New Hanover County tax foreclosure sales

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New Hanover publishes the cleanest statement of the upset bid statute in this set, down to the section numbers: sales stay open ten days after the report of sale is filed, under G.S. 105-374(o) and G.S. 1-339.64, and no sale may be consummated until the Clerk of Court confirms it under 105-374(p). What the county does not publish is a calendar: the Foreclosures page is procedure only, with no parcels or dates, so a New Hanover buyer works from individual sale notices.

Selling office: New Hanover County Tax Department / Tax Administration (230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403; the department that lists, maps, assesses, bills and collects the county's ad valorem taxes).

Next event: No dated sale posted on the Foreclosures page read. The Foreclosures page contains procedure only: no parcel, case or sale date appears on it as checked. No set sale day or monthly schedule is published there either, so this page posts no New Hanover date. Sale dates arrive in the individual notices of sale for each parcel.

No parcel count or dated sale is published on the Foreclosures page read.

Dates and stages

Next event	No dated sale posted on the Foreclosures page read
Sale track	Judicial foreclosure under NCGS 105-374. After confirmation the Commissioner executes a Non-Warranty Commissioner's Deed.
Sale pattern	Not published on the Foreclosures page: no set sale day, monthly schedule or rolling schedule statement appears there. Sales are posted individually.
Upset bids	Bids are left open for upset bids for ten days after the sale date, and any upset bid must be made in person at the New Hanover County Clerk of Court. Pursuant to G.S. 105-374(o) and G.S. 1-339.64, real property sales must remain open for ten days after the filing of the report of sale, and no sale may be consummated until confirmed by the Clerk of Court under 105-374(p). Questions: Clerk of Superior Court, Civil Records Division, 910-772-6603.
The list	The Foreclosures page of the New Hanover County site, where the procedure posts. A separate delinquent tax list is not a sale list.
Format	In person, courthouse steps: In person, on the front steps of the New Hanover County District Courthouse, 316 Princess Street, Wilmington, NC 28401. The county page refers to the auctioneer who takes the sale deposit and to the Commissioner who executes the deed; neither is named on the page.
Selling office	New Hanover County Tax Department / Tax Administration (230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403; the department that lists, maps, assesses, bills and collects the county's ad valorem taxes).

Sources: New Hanover County, Foreclosures. New Hanover County, Auction Items. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and owners can pay and stop a sale at any point before the upset bid period expires.

Research New Hanover 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 New Hanover County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How North Carolina tax foreclosure works

There is no tax lien sale in North Carolina. Property taxes are a lien on the property itself, and the county's remedy is foreclosure of that lien, not an auction of the lien. Guilford County's page states it in one line: North Carolina state law prohibits the sale of property tax liens. Any site selling you a North Carolina tax lien certificate is selling something the state does not issue.
Track one: judicial foreclosure (NCGS 105-374). The taxing unit files a foreclosure action in superior court, takes a judgment, and the court appoints a commissioner to sell the property. The commissioner advertises the sale (published once a week for two weeks and posted at the courthouse, at least 20 days in the counties that state the posting period), cries it at the courthouse, and on confirmation executes a Commissioner's Deed. It works like a mortgage foreclosure, because the statute builds it on one.
Track two: in rem foreclosure (NCGS 105-375). The taxing unit dockets a judgment with the Clerk of Superior Court without a full court action, and the judgment is enforced by execution: the sheriff advertises and sells the property, and conveys by Sheriff's Deed. Counties choose the track, and some in this set use both; the track decides who sells and which deed you get.
The sale itself is only the opening price. The officer or commissioner files a report of sale, and the price stands open for 10 days. The taxing unit itself often bids the judgment amount at the sale, so a winning bid below the tax debt is not the bargain it looks like until the upset period runs.
The upset bid period is the real auction. For 10 days after the report of sale (or after the last notice of upset bid) is filed, any person may file an upset bid with the Clerk of Superior Court: a bid exceeding the reported price by at least 5 percent, with a minimum increase of $750, backed by a deposit of at least 5 percent of the upset bid and never less than $750 (NCGS 1-339.64 for in rem and execution sales; NCGS 45-21.27 states the same math). Each valid upset bid restarts a fresh 10 day period, with no limit on rounds. Only when a period expires with no upset bid do the rights of the parties become fixed; the sale is then confirmed and the deed issues. The owner can still pay the judgment and costs and stop the process at any point up to the end of the upset period.

How bidding works in New Hanover County

No pre-registration is published on the Foreclosures page; the money gate is the sale deposit at the conclusion of the sale, below.

There are two deposits, not one. The sale deposit goes to the officer, commissioner or attorney at the sale itself, at the percentage your county's row above states. The upset bid deposit goes to the Clerk of Superior Court if you enter or raise during the 10 day window. They are different money, paid to different offices.
The upset window is where North Carolina sales are actually decided. A parcel can look won on sale day and change hands twice more inside successive 10 day periods. Work the Clerk's file for the parcel, not just the sale day result.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, New Hanover County	The highest bidder at the public sale must pay 5 percent of the amount of the successful bid or $750, whichever is greater, at the conclusion of the sale, in cash or a certified bank check only, payable to the auctioneer.
Payment, New Hanover County	The balance follows confirmation by the Clerk of Court after the upset period runs; the precise balance deadline sits in each parcel's notice of sale, not on the Foreclosures page. An upset bid itself must be delivered to the Clerk of Superior Court as a certified bank check payable to the Clerk, filed before the close of normal business hours on or before the tenth day after the filing of the report of sale.
Sale deposit	Set by each sale's notice, not by one statewide figure. In this set the published sale deposits run from 5 percent of the bid (New Hanover, Union) through 10 percent (Durham) to 20 percent (Guilford, Gaston), in cash or certified funds. The county figure is in the deposit row above; the notice for your parcel controls.
The upset bid raise	An upset bid must exceed the reported sale price, or the last upset bid, by a minimum of 5 percent, and in any event by at least $750. One of the two numbers is always bigger; compute both and use the larger.
The upset bid deposit	Filed with the Clerk of Superior Court with the bid: cash, a certified check or a cashier's check of at least 5 percent of the amount of the upset bid, and never less than $750. Several counties in this set use the standard form AOC-CV-414 for the bid.
The clock	Ten calendar days from the filing of the report of sale or the last notice of upset bid, expiring at the close of the Clerk's normal business hours on the tenth day. Weekends count inside the period; where the tenth day falls on a day the courthouse is closed, the filing rolls to the next open day, as Gaston and Guilford state expressly. Every upset bid restarts the full 10 days.
Title and redemption	The deed is a non-warranty Commissioner's Deed or Sheriff's Deed. There is no post sale redemption in North Carolina tax foreclosure: the owner's right is to pay the judgment and stop the sale, and it ends when the upset period expires and the sale is confirmed. A tax foreclosure sale may also leave the buyer subject to taxes and assessments that were not part of the judgment, as Forsyth's list states expressly; read the notice's subject to language before pricing a bid.

County owned property

No disposition route for county owned foreclosed real property is published on the foreclosure pages opened. Do not conflate it with the county's surplus personal property, which is sold to the public through GovDeals; the county's own Auction Items page lists Tax Department foreclosures as a separate process from that surplus channel.

Before you bid

The hammer price is an opening offer. Budget and plan for the upset period: anyone in the state can outbid you at the Clerk's office for 10 days, and each raise restarts the clock. Your real closing date is the day a period finally expires.
Read the notice's subject to language. Tax foreclosure deeds are non-warranty, and taxes or assessments outside the judgment can survive the sale. The notice for the parcel, not the county page, is the full term sheet.
Know the track. Judicial sales run through a court appointed commissioner and end in a Commissioner's Deed; in rem sales run through the sheriff and end in a Sheriff's Deed. The track also decides who holds your deposit and who answers questions.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your resale or hold value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown. In an upset bid state, set two numbers: your sale day bid and your walk away upset ceiling.

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