Lincoln County foreclosure auction finds winning bidders for seven of 19 properties

By QUINTON SMITH/Lincoln Chronicle

Michael and Erin Shreeve of Corvallis wanted to protect the two lots they own near the top of Windsong Street in Yachats.

Jeff McPherson of Yachats was just interested in some potential investment properties – if he could get them for the right price.

Both were successful Thursday when Lincoln County put 19 foreclosed properties up for auction to the highest bidder. But only seven of the 19 properties drew interest Thursday and were sold during the 45-minute auction in commission chambers attended by an audience of 25 and a handful of active bidders.

The unsold properties will remain with the county but could be available for purchase or put up for auction again. In some cases, the county can also donate foreclosed properties to nonprofits for conservation or for low-income housing projects.

The sheriff’s office holds sales on foreclosed properties about once a month but they usually involve just one or two properties and oftentimes are postponed or purchased by a bank or other creditor.

The properties up for auction Thursday had been foreclosed after their owners failed to pay property taxes for four years and then put up for sale after a two-year waiting period when owners still had the opportunity to pay off the taxes, interest and fees.

Many of the properties up for auction Thursday were not developable and did not receive bids even with minimum prices ranging from $4,000 to $5,000.

Two lots in the Shore Pine Hills manufactured home park valued at $47,750 drew no interest even with a $4,350 minimum bid. A house and property on Northeast Eighth Street in Yachats valued at $605,890 did not get a minimum bid of $300,000 – and included a warning from the sheriff that the winning bidder would have to go to court to evict its occupants.

The property bringing the highest amount was a residential lot four blocks from the beach in Lincoln City that had a single bidder with $125,001 — $1 over the county’s required minimum bid. The county assessor’s office listed the lot’s real market value at $411,000.

The winning bidder of that Lincoln City property was also the winner at $10,001 over two others – including McPherson – of single-family residential lot in Beverly Beach.

McPherson was the only bidder at $10,121 on two residential lots valued at $28,300 on Northeast Sunset Street on the east side of U.S. Highway 101 north of Yachats.

The Shreeves picked up 1.1 acres of undevelopable common space at the top of Windsong Street in Yachats for $2,501. It was a purchase to protect their two lots that sit below the property, said Michael Shreeve, and to preserve a trail access to the hill above the street.

In a last-minute surprise – at least to some in the audience who were prepared to bid on it – the county announced it had pulled a .67-acre commercial lot and building on Northwest 15^th Street in Newport out of the auction. The sheriff’s civil staff offered no explanation Thursday when asked by an audience member.

The property is the former home of Happy Motors, whose owner Ryan Skaggs, 31, disappeared in January 2021 and whose body was not found until 2025 in a remote area of Lincoln County. A Toledo man is scheduled to go on trial next year for his killing.

The assessor’s office said the property had a real market value of $972,000 and Thursday’s minimum bid was set at $450,000.

• Quinton Smith is the editor of Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]