We are aware that illnesses, schedule conflicts, transportation problems etc. can occur unexpectedly. Because there are no exceptions to the deadline please do not wait until the last day to come in with your bid balance if you are prepared earlier. Please make sure you will have the rest of your purchase price by the deadline before you bid.

Also, very important to know, if you have any existing motor vehicle, personal property or real property tax delinquencies owed to the City of Hartford you must pay your own taxes current before you participate in this auction. If you are a known tax delinquent as of the day of the auction you will either 1) not be allowed to register to bid or 2) not be allowed to complete your purchase of the property. The Tax Collector will check the tax status of each successful bidder. If there is any delinquency he reserves the right to forfeit the bid if the bidder does not immediately pay. This means that any deposit will be forfeited as well. The Tax Collector may then go to the second highest bidder. If you are tax delinquent and wish to participate in this auction please bring your accounts current before the date of the sale.

After the sale there is a six month redemption period. During this period the successful bidder simply waits. He or she has no rights to the property yet, which means that he or she legally cannot make repairs, collect rents, move in or even go on the property. Not yet! However, the law states that the successful bidder has a sufficient insurable interest in the property to insure against fire and other risk. Therefore, we recommend that successful bidders insure their properties to protect their investment.

While the successful bidder waits out the six month redemption period the current owner of the property or anyone with an interest in the property (a mortgage holder, someone with a lien against the property, etc.) has the right to redeem. When an owner or interested party redeems they prevent the title from passing to the successful bidder. In order to do this they have to pay the successful bidder the amount of his or her bid plus interest. The annual interest rate is 18%, so if redemption occurs in the third month the successful bidder can make 4.5% on his or her money. If redemption occurs in the sixth month the successful bidder can make 9% on his or her money. Because of this some people view bidding at a tax sale as an investment. No bank account can give you this rate of return in this period of time! In this way you can make some money if the property you bid on is redeemed.