Land · Michigan tax sale guide

Ottawa County tax sales, Michigan

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Ottawa County posts its own 2026 auction dates on its delinquent and foreclosed property tax pages and sells on tax-sale.info with the west Michigan county group (Benzie, Grand Traverse, Lake, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason and Wexford). Its no reserve catalog for the October 30, 2026 round is small and cheap at the bottom: three lots were listed, from a $100 minimum bid. The county also runs two owner side programs worth knowing about as a buyer, because they pull parcels out of the pipeline: a one year financial hardship exemption, and a five year Tax Foreclosure Avoidance Payment Reduction Program under which approved property is withheld from foreclosure and accrued interest and penalties are cancelled.

Selling office: Ottawa County Treasurer, as foreclosing governmental unit

Next sale: The 2026 Title Check rounds have run: minimum bid auction in late August 2026, minimum bid re-offer Friday, September 25, 2026, no reserve bids due Friday, October 30, 2026 at 7:00 PM EDT. The Title Check schedule groups Ottawa with the northwestern Lower Peninsula counties in the late August block. The county's own pages post its 2026 dates including the October 30 no reserve round; Ottawa's no reserve catalog listed three lots with minimum bids from $100.

Ottawa's 2026 no reserve catalog was three lots. The county posts its auction dates on its own delinquent and foreclosed property tax pages each cycle.

Dates and deadlines

Sources: Title Check, LLC, 2026 Michigan Public Land Auction salebook and schedule (tax-sale.info). Title Check, Ottawa no reserve listings (October 30, 2026 round). 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 Ottawa 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 Ottawa County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

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How Michigan tax foreclosure sales work

• Delinquent, then forfeited. Unpaid taxes are returned delinquent to the county treasurer on March 1 of the year after they were levied. If they are still unpaid a year later, the property is forfeited to the treasurer on March 1 (Section 211.78g), with forfeiture fees and interest added; Oakland County's page states the shape of it: a $235 minimum fee and interest at 18 percent per year running back to the delinquency date. Forfeiture is not yet foreclosure: the owner can still pay and clear the property.
• Foreclosure is a court case, and it ends redemption. The foreclosing governmental unit, in these counties the county treasurer, petitions the circuit court (by June 15), and after the show cause and foreclosure hearings the court enters judgment. The owner and interest holders can redeem until March 31 following the judgment; on April 1, title vests absolutely in the FGU (Section 211.78k). The foreclosure judgment cancels prior liens by court order, with limited exceptions. After vesting there is no redemption, by anyone, at any price.
• Governments pick first. Before any public auction, the property runs the right of first refusal sequence in Section 211.78m(1): the State may buy by the first Tuesday in July at the greater of the minimum bid or fair market value, then the local units where the property sits, then the county or its land bank. What reaches the public auction is what government buyers passed on.
• Auctions run in rounds, and the round sets the floor. Sales are held between the third Tuesday in July and the first Tuesday in November, on at least 30 days published notice, and may be held online (Section 211.78m). At the first offering the minimum bid is all delinquent taxes, interest, penalties and fees. A later offering, held at least 28 days after a prior sale, may carry no minimum bid, though the FGU can set a reasonable opening bid to cover costs. Most counties in this set sell through the state's contracted vendor, Title Check, LLC at tax-sale.info, in three rounds: a minimum bid auction, a minimum bid re-offer, and a no reserve sealed bid round. Wayne and Macomb counties run their own online auctions instead, and Washtenaw sells on Auction.com.
• Payment is fast, and the deed follows. The statute makes the FGU require full payment at the close of the sale day or by a date not more than 21 days after the sale; vendor terms are shorter (Title Check: 5 business days; Wayne: 72 hours; Macomb: by 4:00 PM the next day). The buyer must also show the taxes owed on the property at the time of sale are paid within 21 days, or the sale is canceled. The FGU then issues the deed under Section 211.78m. There is no redemption tail behind a Michigan tax deed; the homework is the property itself, sold as is.

How bidding works in Ottawa County

Open a tax-sale.info account at least 48 hours before the auction and clear the $1,000 hold or certified funds requirement before bidding.

• The deposit gate is real. Title Check takes no bids without the $1,000 hold posted at least 48 hours ahead; Wayne verifies deposits over up to two business days; Macomb closes registration the day before. An unfunded account on auction morning is a spectator account.
• Payment clocks are short and enforced. Five business days on tax-sale.info, 72 hours in Wayne, 4:00 PM the next day in Macomb. A missed clock cancels the sale, and the statute backs the FGU on it. Fund the full bid before the round opens, not after it closes.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

What does not sell

Parcels that clear no round stay with the FGU and move through the Section 211.78m(1) sequence and the county's later disposition. The no reserve round is the last public stop in the Title Check cycle; after October 30, 2026, ask the Treasurer about remaining inventory.

Before you bid

• Know which round you are in. The minimum bid round prices the full tax stack and draws the serious list; the no reserve round is a different market with different competition, and in Genesee's case no 24 bid cap. The same parcel is two different buys in two different rounds.
• As is means as is. No interior access is guaranteed, occupants may be in place, and the foreclosure judgment's lien cancellation is a court order, not a title policy. Drive the property, read the catalog disclosures, and budget the cleanup.
• Budget the current taxes. The buyer must show the taxes owed on the property at the time of sale are paid within 21 days, or the sale is canceled. That money is on top of the bid, and it is due fast.
• 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 Michigan county in this set

One page per county, each verified against its own treasurer or vendor source. Michigan has 83 counties; this set is the top 20 by population and sale volume.

• Wayne County tax sales
• Oakland County tax sales
• Macomb County tax sales
• Kent County tax sales
• Genesee County tax sales
• Washtenaw County tax sales
• Ingham County tax sales
• Kalamazoo County tax sales
• Ottawa County (this page)
• Saginaw County tax sales
• Livingston County tax sales
• Muskegon County tax sales
• St. Clair County tax sales
• Jackson County tax sales
• Monroe County tax sales
• Berrien County tax sales
• Calhoun County tax sales
• Allegan County tax sales
• Eaton County tax sales
• Bay County tax sales

Keep going

Once a deadline puts you in a sale, the Land Investor Due Diligence Toolkit is the checklist and bid worksheet to run on each parcel before you bid. The same desk runs 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 and Michigan tax foreclosure sales, and the proven New York season, with the live membership, sits in the NY tax sale hub.