Land · North Dakota tax deed guide

Cass County tax deed sales, North Dakota

Verified

Cass County runs its sale through the Finance Office rather than a separate auditor counter, and the Finance Director signs the notice. The September 29, 2025 letter to the commission explains the county practice for setting the minimum: in general the unpaid taxes and costs against the property plus an estimate of the current year taxes, with the minimum described as a starting point for the auction. The same letter says former owners and, in some cases, their lenders are notified again about the process and about the right to pay before the annual sale, and that letters go to city auditors and township clerks so they can object to a minimum price at a hearing before the sale. The published 2025 list was heavily marked redeemed before the sale, which is a useful picture of how much of a Cass list can clear by payment.

Selling office: Cass County Finance Office, 211 9th Street South, Fargo, ND 58103, phone (701) 241-5600. Mailing address PO Box 2806, Fargo, ND 58108-2806. Finance Director Sarah Heinle signs the sale notice.

Next sale: No 2026 annual sale list or notice was found in the county publications reviewed. The most recent published sale is Tuesday, November 18, 2025, beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the Cass County Finance Office.. The county published a full notice and parcel list for the 2025 sale, with minimum sale prices, given October 6, 2025 and published November 5, 2025. No matching 2026 notice or list appears in the county documents reviewed, so the 2026 date, time and parcel list are treated as not published here rather than assumed from the statewide date.

Ask the Finance Office directly for the 2026 list before planning around a date, because no 2026 notice was found in the county publications reviewed. If a list is issued, expect many parcels to be marked redeemed as owners pay before the sale, as the 2025 list was.

Dates and deadlines

Sources: Cass County, Notice of Sale of Real Estate Forfeited to the County for Delinquent Taxes, 2025 sale list. Cass County Finance Office, letter setting minimum sales prices for tax forfeited properties, September 29, 2025. Cass County commission item, sale of unsold lot to City of Fargo, July 2026. North Dakota Secretary of State, County Election Officials, Cass County auditor listing. 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 Cass 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 Cass County, searchable by address, owner, or county, including parcels that never reach a sale list.

Open a PropertyRadar accountSee plans and pricing

Pine and Brass is a PropertyRadar partner. If you open an account through these links, we may earn a commission; it does not change the price you pay.

How North Dakota tax deed sales work

• The lien ages into foreclosure. On or before June 1 in each year the county auditor gives notice of foreclosure of tax lien for every parcel on which two or more years have passed since the tax became due, and the foreclosure date is October 1 after the notice is served (NDCC 57-28-01 and 57-28-02).
• Notice is personal, mailed, and published. The sheriff serves the notice personally on an owner living on residential property, every other owner, mortgagee and lienholder is served by certified mail, and the full list is published once on or before August 1 in the official newspaper (NDCC 57-28-04 and 57-28-06).
• The county takes the deed. If the lien is not satisfied by October 1, all interests pass to the county and the auditor issues a tax deed to the county, free of encumbrances except installments of special assessments still to come due (NDCC 57-28-08 and 57-28-09).
• The board appraises and sets the floor. At least 30 days before the annual sale the board of county commissioners appraises each tax deed parcel and fixes a minimum sale price: enough to cover all taxes, penalties, interest and costs due plus the estimated taxes for the current year, at least the full amount due where the property is worth more, and a fair minimum where it is worth less (NDCC 57-28-10).
• The annual sale is the third Tuesday of November. The sale sits at the county auditor office or the usual place of holding district court, and each parcel is auctioned to the highest qualified bidder at no less than the minimum price, for cash or for one fourth cash and the balance in equal annual installments over no more than ten years. A person who owes delinquent taxes to any county cannot bid (NDCC 57-28-13 and 57-28-15).
• Leftovers sell all year. A parcel that draws no sale in November may be sold by the auditor at private sale at not less than the minimum price before the next annual sale, and the board may also place unsold property with licensed brokers on nonexclusive listings (NDCC 57-28-17 and 57-28-17.1).
• Repurchase and surplus close the record. While the county holds the tax title, the former owner, an executor or administrator, or a parent, spouse or child may repurchase the property. If a parcel sells above everything owed, the county holds the excess for 90 days: the record owner takes it on an undisputed claim filed inside the 90 days, disputed claims go to the clerk of district court, and unclaimed excess goes to the state unclaimed property administrator (NDCC 57-28-19 and 57-28-20).

How buying works in Cass County

The county does not publish a bidder registration process or a bidder affidavit in its sale notice. The notice speaks to prospective purchasers generally and urges them to examine title, location and desirability before the sale.

• Where buying happens At the county auditor sale each November, and at the auditor office at private sale for the rest of the year. The day, the room, and the parcel list are the county auditor published record, and each county page on this site names them from that record.
• The floor is built by statute No parcel sells below its appraised minimum, and the appraisal is constructed to recover every dollar of taxes, penalties, interest and costs due plus a year of estimated taxes. Bargains in North Dakota come from parcels whose appraised value fell below the amount due and took a fair minimum price, not from bidding technique (NDCC 57-28-10).
• Terms are part of the bid A bidder may pay cash or take the contract for deed at one fourth down. On a ten year contract the real cost of the parcel is the price plus board set interest at up to 12 percent, and the installments can be prepaid without penalty (NDCC 57-28-15).

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Parcels that receive no bids

State law allows property not sold at the annual sale to be sold at private sale at not less than the minimum price, and allows the board to list leftovers with brokers. Cass County practice after the November 18, 2025 sale is documented in a July 2026 commission item: lots not sold at the sale were offered to the cities in which they are located, and one Fargo lot was deeded to the City of Fargo for an agreed price of $1 plus a $20 recording fee. The former owner may repurchase while the tax title remains in the county under section 57-28-19.

Before you bid

• Read the minimum, not just the parcel The list the auditor publishes carries the minimum sale price for every parcel. Compare the minimum with value before sale day: a minimum built under 57-28-10 is the full debt plus a year of taxes, and bidding starts there.
• The county sells all year Anything unsold in November remains available at private sale at not less than the minimum, and boards may reappraise before the next November. A missed sale date is not a missed year (NDCC 57-28-17).
• Price the special assessments The tax deed is free of encumbrances except special assessment installments still to come. On city lots those installments can run for years after the sale, and they belong in the bid from the start.

Every North Dakota county in this set

One page per county, each verified against the county's own publications and the current text of NDCC chapter 57-28. North Dakota auditors all run the same November sale under the same chapter; this set is the 10 largest counties.

• Cass County (this page)
• Burleigh County tax deed sales
• Grand Forks County tax deed sales
• Ward County tax deed sales
• Morton County tax deed sales
• Stutsman County tax deed sales
• Stark County tax deed sales
• Williams County tax deed sales
• Barnes County tax deed sales
• Richland County tax deed 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, Michigan tax foreclosure sales, Arizona tax lien sales, California tax defaulted property sales, Colorado tax lien sales, South Carolina tax sales, Indiana tax lien sales, Tennessee delinquent tax sales, Wisconsin tax deed sales, Missouri tax sales, New Jersey tax lien sales, Maryland tax lien sales, West Virginia tax sales, Virginia tax sales, Oklahoma tax resale, Kansas tax foreclosure sales, Arkansas tax-delinquent land sales, Alabama tax sales, Kentucky certificate of delinquency sales, Mississippi tax land sales, Nevada tax deed sales, New Mexico delinquent property tax sales, Iowa tax lien sales, Nebraska tax certificate sales, Minnesota tax-forfeited land sales, Utah final tax sales, Washington tax foreclosure sales, Oregon tax foreclosure sales, Connecticut tax sales, Massachusetts tax title sales, Rhode Island tax sales, Vermont tax sales, New Hampshire tax lien sales, Maine tax lien sales, Delaware tax sales, Louisiana tax sales, Idaho tax deed sales, Montana tax lien assignments, Wyoming tax lien sales, South Dakota tax certificate sales, North Dakota tax deed sales, Alaska tax foreclosure sales and Hawaii tax sales, and the proven New York season, with the live membership, sits in the NY tax sale hub.