Tax sale vs. mortgage foreclosure surplus — what’s the difference?

Mortgage foreclosure surplus comes from a lender (or trustee) selling a property to recover the unpaid mortgage. If the sale brings more than the mortgage and costs, the surplus may belong to the former owner.

Tax-sale overage comes from a county selling a property to recover unpaid property taxes. The math is the same in spirit, but the procedure, the holding agency, and the statute windows are usually different.

Different counties use different vocabulary. “Excess proceeds”, “surplus”, “overage”, and “overbid” often mean roughly the same thing depending on where you are.