A Brevard County tax deed auction is an online public sale run by the Clerk of the Circuit Court through the RealAuction portal, where properties with unpaid taxes are sold to the highest bidder. Winning gets you a deed, but not the kind of clean, insurable title most buyers expect from a normal real estate purchase. Understanding the registration rules, the payment deadline, and what the deed actually conveys matters more than finding a cheap opening bid.
Register and Fund Your Account First
Every Brevard County tax deed sale runs through brevard.realforeclose.com. Create an account, fill in accurate contact information, and submit a W-9 for tax reporting.1Brevard County Clerk of the Court. Tax Deeds / Auctions
You cannot bid until you have deposited funds. The required deposit is 5 percent of your anticipated maximum bid or $200, whichever is greater.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.542 – Sale at Public Auction Deposits move through the portal by ACH or wire, and banks can take several business days to clear. Fund the account well before the auction date; a pending transfer on sale morning means you watch and do not bid.
Research the Property Before You Bid
The Clerk publishes a List of Lands Available and an auction calendar.3Brevard County Clerk of the Court. Lands Available Each parcel is identified by Tax ID and legal description. The legal description is what you are buying, not the street address. A parcel can turn out to be a landlocked strip or a drainage easement rather than a buildable lot.
The opening bid is not a market valuation. It covers delinquent taxes, the certificate holder’s costs, interest accruing at 1.5 percent per month from the application date through the sale month, and any other outstanding tax certificates on the property. For homestead properties, the opening bid also includes half of the latest assessed value, which pushes the floor substantially higher.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.542 – Sale at Public Auction
Cross-reference every parcel with the Brevard County Property Appraiser’s records. Check zoning, environmental designations, code enforcement violations, and whether there are structures on the land. A low opening bid is meaningless if the property carries problems that cost more to fix than the land is worth. Keep in mind that the owner can still redeem by paying all back taxes, interest, and fees up to the sale date, so a property on your watchlist can vanish from the queue without much notice.
How the Online Bidding Works
Each property has its own countdown clock. You can bid manually in set increments as the price climbs, or use proxy bidding, which lets you enter your ceiling and has the system raise your bid by the smallest allowed increment only as needed to stay on top.
A bid placed in the final seconds triggers an overtime extension, resetting the clock briefly so other bidders can respond. That prevents last-second sniping. Watch your dashboard; the status updates in real time when you have been outbid. Proxy bidding is useful, but it will take you to your ceiling if someone pushes it there. Set that ceiling on your research, not on auction momentum.
Pay in Full by Noon the Next Business Day
If you win, the Clerk requires the full remaining balance by noon on the next business day after the sale.4Brevard County Clerk of the Court. FAQs – Tax Deeds / Auctions The statute frames this as 24 hours excluding weekends and legal holidays.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 197.542 – Sale at Public Auction
Payment can be made in person at any Brevard County Clerk office in Titusville, Merritt Island, Viera, Melbourne, or Palm Bay. Accepted methods are cash, cashier’s check, money order, credit card, or wire transfer. If the Clerk does not receive full payment by 3:00 PM that day, the sale is canceled, the property is readvertised, your deposit is forfeited and applied to resale costs, and the Clerk reserves the right to bar you from future auctions.4Brevard County Clerk of the Court. FAQs – Tax Deeds / Auctions
Costs Beyond the Winning Bid
You also owe documentary stamp tax at $0.70 per $100 of the sale price, or any fraction of $100.5Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Documentary Stamp Tax On a $25,000 winning bid, that is $175. Recording fees run $10 for the first page and $8.50 for each additional page. Both must be paid before the Clerk issues and records the tax deed in your name.
What the Tax Deed Actually Conveys
This is where new bidders get hurt. A Florida tax deed wipes out many liens, but not all. Two categories routinely survive:
- Federal tax liens. A recorded IRS lien is not eliminated by the tax deed. The federal government has 120 days from the sale to redeem the property by reimbursing your purchase price. You get your money back, but you lose the property.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7425 – Discharge of Liens
- Government code enforcement liens. Municipal and county code enforcement liens survive the sale. Outstanding fines on the property transfer to you.
Certain easements and deed restrictions also survive. Pull the public records for each parcel you are serious about and look for these before you bid.
Quiet Title and Why You Need It
A tax deed is not marketable title. Title insurance companies will not insure a tax deed property without a court order confirming your ownership, which means you cannot sell it to a conventional buyer or borrow against it until the title is cleared.
The standard fix is a quiet title action in circuit court. The lawsuit names former owners, lienholders, and other parties with a potential interest and asks a judge to declare your title free and clear. Uncontested actions typically take two to three months. Contested cases, or ones where a party must be served by publication, take longer. Florida attorneys typically charge $1,500 or more for an uncontested quiet title, plus filing fees, title search, and service costs. Budget for it as part of your acquisition cost, not as a surprise later.
There is a slower alternative. Florida law bars former owners from challenging a tax deed after four years from issuance, provided the deed was properly recorded and the holder paid all property taxes during that period.7The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 95.191 – Limitations When Tax Deed Holder in Possession After that window, some title underwriters will insure the property without a quiet title action, though not all will.
Taking Possession Legally
Recording the deed does not empty the property. Former owners, tenants, or squatters may still be inside. Removing them requires an unlawful detainer action under Florida Chapter 82, not the writ of possession used in foreclosure cases. Filing the wrong type of action wastes time and money.
An unlawful detainer requires proof of three things: you have the legal right to possess, you asked the occupant to leave, and the occupant refused. Start with a written demand to vacate. For a month-to-month tenant who was already renting the property, you must provide a 30-day termination notice before filing.
Do not attempt self-help by changing locks, cutting utilities, or removing belongings. Florida law prohibits this regardless of how clear your ownership is, and it exposes you to liability.
If No One Bids
Properties that attract no bids go on the Lands Available list. For the first 90 days, the county has the right to purchase at the opening bid or waive that right. After that period, anyone can buy the property directly from the Clerk at the opening bid price without further advertising or auction.8Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 197 Section 502 The list is on the Clerk’s website, and you can request the current minimum bid in writing.3Brevard County Clerk of the Court. Lands Available These are the parcels no one wanted on auction day, so research matters even more, but there is no competition and you pay only the floor.
Surplus Funds for Former Owners
If you are not a bidder but a former owner whose property sold for more than the opening bid, the excess is called surplus funds. Government lienholders are paid first; the remainder goes to the former owner and other recorded interest holders. Claimants other than the owner have 120 days from the Clerk’s surplus notice to file; missing that deadline permanently bars the claim.9Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 197 Section 582 – Disbursement of Proceeds of Sale The money does not come to you automatically; contact the Brevard County Clerk’s office to file.