Live data — updated October 13, 2026
Missouri Over-the-Counter Tax Deeds (2026): 31 County-Held Listings
Quick answer: Missouri counties hold 31 unsold tax-deed properties that went unsold at three annual tax sales. The county collector or the county's trustee sells them for whatever they will bring, with an immediate collector's deed and no redemption period (RSMo 140.250, 140.260).
What you are buying. The property itself. These drew no bid at a Missouri tax sale; how they are sold now is set out below.
The catch. A tax deed is not a warranty deed. Title is exactly as good as the sale that produced it.
Budget for what a deed does not clear: surviving liens, occupancy, condition, and in most states a quiet-title action before a normal buyer's lender will touch it.
In Missouri, land that went unsold at three annual sales is sold by the county collector or the county's trustee for whatever it will bring, with an immediate collector's deed and no redemption period (RSMo 140.250, 140.260). You pay your bid plus any taxes that came due since, and recording costs. Some counties take sealed bids and open them monthly.
Ask for it by the county's name, not ours. "OTC" is investor shorthand — call a county asking for their OTC list and you may be told they have none, because that is not what it is called on their side of the desk.
Elsewhere the same inventory turns up as county-held property, leftover tax deeds, post-auction sales, or land-bank property — and land-bank stock is worth a second look, because once a parcel has been transferred to a land bank the county no longer owns it and is no longer the seller. The question that cuts through all of it, asked of the treasurer or the assessor: what happens to the properties that do not sell at the auction? If the first person says nothing is left, ask a second.
The same due diligence as auction buying applies, and the best time to look is right after a sale has run and the county has moved what did not sell.
See the full Missouri investor guide and the live Missouri auction calendar.
Where the inventory is
| County | County-held listings |
|---|---|
| Clay | 31 |
Counts update daily.
Frequently asked questions
What does over-the-counter (OTC) mean in tax sales?
Depending on the state, what is sold over the counter is either the property or the county's tax lien certificate. When nothing bids at the county tax sale, the county (or the state) keeps it ("struck off") and sells it afterward. In some states that is at a set minimum — back taxes plus costs — to the first qualified applicant, with no auction. Many work differently: Texas re-offers struck-off property at a public resale or by private sale (Tex. Tax Code 34.05), Alabama's State-held parcels are sold by the Department of Revenue on a price quote, Michigan and Minnesota at a county-set or appraised price, and Arkansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Missouri and West Virginia by bid or offer. Each state page says which.
Why would a property go unsold at auction?
Mostly obscurity, not defects: small rural counties get few bidders, some lists never circulate, and low-value parcels aren't worth a professional's trip. Plenty are genuinely rough — the same title and condition research applies as at auction.
Are OTC properties cheaper than auction properties?
Often, because the land sells for whatever it will bring, but other buyers can bid too, so there is no fixed price.
How do I buy an OTC property in Missouri?
Ask the county collector or the county's land trustee for its list of land unsold after the third offering and how it takes bids; some counties take sealed bids and open them monthly. You pay your bid plus any taxes that came due since, and recording costs, and receive a collector's deed with no redemption period (RSMo 140.250, 140.260).