Tax-foreclosed property: how it works
Private sale of county tax-foreclosed land after an unsuccessful auction
Oregon has no standing statewide over-the-counter list. Under ORS 275.200, when land the county ordered sold remains unsold after the sheriff's sale, the county governing body may sell it at private sale without further notice for not less than the largest bid made at the sheriff's sale or, if there was no bid, at a price the county considers reasonable but no less than 15 percent of the sheriff's-sale minimum. ORS 275.225 separately allows a private sale, after a published notice and a 15-day wait, of parcels with a real market value under 15,000 dollars that cannot be built on. Many counties keep an available-property list for these sales and take sealed or first-come offers. For property governed by ORS 312.520, a parcel that fails to sell at the second auction may instead be kept by the county or transferred to a nonprofit, so post-auction inventory varies by county and must be confirmed with the county office.
Does Oregon publish a lands-available list?
No statewide Lands Available list. Unsold tax-foreclosed inventory stays with each county.
This route skips the live auction, which means these are the parcels nobody bid on, so the due diligence matters even more. Every state names this inventory differently, and the state-held and struck-off land table maps each local name to the same mechanism. The over-the-counter guide has the cross-state playbook.
Verified Sep 25, 2026 against Oregon sources.
Tax Sale Atlas publishes educational information about public tax sale processes. This is not legal, financial, or investment advice. Rules, dates, and fees change; confirm with the county office before you bid.