Surplus Property Sales & Outline of the Process

Surplus Property Sales & an Outline of the County's Process
All real property sales that the County makes are public auctions. The minimum bid is the lowest price the Commissioners will accept as payment for the property. All real property sales must happen at a public hearing and any member of the public present at the hearing has the right to bid higher than any bid previously received by the Board.

The County will not pay a commission to a real-estate agent. Any member of the public, at their own expense, may utilize the services of a real-estate agent. Below is an outline of the County's process. This process may take anywhere from one to three months. The sale of County-owned real property is governed by Chapter 36.34 of the Revised Code of Washington as well as Chapter 1.56 of the Spokane County Code.

Spokane County Surplus Property Sale Process
  1. Cash offer is tendered on a form supplied by Spokane County.
  2. Public Notice is given that the Board of County Commissioners will be considering this item at a 5:30 public hearing.
  3. The notice is advertised for ten days in the legal notice section of the newspaper.
  4. A public hearing of the Board of County Commissioners at 5:30 p.m. is held to consider the bid.
  5. Any member of the public who is present at the hearing may give an oral bid above the previously received high offer.
  6. Any oral offers that exceed the previous offer tendered at the public hearing must be followed up in writing on a form supplied by Spokane County within 24 hours. At the next meeting of the Board of County Commissioners the Board will decide whether to accept the verbal offer.
  7. The best offer receives the contract to purchase the property.
View the Current Surplus Real Property Listing

Legal Disclaimer
This information is not intended to be given as legal advice, any person interested in purchasing County-owned real property should seek their own legal counsel and/or thoroughly investigate the status of any property they are interested in acquiring.