Oregon’s home-buying process follows the same broad stages as most states — offer, inspection, financing, title, closing — but two things stand out here: Oregon has effectively banned real estate transfer taxes statewide except in one county, and the seller disclosure form leans harder on natural-hazard questions than most states’ do, reflecting Oregon’s real earthquake and wildfire exposure. This walks through where Oregon’s process diverges from the generic version.
Closings run through title and escrow companies, not an attorney
Oregon doesn’t require an attorney at closing. A licensed title company searches title and issues the policy, and a licensed escrow company — sometimes the same business, sometimes a genuinely separate one — holds funds, coordinates signing, and handles disbursement. That split between title and escrow as distinct licensed functions is more pronounced in Oregon than in a lot of states, where one company routinely does both under one roof. Nothing stops you from hiring your own attorney for anything unusual — a contested boundary, an estate sale, an out-of-state or complex ownership structure — but it’s an optional layer on top of a process that doesn’t require one.
Where the records live: County Assessor and County Clerk
Property is valued by each county’s County Assessor, and deeds are recorded by the County Clerk in most counties — though Multnomah, Washington, and Hood River counties route recording through an appointed assessment/recording department instead of an elected Clerk. RefPages’ County Records directory links to your specific county’s Assessor and recording office.
Oregon banned local transfer taxes — except where one already existed
Most states either have a statewide transfer tax or let counties set their own. Oregon did something different: a 1997 law (ORS 306.815) prohibits cities and counties from adopting a real estate transfer tax going forward, grandfathering in only the handful of jurisdictions that already had one at the time. In practice, that means Washington County (which covers part of the Portland metro area) is essentially the only place in Oregon that charges one — $1 per $1,000 of the sale price, or 0.1%, with exemptions for gifts, devises, and inheritances. Buy in Clackamas, Multnomah, Deschutes, Lane, or any other Oregon county and there’s no transfer tax at all. Confirm which county you’re in before assuming either way.
The seller’s disclosure statement, and its natural-hazard questions
Oregon requires sellers to complete a statutory disclosure form (ORS 105.462-105.490) and deliver it to any buyer who makes a written offer. It runs 50-plus questions and covers the structure, systems, water and sewer, and known material defects, all based on the seller’s actual knowledge rather than a guarantee. You have five business days after delivery to revoke your offer based on what’s disclosed, and the burden of proving the form was actually delivered falls on the seller.
Two categories of question are worth paying particular attention to given Oregon’s geography:
- Seismic risk — the form asks whether the house was built before 1974 and, if so, whether it’s been bolted to its foundation, which matters directly for earthquake risk in a state that sits on the Cascadia subduction zone. It also asks about known geologic hazard zones (landslide risk) and floodplain status.
- Wildfire — Oregon built a statewide wildfire hazard map and a related disclosure item (question 9.I, asking whether the property had been classified as wildland-urban interface) in the early 2020s. A 2025 law, Senate Bill 83, voided the state’s hazard-zone designations and pulled back the associated mapping and mitigation requirements after pushback from rural property owners and insurers — and as part of that repeal, it struck item 9.I from the seller’s disclosure statement outright, effective when Governor Kotek signed it on July 24, 2025. The current form no longer asks the question at all; a form still carrying it predates the change. Given the repeal, asking directly about wildfire history is worth doing anyway if you’re buying anywhere near forested or rural land, since the form itself no longer prompts for it.
If work is needed before or after closing
If an inspection turns up something that needs a permit, RefPages’ Building Permit Departments directory links to the relevant city or county permitting office.