USA Foreclosure Wiki

Columbia County, OR

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Columbia County, Oregon — Forced Sales of Personal Property (county layer)

Local operations layer. The legal framework lives on the parent page → oregon. This page currently carries only module C11 (forced sales of vehicles, boats, equipment and businesses); the tax-sale, redemption, surplus, office, records, title, purchaser and restriction modules (C0–C10) have not been researched for Columbia County and are listed under needs_verification. Legal information, not legal advice. Last verified: 2026-10-18.

C0. Identity

  • FIPS: 41009
  • Parent legal framework: oregon
  • County seat, population, recording unit: not researched. [needs_verification]

C11. Forced Sales of Vehicles, Boats, Equipment & Businesses → framework: oregon §12

County layer only. The state rules — writ and levy, the debtor’s challenge to execution, notice of an execution sale of personal property (mailing, and posting in three public places or, at the creditor’s request, on the sheriffs’ ORS 18.926 website), payment, bill of sale and what the buyer takes — are on oregon §12.1 and §12.4; towing, abandoned-vehicle, vessel and tax-warrant sales on §12.2; lienholder sales without a court on §12.3; publication channels and reuse limits on §12.7. This module records only what Columbia County sources themselves publish. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

  • Sheriff’s civil / execution-sale practice: “A Sheriff’s sale is a public auction of real or personal property by the Sheriff, pursuant to a Writ of Execution to satisfy a judgment which is issued by the court.” Judicial foreclosure sales are scheduled for Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. in the lobby at 901 Port Ave, St. Helens; the page’s schedule has also carried personal-property execution sales (business inventory “Auctioned in Parcels”) held at the property’s own address in mid-2026. Questions: 503-366-4615, sheriff.civil@columbiacountyor.gov. [Source: https://sheriff.columbiacountyor.gov/realproperty-propertysales]
  • Where sheriff’s sales are posted (online lists): The sheriffs’ ORS 18.926 notice website has a Columbia County page listing the sheriff’s office as 901 Port Avenue, St. Helens (Civil Division, 503-366-4652). The page states that “All pending Sheriff sales for this county may not be posted on this site”; for personal property, website posting replaces the three-place posting only when the creditor asks for it (see oregon §12.1, §12.7). [Source: OSSA county page — https://oregonsheriffssales.org/county/columbia/] The sheriff’s own Property Sales page carries a schedule table, described as “a convenience only and … not an official record”. [Source: https://sheriff.columbiacountyor.gov/realproperty-propertysales]
  • Notice posting places & newspaper: The sheriff states that “Official public notice of sales are made on the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association website … for 28 days and published in the Columbia County Spotlight newspaper where the sale notice can be seen for four consecutive weeks.” The statement is general; ORS 18.920 itself requires posting or the website, not newspaper publication, for personal property (see oregon §12.1). Posting places are not named. [Source: same page]
  • Local tow / abandoned-vehicle ordinance: Columbia County Parking and Towing Ordinance, No. 2019-5. §7: an authorized officer may tow a vehicle reasonably believed disabled or abandoned and left in the right of way more than 24 hours, after an ORS 819.170 notice is affixed at least 24 hours ahead (weekends and holidays included); a timely hearing request blocks the tow unless the vehicle is a hazard. §8: a vehicle with no VIN, plate or other DMV-traceable marking may be towed and disposed of “as though notice and an opportunity for a hearing had been given”. §11: the tower has a lien “as set forth in ORS 819.160”. §12: an unreclaimed vehicle “may be sold”, not until at least 7 days after a pending hearings decision; vehicles and contents are sold or disposed of “in accordance with ORS 819.201 and 819.215” (as printed — ORS 819.201 may be a misprint for 819.210), with any balance after towing and storage costs “credited to the General Fund of the County”. [Source: Ord. 2019-5 (scanned PDF text layer) — https://www.columbiacountyor.gov/media/Board/BOC/Ordinances/Book%203/Parking%20and%20Towing/2019-5%20Matter%20of%20Adopting%20the%20Columbia%20County%20Parking%20and%20Towing%20Ordinance.pdf] [needs_verification: the “819.201” citation and reconciliation of §12’s General Fund rule with ORS 87.206/819.150 surplus]
  • County forfeiture / unclaimed-property sales (forced dispositions only): Not located. The county Vehicles page also lists Ordinance 94-11 (impoundment and inventory); its scanned text, read by OCR, contains no sale or disposition provision. [Source: https://www.columbiacountyor.gov/Vehicles] [needs_verification]
  • Lienholder sales run without the sheriff: possessory-lien (towing, repair, storage) and self-storage sales are conducted by the lien claimant under state law; see oregon §12.3. No Columbia County rule altering them was located.
  • Scope note: real-property sale listings shown on sheriff or OSSA pages are not reproduced here.
  • C11 needs_verification:
    • Whether personal-property execution notices are actually published in the Spotlight
    • Posting places
    • Ord. 2019-5 §12 citation “ORS 819.201”
    • Forfeiture / unclaimed-property sale ordinance
  • C11 sources (retrieved 2026-10-18):

▸ For Investors / Operators — In Columbia County the sheriff is the selling officer for court-ordered execution sales of vehicles, equipment and other personal property (ORS 18.860, 18.868; oregon §12.1); any payment terms and posting channels the county itself publishes are listed in C11 above. What a buyer takes, which liens survive and how title is transferred for titled vehicles and vessels are state-law questions in oregon §12.1, §12.4 and §12.8.

▸ For Former Owners — The challenge-to-execution and exemption procedure, the notice timing before a sale, and any surplus after an execution, lien or abandoned-vehicle sale are governed by state law (oregon §12.1–§12.3); the county offices above are where those notices originate.

C7. Meta

  • sources: see the C11 source list above (all retrieved 2026-10-18).
  • needs_verification:
    • C0 Identity (county seat, population, recording unit) — not researched
    • C1 Local Tax Sale — not researched
    • C2 Local Redemption — not researched
    • C3 Local Surplus / Excess Proceeds — not researched
    • C4 Offices & Contacts — not researched
    • C5 Local Procedure Notes — not researched
    • C6 Records Access — not researched
    • C8 Title & Quiet Title — not researched
    • C9 Purchaser Obligations — not researched
    • C10 Local Restrictions — not researched
    • C11: Whether personal-property execution notices are actually published in the Spotlight
    • C11: Posting places
    • C11: Ord. 2019-5 §12 citation “ORS 819.201”
    • C11: Forfeiture / unclaimed-property sale ordinance
  • cross_links: oregon, personal-property-execution-sales-by-state
  • changelog:
    • 2026-10-18 — Page created with C11 only (Oregon county layer for forced sales of personal property). Raw evidence: schema/verification/oregon-counties-2026-10-18/.

▸ For Investors / Operators — In Columbia County the sheriff is the selling officer for court-ordered execution sales of vehicles, equipment and other personal property (ORS 18.860, 18.868; oregon §12.1); any payment terms and posting channels the county itself publishes are listed in C11 above. What a buyer takes, which liens survive and how title is transferred for titled vehicles and vessels are state-law questions in oregon §12.1, §12.4 and §12.8.

▸ For Former Owners — The challenge-to-execution and exemption procedure, the notice timing before a sale, and any surplus after an execution, lien or abandoned-vehicle sale are governed by state law (oregon §12.1–§12.3); the county offices above are where those notices originate.

Legal information, not legal advice. This page summarizes Columbia County, Oregon sources for research purposes. Statutes, ordinances, fees and sale practices change; verify against the cited primary sources and consult a licensed Oregon attorney before acting. Last verified: 2026-10-18.

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