The Oregon records that decide what a home really costs and what the seller has to tell you: disclosure law, property-tax reset, the official registry, and the FEMA flood map — sourced, with the county offices that hold the files.
Check the records behind the address before you offer.
Check any address — free previewThe legal standard: Under ORS 105.464 and 105.465, a seller of covered residential property must deliver the statutory Seller's Property Disclosure Statement, based on the seller's actual knowledge, to each buyer who makes a written offer.
Expect the statutory disclosure statement, which asks among other things whether the property is in a designated floodplain or geologic hazard zone, and answer is based on actual knowledge only - no inspection is required of the seller. After delivery you have five business days to revoke your offer in writing unless you waived that right.
Sources: oregon.public.law · harris-sliwoski.com · legalclarity.org · oregon.gov · currycountyor.gov
Oregon does not reset assessed value on a sale: the buyer inherits the seller's maximum assessed value and its 3% annual path, so the seller's current bill is an unusually good guide to yours. The exception is new construction or major additions, which are added at market value.
File any homestead or owner-occupant exemption the county offers as soon as you close — exemptions rarely apply themselves, and a missed filing is a full year of overpaid tax.
Oregon Sex Offender Inquiry System is run by Oregon State Police. Search it by the home's address before you offer — and search again before closing, because registry data changes as people move.
Open the official Oregon registry
You can also search every state at once through the federal National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW). A CurbFacts report shows the registry count for the home's ZIP — the same public data, organized for the decision.
The only flood map that decides a lender's insurance requirement is FEMA's — the National Flood Hazard Layer behind the official FEMA flood map viewer. Listing sites license private models that can and do disagree with it; when they conflict, the FEMA map is the one your lender and insurer use.
Check the exact parcel, not the ZIP code: flood-zone boundaries cut through streets, and two houses side by side can sit in different zones.
Oregon's public Sex Offender Inquiry System is a searchable database of Notification Level 3 (high risk) offenders subject to community notification, so lower-level registrants do not appear in a public address search.
After the seller delivers the disclosure statement the buyer has five business days to revoke the offer with a separate signed written statement, unless the buyer waived the right at or before signing the sale agreement - read any waiver in the agreement carefully.
What the Oregon disclosure does and does not cover, section by section, and the questions it never answers.
Read the guideHow to run an address through the official Oregon registry, and how to read what comes back.
Read the guideRecords live at the county level — assessor, recorder, permits. Pick the county for its records checklist.
Every CurbFacts report pulls the public records behind an address — flood determination, registry, tax reset, price history, permits, and what's planned nearby — and shows its sources.
Check any address — free preview