Virginia’s home-buying process follows the familiar sequence — offer, inspection, financing, title, closing — but a few pieces of it are distinctly Virginia: the state layers two separate deed taxes on top of each other (four, if you’re buying in Northern Virginia, where two more regional fees apply), the disclosure law leans further toward buyer-beware than most states’, and a meaningful share of the state’s housing stock sits inside a homeowners’ or condominium association with its own paperwork requirements. This walks through where Virginia’s process diverges from the generic version, and where RefPages’ own directories go deeper on a specific step.
Virginia closings don’t require an attorney — but a lot of them use one anyway
Virginia law doesn’t require an attorney to conduct a residential closing. A licensed settlement agent — frequently a title insurance company — can run the closing on its own: searching title, preparing the settlement statement, and disbursing funds, the same as in a pure title-company state. In practice, though, attorneys handle a real share of Virginia closings directly, more so than in states like Florida or Michigan, particularly in Northern Virginia and for anything involving an estate, a contested boundary, or unusual contract terms. Which kind of firm ends up running your closing often comes down to who your agent or lender works with, not a state requirement — it’s worth asking upfront.
Where the records live: locally varying valuation, uniform recording
Recording is uniform across Virginia: every county and independent city records deeds through its Clerk of the Circuit Court. Property valuation is less consistent — many counties assess through the Commissioner of the Revenue, a combined tax office, while most of Virginia’s larger counties and independent cities (Fairfax, Arlington, Virginia Beach, and Richmond among them) run a standalone Real Estate Assessor’s office instead. RefPages’ County Records directory links to your specific county or city’s assessment and recording offices, whichever structure it uses.
Two taxes stacked together — plus two more in Northern Virginia
Virginia doesn’t charge one transfer tax; it charges two, collected together when the deed is recorded. The state recordation tax (Code of Virginia § 58.1-801) runs 25 cents for every $100 (or fraction) of the deed’s consideration or the property’s assessed value, whichever is greater — by custom, this one is generally treated as the buyer’s cost, since the statute itself doesn’t name a payer. A separate grantor’s tax (§ 58.1-802) runs 50 cents for every $500 of that same value; here the statute is explicit that the grantor (seller) pays it, though the grantor and grantee can agree in the contract to shift the burden.
If the property sits in a locality that’s a member of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) — Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park, among others in the region — there isn’t just one additional regional layer, but two, and they stack. A regional congestion relief fee (§ 58.1-802.4, formerly numbered § 58.1-802.2) funds NVTA road and transit projects, and a separate regional WMATA capital fee (§ 58.1-802.3) funds the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s capital program. Each is 10 cents per $100, both are statutorily imposed on the grantor by default (again negotiable in the contract), and both apply to the same NVTA localities — so the real regional add-on in Northern Virginia is 20 cents per $100, not 10. Confirm which side is paying what before you get to the closing table, especially if you’re buying in NoVA, where the seller’s total state-plus-regional tax burden runs noticeably higher than in the rest of the state.
Virginia is a disclosure/disclaimer state, not a defect-checklist state
Virginia’s Residential Property Disclosure Act is genuinely closer to buyer-beware than most states’ disclosure laws. A seller isn’t obligated to tell you about the property’s physical condition, and the standard statutory form most sellers sign is actually a disclaimer — a statement that they’re making no representations about the property’s condition at all, shifting the burden to your own inspection. That said, the statute does force disclosure of a specific, narrower list of things regardless of what a seller chooses to disclaim: known prior methamphetamine production on the property, whether the property is adjacent to or near a military air installation, any pending zoning or building code violation, a recorded lis pendens affecting the property, stormwater management facilities located on the lot, and whether the property has been designated a FEMA repetitive loss property. Because the general disclosure duty is this limited, your own inspection carries more weight in Virginia than in a state with a full statutory defect checklist.
Buying into an HOA or condo association adds its own paperwork and timeline
A significant share of Virginia’s housing stock — especially in Northern Virginia and other suburban markets — sits inside a homeowners’ or property owners’ association or a condominium. When that’s the case, Virginia law entitles you to receive a resale disclosure packet from the association before you’re bound to close, covering things like the association’s finances, rules, and any pending assessments or litigation, and gives you a statutory window to cancel the contract after reviewing it. The exact packet contents and cancellation window differ slightly depending on whether it’s a property owners’ association or a condominium, so confirm the specifics — and the deadline — with your closing agent as soon as you know the property is part of an association; it’s a real timeline item, not paperwork you can put off.
If work is needed before or after closing
If an inspection turns up something that needs a permit — an addition, electrical or plumbing work, anything tied to bringing an older home up to code — RefPages’ Building Permit Departments directory links to the relevant city or county permitting office.