Buyers quickly snatch up property at sheriff’s sale
Staff writer
In a sale lasting just more than half an hour, buyers at Thursday’s tax foreclosure action picked up houses for as little as $6,000 and empty lots for as little as $150.
Before the sale, 131 bidders registered to bid on 16 parcels of real estate and mineral rights.
One man came in to register a few minutes too late to get a bidding card.
Some bidders had particular parcels in mind, and some were there to see what deals they could get.
Rod Johnson bought mineral rights to property near Aulne.
His father, Eugene, owned the land but not the mineral rights being sold.
“It’s an old rock quarry,” Eugene Johnson said. “It’s nothing but wasteland, but he’s got a house on it.”
Sheriff Jeff Soyez took bids starting at $50, then moved up to $1,000 bids. For properties with several bidders, he jumped up to $1,500 increments.
A two-bedroom house in the 400 block of S. 4th St. in Marion, appraised for $28,000, sold for $14,000.
A different two-bedroom house in Marion, 15 years newer and in the 400 block of S. Lincoln St., also appraised at $28,000, sold for $10,000.
A smaller two-bedroom house in Peabody, in the 200 block of E. 4th St., appraised at $20,290, sold for $6,000.
Houses sold included:
- 101 S. Birch St., Hillsboro.
- 207 E. 4th St., Peabody.
- 209 W. 4th St., Florence.
- 217 E. 4th St., Florence.
- 303 W. Marion, Lehigh.
- 305 N. C St., Ramona.
- 328 N. Lincoln St., Marion.
- 413 S. 4th St., Marion.
- 420 N. Lincoln St., Marion.
A retail building at 400 W. Main St., Lincolnville, also was auctioned.
Vacant lots on the sale list included:
- N. Poplar St., Peabody.
- W. 5th St., Florence.
- 501 S. 4th St., Marion.
- 210 S. Vernon St., Lehigh.
- 620 Barker St., Florence.
- 311 N. Lincoln St., Hillsboro.
Sales will be final after confirmed by the district court in about two weeks.
In all, the sale raised $61,350.