A max-bid worksheet for Georgia tax deeds, line by line

A max-bid worksheet turns a tax deed parcel into one number you can carry to the courthouse steps. You start with after-repair value, subtract rehab, legal and closing costs, carrying costs and selling costs, then subtract the margin you require for the risk. What remains is the most you can pay at the gavel. Everything else on auction day is discipline.

The six lines, in order

The worksheet is one subtraction. You are not solving for profit here. You are solving for the largest bid that still leaves the profit you demanded before you walked into the room.

Max bid = ARV - rehab - legal and closing - carrying - selling - required margin

Fill it top to bottom for a single parcel. The figures below are an illustration with round numbers, not a quote for any property:

Max bid = 200,000 - 45,000 - 6,000 - 6,000 - 14,000 - 50,000 = 79,000

Write that number on an index card before the sale and leave the worksheet at home. The worksheet is for the kitchen table; the card is for the steps.

Line 1: after-repair value

After-repair value is the resale price of the finished house. It is not the tax assessment, and it is not what the house down the street is asking. Build it from closed comparable sales of similar houses nearby, and read what after-repair value means on a tax deed before you commit to a figure.

Two habits keep this line honest. Use closed sales rather than active listings, because asking prices are hopes. And when the comparable sales disagree with each other, take the lower cluster rather than the average. A wide spread is telling you the estimate is weak, and a weak number at the top of the worksheet moves every line beneath it.

Lines 2 and 3: rehab, legal and closing

Rehab is everything between the deed and a house someone will buy. Price it from square footage and the age of the structure, then adjust for the condition flags you can actually see, as estimating rehab costs by property age and condition sets out. Then add a contingency, because you have probably never been inside.

Legal and closing is the line beginners forget entirely. In Georgia the tax deed you win is defeasible until the right of redemption is barred, and the path to a marketable position normally runs through barment and then quiet title after a Georgia tax deed. Budget counsel, filing and recording costs for that path. A tax deed never arrives as clear or insurable title, and a worksheet that assumes it does is short by whatever the lawyer charges.

Lines 4 and 5: carrying and selling costs

Carrying costs are the quiet killer, because the clock is longer than it looks. The former owner and other parties holding an interest have a 12-month right of redemption running from the date of the sale, and during that period the purchaser generally does not have the right to take possession. Possession stays with the owner or occupant, so the rehab you budgeted cannot begin yet. Confirm your own parcel with a Georgia real-estate attorney.

That means carrying runs for the redemption period, then barment, then quiet title, and only then the rehab months. Taxes you pay after the sale, plus certain allowed costs, do become part of the redemption amount as recoverable extras, though the exact items vary case by case. Count them as carrying cost anyway. Recovery is a possibility, not a plan.

Selling costs are the easiest line to estimate and the easiest to leave out. Commission, seller concessions and closing costs on the way out are real money, and they come off the ARV, not off your profit.

Line 6: required margin, and the number

The margin is not a leftover. It is an input, chosen before you look at the parcel, and it is the price of a deal where you may never get inside the house before you own it. Expressing it as a share of after-repair value travels better between parcels than a flat dollar amount. In the illustration above, a quarter of a $200,000 resale is $50,000.

Then sanity-check the result. How to set your max bid and stick to it works the same problem from a shortcut, capping everything you put into a deal at about 65% of resale value. The two methods should land near each other. A line-by-line number far above the shortcut almost always means a cost line is missing or the margin got thin while you were filling in the page.

BidWise runs this same subtraction on the parcels it can price from comparable sales, using resale value from comparables minus estimated rehab, legal and closing, carrying and selling costs, and the resulting margin maps to a deal score from 0 to 100. A score of 75 or higher is what the product calls a strong deal. Commercial and multi-family property, vacant land and houses with too few comparable sales show the county's own figures instead of a score. How to read your BidWise deal score explains the calculation notes and the confidence indicator that come with one.

Where a beginner's estimate goes wrong

The same five lines break the same five ways:

• ARV from listings, not sales. Active asking prices run ahead of the closed market, so the whole worksheet inflates.
• Rehab priced for a house you have seen. You are bidding on an interior you cannot enter. Price the unknown, then add contingency.
• No legal line at all. Barment and quiet title are the normal cost of converting a tax deed into something sellable, not an unlucky extra.
• Carrying costs for a few months. The redemption period alone runs 12 months from the sale, before barment, quiet title and rehab.
• Margin treated as whatever is left over. If the margin is the remainder, it will shrink to nothing the moment the bidding gets interesting.

The outcome the worksheet does not price

The worksheet solves the case where nobody redeems and you end up owning the property. The other outcome is redemption, and it is a different calculation entirely.

If the property is redeemed, the redeeming party pays you what you paid at the sale plus a premium of 20% of that amount for the first year or any fraction of it, and 10% for each additional year or fraction. The premium is flat, not an interest rate: the same 20% whether redemption happens in month three or month eleven. Recoverable extras can be added on top. The free Georgia redemption calculator runs that math with a purchase price, months held and optional extras.

This is why a fast redemption is a good result rather than a disappointment. The premium does not shrink because the money came back early. What it means for the worksheet is simpler still: your bid has to survive both futures, so set the number for the harder one and let redemption be the pleasant surprise.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate a max bid for a tax deed?

Start with the after-repair value drawn from closed comparable sales, then subtract rehab, legal and closing costs, carrying costs through the whole holding period, selling costs, and the profit margin you decided on in advance. What is left is your max bid. Fill the worksheet out before the sale, write only the final number on a card, and do not recalculate while the bidding is running.

What profit margin should a Georgia tax deed buyer require?

There is no statutory or industry figure, so the margin is your decision rather than a rule you can look up. Expressing it as a share of after-repair value makes it comparable across parcels of different sizes. Set it to reflect that you usually cannot inspect the interior before bidding. For reference, BidWise treats a deal score of 75 or higher as a strong deal in its own scoring.

Why is my worksheet max bid higher than the 65% rule gives?

Usually because a cost line is missing or understated. The common omissions are selling costs, the legal spend on barment and quiet title, and carrying costs for the full period rather than a few months. Check each line against the shortcut, which caps everything you put into a deal at roughly 65% of resale value. If the gap persists, the margin line is probably too thin.

Does the max bid change if the owner redeems the property?

The worksheet prices the case where nobody redeems and you keep the property, which is the harder outcome to survive. If the property is redeemed instead, you receive what you paid at the sale plus a flat 20% premium for the first year or any fraction of it, and 10% for each additional year or fraction, with recoverable extras possible on top. Set the bid for the harder case.

Georgia tax sales convey a redeemable tax deed, not clear title. Every figure in BidWise is an estimate produced from public records and comparable sales — not an appraisal, and not investment, legal, or tax advice. Confirm every parcel against the county's official notice, and talk to a Georgia real-estate attorney before you bid.