The cheap parcel is cheap for a reason.
We tell you which reason.
California counties auction land for unpaid taxes, and the opening bid is set from what is owed — not from what the parcel is worth. Trelys checks every parcel against wildfire perimeters, zoning minimums and assessor records, and shows you the findings with their sources, before you bid.
210 of 7504 parcels we’ve checked sit inside a recorded wildfire perimeter.
That is 3% of current inventory — Camp Fire, North Complex, and older burns going back to 1950. Counties don’t flag it. The listing looks identical either way.
What we check on every parcel
Wildfire history
Point-in-polygon against CAL FIRE perimeters back to 1950, including repeat burns. Affects insurability, rebuild cost and what a lender will accept.
Zoning, in plain English
FR-5 becomes "Foothill Residential, 5-acre minimum parcel size" — quoted from the county ordinance, with a link to it. A minimum that large means you cannot split the parcel below it.
Size and what the address reveals
A parcel described only as "PTN NE QTR SEC 22 T20N R6E" has no street frontage at all. A leading zero means the county assigned no number. We read both.
Whether anything is built on it
Improvement value, building area, year built and land-use class — so a burned lot is never presented as a house, and a condominium is never called an unbuildable sliver.
Cheapest parcels right now
Lowest opening bids across 4 live counties — shown unfiltered, findings included.
| Opening bid | Assessed | Where | Findings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | — | Placer | Read carefully |
| $100 | — | Placer | Read carefully |
| $900 | $722 | El Dorado | High caution |
| $1,000 | $3,261 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $1,100 | $474 | Placer | High caution |
| $1,200 | $897 | El Dorado | High caution· CALDOR 2021 |
| $1,300 | $120 | El Dorado | High caution |
| $1,500 | $30 | El Dorado | High caution |
| $1,600 | $3,121 | ARNOLD | Read carefully |
| $1,600 | $5,439 | Calaveras | Read carefully |
| $2,000 | $8,673 | COPPEROPOLIS | Read carefully |
| $2,000 | $11,744 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,200 | $2,002 | ARNOLD | High caution |
| $2,356 | $10,675 | Nevada City | Read carefully |
| $2,425 | $10,781 | Nevada City | Read carefully |
| $2,600 | $7,252 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,600 | $15,034 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,700 | $18,961 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,700 | $6,071 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,700 | $5,960 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,700 | $383 | El Dorado | High caution |
| $2,900 | $137 | El Dorado | High caution |
| $2,900 | $6,060 | El Dorado | Read carefully |
| $2,917 | $2,239 | North San Juan | High caution· NORTH SAN JUAN 1960 |
What the labels mean
A parcel takes the level of its worst single finding. Missing data never escalates it — not knowing something is not a finding against a parcel, and the moment an absence looks like a warning, every real warning gets discounted.
At least one finding that would change what you bid, or whether you bid.
- —The parcel sits inside a mapped CAL FIRE perimeter
- —The assessor values it below its opening bid
- —The county publishes only a legal description, not an address — raw described acreage
- —It has an assigned street number, has burned, and carries no structure value on the roll
Workable, but with a constraint worth understanding before you commit.
- —Assessed value is between one and five times the opening bid
- —Zoning sets a minimum parcel size of 5 acres or more, so it cannot be split below that
- —Under a tenth of an acre with no building recorded — often a remnant or easement strip
- —The situs address is partial or unnumbered
Nothing adverse found in the checks we ran. Not a recommendation.
- —Outside every CAL FIRE perimeter recorded since 1950
- —Assessed at five times the opening bid or more
- —A full numbered street address
- —A tenth of an acre or larger, or a recorded structure
We could not run a check. This is never counted against a parcel.
- —No coordinates on file, so the fire perimeter check could not run
- —No assessed value or no opening bid, so no ratio can be formed
- —No lot size published and none recoverable from the address
- —A zoning code whose county definition we do not yet hold
These labels describe public records, not the merits of a purchase. “Nothing adverse found” means the checks we ran came back clean — it is not a valuation, a title opinion, or advice to bid. Every finding on a parcel names the source it came from so you can check it yourself.
What this is not
Not a list of bargains. Most tax-defaulted land is cheap because it is difficult — no legal access, a minimum parcel size you cannot build under, or a burn scar. Our job is to tell you which, not to talk you into a bid.
Not a title report or a survey. Everything we publish comes from public records, with the source named beside each finding so you can check it. Confirm access, liens and condition independently.
Not an appraisal. Assessed value is a property-tax figure. We show the ratio to the opening bid because it is a useful floor, never because it is a market price.
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Every parcel across 4 California counties with its address, opening bid, assessed value, map, zoning and risk findings. A card to start, $0 today; cancel anytime before day 15 and you are never charged.
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