Land · Nevada tax sale guide

Washoe County tax sales, Nevada

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Washoe County runs one real estate tax auction a year, usually in April, and it is an in person sale run from the Treasurer Office in Reno. The Board of County Commissioners first authorizes the sale from the annual Tax Delinquent Lands Book, government entities may pull parcels for public use, and the rest are sold only if the owner does not pay by 5:00 p.m. on the third business day before the sale. Registration opens at 9:00 a.m. two business days before the auction, in person, with photo identification and a $500 certified funds deposit. The opening bid rule surprises buyers: it is the delinquent taxes, assessments, costs, interest and penalties or the assessed valuation, whichever is greater. The mistakes to avoid are arriving after registration closes, assuming online bidding exists, and assuming the February list is final when owners can still pay and remove parcels.

Selling office: Washoe County Treasurer, Justin Taylor, Washoe County Treasurer, 1001 E 9th Street, Room D140, Reno, NV 89512-2845, mailing address PO Box 30039, Reno, NV 89520-3039, phone 775-328-2510

Next sale: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 annual auction, with 63 parcels to be sold after 3 of 66 trust parcels were withheld for transfer to other government entities (held). As of November 9, 2026, the April 22, 2026 sale has already run. The Board staff report for Resolution R25-104 states that the Delinquent Lands Book identified 66 total tax delinquent parcels held in trust, that 3 parcels were withheld at government request, and that the other 63 parcels would be sold on April 22, 2026 if not redeemed.

As of November 9, 2026, no dated 2027 Washoe County auction is published on the Treasurer pages read. The published pattern is one auction each year, usually in April, with the date, time and location available in February and the property list available by the end of February.

Dates and deadlines

Sources: Washoe County Treasurer, Real Property Tax Sales. Washoe County Treasurer, office page. Washoe County Board staff report and Resolution R25-104, October 14, 2025 meeting. 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 Washoe 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 Washoe County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Nevada treasurer trustee sales work

• Nevada sells the land itself, by deed, and the road to a sale is measured in years, not months. Real property taxes are a perpetual lien, superior to other liens and encumbrances, attaching July 1 (NRS 361.450). Taxes are due the third Monday of August and may be paid in four installments (NRS 361.483), with penalties of 4 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent, and 7 percent as more installments go unpaid. Summaries that describe a Nevada tax lien auction are describing a different state: no certificate is sold to investors at a county sale, and the separate assignment channel in NRS 361.7303 to 361.733 is an owner authorized arrangement, not this sale.
• The trustee certificate starts the clock, on the first Monday in June. After mailed notice within 30 days after the first Monday in March (NRS 361.5648) and published notice after the first Monday in April (NRS 361.565), the tax receiver makes out a trustee certificate at the close of business on the first Monday in June, authorizing the county treasurer, as trustee for the State and county, to hold the property (NRS 361.570). The redemption period runs two years from that June date, not from the August due date and not from the first missed installment; for property determined to be abandoned it is one year (NRS 361.567). County shorthand about three consecutive fiscal years describes the resulting calendar, not a three year redemption right.
• Redemption is expensive and it keeps growing while it runs. The owner redeems by paying the taxes and accruing taxes, penalties, and costs, with interest at 10 percent per annum assessed monthly, and the accruing taxes are part of the bill: taxes that come due during the two years are added to what redemption costs. A second notice goes out by certified mail at least 60 days before the period expires. An owner who prices redemption off the original delinquent bill alone has understated it by two years of new taxes and interest.
• When redemption expires, the property passes to the treasurer in trust, and nothing is scheduled. The tax receiver deeds the property to the county treasurer as trustee (NRS 361.585), the deed is recorded within 30 days and carries the presumptions of regularity in NRS 361.590, and the treasurer then holds the property in trust until the board of county commissioners acts. There is no automatic sale date anywhere in the statute. Trust property can sit for years, which is why Nevada counties sell irregularly, in batches, on their own calendars, and why a county with no current sale is the normal case rather than a gap.
• Even after the trust deed, the owner gets one last save, and it runs almost to the sale day. The owner, a deed of trust beneficiary, a mortgagee, a judgment creditor, and the other persons listed in NRS 361.585 may obtain a reconveyance by paying all taxes, costs, penalties, and interest, up to the close of business on the third business day before a noticed sale. The practical consequence falls on buyers: parcels are pulled at the deadline, lists published weeks ahead shrink before the gavel, and the list a buyer researches is never quite the list that sells. Churchill County's published 2026 list marks its redeemed and removed parcels in exactly this way.
• A sale exists only when the board of county commissioners orders one (NRS 361.595). The order describes the property and sets a total amount not less than the taxes, costs, penalties, and interest legally chargeable, which is the minimum bid. Notice is posted or published as the section requires, with certified mail to the owner and interest holders at least 90 days before the sale, 45 days for abandoned property. County minimums can run above the statutory floor: Clark County builds related charges such as sewer, sanitation, special improvement district, and nuisance amounts into its minimums, and Washoe County opens bidding at the greater of the tax amount or the assessed valuation as a county rule, not a state law.
• The treasurer sells, in the format the county chooses, and the deed is a quitclaim. The statute is silent on platform. Clark and Washoe Counties bid live and in person; Nye, Elko, Carson City, Douglas, and Churchill Counties sold online on Bid4Assets under their own board orders in 2026; Humboldt County sold in person at the courthouse. Registration and deposits are county terms, not state law: Clark required a 5,000 dollar deposit and capped registration at 280 bidders in 2026, Washoe required 500 dollars. On payment the treasurer delivers and records a quitclaim deed discharged of the trust. The property is sold as is, with no county warranty, and some liens and encumbrances can survive, including the municipal certificate protection in NRS 361.595(6), so the deed is the start of the buyer's title work, not the end of it.
• There is no redemption after the sale, and the two year figure that follows it is not one. The former owner's only route after a sale is an action to recover the land within two years after delivery of the quitclaim deed (NRS 361.600), a lawsuit, not a payment. The money leftover is separate: excess proceeds above the amount due are claimable by written claim within one year after the deed is recorded, after the county retains the first 300 dollars and 10 percent of the next 10,000 dollars (NRS 361.610), and since the 2025 amendments in AB 133, 5 percent of an unclaimed remainder goes to a treasurer technology account. Property that does not sell stays in trust for a later sale or a disposition under NRS 361.603 to 361.608; there is no over the counter sale of trust property, and escheated property (NRS Chapter 154) and county surplus property (NRS 244.281 and 244.282) are different channels entirely.

How buying works in Washoe County

Registration is conducted in the office of the Washoe County Treasurer, opens at 9:00 a.m. two business days before the auction, and requires a valid driver license or photo identification. All bidders must be registered before the date of the auction and receive a bidder number before the start. Prospective bidders who arrive after the Tuesday 5:00 p.m. deadline stated on the sale page will not be registered or allowed to bid. A bidder must be present to bid.

• The opening bid is the board's number, not the tax bill. The statutory floor is taxes, costs, penalties, and interest, and counties add to it: Clark County loads related charges into its minimums and Washoe County opens at the greater of the tax amount or assessed valuation. Underwrite to the published minimum for the parcel, and treat the delinquent tax figure as one component of it.
• The list shrinks at the reconveyance deadline. Owners and lienholders can recover parcels until the close of business on the third business day before the sale, and they do: published lists mark parcels redeemed and removed in the final days. Research depth spent on a parcel pulled at the deadline is wasted, so verify the parcel is still on the list as close to the sale as the county allows.
• The deposit is the real ticket, and it changes by county. The same buyer needed 5,000 dollars down in Clark County and 500 dollars in Washoe County in 2026, and the online counties run deposits through Bid4Assets with their own deadlines days before bidding opens. Registration windows close early: Clark caps its room at 280 bidders. The buyers who miss Nevada sales miss the paperwork, not the bidding.
• Price the title work into the bid. The deed is a quitclaim, as is, with surviving lien risk the county terms name expressly. The bid that works is the one that still works after a quiet title action, a title search, and the carrying costs of both, not the one that merely clears the minimum.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

What happens to parcels that do not sell in Washoe County

If a property does not sell, it will be offered at the next annual auction. Properties are not sold over the counter.

Before you bid

• Read the board order and the treasurer's terms for the specific sale. Nevada has no statewide sale calendar, format, deposit, or payment rule. The operative documents for any sale are the board of county commissioners order under NRS 361.595 and the treasurer's published terms for that sale. A statewide summary is background; those two documents are the sale.
• Re-verify the parcel inside the reconveyance window. The list is live until the close of business on the third business day before the sale. Check the county's updated list or sale page in that window; a parcel can be redeemed and removed after you have done your research and funded your deposit.
• Budget above the minimum before you register. The minimum can carry related county charges, online counties add a buyer fee on the final bid (Nye County charged 10 percent or a 100 dollar minimum in 2026), and deposits are due days ahead in certified or platform funds. Know the full cash figure, deposit plus minimum plus fees, before the registration deadline, not the morning of the sale.
• Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your exit value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown. In Nevada, run it with the quitclaim deed priced in: title clearing is a cost of the purchase, not an afterthought.

Every Nevada county in this set

One page per jurisdiction, each verified against the county treasurer's own publications, the board of county commissioners sale orders, and the current text of NRS Chapter 361. Nevada has 16 counties plus Carson City; this set is the top 10 jurisdictions by population.

• Clark County tax sales
• Washoe County (this page)
• Nye County tax sales
• Elko County tax sales
• Carson City tax sales
• Douglas County tax sales
• Lyon County tax sales
• Humboldt County tax sales
• Churchill County tax sales
• Lander County tax sales

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. The same desk runs 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, Arizona tax lien sales, California tax defaulted property sales, Colorado tax lien sales, South Carolina tax sales, Indiana tax lien sales, Tennessee delinquent tax sales, Wisconsin tax deed sales, Missouri tax sales, New Jersey tax lien sales, Maryland tax lien sales, West Virginia tax sales, Virginia tax sales, Oklahoma tax resale, Kansas tax foreclosure sales, Arkansas tax-delinquent land sales, Alabama tax sales, Kentucky certificate of delinquency sales, Mississippi tax land sales, Nevada tax deed sales and New Mexico delinquent property tax sales, and the proven New York season, with the live membership, sits in the NY tax sale hub.