San Mateo County tax sales, California

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San Mateo County sells tax-defaulted property online at sanmateo.mytaxsale.com, typically in August. Bidders register on the auction site and post a deposit that is applied to a win or refunded within about 10 business days. Full payment is due to the auction platform within five business days of a win.

Selling office: San Mateo County Treasurer-Tax Collector

Next sale: No dated sale published. The pattern is an online auction in August at sanmateo.mytaxsale.com, with the list and sale information posted in advance. Free sale notifications are offered on the auction site.

San Mateo's August sale is the Peninsula's one regular tax sale, and its list is posted only when a sale is scheduled. Registration and notifications live on the county auction site year-round.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Online, typically in August; no dated sale is currently published.
Sale date and pattern	Online auctions, typically held in August, with sale information posted in advance.
The list	Posted at sanmateo.mytaxsale.com when a sale is scheduled. Not every listed property reaches the auction; parcels can be redeemed, postponed, or removed.
Registration and deposit	Register at sanmateo.mytaxsale.com. A deposit is required to bid and is applied to the purchase price of a win; unsuccessful bidders receive a refund within about 10 business days. The deposit amount is set with each sale.
Minimum bid and how bidding works	Bidding is online at sanmateo.mytaxsale.com to the highest bidder, at or above the minimum bid. The minimum bid is the amount of taxes owed plus all penalties and costs that have been applied to the property.
Redemption before the sale	Redemption ends at the close of business on the last business day before the tax sale. There is no redemption after the sale; the tax deed cuts off the former owner's interest, subject to a one-year window to challenge the sale's validity.
Reoffer	Unsold properties remain in the tax sale inventory and may be reoffered at a lower price in future auctions. The owner's right of redemption is reinstated after an unsold auction. Parcels cannot be bought outside the public auction.
Format	Online internet auction: sanmateo.mytaxsale.com
Selling office	San Mateo County Treasurer-Tax Collector, 555 County Center, Redwood City

Sources: San Mateo County Treasurer-Tax Collector, tax sale FAQs. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and parcels are pulled up to sale day.

Research San Mateo County parcels before you bid

A sale list gives you the parcels, the date, and the opening terms. It does not give you the owner, the value, or the rest of the picture: liens, foreclosure status, and parcel history. PropertyRadar is the data platform for that layer. It carries owner records, assessed and market values, foreclosure and tax data, and property history for parcels across San Mateo County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How California tax defaulted property sales work

Default runs on a five year clock. Property taxes that go unpaid become tax defaulted. After five years of default (three years for nonresidential commercial property and the other classes the code names), the property becomes subject to the tax collector's power to sell under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 3691. Until that clock runs, there is nothing to buy: California sells no tax liens.
The county sets a Chapter 7 auction. With the board of supervisors' approval, the tax collector publishes notice and offers the property at public auction under Chapter 7 of Part 6. The minimum price is set by Section 3698.5(a): not less than the total amount necessary to redeem the property, plus costs. Most of the counties in this set now sell online under the electronic auction provisions (Section 3692.2); the county's own tax sale page names the platform and the terms.
The owner can stop the sale until the last business day. Redemption stays open until the close of business on the last business day before the sale begins (Section 3707), and a redemption in full ends the power to sell that parcel. Parcels are pulled right up to that deadline, so a list researched a week out is not the list that sells.
The sale is an auction of the property itself. The highest bidder at or above the minimum wins. Counties gate bidding behind a refundable deposit funded days ahead, and winning bids are due in full on the deadline the county terms set, usually within days of the close. A winner who does not pay forfeits the deposit and the parcel returns to inventory.
The buyer receives a tax deed, and unsold parcels come back as reoffers. The tax collector issues a tax deed under Section 3712; there is no redemption after the sale. A parcel that draws no bid at the minimum is not finished: under Section 3698.5 the tax collector may offer it again, including at a reduced minimum, and Chapter 8 (Section 3771 and following) routes some properties to public agencies and nonprofits instead. The leftover channel in California is a second, cheaper auction, and it is part of the pricing decision on the first one.

How bidding works in San Mateo County

Register at sanmateo.mytaxsale.com for the San Mateo County sale. The deposit is applied to a win and refunded to unsuccessful bidders within about 10 business days. The hard edge is after the sale: a winner who does not pay within five business days forfeits the deposit and is banned from bidding for five years.

The deposit gate is real. California online sales close registration and deposit funding days before the auction opens, and an unfunded deposit cannot bid. The deadline that decides whether you are in the sale is the deposit deadline, not the auction date.
Payment clocks are short and enforced. Winning bids come due on the county's deadline, often within days of the close, and a missed payment forfeits the deposit. Fund the maximum bid before the auction opens, not after it closes.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, San Mateo County	A deposit is required to register; the amount is set with each sale. It is applied to the purchase price if you win, and unsuccessful bidders receive a refund within about 10 business days.
Payment, San Mateo County	Full payment is due to Grant Street, the auction platform, within five business days of a win.
What is sold	The property itself, by tax deed. California sells no tax liens or certificates to the public at any stage: the Chapter 7 auction is the whole event, and the deed is what the winning bid buys.
Minimum bid	The minimum price under Section 3698.5(a), built from the delinquent taxes, penalties and costs the code specifies. At a first offering the floor is the full statutory amount, not a market estimate. Reoffers under Section 3698.5 can carry a lower minimum, which is why the same parcel can be two very different buys in two rounds.
Redemption	The owner may redeem until the close of business on the last business day before the sale begins. After the sale there is no redemption, by anyone, at any price. Everything about a California bid is priced on that hard stop.
The deed	A tax deed issued by the tax collector under Section 3712. It conveys the title described in the statute, free of most liens and encumbrances, with statutory exceptions (liens of public agencies with priority and recorded easements among them). It is not a title insurance policy; title work after the sale is the buyer's job.
Costs on top of the bid	The deposit mechanics and payment deadline in the county terms, plus documentary transfer tax and recording charges as the county publishes them, and current year taxes the sale terms assign to the buyer.

Unsold properties stay in the inventory

An unsold property remains in the county's tax sale inventory. The owner's right of redemption is reinstated and the owner keeps legal title until the next sale opportunity; the parcel may be reoffered at a lower price in a future auction. San Mateo does not sell tax-defaulted property outside the public auction, so there is no over-the-counter route.

Before you bid

Work the list twice. Redemption pulls parcels until the close of business on the last business day before the sale. The list a county publishes at notice is the research list; the list that actually sells is shorter. Re-check the morning the auction opens.
As is, and the deed is not a policy. No interior access, occupants may be in place, and the tax deed's statutory exceptions leave title homework behind the sale. Drive the property, read the county disclosures, and budget the title and cleanup work.
Price the reoffer before the first sale. Parcels that draw no bid at the minimum return under Section 3698.5, sometimes at a reduced minimum. Decide in advance whether you are a first round buyer at the statutory floor or a reoffer buyer waiting for the second price.
Set the maximum before the sale opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your resale or hold value to the highest bid you can pay, with the costs shown.

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New York tax sales · Florida tax deed sales · Texas tax sales · Pennsylvania tax sales · Georgia tax sales · North Carolina tax foreclosure sales · Ohio tax foreclosure sales · Illinois tax lien sales · Michigan tax foreclosure sales · Arizona tax lien sales