Land · Ohio tax sale guide

Stark County tax foreclosure sales

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Stark runs two tax tracks side by side and keeps them on separate Sheriff pages. The Treasurer's own delinquent tax foreclosures are still sold in person, monthly, in Canton, with no appraisal and a prosecutor set minimum. Foreclosures brought on sold tax certificates moved online on August 7, 2023 and run with the Monday RealAuction sales, and the Sheriff repeats on that page that the monthly tax sales will continue on site until further notice. Stark is also the one county here that publishes its results: the Sheriff posts completed delinquent tax sale lists by month and a running dollar total for the year.

Selling office: Stark County Sheriff, acting as auctioneer for the court on behalf of the County Treasurer, on directives from the Clerk of Courts through the order of sale

Next sale: Tuesday, December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., the first Tuesday of December, at 110 Central Plaza South, Canton. December 1, 2026 is a Tuesday and is the first Tuesday of the month, matching the Sheriff's stated pattern. The Sheriff's completed sale list consulted runs through the Tuesday, November 3, 2026 sale, so December 1 is the next pattern date; no parcel list for it was read.

Official results, from the Stark County Sheriff delinquent tax sale page read: completed delinquent tax sales total $1,228,926.74 for January through November 2026, including $125,000 in November and $75,200 in October. Those are dollar totals of completed sales published by the Sheriff, not a parcel count, and no parcel count was published.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Tuesday, December 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., the first Tuesday of December, at 110 Central Plaza South, Canton
Sale pattern	Tax foreclosure sales for the Treasurer occur on the first Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. in the Event Hall of the Stark County Office Building at 110 Central Plaza South, first floor, Canton. Tax certificate foreclosures are a separate track, sold online every Monday at 10:00 a.m., or on Tuesday when Monday is a holiday.
Advertising and the list	Sale announcements are printed in the Canton Repository for three consecutive Thursdays before the sale date, for both tax tracks. Case files for each tax foreclosure are open to the public at the Clerk of Courts office at the courthouse from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, and the Sheriff posts pending and completed delinquent tax sale lists on its own sale site.
Minimum bid	The properties are not appraised. The minimum bid is the total amount of taxes owed up to the date of sale plus the costs incurred in the case, and the Stark County Prosecutor, representing the Treasurer, sets it and may change the starting bid. Amounts owed to lien holders are not part of the minimum, although lien holders who answered the complaint may be paid in part or in full from any amount bid above the minimum. For a tax certificate foreclosure online, the minimum is set by the private attorney for the plaintiff instead.
Deposit	The highest bidder at an in person tax sale must deliver a deposit of 10 percent of the highest bid to the Treasurer's Office by 4:30 p.m. on the sale day, by cashier's check or certified check payable to the Stark County Treasurer, and must bring the name for the deed, a tax mailing address, a phone number and identification. Online certificate sales use the statutory deposit tiers of $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000 per property as published on the Sheriff's certificate sale page, paid to RealAuction by wire or ACH in advance, with no cash accepted.
Confirmation and the deed	The balance is due within 30 days from the filing date of the confirmation of sale. The Stark County Prosecutor prepares and files the confirmation of sale and the deed with the Clerk of Courts and the judge after the balance is paid, the Sheriff then reviews and records the deed, and the buyer is notified when the deed is ready for collection, with no specific timeline promised. Ownership does not transfer until the deed is picked up.
Redemption	The Sheriff publishes a private sale option that works as the practical redemption route: a buyer or owner may negotiate a private sale of a property set for sheriff sale and obtain payoff figures, but the sale is cancelled only when all taxes and related costs are paid in full. Under Section 5721.25 the owner's redemption right itself runs until the entry confirming the sale is filed.
Format	Online and in person: Delinquent tax sales in person in the Event Hall of the Stark County Office Building, 110 Central Plaza South, first floor, Canton; tax certificate foreclosures online on the Official Public Sheriff Sale Website run by RealAuction, at stark.sheriffsaleauction.ohio.gov
Selling office	Stark County Sheriff, acting as auctioneer for the court on behalf of the County Treasurer, on directives from the Clerk of Courts through the order of sale

Sources: Stark County Sheriff, Delinquent Tax and Tax Lien Sales. Stark County Sheriff, Tax Certificate Sales. Ohio Revised Code Section 5721.25. 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 Stark 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 Stark 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 Stark County

No advance registration is published for the in person monthly tax sale; bidders attend in Canton and the winner deposits the same day. Online certificate sale bidders must register with RealAuction, and properties there are open for bidding at least seven days before the sale date as a proxy bid.

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, Stark County	In person tax deposit: 10 percent of the winning bid, due to the Treasurer by 4:30 p.m. on sale day, by cashier's or certified check. Online certificate deposit: $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000 as published for the property on the Sheriff's certificate sale page, by wire received by 5:00 p.m. two business days before the Monday auction, or by ACH received by 4:00 p.m. at least five business days before it.
Payment, Stark County	The remaining balance on an online certificate sale is due within 30 calendar days from the date the final entry confirming the sale is received by the Clerk of Courts, counting that date as day one, and the Sheriff states it has no legal authority to grant an extension. The same 30 day from confirmation rule applies to the in person tax sale balance. Buyers should arrange financing before the sale, because an internal bank appraisal cannot be carried out on these properties.
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 land bank pointer

If a tax sale attracts no bids, it is rescheduled one month later, to the first Tuesday of the following month, and the Prosecutor will tell the Sheriff if the starting bid changes. The Sheriff page does not describe a forfeiture or auditor sale step after that second in person offering. For vacant lots and small parcels the Sheriff instead points readers with a specific parcel in mind to the Stark County Land Bank, and notes there is no list available for properties delinquent for $5,000 or less.

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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