Land · Ohio tax sale guide

Montgomery County tax foreclosure sales

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Montgomery runs three distinct sale types and keeps them apart. Treasurer's Tax Sales, brought by the Treasurer for unpaid property taxes, remain in person on the first Thursday of each month. Mortgage foreclosures and tax lien foreclosures, brought by a third party lien holder, moved online to RealAuction on Friday mornings. The lien holder exists because Montgomery sells its tax liens: the Sheriff sale list itself explains that since 1997 Ohio law has let counties over 200,000 people sell tax lien certificates in large bundles to qualified financial lenders under Sections 5721.30 to 5721.43, and that a lender may foreclose after one year if the owner does not redeem. The county also runs a depositor foreclosure route, where a taxpayer posts $2,000 for a residential parcel or $3,000 for a commercial or industrial parcel to start a case that takes about 9 to 12 months.

Selling office: Montgomery County Sheriff, selling on court order for the County Treasurer, the County Prosecutor and the Court of Common Pleas

Next sale: Thursday, December 3, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., the first Thursday of December, for the in person Treasurer's Tax Sale. The first Thursday pattern is stated on both the Treasurer foreclosure page and the Sheriff auction list, and December 3, 2026 is the first Thursday after today. The Sheriff list consulted, updated November 6, 2026, showed no Treasurer's Tax Sales for the dates selected, so no parcel list for December 3 was verified.

The Sheriff auction list was updated on November 6, 2026 and showed no Treasurer's Tax Sales and no tax lien sales for the dates selected in the view consulted. No parcel count was published.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Thursday, December 3, 2026 at 10:00 a.m., the first Thursday of December, for the in person Treasurer's Tax Sale
Sale pattern	Treasurer's Tax Sales are held in person at 10:00 a.m. on the first Thursday of every month in the lower level auditorium of the Montgomery County Administration Building at 451 West Third Street, Dayton. Treasurer's Tax Lien Sales run online every Friday at 9:00 a.m., one property at a time.
Advertising and the list	The Sheriff auction list is updated weekly as a public service, and the Sheriff states plainly that it is limited and not required by law. The legally mandated description of properties is published in the Dayton Daily News, which is the advertisement of record.
Minimum bid	Neither the Treasurer foreclosure page nor the Sheriff auction list consulted states a minimum bid figure for a Treasurer's Tax Sale. The governing floor is Section 5721.19(A): the lesser of the auditor fair market value plus costs, or the total taxes, assessments, charges, penalties, interest and costs found due.
Deposit	The winning bidder at a Treasurer's Tax Sale must deposit $1,000 plus transfer and recording fees of $47.50, plus $0.50 for each additional parcel, immediately following the sale. The Sheriff accepts cash, a certified check, or a personal check drawn on a local bank, signed in the Sheriff's presence with proper identification. The same $1,000 plus fees deposit applies to online tax lien sales, where it must arrive by wire or ACH before the sale.
Confirmation and the deed	For a Treasurer's Tax Sale the unpaid balance must be paid to the Sheriff by certified or cashier's check within 15 days from the date the confirmation of sale is filed by the plaintiff's attorney, which is faster than the 30 day rule in most counties here. All deeds are prepared by the attorney of record and recorded by the Sheriff within 14 days of receiving final payment.
Redemption	Under Section 5721.25 the owner may redeem before the entry confirming the sale is filed, on full payment plus costs and proof of code compliance. For a sold tax lien, the Treasurer warns owners to arrange payment with the lien holder at once, because the holder may foreclose once twelve months have passed from the lien sale date.
Format	Online and in person: Treasurer's Tax Sales in person at the Montgomery County Administration Building, 451 West Third Street, Dayton, lower level auditorium; mortgage and tax lien foreclosure sales online on the Official Public Sheriff Sale Website run by RealAuction
Selling office	Montgomery County Sheriff, selling on court order for the County Treasurer, the County Prosecutor and the Court of Common Pleas

Sources: Montgomery County Treasurer, Foreclosure Sales. Montgomery County Sheriff, Auction List. Montgomery County, Depositor Foreclosure. Montgomery County Treasurer, Tax Liens Questions and Answers. Confirm with the selling office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and owners can pay and stop a foreclosure at any point before the sale is confirmed.

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

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How Ohio tax foreclosure sales work

Taxes go delinquent and the lien attaches. Ohio real estate taxes are a lien on the property. The county auditor and treasurer certify the delinquent land, and the county prosecuting attorney files a foreclosure action in the court of common pleas under ORC 5721.18. Counties that have adopted it can also run an expedited foreclosure before the county board of revision under ORC 323.66, a track aimed at abandoned land. There is no lien auction to buy into as an individual: Ohio lets its larger counties sell tax lien certificates only in bulk, in large bundles to qualified financial lenders (ORC 5721.30 to 5721.43), and a lender that buys certificates forecloses through this same sheriff sale after at least a year, which is why several counties in this set run a separate certificate foreclosure sale day.
The court orders the sale and the sheriff runs it. Once the court finds the taxes due, it orders the property sold. The county sheriff conducts the sale the way Ohio judicial sales run: advertised in advance, with the sale list posted by the sheriff, and held in person at the place the county designates or online on the Official Public Sheriff Sale Website where the county has moved its sales there (ORC 2329.153).
The first sale has a statutory floor. At the first offering, the property cannot sell for less than the lesser of two amounts: the auditor's fair market value of the parcel plus the costs of the action, or the total of the taxes, assessments, charges, penalties, interest and costs the court found due (ORC 5721.19(A), as amended effective April 9, 2025). If it does not sell, it is offered again on the second date in the advertisement; a parcel that still draws no buyer is forfeited to the state and moves to the leftover channels described below.
The gavel is not the end: the court confirms the sale. After the sale the sheriff reports it and the court reviews and confirms it (ORC 2329.31). The purchaser pays the deposit at the sale and the balance on the terms the order sets, and the sheriff executes the deed after confirmation. A winning bid that is not paid is contempt territory: read your county's deposit and balance rules before you bid, because they are enforced.
The owner can redeem until confirmation, and never after. At any time before the court confirms the sale, the owner may redeem by paying the full amount due, taxes, penalties, interest and costs (ORC 5721.25). The moment the sale is confirmed, the redemption right ends. (In a board of revision case the equivalent cutoff is the expiry of the alternative redemption period under ORC 323.78.) That hard stop is what makes an Ohio tax deed different from a Texas or Georgia one: no two year wait, no 12 month premium period, and no redemption premium paid to the buyer at all.

How bidding works in Montgomery County

No advance registration is published for the in person Treasurer's Tax Sale; bidders attend and the winner deposits immediately after the sale. Online tax lien sale bidders register with RealAuction and must have the full deposit in by the deadline, by wire received by 5:00 p.m. two business days before the auction or by ACH initiated by 4:00 p.m. five business days before it, and RealAuction accepts no cash deposits.

The deposit is real money, committed at the sale. Ohio sheriffs collect the deposit in the form and on the deadline the county publishes, and a purchaser who fails to pay the balance faces forfeiture of the deposit and court sanctions. Read your county's rule above before you bid.
Confirmation is the finish line. Nothing is final until the court confirms the sale. Until that entry files, the owner can still pay everything due and take the property back out of the sale.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Deposit, Montgomery County	Deposit for both tax sale types is $1,000 plus $47.50 in transfer and recording fees, plus $0.50 per additional parcel. In person it may be cash, certified check or a local personal check signed in the Sheriff's presence with identification. Online it is wire or ACH only, in advance.
Payment, Montgomery County	The balance for a tax sale is due by certified or cashier's check within 15 days of the filing of the confirmation of sale. By contrast, an online mortgage foreclosure balance in this county is due within 30 days of the filing of the confirmation entry, and the Sheriff transfers and records the deed within 14 days of receiving the deed, the confirmation entry and final payment.
What is sold	The property itself, at a court ordered sheriff sale, with a sheriff's deed issued after the court confirms the sale. Ohio sells tax lien certificates only in bulk to institutional lenders (ORC 5721.30 to 5721.43), never to individual buyers at a public auction; a certificate holder's foreclosure comes back through this same sheriff sale.
Minimum bid (first sale)	The lesser of the auditor's fair market value of the parcel plus the costs of the action, or the total of the taxes, assessments, charges, penalties, interest and costs found due in the foreclosure judgment (ORC 5721.19(A), as amended effective April 9, 2025). A second offering runs on the terms in the advertisement and the order.
Redemption	The owner may redeem at any time before the court confirms the sale, by paying the full amount due (ORC 5721.25). After confirmation there is no redemption, and Ohio pays the buyer no redemption premium: the return is the property, not a premium.
Title	The sheriff's deed after confirmation conveys the property under the foreclosure decree, which disposes of the liens joined in the action. It is not a warranty deed from the owner; what the decree did not reach, and condition, access and zoning, remain the buyer's homework.
Costs on top of the bid	Budget the deposit, the balance, and the deed and recording charges the county publishes. On online sales the platform terms can add buyer side fees; your county page states what its sources publish.

No bid parcels and the next channels

The Sheriff list marks parcels with no bid on the sale date and warns that a parcel may or may not come up again, and that the Sheriff does not know. No forfeited land sale schedule, auditor sale date or land bank transfer process for unsold Treasurer's Tax Sale parcels was published on the county sources consulted, so the statutory route in Sections 5721.17 and 5723.01, forfeiture to the state followed by a county auditor sale, is the only leftover channel that can be stated, and it is stated from the code, not from a county page.

Before you bid

Know which track the parcel is on. A common pleas foreclosure and an expedited board of revision foreclosure reach the same sheriff sale by different roads, and the board of revision track is aimed at abandoned land, with the county land bank often in line for what does not sell. The track changes who else wants the parcel.
Check the list in sale week. Owners pay, courts stay sales, and parcels get withdrawn up to sale day. The advertised list is the starting list, never the selling list.
Price the confirmation wait, not a redemption period. Your capital is committed from the deposit to the deed, and until the court confirms, the owner can redeem at the full amount due. There is no premium for that wait in Ohio; the payoff is a deed with no redemption tail once confirmation lands.
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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