We buy houses in Thurston County, NE

Unpaid land can be sold on the first Monday of March (Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1801). Four to six weeks before, the Treasurer lists each parcel with the owner's name and street address (Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1802).

The buyer gets a tax sale certificate, not your house. They must wait three years to ask for a tax deed, or two years if the home is found vacant and abandoned (Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1837).

At least three months before asking, they must serve you a notice. It must say, in large type, UNLESS YOU ACT YOU WILL LOSE THIS PROPERTY (Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1831).

You can redeem until the day they apply for the deed. You pay the Treasurer:

• the certificate amount
• 14% a year interest
• any later taxes they paid, with interest
• the fees the law allows (Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1824)

If your loan uses a trust deed, the lender can sell without a lawsuit. The first step is a notice of default filed with the Register of Deeds (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-1006).

A copy must be mailed to you by certified or registered mail within 10 days of filing (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-1008).

Then the trustee waits at least one month, or two months for farm land outside a town (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-1006).

The sale notice runs in a county paper five weeks in a row. The last run is 10 to 30 days before the sale. The sale happens between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the property or the courthouse (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-1007).

If a parent left you the house, Nebraska has an affidavit for small estates. It can work when all the person's Nebraska real estate is worth $100,000 or less on the tax rolls (Neb. Rev. Stat. 30-24,129).

You must wait 30 days after the death. No court case to name a personal representative can be open, and every heir must sign.

The seller pays the deed tax. It is $3.32 per $1,000 of value until 2032 (Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-901). By our own math, a $90,000 sale owes $298.80.

The Register of Deeds lists a separate transfer form, Form 521MH, for manufactured housing. Ask about it early if your home is a mobile home.

The county says a reservation for the Omaha Tribe was set up here before statehood. Its northern half later became the Winnebago Tribe's reservation. Part was opened to white settlement in 1884.

In 2010, NPR reported that the Winnebago Tribe had bought nearly 4,000 acres here. The tribe was working to put that land in federal trust, which would take it off the county tax rolls.

Pender has a levee along Logan Creek. The Sioux City Journal reported that floodwaters closed or cut off every road in and out of town. The levee there was damaged in March 2019.

The county Emergency Manager is also the floodplain manager. Call (402) 385-6070 to ask about your lot.