New Mexico · Law checked October 19, 2026

New Mexico tax sale: your deadline, your office, your money

Behind on property taxes in New Mexico? Your house can be sold at a tax sale — here's how much time you have to stop it. Your house was sold at a tax sale in New Mexico? The extra money from the sale may be yours to claim — and there's a deadline. Both answers are on this page, from the statute.

Count my New Mexico deadline

How New Mexico sells

The machine, in four lines

Door one: getting the house back (redemption)

There is no redemption after the sale in New Mexico. No redemption after a New Mexico tax sale — the deed is delivered to the buyer when they pay. Your protection is entirely before the sale: the state may not sell until 3 years after the taxes first land on the delinquency list, and you may pay in full — or sign an installment agreement — until 5 p.m. the day before the sale Your protection is everything that happens BEFORE the sale date — the doors below — and, after a sale, the surplus claim. Statute-verified

Source: NMSA §§7-38-65, 7-38-67, 7-38-70

Before any sale: your quieter doors

Payment plans: Yes — a written installment agreement with the department for all delinquent taxes, penalties, interest and costs: up to 36 months, interest at 1% per month on the unpaid balance. Signed before the sale, and kept current, it prevents the sale (NMSA §7-38-68).

Deferrals (senior / veteran / disability): None found. (The senior/disabled value limitation freezes the taxable value; it does not defer taxes owed.)

Door two: the extra money (surplus)

Who holds the money: the State Taxation & Revenue Department (suspense fund).

Your claim window: 2 years from the sale. The balance after costs, penalties, interest, and the delinquent taxes is paid to the former owner (the department may require proof you owned it). Statute-verified

If nobody claims it: If no former owner claims within 2 years and a reasonable search finds none, the balance is treated as abandoned property under the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act — claimable there, but slower.

Source: NMSA §7-38-71

The county figure rule. This page gives you the law — the window, the formula, the office. The exact payoff or surplus figure lives in the State Taxation & Revenue Department, Property Tax Division's books and changes as interest runs. Ask that office for the figure, in writing, and keep the letter.

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.

All 50 states · The surplus, explained · Redemption, explained