Land · Texas tax sale guide

Harris County tax sales

Verified

Harris County (county seat Houston) sells tax foreclosed property in person. Harris County Constables, Precincts 1 to 8. The Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector (the Tax Office) handles bidder registration and publishes the sale list.

Venue or platform: In person at the Bayou City Event Center, 9401 Knight Road, Houston. All eight constable precincts offer their properties at the same sale.

Next sale: Tuesday, December 1, 2026, 10:00 AM. The Tax Office publishes the monthly rule rather than a December notice; December 1 is the first Tuesday rule applied, and the sale trackers read list a December 1 sale at the Bayou City Event Center.

Counts for the December 1 sale conflict between the trackers read (one lists 66 properties scheduled, another 28 upcoming), so work from the Tax Office list itself rather than any count. For scale, the Tax Office list for the November 3, 2026 sale was reported at 182 accounts.

Dates and deadlines

Next sale	Tuesday, December 1, 2026, 10:00 AM
Sale pattern	The first Tuesday of every month, starting promptly at 10:00 AM and ending when the last property is offered, no later than 4:00 PM. If the first Tuesday is New Year's Day or Independence Day, the sale moves to the next business day. Offerings run in three categories: executions, tax sales, and tax resales.
Format	In person
Venue or platform	In person at the Bayou City Event Center, 9401 Knight Road, Houston. All eight constable precincts offer their properties at the same sale.
Who conducts	Harris County Constables, Precincts 1 to 8. The Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector (the Tax Office) handles bidder registration and publishes the sale list.
The list	The Tax Office posts the list on its Tax Sales page, with real time status available one week before the sale. The same list runs in the Daily Court Review constable edition and on the bulletin board at the Family Law Center, and the two delinquent tax law firms (Linebarger Goggan Blair and Sampson, and Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins and Mott) post their own cases.

Sources: Harris County Tax Office, Tax Sale FAQs. Texas Tax Code, Chapter 34 (official text). Confirm with the conducting officer or the county tax office before relying on any date on this page: sales move, terms change, and properties are withdrawn when owners pay or courts stay the sale.

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

Open a PropertyRadar account See 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 Texas tax sales work

A taxing unit sues, and the court orders the sale. Delinquent taxes become a lien; a taxing unit (county, city, school district) sues to foreclose it, or the property is seized under a tax warrant. The sheriff or a constable conducts the sale.
The sale is the first Tuesday of the month. By statute (Tax Code Section 34.01), a sale runs between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM on the first Tuesday, at the courthouse or the place the commissioners court has designated. If the first Tuesday is January 1 or July 4, it moves to the first Wednesday. A county authorized for online sales runs them on the same day, closing at 4:00 PM.
The minimum bid is set by the judgment. A property cannot sell for less than the lesser of the total amount due under the judgment (taxes, penalties, interest, other judgment amounts, court costs and the costs of sale) or the adjudged value the judgment states (Section 34.01(j)).
You prove you owe no delinquent taxes before you get a deed. The officer cannot deliver a deed until the buyer exhibits a written statement from the county tax assessor-collector showing no delinquent taxes owed to the county, or to the school districts and municipalities inside it (Section 34.015). The statement costs no more than $10 and expires after 90 days. Some counties run a registration system instead (Section 34.011), where bidders register with the assessor-collector before the sale begins; Harris County on this page set is one.
The deed vests the defendant's interest, with no warranty. The officer prepares the deed (Section 34.01(m)). It vests the interest the defendant owned, subject only to the redemption right below, certain restrictive covenants and liens recorded before January 1 of the lien year, and valid easements of record (Section 34.01(n)). The tax liens included in the judgment are extinguished by the sale.
Texas is a redeemable deed state. If the property was a residence homestead, land designated for agricultural use, or a mineral interest, the former owner has two years from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record to redeem, paying the bid, the recording fee, and what the purchaser paid in taxes, penalties, interest and costs, plus a premium of 25 percent of that total in the first year or 50 percent in the second (Section 34.21). Every other property carries a 180 day redemption period with a premium of up to 25 percent. During the redemption period the buyer has no right to use the property or collect rents.
What does not sell is struck off, then resold. If no bid reaches the minimum, the officer bids the property off to the taxing unit that brought the suit, for itself and the other taxing units in it (Section 34.01(j)). That unit may resell at any time by public or private sale (Section 34.05): a public resale can go for any amount, and a private sale must meet a floor, the lesser of the judgment market value or the total judgments, unless every taxing unit entitled to proceeds consents to less.

How registration works in Harris County

Registration is required before you can bid, it is free, and Harris County runs it under Tax Code Section 34.011 rather than the Section 34.015 statement system. Register online on the Tax Office site, by mail, in person at 1001 Preston in Houston, or at the registration table on sale day from 8:30 AM. Bring a valid government photo ID and a list of the property you own in Harris County, and sign the certification that you owe no delinquent taxes to Harris County or any taxing unit inside it. Registration renews annually, and the name on your Bidder Card is the name that goes on the deed.

The deed names the registered bidder. Register in the name that should hold title; an officer cannot deliver a deed to someone other than the successful bidder.
The statement expires. A Section 34.015 statement is good for 90 days from issuance. A monthly bidder keeps it current rather than re-requesting it in sale week.

Terms: what a bid actually costs

Payment, Harris County	Payment is due at the time of sale, in cash or certified funds only, payable to the constable precinct that sold the property (or payable to you and endorsed over). There is no leaving to visit a bank and coming back. The constable's deed issues within four to six weeks after the sale.
Deposit, Harris County	No bidder deposit is published by the county. The Tax Code sets no deposit; Harris County's control is the registration and certification above.
Minimum bid (state law)	The property cannot be sold for less than the lesser of the total amount due under the judgment (taxes, penalties, interest, other judgment amounts, court costs and the costs of sale) or the adjudged value stated in the judgment (Tax Code Section 34.01(j)). A different floor can apply to a bidder who owns an interest in the property or was a party to the suit.
Redemption: homestead, agricultural, mineral	Two years from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record. The former owner redeems by paying the bid amount, the deed recording fee, and the taxes, penalties, interest and costs the purchaser paid, plus a premium of 25 percent of that total in the first year or 50 percent in the second (Section 34.21). While the period runs, the buyer has no right to use the property or collect rents.
Redemption: all other property	180 days from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record, on the same payment terms, with a premium of up to 25 percent (Section 34.21).
Deed and title	The officer prepares a deed to the purchaser (Section 34.01(m)). It vests the interest the defendant owned, subject only to the redemption right, certain restrictive covenants and liens recorded before January 1 of the lien year, and valid easements of record (Section 34.01(n)). It is not a warranty deed, and the tax liens included in the judgment are extinguished by the sale.
Excess proceeds	If a property sells for more than the judgment, the excess is distributed under Section 34.02 and paid into the court for the former owner to claim. It is not the buyer's money and it is not a discount on the bid.

Struck off and tax resales: the leftover list

When a Harris County property draws no bid at or above the minimum, the officer bids it off to the taxing unit that brought the suit. That unit holds it in trust for the other taxing units and may resell it at any time, by public or private sale, under Tax Code Section 34.05. Public resales can go for any amount; a private sale must meet the statutory floor unless every taxing unit entitled to proceeds consents to less. Resale deeds remain subject to any redemption period still running, priced from the taxing unit's own deed date. Properties that draw no sufficient bid are struck off to the taxing units and come back at a later sale as Tax Resales, usually at a reduced minimum bid. Harris County itself generally does not sell struck off properties by private resale, but some taxing units inside the county do: Perdue Brandon publishes resale lists for the units it represents, and Linebarger tracks struck off status on its tax sale site.

Before you bid

Check the list in sale week and again on sale morning. Owners pay, courts stay sales, and officers withdraw properties right up to the start. A list you researched last week is not the list that sells.
Price the redemption period, not just the bid. On a homestead, agricultural or mineral parcel the former owner can redeem for two years from the deed recording date and you cannot use the property or collect rents meanwhile. The premium (25 percent in year one, 50 percent in year two) is the compensation if it happens. Bid like the wait is real.
The deed carries no warranty. What the defendant owned is what you get, subject to the recorded easements and covenants the statute preserves. Liens outside the judgment, access, zoning and condition are the buyer's homework, and buyers who need marketable title plan title work after the redemption period runs.
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 Texas county in this set

One page per county, each verified against its own county or officer source. Texas has 254 counties and no single official sale list; this set covers 254 counties: the top 20 by population and recorded sale volume, plus the next tiers of high volume counties.

VERIFY BEFORE YOU GO

Keep going

Run your maximum bid

The free Max-Bid Calculator works backwards from your resale price to the highest hammer bid you can pay, with the fees shown line by line.

Open the Max-Bid Calculator

Get the Texas alerts

The Pine membership is built on alerts: members pick their counties, get an email when a sale is scheduled or a list posts, and receive the full property list with the analysis done. Texas counties are being added from the interest list first, in the order readers ask for them.

Join the Texas interest list below

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, and the proven New York season, with the live membership, sits in the NY tax sale hub.

Pine Parcel Alerts · The paid tier

Harris County · TEXAS

The sale dates are free. The parcels are the product.

Members set their counties and their parameters, parcel size and back taxes among them, and every matching parcel arrives by email with a one-page deal analysis: what the parcel is, when it sells, and what to bid. The dates and the basic alerts on this page stay free; Pine Parcel Alerts is $4.99 a month or $49 a year for the parcels themselves, screened and analyzed.

See Pine Parcel Alerts

Texas sale lists and county data, first.

One email when a Texas county opens for alerts, plus new county pages as they post. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

More state guides

New York tax sales · Florida tax deed sales