We buy houses in Mobile County, AL.

Alabama does not have one delinquent property system, it has two, and which one you are in depends on your county. Act 2018-577 lets each county's taxing official choose, each year, between the traditional sale of the property and an auction of the tax lien. Mobile County went to tax lien auctions beginning with tax year 2019 delinquencies and has used that method since. A great deal of what is written about Alabama tax sales describes a process this county no longer runs.

Mobile County's tax lien auction is held between March 1 and June 15 under Alabama Code 40-10-182, online through GovEase, with the delinquent list published on the Revenue Commissioner's site beforehand. Bidding is not on price. It is on the interest rate the redeeming owner will owe, starting at no more than twelve percent and bid downward in one percent steps. Alabama taxes are due October 1 and delinquent after December 31, so a year reaching auction is already old.

There is no two year Mississippi style clock here. Under Alabama Code 40-10-197 the certificate holder cannot file a foreclosure action until at least three years after the auction, and the certificate expires if no action is filed within ten years. Anyone entitled to redeem may do so at any time before judgment is entered, even after a case is filed. That includes the owner, a partial owner, heirs, a personal representative, a mortgagee, and others with an interest. Ask the Revenue Commission at 251-574-8530 for the figure.

This is the difference that matters most between the two states. Alabama foreclosure is non-judicial, sold under a power of sale after notice published three consecutive weeks, at the county courthouse, much like Mississippi. But Alabama then gives a statutory right of redemption after the sale, which Mississippi does not give at all. Under Alabama Code 6-5-248 that is generally one year from the sale, and 180 days for residential property where a homestead exemption was claimed in the tax year of the sale and the mortgage was taken out on or after January 1, 2016.

One more Alabama specific worth knowing before you judge an offer. Unlike Mississippi, which is a non-disclosure state, Alabama records the purchase price along with the deed on a Real Estate Sales Validation Form under Code of Alabama 40-22-1. Sales here leave a price in the public record, and both sides can look. If anything on this page does not match what you are being told about your parcel, the Mobile County Revenue Commissioner at 3925 Michael Boulevard is the office to ask, not us.

One Alabama trap has no Mississippi equivalent and it costs people the right outright. Under Alabama Code 6-5-251, possession must be delivered to the foreclosure purchaser within ten days of a written demand. Failing to hand it over forfeits the statutory right of redemption entirely. If a demand letter arrives after a foreclosure sale, it is not junk mail, and the clock on it is short.