The Fannin County GA tax sales list is published by the Fannin County Tax Commissioner in The News Observer, the county’s legal organ, once a week for four consecutive weeks before each sale, and a digital copy is typically posted at fannincountytax.com. You can also review a physical copy at the Tax Commissioner’s office in Blue Ridge. Property taxes in Fannin County are due by December 20, and the Tax Commissioner can start sale proceedings once a bill is 90 days past due.1Fannin County GA. Fannin County GA Property Taxes
Check the list early and check it again close to the sale date. Owners often pay off their delinquent taxes during the four-week advertisement window, and parcels drop off the list as that happens. If you are tracking a specific property, call the Tax Commissioner’s office to confirm it is still scheduled before you drive to the courthouse.
What Each Listing Tells You
Every entry in the advertisement is built to identify the parcel and set the floor for bidding. You will see:
- The owner of record as the name appears in the tax digest for the year the delinquency arose.
- The map and parcel number, which you can plug into the county GIS to pull boundaries, acreage, and zoning.
- A brief legal description of the property’s boundaries or subdivision location.
- A street address, when one exists, so you can go look at it.
- The opening bid, which is the total of unpaid taxes, interest, penalties, and administrative costs.
The opening bid is not a market valuation. It is only what the county is owed, which on many parcels is well below what the land or building is worth. That gap is why investors show up, and it is also why the list alone is not enough to make a buying decision.
Registering to Bid
You have to register before the auction starts. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport. The registration form asks for your full legal name, address, and either a Social Security number or a federal employer identification number. If you are bidding on behalf of a corporation or LLC, bring documents proving the entity exists and that you have authority to act for it, such as articles of organization or a corporate resolution.
Fannin County accepts only certified funds. That means cashier’s checks, money orders, or cash. Personal checks and credit cards are not accepted. Payment is due in full on sale day, so bring checks in several denominations to cover whatever bid you end up making. Showing up without enough certified funds costs you the property even if you placed the winning bid.
How the Auction Runs
Georgia tax sales take place on the first Tuesday of the month, between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., on the courthouse steps. When that Tuesday falls on New Year’s Day or Independence Day, the sale moves to Wednesday.2Justia. Georgia Code 9-13-161 – Where and When Sales Under Execution Shall Be Made Fannin County holds its sale at the county courthouse in Blue Ridge. The Tax Commissioner or a deputy calls each parcel from the published list and opens bidding at the minimum amount shown in the advertisement.
Bidding is verbal and open. Registered bidders raise the price in increments until no one goes higher. If the winner cannot produce certified funds on the spot, the parcel can be re-auctioned immediately. When no private bidder meets the minimum, the county’s governing authority can buy the property for the amount of taxes and costs owed.3Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-20 – Authority of Counties to Buy Property Sold Under Tax Executions
What a Tax Deed Actually Conveys
The winning bidder gets a tax deed, which the Tax Commissioner records in the county land records. Georgia tax sales run on buyer beware. The deed carries no warranty of title, no promise about the physical condition of the property, and no guarantee that other claims against it have been cleared. You are buying whatever interest the county can transfer through its taxing power.
Most title insurance companies will not issue a policy on a tax-deed property until the former owner’s right to redeem has been formally cut off, and often not until a quiet title action has been filed to clear remaining clouds. If you plan to develop, finance, or resell the property, budget for the legal work that gets you there.
The 12-Month Right of Redemption
The former owner has 12 months from the sale date to reclaim the property by paying the full redemption amount.4Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-40 – Persons Entitled to Redeem Land Sold for Taxes Anyone else with a recorded interest, such as a mortgage lender or judgment creditor, can also redeem during that window.
The redemption price is more than what you paid at auction. The former owner has to reimburse you for any property taxes or special assessments you paid after the sale, plus a premium of 20 percent for the first year or any fraction of a year, and 10 percent for each additional year or fraction after that.5Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-42 – Amount Payable for Redemption If the owner redeems after a barment notice has been served and waits more than 30 days, the owner also has to cover sheriff’s service costs and publication fees.
For you as the purchaser, the 20 percent is the guaranteed return if the owner redeems in the first year. If no one redeems, you keep the property, but one more legal step stands between you and marketable title.
Barment: Cutting Off the Right to Redeem
After the 12 months runs, you can permanently end the former owner’s redemption right by filing a notice of foreclosure of the right to redeem, commonly called a barment action. Until this is done, the former owner technically keeps the ability to redeem even past the initial year.6Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-45 – Notice of Foreclosure of Right to Redeem
The barment notice has to go to the original defendant on the tax execution, any occupant of the property, and every person with a recorded interest or lien in the county where the land sits. People in the county are served personally by the sheriff. Those outside the county receive notice by certified or registered mail. The notice also has to run once a week for four consecutive weeks in the county’s legal newspaper, with all four publications falling inside the six months immediately before the redemption deadline stated in the notice.
Missing any piece of this can invalidate the barment and leave you without clear title. Most purchasers hire an attorney, which typically runs several hundred dollars in legal and publication fees on top of sheriff’s service charges.
Due Diligence Before You Bid
The list tells you what’s for sale and how much to open with. It does not tell you whether a parcel is worth buying. Before auction day:
- Drive the property. Many tax-sale parcels have been neglected for years and may have structural damage, environmental problems, or encroachments you inherit.
- Search the county deed records for mortgages, judgment liens, and other encumbrances. Some survive the tax sale and transfer to you.
- Check the federal tax lien index. An IRS lien carries its own redemption right that outlasts the county sale.
- Confirm zoning and look for outstanding code violations, which can produce fines that follow the property rather than the former owner.
- Add it all up. A $2,000 winning bid can easily become a $5,000 investment before you hold insurable title, once you factor in recording fees, barment costs, a possible quiet title action, and the next tax bill.
Federal Tax Liens Don’t Automatically Clear
A county tax sale does not wipe out a federal tax lien. When the IRS has filed a notice of federal tax lien against the owner, the lien attaches to everything the taxpayer owns. If a parcel subject to a federal lien sells at a county auction, the IRS has 120 days from the sale date, or the full redemption period under Georgia law, whichever is longer, to redeem the property by reimbursing the purchaser.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7425 – Discharge of Liens The IRS rarely exercises the right, but a bidder who ignores a federal lien is taking a real risk. Price that risk in before you raise your hand.