Harney County, OR tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Harney County, OR tax sale, one of 3,131 counties in 51 states. Oregon sells tax-foreclosed land the government already owns, so no statutory investor interest rate applies. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from the county’s own official pages on Sep 26, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Harney County, seat of Burns: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Oregon tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next tax deed sale
- No fixed annual sale.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- No online registration.
- County office
- 541-573-6356
On this page
How Harney County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Harney County Court (County Judge and Commissioners), by court order directing the Harney County Sheriff to sell county-owned tax-foreclosed land; the Harney County Assessor/Tax Collector runs the foreclosure
- Frequency
- irregularly, with no fixed schedule
- Typical timing
- No fixed annual sale.
- Registration
- No online registration.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
No online registration. Bidders attend the Sheriff's sale named in the published notice and pay in full on the day of sale; Resolution 2021-15 accepts only cashier's checks or money orders. Anyone may also ask the County Court to bring a specific county-owned parcel to auction by filing the Application to Bring County Owned Land to Auction with a nonrefundable $300 processing fee.
Sale format and venue
Harney County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Harney 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.
Confirm the advertised parcel list
Use County-Owned Properties Obtained Through Foreclosure, Harney County (list as of September 18, 2023) as a starting reference. Check which sale or list it covers; a Lands Available or office information page is separate from an auction parcel list. Ask the sale office for the advertised parcels for the auction you plan to attend.Register to bid
Sale day
No fixed annual sale. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the Harney County Court before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use the Harney County Court as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Harney County
4 checks
Confirm the parcel list before pricing
Open County-Owned Properties Obtained Through Foreclosure, Harney County (list as of September 18, 2023). Confirm whether this reference contains the auction parcels or covers a different list. Get the advertised parcel list from the county before you price a bid, and recheck it before the sale.Confirm registration and deposit
No online registration. Bidders attend the Sheriff's sale named in the published notice and pay in full on the day of sale; Resolution 2021-15 accepts only cashier's checks or money orders. Anyone may also ask the County Court to bring a specific county-owned parcel to auction by filing the Application to Bring County Owned Land to Auction with a nonrefundable $300 processing fee.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Oregon 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 Oregon before you price the title work.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 properties
Oregon counties keep no statewide over-the-counter list. Land left unsold after the sheriff's sale may be sold privately under ORS 275.200 at not less than the highest bid received or, with no bid, at a price the county considers reasonable but at least 15 percent of the sale minimum. Whether this county holds any such inventory must be confirmed with the county office that manages tax-foreclosed property.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Oregon calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Oregon has no tax lien sale. After Harney County forecloses under ORS Chapter 312 and the two-year redemption period ends, the county takes deed and the Harney County Court sells the land under ORS Chapter 275, usually by ordering a Sheriff's sale.
- Court Order 2025-08 (November 24, 2025) approved a Sheriff's sale of 497 S Kearney Ave, Burns (Account 1356) to the highest bidder for cash, with a minimum of 25% of Real Market Value plus a $300 processing fee.
- The County Court is drafting a new resolution, policy and workflow for selling tax-foreclosed parcels, possibly in batches, so expect sale terms to change. Upcoming sales are posted on the county land sale page.
- Buyers can apply to bring a specific county-owned parcel to auction for a nonrefundable $300 fee; the minimum bid on an applicant-requested parcel is 100% of Real Market Value, and payment is by cashier's check or money order only.
- The county's online list of county-owned foreclosed parcels is dated September 18, 2023. Confirm availability with the County Court at 541-573-6356, 450 N. Buena Vista, Burns. For the foreclosure itself, the Assessor/Tax Collector is at 541-573-8365.
Oregon rules
- Redemption
- Redemption in Oregon runs before the public ever buys. After judgment the parcels are held by the county for two years from the date of the judgment of foreclosure, unless redeemed sooner, and the former owner keeps possession during that period unless waste is committed. At least one year before the period ends the tax collector mails a notice of expiration of redemption, and 10 to 30 days before it ends the tax collector publishes a general notice. Unredeemed parcels are then deeded to the county, and all rights of redemption terminate when the deed to the county is executed. A buyer at the county's later sale therefore takes property that is no longer subject to any redemption right. ORS 275.180 separately lets the county governing body sell a parcel back to the record owner or contract purchaser of record at any time, without notice, for the taxes and interest charged when the county acquired it plus six percent a year; that is a discretionary repurchase, not a redemption right.
- Deed deposit
- No statewide deposit amount. ORS 275.110 leaves the conditions and terms of sale to the county governing body's order, and the notice of sale states them. Deposits, bidder registration, and accepted forms of payment therefore vary by county; read the county's notice of sale before the auction.
- Surplus proceeds
- Oregon now returns equity to the former owner. Under ORS 312.530 the surplus is the value of the property, which is the sale price at a broker or auction sale, less the county's allowable costs: the judgment and post-judgment interest, taxes that would have accrued through the sale, county maintenance and title costs, local improvement liens filed with the county, nuisance abatement costs, and reasonable foreclosure and disposition fees including legal, appraisal, commission, and auction fees. The county holds the gross proceeds in a separate interest-bearing account, determines the surplus within 60 days, notifies the former owner of the surplus amount, and delivers the surplus to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property within 30 days of determining it, with an itemized accounting of the allowable costs in its report to the Treasurer. The former owner, or heirs and certain successors, claim it from the State Treasurer; a creditor with a valid lien or debt may also claim against it. These rules apply to claims where the owner received the ORS 312.125 notice on or after May 25, 2023.
What the deed conveys: When the county takes its deed after foreclosure, ORS 312.270(1) vests title in the county free from all liens and encumbrances except local improvement assessments of a municipal corporation, and ORS 312.270(2) gives a private purchaser at the county's resale title free and clear of those local improvement assessments as well. ORS 312.214 to 312.230 declare that the county's tax-foreclosure title should have the utmost stability. Buyers should still order a title report before bidding, because the statutes do not address every interest, such as federal liens. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Harney County, Oregon sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Harney County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Harney County tax sale list?
Verified Sep 26, 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 office that runs the sale before you bid.
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