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Tax Sale Atlas

Buchanan County, VA tax sales

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

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

Announcements
Those are surplus property sales, not delinquent tax sales, and they are advertised on the county calendar.
Format
County site
County office
276-935-6551
Every displayed fact carries a source badge. Verified Aug 23, 2026 against official county and state pages.How we verify
On this page

How Buchanan County sells delinquent taxes

No tax lien certificate sale

Virginia localities do not sell tax lien certificates to investors. The locality holds its own first-priority tax lien and enforces it through a judicial sale of the property.

Tax deed sale

Online auction
Run by
Taxing Authority Consulting Services, PC, serving as Special Commissioner of Sale for the County of Buchanan under decrees of the Buchanan County Circuit Court, with Mitch-Ell Auction Firm as auctioneer
Frequency
annual
Sale list
Special Commissioner's sale notice and parcel list
When it runs
Auctions start at 11:00am in the Board of Supervisors meeting room at 4447 Slate Creek Road in Grundy. The Special Commissioner's most recent notice reads "on March 31, 2026 at 11:00am", and earlier auctions ran November 19, 2025, May 16, 2025, December 19, 2024 and February 20, 2024, so Buchanan averages about two sales a year roughly five to seven months apart. The next date has not been announced yet. Watch the Special Commissioner's Virginia auction calendar and join its bidder email list, which goes out about three weeks before each sale.
Registration and deposit

Online bidding is free, but every bidder must register and be approved by Mitch-Ell Auction Firm at mitchellauctionfirm.com before the auction. Call the auctioneer at (276) 608-0619 if you want to bid but cannot get online. In person bidders simply attend at the Board of Supervisors meeting room in Grundy on sale day. On the judicial parcels the winner posts 25 percent of the bid or $1,000, whichever is higher, capped at $20,000 per parcel, plus a 10 percent buyer's premium with a $150 minimum; bids under $1,000 are paid in full at the auction. In person winners pay at the close by personal check, cashier's check or money order, and no cash is accepted. Online winners receive a contract by email and have seven days to deliver certified funds, a cashier's check, a money order or a wire made payable to County of Buchanan. To qualify as a purchaser you may not owe delinquent taxes to Buchanan County or be a defendant in a pending delinquent tax matter.

Sale format and venue
Buchanan County runs two sale tracks at the same auction, and the published notice separates them. Parcels carrying Circuit Court decrees of sale are sold by the Special Commissioner under Va. Code 58.1-3965, every sale is subject to confirmation by the Circuit Court, and the balance of the purchase price plus deed recording costs is due within fifteen days of confirmation. Parcels listed under Va. Code 58.1-3975 are nonjudicial: the winner pays the full bid, the 10 percent buyer's premium and recording costs at the close of the auction, or within seven days when bidding online. Both tracks convey by Special Warranty Deed, as is and where is, sold in gross rather than by the acre, subject to every easement and right of record, with no guarantee that a parcel has a right of way or is not landlocked and no help obtaining title insurance, so order an independent title search and walk the land before you bid. The Special Commissioner can reject any bid it judges unreasonable against the estimated value, and unsold parcels roll into the next auction. Owners redeem right up to sale day, so expect entries on the published list to be marked redeemed or removed. Direct property questions to Taxing Authority Consulting Services at 804-548-4424 or [email protected], P.O. Box 31800, Henrico, Virginia 23294-1800, and registration or bidding questions to Mark Mitchell at (276) 608-0619 or [email protected].
Register on Online auction

Buchanan County tax sale list and auction calendar

For Buchanan 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.

  1. Get the advertised list

    Use Special Commissioner's sale notice and parcel list 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

    Bidding runs on County site; check posted sale dates, registration status, and bidding windows there.
  4. Confirm with the office

    If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use Taxing Authority Consulting Services, PC, serving as Special Commissioner of Sale for the County of Buchanan under decrees of the Buchanan County Circuit Court, with Mitch-Ell Auction Firm as auctioneer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.

Before you bid in Buchanan County

  1. Start with the live sale list

    Pull the current advertised parcels from Special Commissioner's sale notice and parcel list. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.
  2. Confirm registration and deposit

    Online bidding is free, but every bidder must register and be approved by Mitch-Ell Auction Firm at mitchellauctionfirm.com before the auction. Call the auctioneer at (276) 608-0619 if you want to bid but cannot get online. In person bidders simply attend at the Board of Supervisors meeting room in Grundy on sale day. On the judicial parcels the winner posts 25 percent of the bid or $1,000, whichever is higher, capped at $20,000 per parcel, plus a 10 percent buyer's premium with a $150 minimum; bids under $1,000 are paid in full at the auction. In person winners pay at the close by personal check, cashier's check or money order, and no cash is accepted. Online winners receive a contract by email and have seven days to deliver certified funds, a cashier's check, a money order or a wire made payable to County of Buchanan. To qualify as a purchaser you may not owe delinquent taxes to Buchanan County or be a defendant in a pending delinquent tax matter.

  3. Check the state rules that change the bid

    Read the Virginia due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth.
  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.

Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.

County offices

Tax sale office

Buchanan County Office of the Treasurer

276-935-6551

PO Box 1056, Grundy, VA 24614; Buchanan County Government Center, Second Floor, Room 210

Official website

County notes

  • Buchanan County real estate taxes are due December 5 each year. The Treasurer's office in Room 210 of the Government Center handles delinquency, payoff figures and redemption for as long as a parcel is still in county hands, before it is turned over to the Special Commissioner for auction.
  • The auction is a courthouse style simulcast. The auctioneer calls the sale live in the Board of Supervisors meeting room in Grundy while approved online bidders compete in real time, so you can buy without traveling to Grundy, but you cannot inspect a parcel from the bidding screen.
  • Third party auction aggregators republish notices of the Buchanan sale. Bids only count through Mitch-Ell Auction Firm or from the floor of the meeting room, so register with the auctioneer rather than with a listing site.
  • Separately from the tax sale, the Board of Supervisors auctions surplus county owned land, including former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers parcels sold at an April 23, 2026 auction, then confirms those conveyances at a public hearing. Those are surplus property sales, not delinquent tax sales, and they are advertised on the county calendar.
  • The county reassesses real estate every six years and the rate is $0.39 per $100 of fair market value, so the assessment behind a delinquent bill can be several years stale. Value the land yourself before you bid.
  • Buchanan County is in far southwest Virginia and much of the tax sale inventory is steep mountain acreage, mineral split parcels and improvement only listings. Read the parcel descriptions closely, since several list acreage as approximate or reference a boundary rather than a surveyed tract.

Virginia rules

Redemption
An owner listed in the published notice, or the owner's heirs, devisees, successors, and assigns, may redeem the real estate at any time before the date set for the judicial sale by paying into court everything due. The right ends when the sale happens; Virginia gives no redemption window after the hammer falls and no redemption window after the deed is recorded. Partial payment does not redeem the property and does not suspend, invalidate, or moot the suit. The treasurer may instead suspend the sale by entering an installment agreement with the owner running no more than 72 months, and an owner who defaults on such an agreement cannot enter a second one for the same property for three years. The same before-the-sale-only cutoff applies on the nonjudicial track under 58.1-3975. What does exist after the sale is not redemption but a challenge: a party served only by publication may petition for a rehearing for good cause within 90 days of the order confirming the sale.
Deed deposit
No statewide deposit percentage exists. Article 4 leaves the terms of sale to the special commissioner and the confirming court, so the deposit is whatever the advertised terms of that sale require. Read the terms of sale published with each auction and confirm accepted funds with the commissioner before bidding.
Surplus proceeds
The former owner and the owner's heirs, devisees, successors, or assigns are entitled to the surplus received from the sale above the taxes, penalties, interest, reasonable attorney fees, costs, and any liens chargeable on the parcel, and the burden is on the claimant to prove entitlement. If no claim is made within two years after the date the sale is confirmed, the clerk pays the money to the locality that received the sale proceeds. On the nonjudicial track, excess proceeds sit in an interest-bearing escrow account held by the treasurer, a claimant has two years from the date of sale to schedule a hearing in circuit court, and unclaimed money goes to the locality's general fund.
Governing statute
Va. Code Title 58.1, Chapter 39, Article 4

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 Virginiarules and every county →

Frequently asked questions

Does Buchanan County, Virginia sell tax liens or tax deeds?

Tax deeds. Virginia sells no tax lien certificates to investors; the county sells the property itself at a public tax sale.

How often does Buchanan County hold tax deed sales?

Buchanan 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. Virginia's redemption rule: Until the date set for the sale. Virginia has no post-sale redemption period. Call the Taxing Authority Consulting Services, PC, serving as Special Commissioner of Sale for the County of Buchanan under decrees of the Buchanan County Circuit Court, with Mitch-Ell Auction Firm as auctioneer 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 Buchanan County tax sale list?

Buchanan County posts its tax sale list at taxva.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 Aug 23, 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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