Tulare County tax sales, California

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Tulare County sells tax-defaulted property at an internet auction on GovEase once a year, usually in early March; the 2026 sale ran March 3, 2026. Bidders preregister and submit a refundable $5,000 deposit in guaranteed funds. Parcels that do not sell are re-offered at a lower minimum bid, in May in the current cycle.

Selling office: Tulare County Treasurer/Tax Collector

Next sale: No dated sale published. The pattern is an annual internet auction on GovEase in early March; the 2026 sale ran March 3, 2026. When parcels do not sell, a re-offer auction sometimes follows in May.

Tulare's March sale is one of the San Joaquin Valley's regular online auctions, and its May re-offer at a lower minimum bid is where unsold parcels return.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Annual internet auction on GovEase, usually in early March; the March 2027 date is not published. The 2026 sale ran on March 3, 2026.
Sale date and pattern	Online on GovEase, once a year, usually in early March, with a re-offer auction in May in years when parcels remain unsold.
The list	Made available online free of charge at the county tax auction page. Notice of the auction is published in the Sun-Gazette three times in successive weeks within the last 45 days before the sale.
Registration and deposit	Preregistration at GovEase.com is required and only internet bids are accepted. Bidders submit a refundable $5,000 deposit in guaranteed funds (wire transfer, certified check, cashier's check, or money order) before bidding; the deposit is applied to the successful bidder's purchase price.
Minimum bid and how bidding works	Bidding is online only on GovEase to the highest bidder, in guaranteed funds, at or above the minimum bid shown on the sale notice. The minimum bid is comprised of the amount of tax and penalties required to redeem the parcel plus the Tax Collector's cost of sale. A California transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 is added to and collected with the purchase price.
Redemption before the sale	The right of redemption ceases at 5:00 p.m. on the business day before the sale. If a parcel is not sold, the right of redemption revives until the last business day before the next scheduled sale. There is no redemption after a completed sale.
Reoffer	If a parcel does not receive the minimum bid, the Tax Collector will re-offer it online at a lower minimum bid, in May in the current cycle, or hold the property until the next annually scheduled auction.
Format	Online internet auction: GovEase
Selling office	Tulare County Treasurer/Tax Collector, 221 South Mooney Boulevard, Visalia

Sources: Tulare County Treasurer/Tax Collector, 2026 tax auction FAQs. Tulare County Treasurer/Tax Collector, tax auction page. 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 Tulare 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 Tulare 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 Tulare County

Preregister on GovEase for the Tulare County sale and submit the $5,000 deposit in guaranteed funds before bidding; only internet bids are accepted. The Tax Collector's office on Mooney Boulevard in Visalia publishes the list and the sale notices.

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, Tulare County	A refundable $5,000 deposit in guaranteed funds (wire transfer, certified check, cashier's check, or money order), submitted before bidding and applied to the successful bidder's purchase price.
Payment, Tulare County	The winning bid is paid in guaranteed funds (wire transfer, certified check, cashier's check, or money order). A California transfer tax of $0.55 per $500 is added to and collected with the purchase price.
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.

May re-offers and parcels that do not sell

If a parcel does not receive the minimum bid, the Tax Collector will re-offer it online at GovEase at a lower minimum bid, in May in the current cycle, or hold the property until the next annually scheduled auction. If a parcel is not sold, the owner's right of redemption revives until the last business day before the next scheduled sale.

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