conducts a sale of property on the third Tuesday in November of each year." The most recent auction notice set the sale for November 18, 2025 at ten o'clock a.m. Between auctions, "private sale of foreclosed property is held throughout the year."
Registration and deposit

The county publishes no pre-registration step and no bidder deposit for the November auction. Payment is due in full at the sale by cash, certified funds, or credit card, with a 2.65 percent convenience fee on card payments and a minimum $20 deed recording fee added to every purchase. Every successful bidder must sign a statement acknowledging that the purchase price bears no relationship to the property's fair market value or taxable value, and that identifying any surviving liens is the bidder's own responsibility. Call the Auditor/Treasurer at 701-857-6420 to confirm the auction location and start time.

Sale format and venue
North Dakota sells no tax lien certificates, so Ward County bids out deeds to land the county already owns. Taxes unpaid for three years draw a foreclosure notice from the Auditor/Treasurer, and the county takes title on October 2 of that year. The county publishes two lists online: an auction list of the parcels going to the November sale, each carrying its own minimum sale price, and a standing Foreclosure Properties for Sale list of parcels that went unsold and can be bought at private sale year-round for no less than that same minimum. No online auction platform is named, so the sale runs through the Auditor/Treasurer's office and bidders should confirm the location before the sale date. The county warns that "properties sold through foreclosure sale will not have a clear title."
Source: Property Tax, Ward County Auditor/Treasurer's Office· Verified Sep 4, 2026

Ward County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Ward 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 Foreclosure Properties for Sale 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

    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 Ward County Auditor/Treasurer's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Ward County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Foreclosure Properties for Sale. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.

  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    The county publishes no pre-registration step and no bidder deposit for the November auction. Payment is due in full at the sale by cash, certified funds, or credit card, with a 2.65 percent convenience fee on card payments and a minimum $20 deed recording fee added to every purchase. Every successful bidder must sign a statement acknowledging that the purchase price bears no relationship to the property's fair market value or taxable value, and that identifying any surviving liens is the bidder's own responsibility. Call the Auditor/Treasurer at 701-857-6420 to confirm the auction location and start time.

  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

Ward County Auditor/Treasurer's Office

701-857-6420

Ward County Courthouse, 225 SE Third St., Second Floor, Minot, ND 58701 (mailing: P.O. Box 5005, Minot, ND 58702-5005)

Official website

County notes

  • Every parcel carries a published minimum sale price, and that figure is the floor at both the November auction and the year-round private sale.
  • Minimums on the published lists run from roughly $155 for a small Ryder city lot to more than $1.2 million for acreage in the Highlands Ranch addition at Burlington, so the same list mixes cheap infill lots with large development tracts.
  • Both the parcel list and the minimum prices are subject to change up to the moment of the auction, so pull the list again close to the sale date rather than working from an earlier copy.
  • Inventory is spread across Minot and the smaller cities of Kenmare, Burlington, Sawyer, Carpio, Donnybrook, Douglas, and Ryder, with Kenmare and Minot supplying most of the parcels.
  • Titles are not delivered clear, and the county does not disclose what liens may survive the sale, so budget for a title search and any quiet-title work before bidding.

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 Ward 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 Ward County hold tax deed sales?

Ward 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 Ward County Auditor/Treasurer's Office 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 Ward County tax sale list?

Ward County posts its tax sale list at co.ward.nd.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 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 Ward County Auditor/Treasurer's Office