Cobb County tax sales

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Cobb publishes the most complete bidder rulebook in this Georgia set: its Tax Sale Booklet covers registration, payment, re-auction of no-bid parcels the same afternoon, and redemption math. But Cobb sells only in months when it plans a sale, and as this page is checked the Tax Sales page says registration is currently closed, with no next date named.

Selling office: Cobb County Tax Commissioner's Office (Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson). The Tax Commissioner also serves as Ex-Officio Sheriff of Cobb County and issues the tax execution, recorded on the General Execution Docket.

Next sale: No dated sale posted on the official pages read. The Tax Sales page states that registration is currently closed and tells bidders to check back closer to the next sale. Cobb's standing pattern is the first Tuesday of a month in which it plans a sale, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but no specific upcoming date is named on the official pages opened, so this page posts no Cobb date rather than projecting the pattern onto December.

No upcoming sale or parcel count is published on the official pages read.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	No dated sale posted on the official pages read
Sale pattern	The first Tuesday of each month in which the county plans a tax sale, at the Superior Court Plaza between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. If the sale day falls on a holiday, the sale takes place on the first Wednesday.
Opening bid	The opening bid is the tax due plus penalties plus all applicable costs. Properties that receive no bid may be re-auctioned the same afternoon at 3 p.m.
The list	Sales are advertised for four consecutive weeks before the sale in the legal section of the Marietta Daily Journal under the heading Tax Commissioner, and the Tax Commissioner posts the property list online, updated as payments are received. No current dated list is named on the Tax Sales page as this page is checked.
Format	In person, Superior Court Plaza: In person, at the Superior Court Plaza on the corner of Haynes Street and Washington Avenue, Marietta: the steps of the Superior Court building, also known as Flournoy Park (per the Tax Commissioner's Tax Sale Booklet). Bidding is in person only.
Selling office	Cobb County Tax Commissioner's Office (Tax Commissioner Carla Jackson). The Tax Commissioner also serves as Ex-Officio Sheriff of Cobb County and issues the tax execution, recorded on the General Execution Docket.

Sources: Cobb County Tax Commissioner, Tax Sales. Cobb County Tax Commissioner, Tax Sale Booklet. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and owners can pay and stop a sale at any point before it starts.

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

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How Georgia tax sales work

Taxes go delinquent and the lien attaches. Georgia taxes are a lien on the property. After the statutory notice, the county tax commissioner issues a tax execution, the fi. fa., against the owner and the property (O.C.G.A. 48-3-3) and delivers it to the levying officer: the sheriff, or the tax commissioner acting as ex officio sheriff, which is how most counties in this set run their sales.
The levy is advertised for four weeks. The levying officer advertises the sale once a week for four consecutive weeks in the county's legal organ newspaper, and most counties in this set also post the sale list on the tax commissioner's site. Owners keep paying and parcels keep dropping out until sale day; the list you research is not the list that sells.
Sale day is the first Tuesday. Sales under execution are held on the first Tuesday of the month, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., at the courthouse or the place the county designates (O.C.G.A. 9-13-161 and 48-4-1). Bidding is by public outcry, in person, and it starts at the amount due on the execution plus the costs of levy and sale. Some counties in this set sell only in months when a sale is planned, so the first Tuesday is a frame, not a promise: the county page tells you whether your county has a dated sale.
The winner pays and takes a tax deed. Payment timing and accepted forms are county rules, stated on each county page; where they are published they are same day rules, measured in hours. The winner receives a tax deed. Money bid above the execution amount becomes excess funds, held for the owner and lienholders under O.C.G.A. 48-4-5; it is not a discount and it is not the buyer's.
The deed is redeemable for at least 12 months. The owner, or anyone holding an interest in or a lien on the property, may redeem by paying the purchase price, plus any taxes and special assessments the purchaser paid, plus a premium of 20 percent of that amount for the first year or fraction of a year and 10 percent for each year after (O.C.G.A. 48-4-40 and 48-4-42). The purchaser cannot take possession during the redemption period. After 12 months the purchaser may bar the right of redemption with the statutory notice (O.C.G.A. 48-4-45); marketable title after that usually takes a quiet title action. Exception in this set: counties running judicial in rem sales (Chatham, Richmond, Bibb and Clayton publish the track) redeem in 60 days on that track, with no 20 percent premium stated.

How registration works in Cobb County

You must pre-register before the day of the sale, separately for each individual sale, through the pre-registration form linked from the Tax Sales page. Bidder cards are issued from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on the day of the sale; bring valid photo ID to receive your card from the Levy Officer. No mail, phone or fax bids.

Registration is the real deadline where a county requires it. Fulton closes registration the Monday before the sale and will not register you on sale day; Gwinnett registers in person and closes when the sale starts. Read your county's rule above before you travel.
Payment is a sale day event. Every county in this set that publishes a payment rule wants certified funds the same day, in windows as short as two hours. Arrive with the money arranged, not with a plan to arrange it.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Cobb County	No deposit to bid is published in the Tax Sales page or the Booklet read.
Payment, Cobb County	Payment in full is required on conclusion of the tax sale, in cash or a certified check payable to Cobb County Tax Commissioner (the Booklet's payment section adds cashier's check to the accepted forms), with a signed attestation statement.
What is sold	A tax deed, not a tax lien certificate. Georgia counties do not hold lien auctions: the property itself is levied and sold, and the buyer takes a deed that stays defeasible while the right of redemption lasts.
The opening bid	The amount due on the tax execution (taxes, interest and penalties) plus the costs of levy, advertising and sale. Bidding runs up from there by public outcry.
Redemption (sheriff style sales)	At least 12 months from the sale date. The redemption price is the amount paid at the sale, plus taxes and special assessments the purchaser paid afterward, plus a premium of 20 percent for the first year or fraction of a year and 10 percent for each year or fraction of a year after (O.C.G.A. 48-4-42). The 20 percent is owed in full even if the owner redeems the week after the sale.
After the year	The right to redeem does not simply expire at 12 months: it continues until the purchaser bars it with the statutory barment notice (O.C.G.A. 48-4-45). Only after barment, and usually a quiet title action, does the tax deed behave like a marketable title.
Excess funds	Any amount bid above the execution and costs is excess funds under O.C.G.A. 48-4-5, payable to the owner and lienholders in priority order. Overbidding does not buy better title; it buys a bigger redemption check if the owner redeems.

When a parcel draws no bid

Cobb's answer is same day: parcels receiving no bid may be re-auctioned that afternoon at 3 p.m. No standing leftover or county held list is published on the Tax Sales page read.

Before you bid

Know which track the parcel is on. A sheriff style sale carries a 12 month redemption and a 20 percent premium if the owner redeems; a judicial in rem sale in the counties that run one redeems in 60 days with no premium. The deed, the wait and the return are different products.
Check the list in sale week. Owners pay and parcels drop until the morning of the sale. The four week advertisement is the starting list, never the selling list.
Price the redemption year. On a sheriff style deed you cannot take possession for at least 12 months, and the right to redeem continues after that until you bar it. Your capital is committed for the whole period either way.
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.

Every Georgia county in this set

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