How a tax sale works where we list

Delaware has no homestead property-tax exemption. Its county tax-sale rules apply the same way whether or not the owner lives there. After a monition sale, the owner can redeem within 60 days after the Superior Court approves the sale. To redeem, the owner pays the buyer the purchase price, 15% more and all costs (9 Del. C. § 8729). Kent and Sussex also have a separate tax-collector sale. There, the court will not approve the sale if the owner is ready to pay the taxes, penalty and costs. The owner can also redeem within 1 year of the sale by paying the costs, the purchase money, 20 percent interest and deed expenses (§ 8776). One temporary rule depends on a payment plan, not on occupancy. It covers 2025-26 New Castle County and school taxes on residential property: while the taxpayer keeps to a qualifying payment plan, the county may not issue a monition or sell the property (§ 8701(d)). Senior and veteran tax credits do not change these rules. This is general information only, not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: Delaware's sale, redemption and confirmation rules (9 Del. C. §§ 8729, 8731, 8776; Super. Ct. Civ. R. 69(d)) do not test homestead or occupancy at all. Rule 69(g) notice turns on recorded interests and tenancy. The only rule that can pause a sale (§ 8701(d)) turns on compliance with a payment plan for residential property in New Castle County, 2025-26 taxes only. By contrast, a county exemption or credit record shows only that someone once applied as a principal-resident senior, disabled owner or veteran. It does not show that the owner lives there now or has any sale protection.

Outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's homestead exclusion is a property-tax discount. It does not stop a tax sale; the rules turn on who lives there. Tax Claim Bureau sales under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law: if an owner lives there, the owner must be personally served at least 10 days before an upset sale unless a court waives it for good cause, or the sale can be set aside. State law allows no redemption afterward. Sheriff sales on tax or municipal claims: the owner or a discharged lienholder may petition to redeem within 9 months after the sheriff's deed is acknowledged (3 months in Allegheny County for sales since Sept. 3, 2023). After acknowledgment, property cannot be redeemed unless the same person or household, owner or tenant, lived there from 90 days before the sale through acknowledgment. Pittsburgh treasurer's sales follow a separate law. Federal law adds protections when servicemembers or dependents occupy property. Not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: The law checks actual occupancy: before a Tax Claim Bureau upset sale, whether an owner really lives there (personal-service rule); after an MCTLA sheriff sale, whether the same person or household, owner or tenant, lived there from 90 days before the sale through deed acknowledgment; and under federal law, whether a servicemember or dependents occupy it. A homestead-exclusion record shows only that a natural-person owner once applied and was approved for a tax discount. It is evidence of occupancy, not proof, and a missing exclusion says nothing about vacancy.

Philadelphia sells tax-delinquent property at Sheriff's sale under Pennsylvania's Municipal Claim and Tax Lien Law. The City homestead exemption is a property-tax discount; the redemption rules do not depend on it. Before the Sheriff's deed is acknowledged, any property may be redeemed (F.A. Realty, Pa. Cmwlth. 2014). After that, redemption is allowed for nine months only if the same person or household lived there as a residence for at least 90 days before the sale and still does on the deed date (53 P.S. § 7293(c)). That occupant need not be the owner; tenants count (Phan, Pa. Cmwlth. 2016). Owners, their assignees, or others whose lien or estate the sale discharged may petition, and a court decides. The price is generally the bid, deed costs and certain amounts the buyer paid, less rents received, plus 10% yearly interest (§ 7293(a)); it differs when the City or another taxing authority buys (MCTLA § 31.2(d)). General information, not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: After the Sheriff's deed is acknowledged, the law asks whether the same individual or household, owner or tenant, actually lived in the property as a residence continuously for at least 90 days before the sale and still did on the deed-acknowledgment date. A court decides that on petition (53 P.S. § 7293(b)-(c)). A homestead exemption record shows only that an owner who is a natural person once applied and was approved for a tax discount as their domicile (53 Pa.C.S. § 8401). It proves nothing about who lived there during that window. Tenant-occupied homes never carry an exemption, and exemptions can outlast the owner's residence.

In Texas, homestead status does not prevent a sale for the property's own taxes, but it can change how long the owner has to buy it back (redeem). Property that was the owner's residence homestead or land with approved agricultural designation when the tax suit was filed, and mineral interests, can be redeemed within two years after the buyer's deed is recorded, by repaying the buyer's bid, fees, taxes and costs plus 25% in year one or 50% in year two. Other property gets 180 days, with at most a 25% premium. The law looks at actual use, not whether an exemption was filed, so this flag is a record signal, not a legal finding. The buyer's deed carries the right to possession during redemption. Owners 65 or older, disabled, or disabled veterans who own and live in the home can postpone a sale by timely affidavit; the taxes remain owed. General information only, not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: The law asks whether the property was actually used as an individual owner's principal residence (Tax Code § 11.13(j), including the § 11.13(l) absences) when the tax suit was filed. An exemption record only shows that an exemption was granted as of January 1 of a tax year. That is evidence, not proof: the record can lag a move-out, and an owner who never applied can still have two years (Nichols).

Illinois redemption time depends on the property's class on the sale date, not on a homestead exemption or who lives there (35 ILCS 200/21-350). For certificates issued from July 10, 2026, it is generally 3 years; vacant non-farm, 7+ unit, and commercial or industrial property get 1 year. Older certificates follow earlier rules. From Cook County's seventh sale after that date, the county buys every parcel offered (21-190(c), 21-215(b)). Before then it may opt to take up to 100 low-bill, homestead-exempt parcels per sale, the only rule keyed to the exemption record (21-191). For newer certificates, an unredeemed property generally goes to a court-ordered auction, and the former owner may claim any amount bid above the minimum (22-40, 22-42). The deed holder's possession order has no occupied-home exception (22-40(c)). Narrower rules test actual occupancy (21-85, 21-260(f), 21-305, 22-42(g)(4), 22-45). Our flag shows only the county exemption record for the tax year shown. General information, not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: Illinois sets the redemption period by the property's class on the sale date and the certificate's issue date. Separate narrow rules test actual owner-occupancy at their own dates (the last day of redemption, the filing of a motion, when the lien arose), and only Cook's optional 21-191 pilot tests whether a homestead exemption was received in the sale's tax year. An exemption record shows only that the assessment officer applied the general homestead exemption (15-175) for one tax year. It does not show who lives there now or on any legal deadline, and a missing record does not mean vacant.

In Indiana, a homestead deduction on record (the "homestead standard deduction") does not change the redemption period, the redemption cost, the notices, or the court steps for a tax deed and possession (IC 6-1.1-25). After a standard sale, anyone may redeem within one year; some county and agency sales allow 120 days (IC 6-1.1-25-1, -4). The record matters in one place: if a county offers part of its sale only to qualifying nonprofits, that part cannot include a principal residence that received the deduction for the most recent assessment date (IC 6-1.1-24-17.5). Parcels on the auditor's vacant and abandoned list, which requires a court or hearing-authority finding, cannot be redeemed (IC 6-1.1-24-1.5; 25-4(a)). Occupants not named in public records get no deed notice (IC 6-1.1-25-4.5(i)). The flag reflects the county record for the year shown, not who lives there now. General information, not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: Indiana's redemption period, redemption amount, notices, deed and possession rules depend on the type of sale and on whether the parcel is on the auditor's certified vacant/abandoned list, not on homestead status. The only homestead test in the tax-sale chapters is IC 6-1.1-24-17.5(a)(1). It keeps a parcel out of the optional nonprofit-only segment of a sale when the parcel is both used as a principal place of residence and receiving the homestead standard deduction for the most recent assessment date. The flag shows only the second prong, as of a past assessment date. It does not show current occupancy, who lives there, or vacant/abandoned status.

New Jersey has no homestead exemption that protects a home at a tax sale. Its Tax Sale Law treats owner-occupied and other property alike. What is sold is a lien, called a tax sale certificate, not the property. The owner can redeem until a foreclosure judgment is entered (N.J.S.A. 54:5-54). A holder generally must wait two years after the sale to file for foreclosure. A municipality, or anyone who acquired the certificate from it, may file after six months (54:5-86(a)). Since July 10, 2024, the owner or heirs may ask the court in writing, before final judgment, for a court-ordered sale to preserve any equity. Without that request, the holder may take title without a sale (54:5-87(b)). Occupancy matters mainly in the other direction. Property found to be abandoned, which requires six months without legal occupancy, can be foreclosed at any time without the sale option (54:5-86(b), 54:5-87(a), 55:19-81). General information only, not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: New Jersey's Tax Sale Law applies no homestead or owner-occupancy test to the auction, redemption, foreclosure timing or the 2024 equity-sale right. Its only occupancy test is the abandoned-property definition: six months without legal occupancy, plus one more criterion, as determined by the public officer or the court. That test speeds foreclosure against the owner. A tax-record deduction or exemption shows only that an owner claimed to own and occupy the home as of October 1 of the pretax year. It is not a tax-sale protection, and it is not a finding on abandonment.

In Ohio, a homestead exemption or owner-occupancy reduction only lowers the tax bill. It does not stop a tax foreclosure or extend redemption (R.C. 323.152). An owner who lives in the home is entitled to at least one delinquent-tax payment plan with the county treasurer, if made before a foreclosure judgment and no tax certificate is outstanding (R.C. 323.31). A faster "abandoned land" foreclosure is limited to delinquent land the statute defines as "unoccupied," and the owner can contest that status (R.C. 323.65, 323.72). On that track, if a requesting entity such as a local government or land bank has asked for the property, redemption can end 28 days after judgment and the property is transferred without a sale (R.C. 323.78). Otherwise, redemption generally runs until the court files its confirmation of sale (R.C. 5721.25). Unclaimed leftover sale money is held for the owner for three years, then forfeited (R.C. 5721.20). Not legal or investment advice.

What the law checks: Ohio law never asks whether a parcel carries a homestead reduction. It asks whether the owner owns and occupies residential property, for the one guaranteed pre-judgment payment plan (R.C. 323.31). It asks whether the land is 'unoccupied' under R.C. 323.65(F), for the abandoned-land fast track, and whether buildings are in 'occupancy' under R.C. 5722.01(G), for some no-sale transfers. A homestead-reduction record only shows that the owner once applied and declared the parcel their homestead. The application continues until the owner reports a change (R.C. 323.153), so the record says nothing certain about who occupies the property now.