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At 10 a.m., Geoff Cross, an administrative specialist for the Washington County Sheriff's Office, walked to the front counter of the civil department, opened a file for a foreclosed condominium in Tigard, and read the contents aloud.
"By virtue of a writ of execution issued out of circuit for Washington County, by the power vested in me as deputy sheriff, I offer this property for sale," he announced quickly and without effect. "Do I have a bid?"
He did, in the amount of $250,552.91. It came from a creditor who had faxed it in before the sale began. Cross asked if there were any other bids, repeating the question several times. But no one answered because he was speaking to a wall.
"Going once ... going twice ... three times," Cross said in obligatory ritual. "Sold to the highest bid, submitted by a creditor for $250,552.91."
Most sheriff's sales happen just like that - the product of hours of procedural paperwork compiled to fulfill statutory obligations, in which few people are interested. Deputies used to have to go through the motions only a few times a month.
But recent Oregon Court of Appeals rulings have stymied Oregon's nonjudicial foreclosure process, and the numbers of sheriff's sales have increased nearly tenfold in Washington, Clackamas and Multnomah counties. Pending a decision by the Oregon Supreme Court, county staffers face a long road ahead.
"We've been fairly fortunate that we've been able to...