Agreeing · Answer
What is the Oregon initial agency disclosure pamphlet?
The short answer
It's a short document from the Oregon Real Estate Agency that explains whom a real estate agent works for. Under ORS 696.820 and OAR 863-015-0215, an agent has to give it to you at first contact. When spouses are selling together, each of you should get a copy and read it before choosing an agent.
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What it is
Oregon requires a real estate agent to give you the initial agency disclosure pamphlet at first contact. The requirement comes from ORS 696.820 and the Real Estate Agency's rule OAR 863-015-0215. It's the state's own explanation of agency, meaning whom an agent represents and what they owe the people on each side of a deal. It comes before any decision about hiring. Getting it early matters, because the first conversation with an agent is where people often say things about their money or their spouse before they know whom that agent will end up working for.
It's short. Read it in one sitting. If anything in it is unclear, ask me and I'll answer in writing to both of you.
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Why you both need it
In a divorce sale, the question of whom the agent works for is the whole question. You're selling one house as one seller, and you each need to know what that means for you. So I give the pamphlet to each of you directly, not to one spouse to pass along, and I'm happy to go through it with both of you on the same call. Keep your copy.
The pamphlet pairs with ORS 696.805, which lists what a seller's agent owes. To the seller, that includes care, loyalty, an accounting and timely disclosure of conflicts. To all parties, it includes honesty, good faith, timely presentation of written offers and disclosure of known material facts. Both of you get every one of those duties together, as covered in can one agent represent both of us.
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Using it to choose
The pamphlet is a useful script for interviewing agents. After you've both read it, ask each candidate how those duties work when the seller is two people in the middle of a divorce. Listen for a plain answer about working for the sale and treating both of you the same. Then compare. An agent who can't explain those duties in plain words to both of you at once may struggle to keep you both informed later, when the offers come in and the stakes are higher. If you're stuck on the choice itself, see we can't agree on which agent. If you'd like to hear my answer, book a consult for the two of you.
Sources · checked 23 Oct 2026
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