After the sale

The county sold your house for taxes. Here is what is still yours.

Your house was sold at a tax sale? Two things may still be yours: the house itself, inside a redemption window your state fixes by law — and the extra money from the sale, if it brought more than the tax you owed. Both have deadlines. This page walks both doors in the order you should try them.

Count my deadline — free

Door one first

Can you still get the house back?

In most states, yes — for a while. Redemption means paying the full amount the law sets (the tax, the buyer's interest or penalty, and costs) before your window closes. Windows run from 60 days (Delaware) to about 4 years (Wyoming). In lien states the window usually ends when a court or the treasurer issues the deed — which can be later than the headline period, but never count on the extra time. How redemption works · Your state's window

If the house is gone: the extra money

If the sale brought more than the tax debt — a $190,000 house sold over a $6,000 tax bill — the difference (the surplus: the extra money, whatever the sale brought above the tax you owed) is held by a county office for the former owner. It is not sent to you automatically. You claim it, with proof, before a deadline that ranges from 120 days (Florida, from the clerk's notice) to 5 years (South Carolina). The surplus, explained

Expect mail from strangers. Once a surplus exists, recovery companies find you — they read the same public lists the county keeps. Before you sign anything, read how surplus-recovery outfits work: in Texas a non-lawyer may not charge any fee for this at all, and in several states your signature on an assignment is worth more to them than the form they file.

Included in the $49 TaxSaleDecoded Kit

  • The surplus claim pack: how to prove the house was yours (deed records, address history, ID), the claim-form path in your state, and what to do when the county says it has no record of your money
  • The redemption playbook: your state's window and cost formula worked step by step, who to pay, how to prove you paid, and the traps in the payoff figure (added fees and interest)
  • The heirs page: the house was a parent's — what changes, which papers prove you are an heir, and the point where it stops being simple
  • The scam shield: how surplus-recovery companies work, the fee caps your state sets for them, and the assignment papers you should never sign
  • The lookback module: what Tyler won, what Pung limited (the extra money is the sale price minus the debt — not your home's value), and the dated state lookbacks, including Illinois claims that die in July 2028

Get the TaxSaleDecoded Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the claim pack, the redemption playbook, the heirs page, and the scam shield.

Questions owners ask the week after a sale

The sale already happened. Is my house gone for good?

Not necessarily. In lien and redeemable-deed states the buyer does not own your house yet — they own a claim, and you can redeem (pay what is owed plus the state's interest or penalty and costs) until the redemption deadline or the deed date. In pure deed states with no post-sale redemption (like New Mexico or Michigan after foreclosure), the house is usually gone but the money claim survives. Your state's page tells you which world you are in.

How fast do I need to move?

The clock started on a date the county chose — the sale date, the deed-recording date, or the confirmation date — not the day you found out. Count it now with the free checker; a redemption window that has weeks left is a plan, one with days left is an emergency.

What if I cannot pay the full redemption amount?

Most states require the full amount; a few allow partial payments toward redemption (New Hampshire and Rhode Island expressly do). If redemption is out of reach, pivot immediately to the surplus claim — the extra money is often the difference between starting over with something and starting over with nothing.