The Cobb County tax sale list is published about four weeks before each auction, both in the Friday real estate section of the Marietta Daily Journal and on the Cobb County Tax Commissioner’s website.1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales The list identifies each property by parcel number, names the current owner, and states an opening bid. Sales happen on the first Tuesday of the month when one is scheduled, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Superior Court Plaza. Reading the list is the easy part. Understanding what you’re actually bidding on is where most first-time buyers get into trouble.
Where to Find the List
Georgia law requires the levying officer to run notice of a tax sale weekly for four weeks in the county’s legal organ before the sale.2Justia. Georgia Code 9-13-140 – How Judicial Sales Advertised In Cobb County, that legal organ is the Marietta Daily Journal, and the notices appear on Fridays. The Tax Commissioner’s website posts the same list about four weeks out.1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales
If you want to look further ahead, the Tax Commissioner also publishes a delinquent tax list, updated monthly, showing properties that could end up at a future sale.3Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Delinquent Taxes – Property A property on the delinquent list isn’t guaranteed to be auctioned, but it’s a useful pipeline.
What Each Listing Tells You
Every entry shows a Map/Parcel number, the current owner’s name, and either a physical address or a legal description of the boundaries. You can drop the parcel number into the Cobb County Tax Assessor’s database to pull aerial imagery, lot dimensions, and assessment history.
The opening bid is the sum of delinquent taxes, penalties, and applicable costs.1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales You can’t bid below it. And because interest and penalties keep accruing, the figure printed weeks before the sale may not be the exact number on auction day. Call the Tax Commissioner’s office for a current payoff if you want to bid close to the floor.
How Properties Get on the List
Cobb County property tax bills go out by August 15 and are due by October 15. Late payments trigger a 5 percent penalty plus monthly interest, and unpaid accounts eventually generate a Fi.Fa., which is a tax lien filed against the property.4Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Property Taxes Overview
Once the lien exists and the taxes remain unpaid, the Tax Commissioner, who also serves as Ex-Officio Sheriff, can levy the property and set it for sale.5Cobb County Tax Commissioner’s Office. Tax Sale Booklet Before advertising begins, the office must give 20 days’ written notice of the levy to the owner and to any recorded mortgage or security deed holders.6Justia. Georgia Code 48-3-9 – Notice of Levy to Owner
What You Are Actually Buying
This is the part that catches new bidders. The Tax Commissioner’s office states plainly that “the Tax Deed, not the property, is sold to the highest bidder.”1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales Cobb County does not sell tax liens. It sells a deed, and that deed carries a right of redemption in favor of the former owner and other interested parties. Until you cut that right off, you hold defeasible title, meaning your ownership can be undone if someone redeems. You are not entitled to rents, profits, or possession during the redemption window.
Registration, Payment, and Bidding
You must pre-register for each sale through an online form on the Tax Commissioner’s website. Registration is per-sale, so signing up once doesn’t cover future auctions. On sale day, bring a valid photo ID to the Levy Officer between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. to get your bidder card.1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales
Payment is due in full immediately at the close of the sale, in cash or by certified check made payable to the Cobb County Tax Commissioner. No personal checks, credit cards, phone bids, fax bids, or mail bids are accepted.1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales If you win and can’t pay, you lose the purchase. Bring enough certified funds to cover your maximum bid.
Bidding runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Superior Court Plaza. The auctioneer calls out each property by parcel number and opening bid and takes oral bids from registered participants. You have to be there in person. If a property draws no bids in the morning, it may be re-auctioned at 3:00 p.m.1Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Tax Sales
The 12-Month Redemption Period
After a Georgia tax sale, the former owner, or anyone with a recorded interest in the property, has the right to redeem for at least 12 months from the sale date. That right continues beyond 12 months until you formally foreclose it.7Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-40 – Persons Entitled to Redeem Land Sold Under Tax Execution
If someone redeems, they pay you directly, not the county. The redemption amount includes:
- The purchase price you paid at the tax sale
- Any taxes you paid on the property after the sale
- Any special assessments on the property
- A 20 percent premium on the purchase price for the first year or any fraction of a year, plus 10 percent for each additional year or fraction
- HOA or condo association dues you paid after the sale, if applicable8Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-42 – Amount Payable for Redemption
One separate wrinkle applies when the property carried a federal tax lien. The IRS has its own right to redeem for 120 days after the sale, or the period allowed under Georgia law, whichever is longer.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7425 – Discharge of Liens Georgia’s 12-month window is longer, so the IRS effectively acts within that timeframe, but the authority is independent of state law.
Foreclosing the Right of Redemption
The 12 months don’t end the redemption right automatically. You have to serve formal notice of foreclosure of the right to redeem on the former owner, any occupant, and every party with a recorded interest. Parties outside the county must be reached by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, and the notice must run once a week for four consecutive weeks in the county’s legal newspaper.10Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-45 – Notice of Foreclosure of Right of Redemption
If nobody redeems within 30 days after that notice, the right is cut off. Costs of serving and publishing the notice can be added to any redemption amount paid within that 30-day window.8Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-42 – Amount Payable for Redemption
Clearing Title with a Quiet Title Action
Even after redemption is foreclosed, most tax deed holders still need a quiet title action before a title company will insure the property or a bank will lend against it. A quiet title action is a lawsuit in the superior court of the county where the property sits, asking the court to declare you the rightful owner and eliminate competing claims.
Georgia allows two versions: a conventional action aimed at a specific cloud, such as an old mortgage, and a broader action “against all the world” that seeks to wipe out any adverse claim, including ones you don’t yet know about. The broader action is more common for tax deed properties because long-delinquent parcels tend to accumulate unknown interests. The court appoints a special master to identify everyone who must be served, and you’ll usually need a property survey and title report. Uncontested cases can move quickly; contested ones look like any other civil lawsuit in cost and timeline. Budget at least a few thousand dollars in attorney’s fees even for the smooth path.
Due Diligence Before You Bid
The Tax Commissioner’s office is direct about this: they don’t have all the answers about the properties on the list, and the research is on you. At a minimum, check the following before you raise your card:
- Title history. Search for existing liens, mortgages, and security deeds. Not every lien is wiped out by a tax sale, and federal tax liens carry that separate IRS redemption right.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7425 – Discharge of Liens
- Occupancy. If someone is living in the property, removing them will require a formal eviction after you clear title.
- Physical condition. Drive by. Tax sale properties are often neglected, and the county makes no representations about structure, environmental hazards, or code violations.
- Zoning and restrictions. Deed restrictions and HOA covenants run with the land and survive the sale.
- Bankruptcy filings. An active bankruptcy on the owner can trigger an automatic stay and void the sale. Check federal court records.
If Your Property Is on the List
If you’re the owner and your parcel has been advertised, you can still stop the sale by paying delinquent taxes, penalties, and costs in full before the auction. Once the account is coded for tax sale, the county won’t accept online payments for delinquent years, so you’ll need certified funds.3Cobb County Tax Commissioner. Delinquent Taxes – Property
If the sale goes through, you still have at least 12 months to redeem, but the price climbs. You’ll owe the buyer the full purchase price, the 20 percent first-year premium, and any taxes or assessments they’ve paid.8Justia. Georgia Code 48-4-42 – Amount Payable for Redemption Paying before the auction is always cheaper than redeeming after it.