Land · Texas tax sale guide

Shelby County tax sales

Verified

Shelby County (county seat Center) sells tax foreclosed property in person. Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP is attorney for the plaintiffs in Shelby County tax suits. Both published county Notices of Sale direct questions to Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP at (936) 639-5040. Sales are conducted by the Shelby County Sheriff, Gerald Corbell. The county Tax Assessor-Collector is Debora Riley, 200 San Augustine St., Center, TX 75935-3959, (936) 598-4441.

Venue or platform: In person at the East Door, 200 San Augustine, of the Courthouse in Center, Texas, between the hours of 10 o'clock a.m. and 4 o'clock p.m., beginning at 10:00 AM. The sheriff sells for cash to the highest bidder.

Next sale: No dated December 2026 sale published. Shelby County does not appear on the MVBA December 2026 tax sales list, and MVBA is not the firm named in the county notices. No official Shelby County source publishes a dated December 2026 sale. An aggregator page reported no upcoming Shelby County tax foreclosure sales on record. That report comes from the aggregator alone and is consistent with, but not carried as, the county record.

The most recent published county notice, for the May 5, 2026 sale, lists 20 tracts. The July 1, 2025 notice lists 16 tracts. No official total for a future Shelby County sale is published on the official sources.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	No dated December 2026 sale published
Sale pattern	NOT PUBLISHED as a standing schedule. No official Shelby County source publishes how often tax sales are held. The published notices document sales on the first Tuesday in July, 2025 (July 1, 2025) and the first Tuesday in May, 2026 (May 5, 2026). Texas Tax Code Section 34.01 puts a Chapter 34 sale on the first Tuesday of a month.
Format	In person
Venue or platform	In person at the East Door, 200 San Augustine, of the Courthouse in Center, Texas, between the hours of 10 o'clock a.m. and 4 o'clock p.m., beginning at 10:00 AM. The sheriff sells for cash to the highest bidder.
Who conducts	Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP is attorney for the plaintiffs in Shelby County tax suits. Both published county Notices of Sale direct questions to Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP at (936) 639-5040. Sales are conducted by the Shelby County Sheriff, Gerald Corbell. The county Tax Assessor-Collector is Debora Riley, 200 San Augustine St., Center, TX 75935-3959, (936) 598-4441.
The list	The parcel list is the Notice of Sale itself, posted on the Shelby County site (CIRA-hosted county pages, Tax Sales documents). Each notice lists every tract by cause number, account number, style of case, legal description, adjudged value and estimated minimum bid.

Sources: Shelby County Notice of Sale, May 5, 2026 sale. Shelby County Notice of Sale, July 1, 2025 sale. MVBA, Texas Tax Sales Monthly Updates, December Tax Sales. Confirm with the conducting officer or the county tax office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and properties are withdrawn when owners pay or courts stay the sale.

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

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How Texas tax sales work

A taxing unit sues, and the court orders the sale. Delinquent taxes become a lien; a taxing unit (county, city, school district) sues to foreclose it, or the property is seized under a tax warrant. The sheriff or a constable conducts the sale.
The sale is the first Tuesday of the month. By statute (Tax Code Section 34.01), a sale runs between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM on the first Tuesday, at the courthouse or the place the commissioners court has designated. If the first Tuesday is January 1 or July 4, it moves to the first Wednesday. A county authorized for online sales runs them on the same day, closing at 4:00 PM.
The minimum bid is set by the judgment. A property cannot sell for less than the lesser of the total amount due under the judgment (taxes, penalties, interest, other judgment amounts, court costs and the costs of sale) or the adjudged value the judgment states (Section 34.01(j)).
You prove you owe no delinquent taxes before you get a deed. The officer cannot deliver a deed until the buyer exhibits a written statement from the county tax assessor-collector showing no delinquent taxes owed to the county, or to the school districts and municipalities inside it (Section 34.015). The statement costs no more than $10 and expires after 90 days. Some counties run a registration system instead (Section 34.011), where bidders register with the assessor-collector before the sale begins; Harris County on this page set is one.
The deed vests the defendant's interest, with no warranty. The officer prepares the deed (Section 34.01(m)). It vests the interest the defendant owned, subject only to the redemption right below, certain restrictive covenants and liens recorded before January 1 of the lien year, and valid easements of record (Section 34.01(n)). The tax liens included in the judgment are extinguished by the sale.
Texas is a redeemable deed state. If the property was a residence homestead, land designated for agricultural use, or a mineral interest, the former owner has two years from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record to redeem, paying the bid, the recording fee, and what the purchaser paid in taxes, penalties, interest and costs, plus a premium of 25 percent of that total in the first year or 50 percent in the second (Section 34.21). Every other property carries a 180 day redemption period with a premium of up to 25 percent. During the redemption period the buyer has no right to use the property or collect rents.
What does not sell is struck off, then resold. If no bid reaches the minimum, the officer bids the property off to the taxing unit that brought the suit, for itself and the other taxing units in it (Section 34.01(j)). That unit may resell at any time by public or private sale (Section 34.05): a public resale can go for any amount, and a private sale must meet a floor, the lesser of the judgment market value or the total judgments, unless every taxing unit entitled to proceeds consents to less.

How registration works in Shelby County

NOT PUBLISHED. No official Shelby County source publishes a county registration rule. The statewide registration and statement rules in the shared block below still apply to any Texas sale.

The deed names the registered bidder. Register in the name that should hold title; an officer cannot deliver a deed to someone other than the successful bidder.
The statement expires. A Section 34.015 statement is good for 90 days from issuance. A monthly bidder keeps it current rather than re-requesting it in sale week.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Payment, Shelby County	The sheriff sells for cash to the highest bidder. The minimum bid is the lesser of the amount awarded in the judgment plus interest and costs or the adjudged value. The minimum bid for a person owning an interest in the property or a party to the suit (other than a taxing unit) is the aggregate amount of the judgments against the property plus all costs of suit and sale. All sales are subject to cancellation without prior notice, and there may be additional taxes due on the property assessed since the date of the judgment.
Deposit, Shelby County	NOT PUBLISHED. No official Shelby County source states a bidder deposit, and the Texas Tax Code sets no deposit.
Minimum bid (state law)	The property cannot be sold for less than the lesser of the total amount due under the judgment (taxes, penalties, interest, other judgment amounts, court costs and the costs of sale) or the adjudged value stated in the judgment (Tax Code Section 34.01(j)). A different floor can apply to a bidder who owns an interest in the property or was a party to the suit.
Redemption: homestead, agricultural, mineral	Two years from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record. The former owner redeems by paying the bid amount, the deed recording fee, and the taxes, penalties, interest and costs the purchaser paid, plus a premium of 25 percent of that total in the first year or 50 percent in the second (Section 34.21). While the period runs, the buyer has no right to use the property or collect rents.
Redemption: all other property	180 days from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record, on the same payment terms, with a premium of up to 25 percent (Section 34.21).
Deed and title	The officer prepares a deed to the purchaser (Section 34.01(m)). It vests the interest the defendant owned, subject only to the redemption right, certain restrictive covenants and liens recorded before January 1 of the lien year, and valid easements of record (Section 34.01(n)). It is not a warranty deed, and the tax liens included in the judgment are extinguished by the sale.
Excess proceeds	If a property sells for more than the judgment, the excess is distributed under Section 34.02 and paid into the court for the former owner to claim. It is not the buyer's money and it is not a discount on the bid.

Struck off and tax resales: the leftover list

When a Shelby County property draws no bid at or above the minimum, the officer bids it off to the taxing unit that brought the suit. That unit holds it in trust for the other taxing units and may resell it at any time, by public or private sale, under Tax Code Section 34.05. Public resales can go for any amount; a private sale must meet the statutory floor unless every taxing unit entitled to proceeds consents to less. Resale deeds remain subject to any redemption period still running, priced from the taxing unit's own deed date. NOT PUBLISHED as a separate list or channel. The county sale notices themselves mark individual tracts STRUCK OFF or RESALE inside the sale list: the May 5, 2026 notice marks most of its tracts struck off and one tract, Cause No. 99CV26,215, as a resale. No official Shelby County source publishes a standing struck off or in trust property list apart from the sale notices.

Before you bid

Check the list in sale week and again on sale morning. Owners pay, courts stay sales, and officers withdraw properties right up to the start. A list you researched last week is not the list that sells.
Price the redemption period, not just the bid. On a homestead, agricultural or mineral parcel the former owner can redeem for two years from the deed recording date and you cannot use the property or collect rents meanwhile. The premium (25 percent in year one, 50 percent in year two) is the compensation if it happens. Bid like the wait is real.
The deed carries no warranty. What the defendant owned is what you get, subject to the recorded easements and covenants the statute preserves. Liens outside the judgment, access, zoning and condition are the buyer's homework, and buyers who need marketable title plan title work after the redemption period runs.
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.

Every Texas county in this set

One page per county, each verified against its own county or officer source. Texas has 254 counties and no single official sale list; this set covers 254 counties: the top 20 by population and recorded sale volume, plus the next tiers of high volume counties.

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