Missouri

Land sold for back taxes

County collectors hold the tax sale on the fourth Monday in August. The owner has an absolute right to redeem for a year, and can still redeem after that until the buyer has a deed. To get one, the buyer must have a licensed attorney or title company search the title and send notice of the right to redeem by first-class and certified mail at least 90 days before the deed; a buyer who skips a step loses everything. Land unsold two years running goes to a third offering, with 90 days to redeem. Land still unsold after that is offered every 30 days, and its buyer gets a collector's deed at once, with no redemption.

What to do: Ask the county collector for the land left over from third offerings, which comes with a deed straight away. At an ordinary sale, budget for the title search and the certified mail, or the money is lost.

Source: RSMo 140.150; RSMo 140.250; RSMo 140.340; RSMo 140.405

Septic before you build

Missouri has had statewide minimum standards since 1996, and a permit is generally needed before a system is built or repaired. In most counties the health department issues it; elsewhere it may be a sewer district, the building department or planning and zoning, and local rules can be stricter. A single house on three acres or more is outside the state rules if every part of the system is more than ten feet from the property lines and no sewage leaves the land, pollutes or becomes a nuisance, unless the lot borders a Corps of Engineers or utility lake.

What to do: Ask the county who issues septic permits there and what they require. The three-acre exemption is from the state rules, not from a stricter county's.

Source: Missouri DHSS, Onsite Wastewater Treatment; RSMo 701.031

Being taxed as a farm

Land devoted mainly to crops, livestock, horses or dairying, including land in federal conservation programs, is valued at what it is worth for farming and assessed at 12 percent of that, against 19 percent for homes. The statute sets no minimum acreage. The house and the land that goes with it are residential. The classification follows the use, not the owner.

What to do: Keep it farmed and the land stays agricultural after you buy it. If you change what it is used for, the assessor reclassifies it on application.

Source: RSMo 137.016; RSMo 137.017; RSMo 137.115

Old well records

Under the Water Well Drillers Act, every new well and pump installation must be reported to the Missouri Geological Survey on certification forms within 60 days. The Survey's WISDIM map shows the wells and their records.

What to do: Find the parcel on the map and read the records of the nearest wells for their depth.

Source: RSMo 256.614; Missouri DNR, WISDIM

Missouri counties, cheapest farmland first

What farmland and its buildings were worth an acre in each of the 114 counties in the 2022 Census of Agriculture, with the median value of a home. These compare one county with another; they are not the price of any parcel.

Source: USDA, 2022 Census of Agriculture, Missouri county data; Census Bureau, ACS 2020–2024, table B25077