How I use it
This is literally my routine. Nothing fancy — just the three things I was doing in notebooks and bookmarks before I built this.
Check the sales
I used to have bookmarks everywhere. Now I start here — 14 official sources, Treasury seizures, USDA resales, county tax sales on Bid4Assets, all of it. Filter by what you care about and go straight to the real sale page.
Pick a number and stick to it
This part saved me money. You add a parcel, put down the opening bid and your walk-away price — the most you'll pay, period. The badge turns red when it creeps over. No more "just one more bid."
Write down what happened
Win, lose, or pass — log it. I kept forgetting why I passed on a parcel three months later, then I'd waste time researching it again. Your win rate and what you've spent add up on their own. The boring part, but it's the part that makes you better.
Why I built this
Short version: I needed it myself and nobody else had made it simple.
I didn't set out to build a product. I was just trying to buy a piece of land I could actually afford.
I save what I can when I can, and every normal listing site wanted a fortune for a scrub lot with no road frontage. Then I fell down the tax-sale rabbit hole — counties selling land for just the back taxes owed. Real land, sometimes for a few thousand bucks, if you could find it.
Problem was, you couldn't find it. One county posts on Bid4Assets, another buries a PDF on the treasurer's site, the feds have half a dozen sites that all look like they were built in 2004. I missed two sales in counties right next to mine because I checked the wrong place on the wrong day. That was it for me.
So I made this list for myself. Then I added the watchlist because I kept bidding with my heart instead of a number. Then the journal because I was tired of repeating the same mistakes.
That's all Deedline is — that list, cleaned up. If you're hunting like I am, small budget and a lot of patience, I hope it saves you the Sunday nights I lost.
— The guy behind Deedline. One person, not a team.
Deal Analyzer — paste it in, I'll run the numbers
You found a listing on their site — good. Don't bid on vibes. Paste what they give you below and I'll do what I do on paper: max-bid math, the red flags hiding in the description, and the due-diligence checks that actually apply to this parcel. Works on any listing from any site. That's the point — they can't block your clipboard.
Paste a listing
Why this exists
They won't let a tool pull their listings automatically — X-Frame headers, bot walls, the whole cage. Fine. A listing you copy yourself can't be blocked. You bring 30 seconds of paste, I bring the math I've learned the expensive way. That's a trade they don't get a vote on.
Calculators — know your number before auction day
Every bad deal I've seen started with “it feels cheap.” Feelings don't survive an auction. Run these three first, write the number down, and treat it like concrete. All math happens right here in your browser — nothing to sign up for.
Max Bid Calculator
The 70% rule, adjusted for the real costs everyone forgets.
Your walk-away number
Hit calculate — this is the number you do not cross, even if the other bidder smiles at you.
DSCR Refinance (BRRRR) Calculator
Buy, rehab, refinance, repeat — see if the refi actually pays you back.
The refinance picture
The famous pattern: $22k purchase + $8k rehab = $30k all-in, refinance at 75% of $150k value = $112,500 loan — $82,500 back over your all-in. Run your own numbers — lenders want DSCR at 1.20 or better.
Repair Cost Estimator
Rough, honest ranges — so a “cheap” house doesn't eat the land deal.
Estimated total
Estimates, not quotes — but an estimate beats a surprise. Always add 15% contingency on top.
The 5-Minute Morning Hunt
This is my actual routine, in order, timed. Five minutes with coffee beats two hours of random clicking on Sunday night. Check each step off as you go — when the bar fills, you're done. Go live your day. The deals that matter will still be there, and now you know about them first.
0 of 8 done — kettle on, let's hunt
Progress resets when you leave — it's a morning routine, not homeworkAlert Setup Guides — make their system work for you
Here's the loophole they built themselves: most major sites have free email alerts — and for the ones that don't, there's a 30-second manual check in the routine above. Turn the alerts on once and their servers — the same ones that block scrapers — will email you new deals for free, forever. That's not scraping. That's using the front door they left open. Set up each one below; total time, maybe 20 minutes, once.
GovDeals — saved searches (my #1 alert)
Best coverage for county & city surplus real estate.
- Create a free account at govdeals.com and verify your email.
- Search Real Estate category + your state + your max price.
- Click “Save Search” / “Watch” on the results page and choose daily email alerts.
- Repeat for each county or state you hunt — I run 4 saved searches.
Bid4Assets — county sale calendars + watchlists
Where most online county tax sales actually happen.
- Register free at bid4assets.com — you'll need it to bid anyway.
- Open County Tax Sales, pick your states, and note each county's sale dates in your watchlist here.
- On any live auction, click Watch This Auction — Bid4Assets emails you before close.
- Fund deposits early: most counties want the deposit days before the sale, not day-of.
GSA Auctions — category email alerts
Federal surplus — thin inventory, so alerts beat checking by hand.
- Create an account at gsaauctions.gov.
- Browse to Real Property / your region and save the search.
- Turn on email notifications for new items in the category.
- Also check realestatesales.gov monthly — surplus land posts there first.
HUD HomeStore + Treasury — the slow channels
No slick alerts here — so the routine does the work instead.
- HUD: at hudhomestore.gov, search your state weekly and sort by newest — owner-occupant windows open and close fast.
- Treasury seized property: bookmark the Treasury real-property page and check it in the Morning Hunt — new sales post without notice.
- USDA resales: search resales.usda.gov by state every week; rural listings sit longest.
- Anything interesting? Don't leave it in a tab — add it to the watchlist below with your target price, right then.
The principle, so you don't forget it
Scraping gets blocked. Embedding gets blocked. An email alert they send you? Can't be blocked — it's their own feature. Build your hunt on things they can't take away: your inbox, your clipboard, your numbers, your notes. That's the whole philosophy of this page.
Where I look
The government doesn't sell in one place — it's split across federal agencies and roughly 3,000 county offices, and none of them talk to each other. These are the doors I check. If you want cheap acreage, start with the tax sales and the land channels.
No sources match that filter.
Your watchlist
This is where you keep an eye on parcels without losing your mind. Put down where it's listed, what it's at, and the most you'll pay. The badge tells you if you're still in your zone or if it's time to let it go. I left four examples in here so you can see how it works — hit “Clear examples” when you're ready to put your own in.
Add a listing
Deal journal
Log what actually happened — the wins, the ones you lost, the ones you were smart to pass on. Honestly, your own notes are worth more than any guru's highlight reel. Mine are.
Log a deal
What I learned the hard way
Nobody explained this stuff plainly when I started, so I'm writing it how I wish someone had told me. This is how the cheap-land channels actually work, and the stuff that can bite you if you skip it.
Tax lien vs. tax deed — this tripped me up at first
When owners stop paying property tax, the county eventually sells either the debt or the land itself, and which one depends on the state. I learned that the hard way — I was researching the wrong kind of sale for weeks.
Tax lien states sell a lien certificate: you pay the back taxes, earn interest (often 8–18%), and only get the property if the owner never redeems and you foreclose. It's a yield play first, a land play second.
Tax deed states sell the property outright at auction. The opening bid is frequently just the back taxes, fees, and penalties owed — which is why raw land can go for a few thousand dollars. This is the channel for buying acreage directly.
Some states are hybrids, and many counties now run these sales online through Bid4Assets or GovDeals instead of on courthouse steps. Check the county treasurer or tax collector page for your target county to find which platform — and which rules — apply.
Why some land opens so cheap (it's not a scam)
At a tax deed sale the county isn't pricing the land — it's just trying to get back what it's owed. A parcel assessed at $30,000 might open at $2,400 in back taxes. If nobody else shows up, that's the price. First time I saw it I thought it had to be fake. It wasn't.
The catch: sales are cash, fast, and as-is. Deposits are often due within 24 hours and the balance within days. There's no financing contingency, no inspection period, and no title guarantee. The discount is payment for doing your homework in advance and taking on the risk.
Federal and REO channels (Treasury, Marshals, HUD, USDA) are slower and pricier, but they generally convey clear, insurable title — the seller settles old taxes at closing. Tax-sale title usually needs a quiet-title action before it's insurable or resellable.
Set a target price per parcel before auction day and treat it as a hard ceiling. The most common way to lose money here is winning an argument with another bidder.
The 8 checks I run before I bid — every time
- Confirm the parcelMatch the APN/parcel number and legal description to the county GIS map. Auction lists have typos; the parcel map doesn't.
- Check legal accessA landlocked parcel with no road frontage or recorded easement can be nearly worthless. Verify on the plat map, not the listing photo.
- Zoning and land useConfirm you can build, park an RV, or place a manufactured home — whatever your plan is — under county zoning and any HOA or subdivision rules.
- Utilities and septicDistance to power and water can cost more than the land. Rural parcels may need a perc test before septic is even possible.
- Flood zone and terrainCheck FEMA flood maps and satellite imagery. Cheap land is often cheap because it's wet, steep, or both.
- Surviving liensTax sales wipe most liens, but not all — federal tax liens carry a 120-day IRS redemption right, and some municipal/code liens survive. A title search is cheap insurance on bigger bids.
- Redemption periodSome states let the former owner buy the property back after the sale for a set period. Know your state's window before you spend money improving the land.
- Total cost, not just the bidAdd the buyer's premium, recording fees, possible quiet-title costs ($1,500–$3,000 is common), and back HOA dues to your real number.
Other folks hunting like you
Illustrative examplesI'm not going to fake reviews — these are made-up examples based on how people actually use this, names and numbers changed. I left them here because the workflows are real, even if the people are composites. This is what using the watchlist and journal looks like in practice.
I had six county treasurer sites bookmarked and still missed a sale two counties over. Now I check one directory on Sunday, set my targets, and let the badges tell me what's still in range. The discipline alone is worth it — I stopped bidding with my ego.
2.3 acres · $1,850 winning bid · county tax deed sale
The target-price badge saved me from myself. A lot I wanted crept $200 over my walk-away number and I let it go — two weeks later a better parcel in the same subdivision closed under target. Before Deedline I'd have chased the first one and overpaid.
0.9-acre lot · $2,600 against a $3,000 target
We'd never bought land before and were nervous about tax-sale title. The playbook steered us to a USDA resale instead — clear title at closing — and the checklist caught a septic question we hadn't even thought to ask. We bought with our eyes open.
5.1 acres · USDA resale · clear title at closing
The journal is the part nobody else gives you. Eleven auctions logged, three parcels bought, and every loss has a note on what I missed. My win rate went up because my mistakes stopped repeating. It's a boring tool that makes un-boring money.
11 auctions logged · 3 parcels bought · every loss reviewed
My promise to you
Plain and simple — here's what you're getting, and what happens if you decide it's not for you. No fine-print games.
What you're actually getting
- The list I use myselfAll 14 sources — federal seizures, surplus, county tax sales. Every link goes straight to the real government sale page. No copies, no middleman.
- The watchlist with target badgesYou put your walk-away number in, it tells you when a bid goes past it. Plus a heads-up when auction day is getting close.
- The journalYour win rate, what you've spent, what you've gained — added up for you so you can see if you're actually getting better at this.
- The Deal Analyzer + calculatorsPaste any listing from any site and get max-bid math, risk flags, and the checks that apply. Plus max-bid, DSCR refinance (BRRRR), and repair estimators — the numbers before the bid, not after.
- The Morning Hunt + alert guidesAn 8-step, 5-minute routine with a progress tracker, and step-by-step setup for each site's own email alerts — so deals come to you without any scraping.
- Everything I learnedTax lien vs. tax deed in plain English, why some land opens at $900, and the 8 checks I run before I bid. The mistakes are in there too.
- Your stuff is your stuffDownload a backup of your watchlist and journal anytime. No account holding it hostage. You leave, your notes go with you.
- When I find a new source, you get itCounties move their sales online all the time. When I add one to my list, I add it to yours.
If it doesn't help, you don't pay
Try it through at least one real sale. Look around, set some targets, follow a parcel or two. If you think "this didn't actually help me hunt" — email me within 30 days and I'll send your money back.
No form to fill out, no "retention specialist," no hard feelings. And keep your exported list either way. You did that work, it's yours.
Stuff people ask me
The questions I get before someone starts — answered straight, the way I'd want them answered.
Is buying government auction land actually legal?
Yeah — totally legal. These are public sales the government runs itself: the Treasury, the Marshals, HUD, the USDA, your county tax office. When someone doesn't pay their taxes or a property gets seized, the law says it has to be sold, and anyone can buy it.
Most of them just want you to register for free and, for county sales, put down a refundable deposit. You're buying straight from the county or agency, not from some middleman flipping it to you.
How current is the data?
I didn't build this to copy anyone's listings — that would go stale in a day. Every card here links to the official sale page itself, so what you see when you click through is the live price and deadline, straight from the source.
This stuff changes daily: parcels get paid off, sales get pushed back, new ones pop up. Always double-check the price, date, and deposit on the official page before you bid. I do.
What if I never find a deal?
That happens, and honestly, sometimes waiting is the move. Sales run on the county's schedule, not yours — some months there's just nothing good in the places you want. That's what the watchlist is for: set your numbers and let it sit until something actually opens cheap.
And if you try this for a sale cycle and it doesn't earn its keep, that's what the 30-day promise is for. You're not stuck with it.
Do I need experience to do this?
No — I didn't have any when I started. That's why I wrote the playbook the way I did: what a tax lien vs. a tax deed actually means, why a parcel can open at $1,200, and the eight things to check before you bid — road access, zoning, flood zone, liens, all of it.
My honest advice: watch your first sale or two without bidding. Start small. And whatever number you set as your max, treat it like it's set in concrete.
How much cash do I actually need to start?
Less than most people think, but more than just the bid. At a tax deed sale the opening bid is often just the back taxes and fees — raw land regularly opens between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars. The federal and USDA stuff costs more, but you usually get clear title, which matters.
Where people get caught: deposits are often due within 24 hours, the rest within days, and it's cash — no financing, no "let me think about it." Add the buyer's premium, recording fees, and on tax-sale land, a possible quiet-title cost ($1,500–$3,000 is normal). That's your real number.
Why don't you just scrape the sites or embed them?
Because they forbid it — on purpose. GovDeals, HUD, Bid4Assets and the rest send headers that block embedding, and they run bot protection that blocks automated scraping. Anyone selling you a "fully automated" feed of these exact sites is either lying or one layout change away from broken.
So I built the other way: things they can't block. You paste a listing and the Analyzer runs the math. Their own email alerts — a feature they offer you directly — bring deals to your inbox. The Morning Hunt covers every source in 5 minutes. They built the cage. This is the key — and a key doesn't need permission.
What exactly am I buying — is it a subscription?
No subscription. One purchase and you get the whole thing: the 14-source list, the watchlist, the journal, and the playbook — plus any new sources I add later, and the 30-day promise.
Your watchlist and journal live in your copy of this page. There's a one-click backup so your notes are never locked up somewhere you can't get them. Export them, keep them forever, they're yours.