Certified delinquent

01How it is defined in LeadCounty

On the county's certified-delinquent list.

02How many are on the list today

03Why it matters

Certification is the step before a tax lien sale or tax foreclosure in many states, so the owner's options are narrowing.

04Where it shows up in public records

The county treasurer or auditor publishes the certified-delinquent list, often once a year.

05How to find certified delinquent in 3 steps

• Step 1, find the record: the county treasurer or auditor publishes the certified-delinquent list, often once a year.
• Step 2, match it to the property: join the record to the parcel by its parcel number and the owner's name and address, so you know which house it belongs to.
• Step 3, add a second reason: stack certified delinquent with another list to see which owners have more than one reason to sell. LeadCounty does steps 1 and 2 for every property each week.

06How we count it

LeadCounty counts certified delinquent from each county's own records and shows the number for every county in the table above, refreshed weekly. A county that does not publish the record shows no count rather than a guess.

07How to use it

• Combine with owned 15+ years: long-time owners with equity have the most to protect.

08Best stacks with certified delinquent

One list gives you a reason; two or three lists together give you owners with several reasons at once. The stacks that work best with certified delinquent:

• Certified delinquent + owned 15+ years: 15+ years of ownership usually means paid-down debt and real equity.
• Certified delinquent + absentee owner: the owner gets the tax bill somewhere else, so the house is less personal to them.