Land · Georgia tax sale guide

Georgia tax sales by county

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Georgia sells the property, not a lien. When taxes stay unpaid, the tax commissioner issues an execution, the sheriff or the tax commissioner as ex officio sheriff levies, advertises for four weeks, and sells the parcel by public outcry on the first Tuesday of the month. The winner takes a tax deed that the owner can redeem for at least 12 months at the purchase price plus a 20 percent premium, which makes Georgia a hybrid: a deed sale with a lien investor's return built into the redemption.

This page set covers the top 20 counties by population and sale activity. Each county page carries who sells, the venue, whether a dated sale is actually posted, the registration rule, the payment rule, and the county's own wrinkles, verified against the tax commissioner, sheriff or official sale source. Two wrinkles decide most bids. First, several counties sell only in months when a sale is planned, and one county in this set (Chatham) has its November 2026 sale cancelled: the first Tuesday pattern is a frame, and the posted list is the fact. Second, several counties in this set also run judicial in rem sales with a 60 day redemption and no premium, and Henry sells only on that track; the track a parcel sells under changes the product entirely.

Verify before you go: counties can move a date, change terms, cancel a sale, or pull parcels at any time, and owners can pay and stop a sale at any point before it starts. The official sale list is the final word.

The 20 counties

Each row links to that county's own page: selling office, venue, registration, payment, redemption notes, and sources. Where a county has not posted a dated sale, the row says so instead of projecting the first Tuesday pattern onto it.

How Georgia tax sales work

• Taxes go delinquent and the lien attaches. Georgia taxes are a lien on the property. After the statutory notice, the county tax commissioner issues a tax execution, the fi. fa., against the owner and the property (O.C.G.A. 48-3-3) and delivers it to the levying officer: the sheriff, or the tax commissioner acting as ex officio sheriff, which is how most counties in this set run their sales.
• The levy is advertised for four weeks. The levying officer advertises the sale once a week for four consecutive weeks in the county's legal organ newspaper, and most counties in this set also post the sale list on the tax commissioner's site. Owners keep paying and parcels keep dropping out until sale day; the list you research is not the list that sells.
• Sale day is the first Tuesday. Sales under execution are held on the first Tuesday of the month, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., at the courthouse or the place the county designates (O.C.G.A. 9-13-161 and 48-4-1). Bidding is by public outcry, in person, and it starts at the amount due on the execution plus the costs of levy and sale. Some counties in this set sell only in months when a sale is planned, so the first Tuesday is a frame, not a promise: the county page tells you whether your county has a dated sale.
• The winner pays and takes a tax deed. Payment timing and accepted forms are county rules, stated on each county page; where they are published they are same day rules, measured in hours. The winner receives a tax deed. Money bid above the execution amount becomes excess funds, held for the owner and lienholders under O.C.G.A. 48-4-5; it is not a discount and it is not the buyer's.
• The deed is redeemable for at least 12 months. The owner, or anyone holding an interest in or a lien on the property, may redeem by paying the purchase price, plus any taxes and special assessments the purchaser paid, plus a premium of 20 percent of that amount for the first year or fraction of a year and 10 percent for each year after (O.C.G.A. 48-4-40 and 48-4-42). The purchaser cannot take possession during the redemption period. After 12 months the purchaser may bar the right of redemption with the statutory notice (O.C.G.A. 48-4-45); marketable title after that usually takes a quiet title action. Exception in this set: counties running judicial in rem sales (Chatham, Richmond, Bibb and Clayton publish the track) redeem in 60 days on that track, with no 20 percent premium stated.

One Georgia fact decides most bids: the deed is not the end of the transaction, the redemption is. Price a sheriff style purchase as capital committed for at least a year, earning 20 percent if the owner redeems and a barred, quieted title if they do not.

Research the parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcel, 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 the country, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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Get the alert, not just the calendar.

The dates on these pages are the free layer. The Pine membership is the paid layer, proven in New York: members pick their counties, get alerts when a sale is scheduled or a list posts, and receive the full property list with the analysis already done, sale track, opening amount and equity screen on every parcel. Georgia counties open from the interest list first, in the order readers join it.

Keep going

Once a deadline puts you in a sale, the Land Investor Due Diligence Toolkit is the checklist and bid worksheet to run on each parcel before you bid.