A delinquent tax list is the county's record of properties whose owners have not paid their property tax by the due date. Local governments bill real estate taxes on a fixed schedule, often in one or two installments a year. When a due date passes without payment, the account is marked delinquent and penalties and interest begin to build. The debt stays attached to the property itself rather than to whoever happens to live there, and it keeps growing until somebody pays it.
For an investor the list matters because an unpaid tax bill is rarely the whole story. Property tax can't be negotiated down, ignored into going away or put off forever, so when it goes unpaid for a year or more, something else is usually happening behind it. Money may be tight after a job loss or a medical bill. The owner may have moved away and lost track of a house they meant to rent. The owner may have died, and nobody in the family has taken charge of the estate. A landlord may have decided the rental is more trouble than it is worth and simply stopped paying for it.
Those owners tend to be motivated sellers because time is working against them, and a sale on their own terms pays the back taxes at closing and lets them keep whatever equity is left. Not every delinquent owner is in trouble, though: some are a few weeks late on one installment. The strongest leads have several tax years owed, a balance that is large next to the value of the house, an owner who doesn't live there, or a second problem on the same property. That's why an updated list matters more than a one-time download: balances change, owners pay, and new accounts go delinquent every month.
County delinquent tax list directory
One row per county where DealSherpa has a live market. The official link goes to the county treasurer's or tax collector's own page once we have checked it by hand. The update cadence is how often the county publishes its list, and the last column links to our records for that county.
| County, state | Update cadence | Our list |
|---|---|---|
| Franklin County, OH | Monthly | Columbus: 20,413 records |
| Cuyahoga County, OH | Varies by county | Cleveland: 19,032 records |
| Hamilton County, OH | Varies by county | Cincinnati: 7,175 records |
| Montgomery County, OH | Monthly (month-end file) | Dayton: 14,152 records |
| Summit County, OH | Varies by county | Akron: 11,386 records |
| Lucas County, OH | Varies by county | Toledo: 6,645 records |
| Oklahoma County, OK | Varies by county | Oklahoma City: 18,344 records |
| St. Louis County, MO | Varies by county | St. Louis: 3,306 records |
| Harris County, TX | Varies by county | Houston: 521 records |
| Marion County, IN | Varies by county | Indianapolis: 864 records |
| Allen County, IN | Varies by county | Fort Wayne: 4,985 records |
| Wayne County, MI | Varies by county | Detroit |
| Denver County, CO | Yearly list, re-checked monthly | Denver: 5,331 records |
Counts are records on the tax lists (delinquent accounts, tax liens and tax sale listings), so one house can carry more than one. Each market page breaks the county down further and shows anonymised sample records.
State notes
How a county collects unpaid tax depends on the state. A short summary for each state in the directory:
Ohio
Ohio counties collect unpaid tax through tax lien certificate sales in some counties and tax foreclosure (a court case ending in a sheriff sale) in all of them. The county posts its delinquent list in a local newspaper once a year.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma counties hold a yearly tax sale of delinquent property; the owner can redeem before a tax deed is issued.
Missouri
Missouri counties hold yearly tax sales (collector's sales) of delinquent property, with later offerings for property that did not sell.
Texas
Texas counties collect unpaid tax through tax foreclosure suits ending in a sheriff or constable sale. A homestead can be redeemed for a period after the sale.
Indiana
Indiana counties hold a yearly tax sale; the buyer gets a certificate, and the owner can redeem during a redemption period before a tax deed is issued.
Michigan
In Michigan, unpaid tax is foreclosed by the county treasurer about three years after it goes delinquent, and houses that are not redeemed are auctioned.
Colorado
Colorado counties sell tax lien certificates at a yearly sale (usually in the fall); the owner can redeem the lien for about three years before a treasurer's deed can be issued.
These notes are general background, not legal advice. Sale types, redemption periods and notice rules change, so check the county's own rules or ask a local attorney before you bid or buy.
How to buy tax delinquent properties
There are two ways to buy a tax delinquent house: at the county's tax sale, or straight from the owner before it gets there. Either way, the work starts the same.
- Find the list. The county treasurer or tax collector keeps the delinquent accounts. Some counties post the full roll on a regular cycle, some print a notice once a year ahead of their tax sale, and some only answer a records request. The directory above shows each live county's cadence, and each market page has the list already matched to the parcel.
- Verify the owner and the balance. Confirm the owner of record and the mailing address on the county tax roll, then check the balance and the tax years owed on the treasurer's own account page, because payments post every day. Compare the balance with the county's value for the house and run your offer through the MAO calculator.
- Reach out. Sort first: multi-year balances, owners who don't live at the house, and houses on a second list such as probate or an open code case. Write to the mailing address on the roll, not the house. Explain plainly that a sale can pay the back taxes at closing, that you buy as-is, and that they choose the date. Follow up around installment due dates and in the weeks before a tax sale, and keep every touch in a CRM with written follow-up sequences.
- Choose the route: tax sale or direct from the owner. Most investors who work these lists buy direct, at a price both sides agree on, before the county's process runs its course.
Buying direct: until the county's collection process has run its course, the owner still holds title and can sell. The back taxes are normally paid from the sale proceeds at closing, through a title company or attorney, and a title search shows any mortgage or other lien that also has to be paid.
Buying at the tax sale: depending on the state, the county sells either a lien or certificate on the debt (you earn interest, and the owner can redeem it) or the property itself (you get a deed, sometimes after a redemption period, and the title may need more work before you can resell). Registration, deposits and payment deadlines are set by each county.
Calls and texts are regulated. Before making sales calls to numbers you get from skip tracing, scrub them against the National Do Not Call Registry and any state list that applies. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) limits autodialed or prerecorded calls and texts to cell phones without the person's prior consent. Never design a mailer to look like an official notice from the county, and get advice from a lawyer before you run a calling or texting campaign.
What DealSherpa adds
Stacked signals. A tax balance on its own is a weak lead. DealSherpa puts every list a house is on into one record (probate, foreclosure filings, code violations, evictions), so the house that is behind on tax and also in an estate rises to the top. If foreclosure is the angle you want, see the pre-foreclosure and foreclosure lists.
Refreshed records. Each delinquent account is joined to its parcel by the parcel number, not a guess from the street name, and the list follows the county's own cycle. Where a county publishes a new file every month, we pick up each file as it comes out; where it publishes once a year, we work from that list and re-check it. When a newer county file shows an account paid, the house leaves the active list. Payments post on the county's timetable, so a house paid last week can still show until the next file.
What each record carries:
- The property address, the owner of record, and whether a person or a company or trust holds the title
- The owner's mailing address, with an absentee flag when the bill goes somewhere other than the house
- Tax due and the tax years owed, plus the sale date, status and opening bid when the house is listed for a tax sale
- The county's value, year built, years owned, and the last sale date and price
- A priority grade that moves stacked, high-pressure houses to the top
Skip tracing. Phone numbers and emails are not part of the record. When you want them, skip tracing is pay as you go at 12¢ per owner searched, so you only pay for the owners you decide to call.
Pricing. Tax delinquent lists are included in DealSherpa Pro at $99/month, together with every other distressed list in each live market, Virtual D4D, the DealFuse CRM and DealSign. It starts with a 3-day free trial, card required. Compare every plan on the pricing page.