Cochise County tax sales, Arizona

Verified

Cochise County is the exception to Arizona's RealAuction pattern: its tax lien sale runs online on GovEase, as the county's own Tax Lien Sale Bid Information and its 2026 GovEase flyer both state. A stale county parcel inquiry help page still names RealAuction; the bid information and the current flyer govern. Registration for the 2026 sale ran January 12 to February 6, 2026 on govease.com, ahead of a February 10, 2026 start. The county's bid information spells out the descending rate ladder in full, from 16 percent down to 0, and sets payment by the Monday after the sale at 5:00 p.m. Arizona Time. No deposit amount is published in the county documents read, so it is marked unverified.

Selling office: Cochise County Treasurer Catherine L. Traywick

Next sale: February 2027 annual online tax lien sale, in the middle of February on the county's stated pattern; no dated 2027 sale was published as of November 9, 2026. The county's Tax Lien Sale Bid Information states the Treasurer conducts the annual Tax Lien Sale in February, date TBD, and the county's general information places the sale in the middle of February. The 2026 sale started February 10, 2026 at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time on GovEase, with registration from January 12, 2026 to February 6, 2026.

Cochise is the one GovEase county in this Arizona set; buyers who know RealAuction from the other counties still need a separate GovEase account and registration here. Treasurer: Catherine L. Traywick, P.O. Box 1778, Bisbee, AZ 85603, phone (520) 432-8400, email treasurer@cochise.az.gov.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	February 2027 annual online tax lien sale, in the middle of February on the county's stated pattern; no dated 2027 sale was published as of November 9, 2026
The sale	Held annually online in the middle of February, the exact date to be determined each year. The 2026 auction was held February 10, 2026 on GovEase. No dated 2027 sale was published as of November 9, 2026.
The list	All property for which liens will be sold is listed in the official county newspaper; a copy may be purchased from the newspaper directly or from the Treasurer's office for $5.00. To be on the mailing list, contact the Back Tax Department prior to January 30.
Registration	Anyone wishing to bid must register with GovEase at govease.com and complete the online registration documents before being approved to bid; a bid number is assigned for each name, and the bidder supplies a Social Security number or, for a business, an Employer ID number. Training videos are at govease.com/bidderhelp.
Bidding and the certificate	Bidding descends the rate ladder, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 percent, and the lien is awarded to the lowest interest rate bidder, under ARS 42-18114. The buyer receives a certificate of purchase, a lien on the property, not the property itself.
Redemption	The owner or another person with a legal or equitable claim may redeem at any time before delivery of a treasurer's deed, paying the sale amount with interest at the certificate rate, plus subsequent taxes the holder paid at the same rate, plus statutory fees, under ARS 42-18151 to 42-18153. Foreclosure may begin three years after the sale under ARS 42-18201.
Unsold liens	Any lien not sold at the sale is assigned to the State of Arizona at 16 percent interest, per the county's bid information. Certificates can be reassigned at any time after the sale until deed time, and state held certificates are sold by assignment under ARS 42-18122.
Format	Online only: GovEase, at govease.com and liveauctions.govease.com
Selling office	Cochise County Treasurer Catherine L. Traywick

Sources: Cochise County Treasurer, Tax Lien Sale Bid Information. Cochise County, 2026 Online Tax Lien Auction flyer (GovEase). Cochise County Treasurer, Tax Lien Information Part II. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and parcels are pulled up to sale day.

Research Cochise County parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcels, the date, and the opening terms. It does not give you the owner, the value, or the rest of the picture: liens, foreclosure status, and parcel history. PropertyRadar is the data platform for that layer. It carries owner records, assessed and market values, foreclosure and tax data, and property history for parcels across Cochise County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Arizona tax lien sales work

Unpaid taxes become a lien, and the lien is what sells. Property taxes in Arizona are a lien on the property, and when they stay unpaid the county treasurer prepares the delinquent list (by December 31 under ARS 42-18106), advertises it, and sells the tax lien at the annual sale under Title 42, Chapter 18. What the buyer receives is a certificate of purchase: a lien position against the property, not the property, not a deed, and no right to enter or use it.
The sale runs every February, mostly online. The treasurer of each county holds the annual sale in February. Most Arizona counties now sell through an online vendor the treasurer names on its tax lien sale page; registration and a funded account come before bidding, and each county sets its own registration deadline and deposit rule on top of the statute.
Bidding is the interest rate, and it goes down. Buyers bid the annual interest rate the lien will earn, starting at the 16 percent per annum maximum in ARS 42-18053 and bidding down under ARS 42-18114; the lowest rate wins. The winner pays the treasurer the full amount of delinquent taxes, interest, penalties and fees for the parcel on the day of sale. Competition, not the county, sets the rate a lien actually carries.
Redemption is the normal exit, and it runs through the treasurer. The owner, or another party in interest, may redeem at any time before a court enters judgment foreclosing the lien, by paying the treasurer the certificate amount plus interest at the bid rate, plus any subsequent taxes the holder paid and the statutory fees. The treasurer then pays the holder. Most certificates are redeemed; the interest, not the property, is the usual return.
The deed is a court case that cannot start for 3 years. If the lien is still unredeemed 3 years after the sale, the certificate holder may bring a foreclosure action in superior court under ARS 42-18201. Only a final judgment in that action bars the owner's right to redeem and directs the treasurer to issue a treasurer's deed. Liens nobody buys at the sale are struck off to the state, and the state held liens can later be bought by assignment from the treasurer.

How bidding works in Cochise County

Register with GovEase at govease.com and complete the online registration documents before bidding; for 2026, registration ran from January 12, 2026 to February 6, 2026. GovEase support: support@govease.com, (769) 208-5050 ext. 2.

The rate is the price. A lien bid at 16 percent and redeemed in year two is a different asset from the same lien bid at 4 percent and redeemed in month three. Arizona returns are set in the bid room, before any property question is reached, so model the rate and the likely redemption window first.
The certificate is not the property. No possession, no rents, no right to enter, and no deed for at least 3 years, and then only through a court foreclosure. Buyers who need the property itself should be reading the deed state pages, not this one.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Cochise County	No deposit amount is published in the county's bid information or the 2026 GovEase flyer read, and none is claimed here. Treat any deposit step as set inside GovEase during registration.
Payment, Cochise County	All payments for liens won must be made by the following Monday after the tax lien sale auction, by 5:00 p.m. Arizona Time, per the county's bid information. The statutory frame, ARS 42-18116, allows payment at a time the treasurer determines within fifteen days after the close of the sale.
What is sold	A certificate of purchase: a lien on the property for the delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and fees. Not the property, not a deed, and no right of possession. A deed exists only at the end of a foreclosure action, years later, if the owner never redeems.
The bid	An annual interest rate, bid down from the statutory maximum of 16 percent. The lowest rate wins the lien. The buyer pays the full certificate amount at the sale and earns the bid rate on the amount while the lien is outstanding.
Redemption	At any time before a foreclosure judgment, through the county treasurer, by paying the certificate amount plus interest at the bid rate, subsequent taxes the holder paid, and statutory fees. The state frame is Title 42, Chapter 18; the county page carries the treasurer's own redemption instructions.
Foreclosure	Available to the certificate holder once the lien has been outstanding 3 years from the sale date, by action in superior court under ARS 42-18201, and not later than 10 years after the last day of the month in which the lien was acquired. Judgment bars redemption and directs the treasurer to issue a treasurer's deed. Before that judgment, the holder owns a claim, not a property.
Lien life	A certificate does not last forever. Under ARS 42-18127, if the lien is not redeemed and no foreclosure action is commenced within 10 years after the last day of the month in which the certificate was acquired, the certificate expires and the lien is void. The treasurer must notify the holder before the deadline, but the deadline runs whether the holder acts or not.
Costs on top of the certificate amount	The sale day payment covers the delinquent taxes, accrued interest, penalties and fees in the certificate amount. A holder who later pays subsequent delinquent taxes on the parcel adds them to the lien position under ARS 42-18121, at the certificate rate; a foreclosure, if it comes, carries court and notice costs the redemption math must also cover.

Unsold liens: assigned to the state at 16 percent

Any lien not sold at the sale is assigned to the State of Arizona at 16 percent interest, per the county's Tax Lien Sale Bid Information. Certificates can be reassigned at any time after the sale until deed time, and a state held certificate is sold by the Treasurer by assignment under ARS 42-18122 to a buyer who pays the whole amount then due plus subsequent taxes.

Before you bid

Know the redemption window before the rate. Interest accrues at the bid rate from the sale, and the owner can cut it off at any time by redeeming. A lien priced for a 3 year hold that redeems in 90 days pays a quarter of the model; run the short case first.
Read the treasurer's current terms, not a recap. Vendors, registration deadlines and deposit rules change between sales, and county pages are rewritten each season. Re-read them on the treasurer's page before funding a deposit.
Subsequent taxes are part of the position. A holder can pay later delinquent taxes on the parcel and add them to the lien. Budget for carrying the position, not just buying it.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your exit value to the highest certificate amount you can carry, with the costs shown.

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New York tax sales · Florida tax deed sales · Texas tax sales · Pennsylvania tax sales · Georgia tax sales · North Carolina tax foreclosure sales · Ohio tax foreclosure sales · Illinois tax lien sales · Michigan tax foreclosure sales · California tax defaulted property sales