Texas runs the busiest tax-deed calendar in the country, and it works on a different clock than the Midwest states in this series. There are no lien-certificate auctions for investors, only a handful of land banks, and one sale date nearly every county shares: the first Tuesday of the month. What the sheriff can't sell is "struck off" to the county and resurfaces on a resale list, Texas's version of the repository list. If the tax-delinquency pipeline is new to you, start with the national guide; this post is the Texas layer: how first-Tuesday sales work, what the redemption premium does to your math, where the struck-off lists live, and where the state's few land banks fit.
Texas plays by different rules
Three things separate Texas from most of the tax-sale map:
- Deeds, not liens. Texas counties don't auction tax lien certificates. Delinquency goes through a lawsuit instead: the county's delinquent-tax attorneys sue, a district court signs a foreclosure judgment, and the court orders the property itself sold under Tax Code §34.01. (Texas homeowners can hire a property-tax lender who takes over the county's lien, but that is the owner's move, not an auction you can bid in.)
- The deed is redeemable. You leave the sale with a deed, but the former owner keeps a statutory window to buy the property back at a premium under §34.21. That puts Texas in the redeemable-deed middle ground our liens vs. deeds explainer maps between lien states and pure deed states.
- State statute, county execution. The rules are statewide; the practice is 254 counties' worth of local habit: different law firms running collections, different posting conventions, a growing number of counties online. Confirm every detail with the county, or the law firm, running the sale you care about.
Sheriff's sales, first Tuesday
Tax Code §34.01 puts the sale between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month (first Wednesday when that Tuesday lands on January 1 or July 4), conducted by the sheriff or a constable. Tradition says the courthouse steps; commissioners courts can now authorize online auctions, and a growing number of counties have. What to know before you raise a hand:
- The minimum bid is generally the lesser of the judgment amount (taxes, penalties, interest, and costs) or the market value stated in the foreclosure judgment, which usually tracks the value the county carries on its rolls. Bidding goes up from there, payable in cash or certified funds, typically the same day.
- Registration first. Many counties require an unexpired written statement from the county tax office showing you owe no delinquent taxes before the officer will issue you a deed. It can take days to get; handle it before sale morning.
- You buy a deed without warranty. As-is, no interior access, no promises about occupants. If someone lives there, possession runs through a formal eviction after you own it, and title insurers are wary of fresh tax deeds.
- The redemption clock is the Texas trap. Under §34.21 the former owner can redeem for 180 days after your deed is recorded on most property — but for 2 years on homesteads and agricultural land (mineral interests too). Redeeming costs them everything you paid plus a 25% premium in year one; the 50% year-two rate exists only on the two-year track.
Run the math on what redemption means: a redeemed deed returns your money plus 25% inside a year, which is a fine outcome — unless you already renovated. Until the window closes, don't put a dollar into the property that you aren't prepared to hand back. Professionals bid accordingly: harder on vacant non-homestead lots with the short clock, softer on anything the former owner might claim as a homestead.
Struck-off property: the second-chance list
If nobody bids the minimum, the officer "strikes off" the property to a taxing unit in the judgment, usually the county or the school district, which holds it in trust for all of them. This is Texas's version of the repository list from the national pillar, and it is where the state's lowest prices live.
Under Tax Code §34.05 the taxing unit can resell struck-off property at any time, by public resale or private over-the-counter sale, and the taxing units can agree to take less than the judgment amount. That is why resale minimums often land well below what the sheriff asked. Finding the lists is county-by-county work: some counties post "struck-off" or "tax resale" pages on the tax office or purchasing department site, and the law firms that run delinquent collections for most Texas counties publish sale and resale lists for their client counties. Two cautions:
- Redemption may still be running. A resale is subject to any unexpired redemption right. The clock started when the county's own deed was recorded, so on a parcel struck off a year or two ago, much or all of it has already burned; check the recording date.
- The inventory is what it is. Everything here failed on the courthouse steps at least once. Expect odd slivers, drainage problems, and structures past saving, and check the parcel map, zoning, access, and liens before you pay, not after.
Texas land banks
Texas never built the Midwest's land bank machine because it never had the Midwest's mass abandonment. What it has instead is a small set of urban land bank programs that pull tax-foreclosed lots out of the pipeline for affordable housing. The Houston Land Bank, descended from the city's LARA tax-lot program, is the largest; the City of Dallas Urban Land Bank Demonstration Program runs through a city nonprofit under a state law that lets tax-foreclosed lots pass to the land bank in a private sale, no auction required. Both are curated, program-driven sellers: builder programs first, adjacent-owner and community programs for individual buyers.
That is a different buying motion from the courthouse steps: applications, program fit, and end-use rules instead of a gavel. We track the Houston Land Bank's live inventory (370+ lots, concentrated in Houston's historically disinvested neighborhoods) on the Houston Land Bank market page, and the playbook is in how to buy land bank property in Texas.
Which list to work
| List | What you're buying | Risk | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-Tuesday sale | The deed, subject to redemption | High: sight-unseen, redemption limbo, title work | Experienced cash buyers who price the premium |
| Struck-off resale | Parcels that failed at auction, often below the old minimum | Highest: condition and buildability, plus any unexpired redemption | Diligence-heavy bargain hunters |
| Land bank programs | Curated lots with a written process | Low: clear process and title, but the program decides | Builders, adjacent owners, patient individuals |
The honest ranking mirrors the national pillar: auctions and struck-off lists offer the lowest prices to buyers equipped to absorb redemption and condition risk, and land banks hand a cleaner deal to everyone else. The Texas twist is that the land bank door is narrow (three programs, curated lists, affordable-housing missions), so the struck-off list is the realistic bargain channel for most individual buyers willing to do the diligence. If you would rather start at the safe end of the pipeline, the title-cleared land bank inventory we track nationwide is live and searchable.
