Franklin County tax deed sales

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Franklin County (county seat Apalachicola) sells tax deeds in person, run by the Franklin County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Michele Maxwell on In person inside the front hallway facing Highway 98 of the Main Courthouse, 33 Market Street, Apalachicola, Florida 32320. The tax deed sales are advertised in The Apalachicola Times once a week for four consecutive weeks, and the Clerk Office also lists pending tax deed sales on the website. No online auction platform is named.. Tax Deed Sales, when scheduled, are generally held on the first Monday of the month at 11:00 AM. The date will change if the first Monday is a holiday. The Clerk page advises readers to call for verification before attending, at (850) 653-2275, ext 3597.

Next sale on the calendar: No single date published on the Clerk tax deed page. The Clerk Tax Deeds page names no single next sale date and publishes the general first Monday pattern only, with a direction to call for verification before attending, so no single date is claimed here.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	No single date published on the Clerk tax deed page
Sale pattern	Tax Deed Sales, when scheduled, are generally held on the first Monday of the month at 11:00 AM. The date will change if the first Monday is a holiday. The Clerk page advises readers to call for verification before attending, at (850) 653-2275, ext 3597.
Format	In person
Platform	In person inside the front hallway facing Highway 98 of the Main Courthouse, 33 Market Street, Apalachicola, Florida 32320. The tax deed sales are advertised in The Apalachicola Times once a week for four consecutive weeks, and the Clerk Office also lists pending tax deed sales on the website. No online auction platform is named.
Selling office	Franklin County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Michele Maxwell
The list	NOT PUBLISHED. The Clerk pages publish no Lands Available rule for Franklin County. When a tax deed sale draws no bid, the parcel is placed on the List of Lands Available under the general Florida rule described above; confirm the current list with the Clerk.

Sources: Franklin County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Tax Deeds. Confirm with the selling office or on the auction site before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and parcels get pulled when owners redeem.

Research Franklin 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 Franklin County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Florida tax deed sales work

Taxes go delinquent on April 1. The Tax Collector then sells a tax certificate on the property, on or before June 1, to a buyer who pays the taxes and earns interest.
The owner can redeem the certificate by paying the Tax Collector everything owed. Most certificates are redeemed and never reach a deed sale.
After two years from April 1 of the year the certificate was issued, the certificate holder may apply for a tax deed (Florida Statutes, Section 197.502). The Clerk then orders a title search, notifies the owner and lienholders, advertises the sale once a week for four weeks, and sets the auction.
The property sells to the highest bidder at the public auction (Section 197.542), starting at an opening bid that covers the outstanding certificates, interest, costs and fees. The owner may still redeem until the Clerk has received full payment for the tax deed.
What nobody bids on becomes Lands Available for Taxes, the county held list that can be bought without an auction. That leftover list is the year round layer under every county page in this set.

How registration works in Franklin County

In order to participate in the bidding process, one must arrive a few minutes prior to 11:00 AM. You or your representative must be physically present at the sale in order to bid on the property. No separate registration form or step is published on the Clerk page.

If payment in full is not made, you are required to post a nonrefundable deposit of 5 percent of the bid or $200, whichever is greater, at the conclusion of the bidding for the parcel, to be applied to the sale price at the time of full payment. If the required deposit is not paid, then the bidding on that parcel will begin again at the base bid amount. Payment must be made in cash or by cashier check payable to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The successful bidder is asked to remain until the auction is complete and accompany the deputy clerk to the Clerk Office, and will be advised of the total amount due, which will include the bid amount and the fees to record the tax deed and documentary stamps of $.70 per $100 of the bid.

Owners redeem up to the last moment. A parcel leaves the list when the owner pays. A list you researched last week is not the list that sells.
A winning bid is a contract. Fail to complete payment and the deposit is kept, the property is resold, and the county can bar you from future sales.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit rule, Franklin County	If payment in full is not made, you are required to post a nonrefundable deposit of 5 percent of the bid or $200, whichever is greater, at the conclusion of the bidding for the parcel, to be applied to the sale price at the time of full payment. If the required deposit is not paid, then the bidding on that parcel will begin again at the base bid amount. Payment must be made in cash or by cashier check payable to the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The successful bidder is asked to remain until the auction is complete and accompany the deputy clerk to the Clerk Office, and will be advised of the total amount due, which will include the bid amount and the fees to record the tax deed and documentary stamps of $.70 per $100 of the bid.
Balance due	Payment in full must be made within twenty-four (24) hours. If full payment is not received, the Clerk shall immediately readvertise the sale to be held within 30 days after the date the sale was canceled, with only one advertisement being required.
Deposit rule (state law)	The high bidder posts a nonrefundable deposit of 5 percent of the bid or $200, whichever is greater, at the time of the sale, applied to the final price (Florida Statutes, Section 197.542(2)). Online counties collect it in advance, in the bidder account, before the sale opens.
Extra costs on top of the bid	The buyer also pays the documentary stamp tax on the deed and the recording fees. Budget for them in the maximum bid, not after it.
Deed type	A tax deed issued by the selling office after full payment. Properties sell as is, on a buyer beware basis. The selling office makes no warranty about condition, title, zoning, or liens that may survive the sale.
Surplus	If a property sells for more than the opening bid, the surplus is held by the Clerk for the former owner and lienholders to claim under Section 197.582. It is not the buyer's money and it is not a discount on the bid.

Lands Available for Taxes: the leftover list

When a Franklin County tax deed sale draws no bid at or above the opening bid, the parcel is placed on the county List of Lands Available for Taxes. Anyone may then buy it at the posted price, first come, without an auction, until it is sold or the list is cleared. These are the parcels the auction passed over, so the due diligence matters more, not less: check taxes owed since the sale, liens, access, and zoning before you pay. NOT PUBLISHED. The Clerk pages publish no Lands Available rule for Franklin County. When a tax deed sale draws no bid, the parcel is placed on the List of Lands Available under the general Florida rule described above; confirm the current list with the Clerk.

Before you bid

Check the list on the morning of the sale. Redemptions and cancellations run right up to sale time.
Run the parcel, not the headline. Look up assessed value and ownership with the county Property Appraiser, read the Clerk's tax deed file, and screen the opening bid against both before you set a maximum.
Some liens survive. A tax deed clears most private liens, but government liens can remain, and a federal tax lien can carry a 120 day right of redemption for the IRS after the sale. Title work after the sale is the buyer's job.
Set the maximum before the auction opens. The free Max-Bid Calculator below works backwards from your resale or hold value to the highest bid you can pay, with deposit, stamps and recording shown.

Every Florida county in this set

One page per county, each verified against its own selling office or auction source. Florida has 67 counties and about 41 with active tax deed sales; this set covers all 67 counties.

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