Alexander County tax bills, trustee deeds and an overdue reassessment
The median owner here pays about $1,084 a year in property tax, per Census data. That's small in dollars but heavy next to home values: state figures put Cairo's effective rate near 3.2 percent of market value, against about 1.25 percent in Tamms.
No Alexander County tax sale month is published online. What sells at a tax sale is the tax debt, not the house. The bidder who accepts the lowest penalty pays the taxes, and on a typical home you have up to 3 years from the sale to redeem. Taxes nobody buys at the sale go to the county as trustee, which can later sell them. In December 2023 the assessor told the board it had been more than 10 years since the last reassessment and that properties were selling about 10 percent above their assessed levels. The state's 2024 study found very uneven assessments on only 20 sales, so check yours.
Foreclosure cases at the Cairo courthouse on Washington Avenue
Illinois mortgages can only be foreclosed through the courts. Alexander County sits in the First Judicial Circuit with Massac, Pulaski, Pope, Johnson, Union, Jackson, Williamson and Saline counties, and cases here are heard at the Alexander County Courthouse, 2000 Washington Avenue in Cairo. No foreclosure mediation program was found.
State law sets the clock. Your right to redeem by paying the full amount runs until the later of 7 months from service or 3 months from the judgment, and it ends before the judicial sale. If the court finds a home abandoned, redemption can end 30 days after the judgment. The Illinois foreclosure timeline and the deadline calculator walk through each step. For free help, Land of Lincoln Legal Aid serves Alexander County from its Carbondale office at (618) 457-7800, and its housing work covers foreclosures. The court also lists self-help legal centers at the Cairo Public Library, 1609 Washington Avenue, and at Dodge Memorial Public Library in Olive Branch.
Cairo, Tamms, Olive Branch and the river villages
Alexander is the southernmost county in Illinois, bounded by the Mississippi on the west and south and by the Ohio and Cache rivers on the east. Census estimates count 2,938 housing units, and about 35 percent of them sit vacant. Of those, 761 are neither for rent, for sale nor seasonal, the Census category that usually covers abandoned homes and houses caught in estates. About 14 percent of homes are mobile homes, and the median home was built in 1969.
Cairo, the county seat, sits at the southern tip behind levees and a flood wall, and its Census median home value is $32,000. East Cape Girardeau faces Cape Girardeau, Missouri, across the Mississippi and has a median value of $62,500. The county's other communities are Tamms, Olive Branch, McClure and Thebes, a former county seat. Floods are common along the rivers here, so ask about a home's flood history.
The money math on a $65,000 Alexander County sale
Redfin's median sale price for May 2026 was $65,000, but that rests on just 2 sales, with 9 homes for sale countywide. Monthly medians over the prior year swung from $16,000 to $285,000. The Census median home value of $59,800 is a steadier cross-check. Here's a rough look at what comes out of $65,000 on a traditional listing:
- Agent commission at about 4.9 percent, Clever's Illinois average (updated September 2026): roughly $3,200
- Closing costs at about 1.2 percent: roughly $780
- State transfer tax at $0.50 per $500: about $65
That's roughly $4,000, about 6 percent of the price, before your mortgage payoff, repairs or back taxes. No source confirms whether Alexander charges a county transfer tax, so ask your closing attorney. With a 1969 median build year, half the homes here are old enough that the state and federal lead disclosure rules for older homes may apply. If you inherited the house, the inherited house guide covers the Illinois steps.
If the property is a fit, a cash buyer may make an offer, and the closing date can be worked out around your plans. Listing with an agent is also a fine choice. If a foreclosure deadline is close, the page on selling to stop a foreclosure lays out the options.
Other Illinois pages for Cairo and Alexander County sellers
Alexander County has no town pages yet, so sellers in Cairo, Tamms and Olive Branch can start here.
- Massac County: shares the First Judicial Circuit with Alexander County
- All Illinois pages: the statewide directory of county and city pages
Sources: Census Reporter, Alexander County ACS 2020-2024; Census Bureau, median home value for Alexander County places; Illinois Department of Revenue, property tax statistics; 35 ILCS 200/21-350; Alexander County Board minutes, December 19, 2023; First Judicial Circuit, Alexander County; 735 ILCS 5/15-1603; Land of Lincoln Legal Aid locations; First Judicial Circuit legal self-help centers; 35 ILCS 200/31-10, state transfer tax; Redfin Data Center; Clever commission survey
