How to Sell a Home in Oregon: Step-by-Step Guide for 2026

Realtor.com® Economic Research puts Oregon’s August 2026 median listing price at $565,000 and median days on market at 66 (first listing to closing or withdrawal). Measure 79 (2012) bars new transfer taxes, yet Washington County still collects its 1985 tax of $1 per $1,000 of the selling price.

Those are statewide asking-price and listing-duration medians for single-family homes plus condos/townhomes, not a record of what Oregon buyers paid.

Transfer tax in Oregon: the Article IX ban and Washington County’s exception

Article IX, § 15 of the Oregon Constitution (Measure 79, adopted November 6, 2012) bars the state and every local government from imposing a tax “upon the transfer of any interest in real property,” except one “in effect and operative on December 31, 2009.” The 2012 Voters’ Pamphlet explanation named “a real estate transfer tax in Washington County” as one that would remain. County Code 3.04.070 sets it at “one dollar per one thousand dollars or fraction thereof of the selling price,” and a loan the buyer assumes counts in that price. “Liability for this tax shall attach upon every purchaser and seller,” and the code does not divide it, so settle the split in the sale agreement. It is due within 15 days after the deed is tendered for recording, and 3.04.030(J) lists 18 exempt kinds of document; one that is not exempt on its face needs an affidavit within 15 days (3.04.040). Details: Oregon closing costs and Oregon transfer tax explained.

ORS 105.464 disclosure and the buyer’s five business days

ORS 105.465 requires the seller to “complete, sign and deliver” the statement printed in ORS 105.464 to each buyer who makes a written offer on one to four dwelling units, a condominium unit or timeshare not already subject to disclosure under ORS 100.705 or 94.829, or a manufactured dwelling owned together with the land under it. A leasehold is outside it, and so is any sale where the buyer tells the seller the property won’t serve as a residence for the buyer or the buyer’s spouse, parent or child; that statement is conclusive. ORS 105.470 adds four exclusions, among them sales by a court-appointed personal representative (full list: ORS 105.470).

Unless the buyer already delivered a written waiver to the seller, the buyer has “five business days after delivery” to revoke by a separate signed writing; if the seller “fails or refuses” to provide the statement, that right lasts until closing (ORS 105.475). Walk-through: Oregon seller disclosure guide.

Oregon listing agreements and buyer-agent pay since August 17, 2024

NAR’s settlement FAQ explains that “Offers of compensation could continue to be an option consumers can pursue off-MLS through negotiation and consultation with real estate professionals,” while MLSs covered by NAR’s rules no longer carry them. “This change went into effect on August 17, 2024.” Sellers keep the option: “As a seller, you still have the choice of offering compensation to buyer agents.” Any such payment needs your approval first, and that written disclosure “must specify the payment amount or rate.” What your own broker charges “remains fully negotiable and is not set by law.” All of this is NAR policy for the MLSs its rules reach, not an Oregon statute.

The Oregon Real Estate Agency “licenses and regulates real estate brokers, principal brokers, property managers and escrow agents,” and anyone you hire can be checked on its eLicense lookup. Escrow is licensed too: ORS 696.511(1) bars acting as an escrow agent without “an active license as an escrow agent,” and ORS 696.520 exempts, among others, an attorney acting as an attorney, banks within set limits, and a broker closing a deal the broker handled if no separate escrow fee is charged. Compare the agent commission explainer with a for-sale-by-owner route.

Keeping the gain: 26 U.S.C. § 121

The exclusion is federal. A single filer keeps up to $250,000 of gain out of income when, in the 5 years ending on the sale, the home was owned and used as the principal residence for periods totaling 2 years or more; a sale within 2 years of another sale that used the exclusion gets none, except the reduced exclusion § 121(c) allows for a sale made “by reason of a change in place of employment, health, or, to the extent provided in regulations, unforeseen circumstances.” For $500,000 on a joint return, one spouse has to meet the ownership test and both have to meet the use test, and neither may be blocked by that 2-year rule. Estimate what you walk away with in the net proceeds calculator.

What Oregon sellers ask

I’m selling in Washington County. Does the buyer or do I pay the transfer tax?

Both of you are liable under Washington County Code 3.04.070, and the code assigns no share to either side. At $1 per $1,000 or fraction of it, a $500,500 sale owes $501. Put the split in writing in the sale agreement.

My buyer revoked three business days after getting my disclosure form. Is the earnest money mine?

No, unless the buyer had already delivered a written waiver of the right to revoke when you issued the statement. A timely revocation makes the offer void, and ORS 105.475(5) gives the buyer “immediate return of all deposits” and other consideration delivered to any party or escrow agent.

The court named me personal representative of my father’s estate. Do I fill out the statement?

Not Section 2. A court-appointed personal representative is one of the ORS 105.470 exclusions; you claim it in Section 1 of the form, sign, and the buyer acknowledges it. Without a court appointment the exclusion does not fit.

More for Oregon: moving to Salem, moving to Bend, and the neighboring California and Washington selling guides.