We buy houses in Wayne County, MS

Taxes for 2026 are due on or before February 1, 2027. The state says tax sales can be held on the first Monday in April and the last Monday in August.

The August sale is the standard one. By our calendar, the next is August 30, 2027. Ms. Richards must run the list in a county paper for two weeks. Her notice sets the place, which can be the courthouse or online (Miss. Code 27-41-55).

A sale does not take your home that day. You or anyone with an interest in the land has two years to redeem it through the Chancery Clerk (Miss. Code 27-45-3).

What you owe does not depend on the bid. It is the tax, the sale costs, 5 percent damages, and 1.5 percent interest for each month or part of a month.

Here is our own math on $800 in tax, 10 months after the sale:

• tax: $800
• damages: $40
• interest on the tax: $120
• total: $960, plus costs and interest on those costs.

One relative can redeem an undivided share of family land, not just the whole tract. A tract can also be redeemed in legal parts of 40 acres or more.

The state's latest table is for the 2024 to 2025 tax year. It shows the money shifting from the schools to the county:

• county funds: 57.25 mills, up from 51.45
• Wayne County Schools: 48.25 mills, down from 52.55
• county average: 105.5 mills, up from 104.

Inside town you add a city or town levy. Waynesboro is 27.5 mills and State Line is 32.5.

A home you own and live in is taxed on 10 percent of its true value. Other real estate, such as a rental or a vacant house, is usually taxed on 15 percent.

Our rough math for a $100,000 home you live in, before homestead:

• outside town: $10,000 at 105.5 mills is $1,055
• in Waynesboro: $10,000 at 133 mills is $1,330.

If you have moved out, ask if the home still counts as your homestead. Under 65, the credit can reach $300. At 65 or older, or if totally disabled, you pay no tax on the first $7,500 of assessed value.

FEMA's preliminary study, dated 2010, says flood trouble here comes mainly from the Chickasawhay River. The river runs south southeast, just west of the Waynesboro city limits.

The same study says no flood protection works are known to exist in the area. So do not assume anything holds the river back from low ground.

The biggest peaks in the study came near Waynesboro:

• April 1900: about 73,000 cubic feet per second
• February 26, 1961: 58,300
• April 11, 1938: about 53,100.

WDAM reported the 1961 crest at 47.74 feet and the 1900 crest at 51.5 feet. The National Guard was sent in to help in 1961.

Because the study we read is marked preliminary, look up the current map for your own lot. Then keep any flood claim records handy for the buyer.

This is forest country. Mississippi State counted 404,168 acres of forestland here in 2018, and 302,824 of those were private. It valued the standing timber at $628.8 million that year. If your land has grown trees, find out what they are worth before you price it.

The state's production map names more than two dozen oil and gas fields, from Waynesboro to Yellow Creek. Mineral rights can be split from the land, so a title search should show what you still own.

Mobile homes on land you own go one of two ways. One option taxes the home as real estate but keeps its title. To do that, the wheels and axles come off and the home is anchored and blocked (Miss. Code 27-53-15).

The other option retires the title for good, and the home then counts as real property for all purposes. Knowing which you have tells a buyer how the home transfers.

Septic is simpler. The state health department says no inspection is required for a sale, but it recommends one. A private well water sample costs $10.

Family land with several owners has its own rule. If a co-owner asks a court to sell, the others get 45 days after notice to say they will buy that share at the court's value (Miss. Code 91-31-13).