El Paso County

Three steps to finish by October 27, 2:00 p.m.

The Treasurer's office moved the sale online, to the county's page on RealAuction. Deposits, registration and bidding opened on September 30. The deadline is 2:00 p.m. MST on Tuesday, October 27: by then you must submit your deposit, enter your ACH information for redemption payments, and complete the participation acknowledgement. The county's wording leaves no room: all requirements must be completed by that deadline to participate.

The county's page does not state the deposit amount or the start time of bidding on October 28; it says bidding closes according to the schedule shown in RealAuction. Our fetch of the RealAuction site was blocked, so read the deposit rules and the bidding schedule there yourself before you fund an account. RealAuction publishes training videos for bidders, and the Treasurer's office answers questions at 719-520-7900.

The ACH step matters more than it looks. The Treasurer offers redemption payments by ACH, and asks for the details as a condition of taking part. A buyer who skips it cannot join the sale at all.

The list, and why it shrinks

The delinquent list is published every September in the Colorado Springs Gazette; this year it ran on September 16, 23 and 30. The same list is on the Tax Lien Sale page as three PDFs: real property, mobile homes and personal property. We do not copy owners or amounts here; use the county's files.

Read the newspaper and the PDFs as the starting point, not the final list. The Treasurer says properties are removed from RealAuction as their taxes are paid, but not from the published notice. A parcel you researched from the PDF may no longer be offered on October 28, so check the live list.

Bidding: you compete with a bonus bid you will not get back

The 13% rate is set by law, not bid. Investors compete with each other by offering a premium, which the Treasurer's pages call a bonus bid. The county is explicit about two points: premium bids are not refunded, and the premium is not included in the redemption amount. If you win a lien at its face value plus a premium and the owner redeems after a few months, you get back the face value and the interest, and the premium stays with the county.

What you buy is a Tax Lien Sale Certificate of Purchase, a recorded lien that earns interest. It gives you no ownership, possession, use or access rights to the property, and the county does not guarantee its condition or marketability. The winning bidder pays the back taxes to the county at the sale. The county's pages do not give bid increments or a payment deadline for the winning amount, so take those from RealAuction.

The county's pages also say that excess funds from the sale of tax liens are credited to the county general fund (C.R.S. 39-11-115). Our Market Pulse note has the sale in brief.

13% a year, counted monthly

The Treasurer states that, as of September 1, 2026, the statutory redemption interest rate for liens issued in 2026 is 13%. The county explains it as nine percentage points above the federal discount rate in effect on September 1, and says the interest accrues at 1.08% a month from the date of the sale until the owner redeems.

When the owner redeems, you receive what you paid for the lien plus that interest, but not the premium. You must first return the original Certificate of Purchase. Redemption payments are made by cash, cashier's check or money order, card payments are not accepted for liens, and the county does not accept postmarks for redemptions.

Each January you receive a Form 1099 for the interest earned on redeemed certificates. The interest is the only return; if nobody redeems, you earn nothing until the deed process ends.

Next year's taxes: endorse them, do not pay them as a stranger

If the owner also falls behind on the following year's taxes, you can pay them and have them added to your existing certificate, at the same interest rate. The Treasurer mails a notice to eligible holders each August. Costs for a deed application earn no interest, but are recovered if the lien is redeemed.

After the sale: three years, then an auction, not a deed

The owner or another interested party can redeem at any time before a Treasurer's Deed is issued. A deed cannot be issued until at least three years after the original sale. The lien holder can apply for a deed after August 1 of the third calendar year after the sale (C.R.S. 39-11.5-102), so a 2026 certificate is eligible in 2029. The county's own example: certificates sold in 2023 can apply in 2026.

The application fee is $1,300, paid with the application; it covers the title and encumbrance reports, mailing, posting and auction costs. The Treasurer's office says the process usually takes 12 to 15 months, longer for complex properties. You request the form at 719-520-7900 or [email protected] with your certificate number.

The deed does not come automatically to you. The Treasurer holds a public auction, online or in person, and a certificate of option goes to the highest bidder, who may be someone else (C.R.S. 39-11.5-106). The opening bid is the amount owed to you plus the Treasurer's fees and costs, including your application deposit. The county adds that fewer than 1% of tax liens end in a deed. If a sale brings in more than the debt, the overbid goes first to junior lienholders who file a claim and then to the owner. As an example of this stage, the Treasurer lists deed auctions of 5 properties for October 27, 2026.

Colorado also shortened the life of a certificate. Under Senate Bill 26-144, a certificate issued from January 1, 2026 remains a lien for seven years (C.R.S. 39-11-148), and the same bill rewrote the deed auction for deeds issued from June 1, 2026. The statewide rules are on our Colorado page, and for a comparison with the largest city auction, see Denver.

Liens the county keeps

A lien that is not sold at the sale, or that the county chooses not to sell, is held by the county. You can ask to buy one by written request to the Treasurer's office. The county's page lists no price, fee or date, and puts the decision on you: you are responsible for deciding whether it is a good investment. Parcels whose numbers start with 99000 or 99001 are severed mineral interests, which are a different asset from a house or a lot.

Four ways people lose money here

1. 1. Treating October 28 as the deadline

   The deposit, the ACH information and the acknowledgement are due on October 27 at 2:00 p.m. MST. Miss any of the three and you cannot bid the next day.

2. 2. Counting the premium as part of the return

   The county does not refund premium bids and does not include them in the redemption amount. On a lien that is redeemed quickly, the premium can be more than the interest.

3. 3. Relying on the newspaper list

   Paid properties are removed from RealAuction but not from the published notice. Check the live list before you research a parcel for hours.

4. 4. Expecting the deed to come to you

   After the $1,300 application the Treasurer sells a certificate of option at auction to the highest bidder, and fewer than 1% of liens reach a deed.