Otero County, CO tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Otero County, CO tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Colorado sells tax lien certificates paying up to 14%, redeemable for 3 years. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Jul 30, 2026.
How tax lien and tax deed sales work in Otero County, seat of La Junta: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Colorado tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- There is no fixed calendar.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright.
- County office
- (719) 383-3030
On this page
How Otero County sells delinquent taxes
Tax certificate sale (lien)
- Run by
- Otero County Treasurer's Office (the elected Treasurer also serves as Public Trustee)
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Mid November, in the morning.
- Registration
- No online bidder registration is published by the county.
- Next expected
- by the second Monday in December, 2026 (window; exact date posts closer to the sale)
When it runs
Registration and deposit
Sale format and venue
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- County Treasurer
- Frequency
- on application
- Typical timing
- There is no fixed calendar.
- Registration
- What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright. The treasurer may only accept bids above the combined amount owed to the lawful holder plus the treasurer's fees and costs. County officials, county employees acting in their individual capacity, and their immediate family members may not bid. Payment is by cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. Any overbid goes to junior lienors who filed a notice of intent to redeem and then to the property owner. Confirm the notice, the bidding rules, and the auction venue with the county treasurer.
Sale format and venue
Otero County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Otero County tax sale 2026 searches, use the county-run sources below rather than a copied parcel list, and confirm the parcel, registration cutoff, deposit, and payment deadline against the county before you bid. If the parcels on this list are vacant land rather than houses, what buying land at a tax sale hands you is the place to start.
Get the advertised list
Use Treasurer/Public Trustee page, where the annual delinquent tax list and notice of sale is posted each fall for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
There is no fixed calendar. The sale is live and in person; there is no online bidding platform. Confirm the venue and hour with the county office before you go.Confirm with the office
If the list, platform, and notice disagree, use County Treasurer as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Otero County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from Treasurer/Public Trustee page, where the annual delinquent tax list and notice of sale is posted each fall. Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
What sells is a certificate of option for treasurer's deed, not the parcel outright. The treasurer may only accept bids above the combined amount owed to the lawful holder plus the treasurer's fees and costs. County officials, county employees acting in their individual capacity, and their immediate family members may not bid. Payment is by cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. Any overbid goes to junior lienors who filed a notice of intent to redeem and then to the property owner. Confirm the notice, the bidding rules, and the auction venue with the county treasurer.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Colorado due-diligence checklist before bidding. Redemption, liens that survive a tax deed, title cleanup, and payment deadlines can change what a parcel is worth. Which liens survive is state law, so read what survives a tax deed in Colorado before you price the title work.Set a walk-away number
Work out what the parcel is actually worth with the rural land value estimator, then turn it into a ceiling with the tax deed max-bid calculator.
Over-the-counter (leftover) purchases
unsold liens and deeds
Liens that draw no bid are struck off to the county and the treasurer issues the county a certificate of purchase. The county may then assign, sell, or transfer those certificates in the manner, at the times, and on the terms set by resolution of the board of county commissioners, which is how county-held liens are sold between annual auctions. A certificate on property owing more than ten thousand dollars in taxes needs the property tax administrator's approval after published notice. Whether a county maintains a published county-held list, and on what terms, varies. Contact the county treasurer.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter certificates work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Colorado calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax Collector (runs the certificate sale)
County notes
- The Otero County Treasurer's page states the office's role directly: "The Treasurer conducts sales of property for delinquent taxes." Sharon K. Jones signs the county's sale and deed notices as Treasurer.
- Fax for the Treasurer's office is (719) 383-0109. Courthouse hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Sale and deed notices are advertised in the Rocky Ford Daily Gazette. A 2026 Treasurer's deed notice lists first publication 4/17/2026 and last publication 5/1/2026.
- Later stage Treasurer's deed auctions under C.R.S. 39-11.5-101 are held at the courthouse, 13 W 3rd St., Room 213, La Junta, and are posted as individual PDF notices on the Treasurer's page.
- The delinquent list PDF is published only in the run up to the sale. Live links from prior cycles return 404 once the sale is over, so check the Treasurer's page in October and November.
Colorado rules
- Redemption
- Redemption may be made at any time before a treasurer's deed is executed, so the practical window runs well past the three-year mark and through the Article 11.5 auction process. The treasurer must hold that public auction between 110 and 125 calendar days after the known interested party notice is first published or mailed, which gives owners and junior lienors a further defined period to pay. A separate rule lets an owner who was under a legal disability when the deed was executed redeem within nine years of the deed being recorded, at 15 percent per year plus the present value of any improvements.
- Deed deposit
- The treasurer may require the applying lawful holder to post a deposit covering the recording fee plus the actual and reasonable cost of administering the auction, and all Article 11.5 fees and costs are chargeable as additional amounts owing under the tax lien. For bidders, the treasurer accepts cash, cashier's check, bank check, or electronic funds transfer subject to the treasurer's bidding rules. The statute sets no fixed bidder deposit percentage, so the deposit terms come from county bidding rules.
- Surplus proceeds
- Any overbid goes first to junior lienors in order of recording priority, measured as of the recording date of the application for public auction, who filed a notice of intent to redeem and whose liens are unredeemed, up to each lien's unpaid amount plus fees and costs. Whatever remains is paid to the property owner. The treasurer must post a public notice about these funds and mail the owner a notice within thirty calendar days of the auction. Unclaimed remaining overbids sit in escrow for six months without interest, then transfer to the state administrator under the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act. An agreement to pay someone to recover an owner's overbid is unenforceable, and inducing one is a class 2 misdemeanor.
A tax deed does not convey marketable title. Most buyers file a quiet title action before they can resell or insure the property. See the due diligence guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Otero County, Colorado sell tax liens or tax deeds?
When is the Otero County tax certificate sale?
How often does Otero County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Otero County tax sale list?
Verified Jul 30, 2026 against official county and state sources.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.
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