Glossary / Upset price

Upset price

Terminology varies by jurisdiction — opening bid, minimum bid, upset price — but the mechanics converge: the figure represents the public's claim (taxes, penalties, interest, costs, sometimes fees), and bidding starts there. If no bid meets the upset price, the property goes unsold into the jurisdiction's leftover channel: reoffer, struck-off list, forfeited-land inventory or land bank.

For the bidder, the upset price is the first diligence number: it tells you the size of the public claim the market must cover before any equity changes hands, and comparing it to assessed value and comparable sales produces the fastest value-gap read available from the sale list alone.

The vocabulary varies because the institutions do. Hawaii's upset price is set by the county finance apparatus for its in-person auctions; Pennsylvania's upset price belongs to its bureau sale system, distinct from its judicial sale price logic; California speaks of minimum bids authorized by boards of supervisors. Underneath the labels sits one policy question every jurisdiction answers: how much of the public claim must a sale recover before the public would rather keep the property? For bidders, a second question follows: when the upset price goes unmet, where does the parcel go next — reoffer at a cut (California), struck-off channels (Texas), or forfeiture pipelines (Minnesota)? The upset price is the doorway to the leftover market; note the door it opens in your state.

In practice: Hawaii's county sales set an upset price covering taxes, penalties, interest and costs (HRS §231-63 framework); Pennsylvania repository and judicial sales distinguish upset-price sales from free-and-clear judicial sales — Pennsylvania's own terminology in our directory sources.

Definitions verified 2026-10-30 against the sourced state-law dataset. Educational only, not legal advice.