Wasco County, OR tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Wasco County, OR tax sale, one of 2,957 counties in 40 states. Oregon 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 26, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Wasco County, seat of The Dalles: 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 sale
- Held only in years when the county holds enough tax-foreclosed parcels.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- No online registration.
- County office
- (541) 506-2510
On this page
How Wasco County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Wasco County Department of Assessment and Taxation, with each sale ordered and each accepted offer approved by the Wasco County Board of Commissioners
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Held only in years when the county holds enough tax-foreclosed parcels.
- Registration
- No online registration.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
No online registration. Submit a written offer on the county Sealed Bid Form in a sealed envelope marked with your name, address, phone number, the offer date and the tax lot number. Offers of $5,000 or less require a cashier's check, certified check or money order for the full amount; offers over $5,000 require at least 25% down by the same means, with the balance due within 30 days of Board of Commissioners acceptance, and a buyer who fails to pay in full forfeits the deposit. Offers below the listed minimum bid are rejected. Offers must physically reach the Assessment and Taxation office by 4:00 pm on the advertised deadline. The buyer pays recording fees at final payment.
Sale format and venue
Wasco County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Wasco 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.
Get the advertised list
Use County-owned land sale property list with account numbers, photos and minimum bids (posted when a sale is scheduled) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Held only in years when the county holds enough tax-foreclosed parcels. 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.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Wasco County Department of Assessment and Taxation, with each sale ordered and each accepted offer approved by the Wasco County Board of Commissioners as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Wasco County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from County-owned land sale property list with account numbers, photos and minimum bids (posted when a sale is scheduled). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
No online registration. Submit a written offer on the county Sealed Bid Form in a sealed envelope marked with your name, address, phone number, the offer date and the tax lot number. Offers of $5,000 or less require a cashier's check, certified check or money order for the full amount; offers over $5,000 require at least 25% down by the same means, with the balance due within 30 days of Board of Commissioners acceptance, and a buyer who fails to pay in full forfeits the deposit. Offers below the listed minimum bid are rejected. Offers must physically reach the Assessment and Taxation office by 4:00 pm on the advertised deadline. The buyer pays recording fees at final payment.
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
- Wasco County sells tax-foreclosed land by sealed bid through the Department of Assessment and Taxation, and the Board of Commissioners orders each sale and approves accepted offers. Sales happen only when the county holds enough foreclosed parcels, so some years have none.
- Properties are sold AS IS and conveyed by quitclaim deed, so order a title search before bidding.
- Older county sale instructions show the Assessment and Taxation office at 511 Washington Street, Suite 208, The Dalles. The county-owned land page now lists 401 East 3rd Street, Suite 200, so confirm the delivery address for sealed bids at (541) 506-2510 before mailing.
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, gives the former owner an itemized accounting, and delivers the surplus to the State Treasurer as unclaimed property within 30 days of determining it. 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.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does Wasco County, Oregon sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Wasco County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Wasco 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 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.