Kootenai County holds its tax deed sale online at kootenai.id.realforeclose.com, auctioning properties the county has taken title to after at least three years of unpaid property taxes. The sale is run by the County Treasurer under Idaho Code §§ 63-1005 through 63-1008, and winning bidders receive a county deed. Idaho does not sell tax lien certificates.
How a Property Reaches the Auction
A parcel becomes eligible only after taxes have been delinquent for three full years. At that point the tax collector is required to issue a tax deed transferring the property to the county itself. The county does not go straight from delinquency to auction. Title passes to the county first, and only then can the Board of County Commissioners decide to offer the parcel to the public.
Before the county can take that deed, it has to send the owner a formal notice of pending tax deed issuance and record an affidavit of compliance. If those steps are skipped, the resulting deed can be challenged. For a bidder, the practical point is that every parcel on the auction list has already cleared that pipeline and is owned by the county on sale day.
How the Auction Works
Kootenai County conducts the sale through the RealAuction platform. Bidders register and complete the required training through RealAuction before auction day. The Treasurer’s office posts the list of available parcels on the county’s Property Tax Sale page at kcgov.us, and the sale is advertised in the Coeur d’Alene Press no later than two weeks before the auction date.
Each listing shows the legal description and the total amount of delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and costs owed. Bidding is competitive and online; the highest bid wins. The document the winning buyer receives is a county deed.
If a parcel does not sell at auction, the Board of County Commissioners accepts sealed written bids afterward. A sealed-bid submission is a letter of intent with the parcel number, the bidder’s name, address, and phone number, enclosing a cashier’s check for the full bid amount made out to the Kootenai County Treasurer. The Board can reject any bid, accept any bid it considers appropriate, and sell unsold properties by public or private sale on whatever terms it deems necessary.
What to Check Before You Bid
The county does not inspect these properties, guarantee their condition, or make any promises about what you are buying. The sale is final. Due diligence is entirely on the bidder, and skipping it is where buyers get burned.
- Physical condition and access. Visit the property. Some tax deed parcels are landlocked, lack road access, or sit in flood zones. Aerial photos and county GIS maps help, but nothing replaces driving to the site.
- Zoning and land use. Confirm with Kootenai County’s planning department that the zoning allows what you want to do. A residential buyer who discovers the lot is zoned agricultural has no recourse against the county.
- Title search. Identify any liens or encumbrances that might survive the sale. Federal tax liens and certain special assessments can persist through a tax deed transfer. A bankruptcy records check belongs here too, for reasons covered below.
- Environmental contamination. Under CERCLA, a buyer at a tax sale can be held liable for cleanup costs even for contamination that occurred decades before purchase. The Ninth Circuit has held that a tax sale creates enough of a “contractual relationship” to trigger CERCLA liability, and private buyers do not get the involuntary-transfer exemption that government entities receive. Environmental testing is the only meaningful protection, though pre-sale access to the property can be difficult.
What the County Deed Actually Gives You
Idaho law provides that a sale by the Board of County Commissioners of property acquired through tax deed “shall vest in the purchaser absolute title to the land described therein.” That statutory language is strong, but the practical reality is more complicated.
The county deed wipes out most prior delinquent taxes and civil liens that attached before the county took title, which gives you a relatively clean financial slate. Certain obligations can survive, particularly federal tax liens and some special assessments. The county makes no warranties about title quality beyond what the statute provides, so you are accepting whatever chain-of-ownership issues exist.
Title insurance companies are cautious with tax sale properties. Most underwriters will not issue a standard policy on a tax deed property without additional steps: releases from prior owners or lienholders, a quiet title action with the court confirming the sale’s validity, or simply the passage of a statutory period. A quiet title action in Idaho runs roughly $1,500 to $6,000 for an uncontested case and adds months before you can freely sell or finance the property. Budget for it. First-time tax sale buyers are often caught off guard by the cost and delay of clearing title after they already hold the deed.
Redemption Periods That Affect Buyers
Winning the auction does not give you instant certainty of ownership. Two redemption windows matter.
The former owner has a redemption right under Idaho Code § 63-1007 that continues until the earlier of two events: the commissioners enter into a contract to sell the property, or a county deed is issued to a buyer. If neither event occurs, that window stays open for fourteen months from the date the county’s tax deed was issued. Once a buyer takes a county deed, the owner’s redemption right ends.1Idaho State Legislature. Idaho Code 63-1007 – Redemption – Expiration of Right
Federal law is the one that reaches past your purchase. If the former owner owed federal taxes, the IRS has a statutory right to redeem under 26 U.S.C. § 7425(d). The federal government can redeem within 120 days of the sale or any longer period state law allows. During that window, the IRS can step in, pay you what you paid, and take the property. You get your purchase price back, but you lose the property. This is a core reason title insurance underwriters hesitate on tax sale properties, and a core reason to check for federal liens before bidding.
Bankruptcy Can Void the Sale
If the former owner filed for bankruptcy before the auction, the automatic stay under Section 362 of the Bankruptcy Code prevents the county from enforcing its tax lien. A sale conducted in violation of the automatic stay is void from the beginning, even if the county had no knowledge of the filing. Courts grant retroactive relief from the stay only in rare and compelling circumstances. If a bankruptcy filing was missed and you bought the property, your purchase can be unwound. A title search that includes a bankruptcy records check is the practical safeguard.
Surplus Proceeds When a Property Sells for More Than the Debt
When a parcel sells for more than the total delinquent taxes, penalties, interest, and costs owed, the difference is surplus. In Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that a government violates the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause when it keeps sale proceeds exceeding the tax debt. The Court called it a “classic taking.” The ruling applies nationwide regardless of state law.
For former Kootenai County owners, this means that if a property sold at auction for more than the total tax obligation, there is a constitutional right to the excess. Contact the Treasurer’s office to inquire about any surplus funds.
Where to Go
The Kootenai County Treasurer’s office handles auction listings, payment of delinquent taxes, redemption, and surplus inquiries. The Board of County Commissioners handles sealed bids for parcels that did not sell at auction. Auction registration goes through RealAuction’s online training portal, and the sale itself runs at kootenai.id.realforeclose.com. Current parcel lists and auction dates are posted on the county’s Property Tax Sale page at kcgov.us.