Zapata County, TX tax sales
Tax Sale Atlas maps the Zapata County, TX tax sale, one of 2,553 counties in 30 states. Texas sells redeemable deeds carrying a 25% penalty in the first year. Sale office, calendar and list locations read from state rules plus what the county publishes on Jul 27, 2026.
How tax deed sales work in Zapata County, seat of Zapata: sale calendar, auction platform, over-the-counter lists, and the offices that run each sale.
New to tax sales? Read how Texas tax sales work or look terms up in the glossary.
- Next sale
- Not published by the county.
- Format
- In person
- Registration
- No county registration portal or online bidder signup exists.
- County office
- 956-765-9971
On this page
How Zapata County sells delinquent taxes
Tax deed sale
- Run by
- Zapata County Sheriff's Office
- Frequency
- annual
- Typical timing
- Not published by the county.
- Registration
- No county registration portal or online bidder signup exists.
When it runs
Registration and deposit
No county registration portal or online bidder signup exists. Under Texas Tax Code 34.015 a bidder must first obtain a written statement from the Zapata County Tax Assessor-Collector certifying that no delinquent property taxes are owed, then present it to the selling officer at the sale. Zapata County publishes no registration form, deposit rule, or bidder fee, so request the statement in person at the Tax Assessor-Collector office, 200 E. 7th Avenue, Ste. 226, or by phone at 956-765-9971.
Sale format and venue
Zapata County tax sale list and auction calendar
For Zapata 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 County Clerk foreclosure notice search (Vanguard) for the current advertised parcels, then recheck it before the auction.Register to bid
Sale day
Not published by the county. 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 Zapata County Sheriff's Office as the source to confirm which parcels are actually offered.
Before you bid in Zapata County
4 checks
Start with the live sale list
Pull the current advertised parcels from County Clerk foreclosure notice search (Vanguard). Lists can change before the sale, so recheck the county source before you price a parcel.Confirm registration and deposit
No county registration portal or online bidder signup exists. Under Texas Tax Code 34.015 a bidder must first obtain a written statement from the Zapata County Tax Assessor-Collector certifying that no delinquent property taxes are owed, then present it to the selling officer at the sale. Zapata County publishes no registration form, deposit rule, or bidder fee, so request the statement in person at the Tax Assessor-Collector office, 200 E. 7th Avenue, Ste. 226, or by phone at 956-765-9971.
Check the state rules that change the bid
Read the Texas 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 Texas 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 properties
Texas has no over-the-counter certificate list. Parcels that draw no sufficient bid are struck off to the taxing unit that requested the order of sale, and that unit may resell them at any time by public or private sale. A public resale requested through the sheriff or constable may be sold for any amount. A private sale generally may not go below the lesser of the market value stated in the judgment or the total judgments against the property, unless every taxing unit entitled to proceeds consents. Ask the county or its delinquent-tax law firm for the current struck-off inventory.
New to this path? Read how over-the-counter purchases work. Every state has its own name for what goes unsold, so check what Texas calls its leftover tax-sale inventory.
Use the arrow keys to switch between these sections.
County offices
Tax sale office
County notes
- Sale location, quoted from the county's Foreclosures page: "Sales are held at the Courthouse steps on the North Side of the Zapata County Courthouse fronting on 7th Avenue." Courthouse address: 200 7th Ave, Zapata, TX 78076.
- Tax Assessor-Collector Delia Mendoza, 200 E. 7th Avenue, Ste. 226, Zapata, TX 78076. Phone 956.765.9971, fax 956.765.8638. Hours Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM. The office is on the 2nd floor of the courthouse.
- Sheriff Ramon Montes, 200 E. 7th Ave., Ste. 415, Zapata, TX 78076, phone 956-765-9960. The Sheriff page lists "Conducting sales of seized and unclaimed properties" among the office's duties but publishes no tax sale schedule or property list.
- County Clerk Mary Jayne Villarreal-Bonoan, 200 E. 7th Avenue, Suite 138, phone 956-765-9915, records Notice of Trustee's Sale filings. The clerk's Vanguard search at zapatatx.search.kofile.com carries a Foreclosures record type, which is the county's only online path to posted sale notices.
- Zapata County Appraisal District (Chief Appraiser Amada Gonzalez, 200 E. 7th Avenue, Ste. 240, phone 956.765.9988, zapatacad.com) publishes appraisal and truth-in-taxation material only, with no tax sale content. Current-year property tax payments run through paylocalgovplus.com/pay/ZapataTxTax.
- Verified in July 2026: Zapata County is absent from the Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson Texas sale county list served by taxsales.lgbs.com, and absent from the McCreary, Veselka, Bragg & Allen upcoming Texas tax sales page. Neither firm portal lists Zapata properties.
- Commissioners Court agendas on the county site are scanned images without a text layer, so they could not be searched for a delinquent-tax law firm engagement. The county's delinquent-tax collection counsel could not be identified from official sources.
- Data quality is medium: official Zapata County office pages and a county-specific sale location were confirmed, but no county page publishes sale timing, an auction platform, bidder registration terms, or a struck-off or resale property list.
Texas rules
- Redemption
- The redemption clock runs from the date the purchaser's deed is filed for record, not from the sale date. Property that was the owner's residence homestead or was land designated for agricultural use when the suit or the warrant application was filed, and any mineral interest, may be redeemed on or before the second anniversary of that filing. Every other property may be redeemed only through the 180th day after the deed is filed. When a parcel is struck off to a taxing unit instead, the period runs from the date the taxing unit's deed is filed for record. The former owner has no right to use, possess, or collect rent from the property while the redemption right runs, and the right of redemption cannot be sold or transferred: any instrument purporting to transfer it is void.
- Deed deposit
- The Tax Code sets no statewide deposit and no buyer premium. Section 34.01 directs the officer to conduct the sale the way similar property is sold under execution, so payment terms are set locally by the officer who runs the sale. Most Texas counties collect the full bid in cash or by cashier's check on the day of the sale. Confirm the terms with the county before you bid.
- Homestead deeds
- Texas sets no separate opening bid for a homestead. What changes on a homestead parcel is the exit: a residence homestead, land designated for agricultural use when the suit or warrant application was filed, and a mineral interest all carry a two-year redemption right instead of 180 days, and the premium the owner pays can reach 50 percent in the second year. Price a homestead parcel for that longer clock.
- Surplus proceeds
- The officer pays any excess proceeds to the clerk of the court that issued the order of sale. The clerk holds the excess for two years after the sale and notifies the former owner when the amount exceeds $25. A claim must be filed before the second anniversary of the sale. The court pays established claims in statutory priority: a purchaser at a sale later adjudged void, taxing units for post-judgment or omitted taxes, other lienholders, taxing units for unsatisfied judgment amounts, and then the former owner. Anything unclaimed is distributed to the taxing units.
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 Zapata County, Texas sell tax liens or tax deeds?
How often does Zapata County hold tax deed sales?
I own a property in this sale. Can I stop it?
Where can I find the Zapata County tax sale list?
Verified Jul 27, 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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