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The trade record for transaction coordinators

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The DeskToday

Oregon's real estate regulator is deciding whether to formally define transaction coordinators

Commissioner Steve Strode's column states plainly that the role 'does not exist in statute or rule' in Oregon. A stakeholder survey closed 10 July, and the agency says it will take the question to the Real Estate Board and may form a work group. In the meantime it has flagged two concrete risks: unwritten confidentiality terms, and coordinators who cross the state's one-business-name rule.

TC Bulletin Staff6 min readRead as markdown

What this story establishes

  • Oregon Real Estate Commissioner Steve Strode published a column, Transaction Coordinators and the Agency, stating that TCs 'do not exist in statute or rule' in Oregon, so the agency evaluates the activity case by case against the definition of professional real estate activity in ORS 696.010.
  • The agency ran an open survey through 10 July 2026, addressed to 'those hiring, working with, or serving as' transaction coordinators. No results had been published as of this story.
  • The column states the agency has been asked to explore the matter further, put it on a future Real Estate Board meeting agenda, and form a work group if necessary.
  • Two practical risks are flagged in the meantime: confidentiality terms need to be addressed in writing when a licensee hires a TC, and a broker or principal broker may not engage in professional real estate activities under more than one registered business name, which can catch a TC working across multiple brokerages.
  • The column separately advises that a broker working as a TC should discuss errors and omissions insurance with their managing principal broker before taking on the work.

Ask Oregon's real estate regulator what a transaction coordinator is allowed to do, and the honest answer, in the regulator's own words, is that the category does not exist yet. What the agency is doing instead is asking the industry whether it should.

The starting position: no statute, no rule

Real Estate Commissioner Steve Strode's column, Transaction Coordinators and the Agency, published in the Oregon Real Estate News-Journal, states that transaction coordinators do not exist in statute or rule in Oregon. Absent a defined category, the agency evaluates TC activity case by case against the statutory definition of professional real estate activity in ORS 696.010, which covers negotiating transactions or assisting in closing deals for compensation. Where a task falls inside that definition, it requires a license. Where it does not, it does not, and there is no TC-specific list to consult either way.

What the agency asked the industry

The agency opened a stakeholder survey addressed to those hiring, working with, or serving as transaction coordinators, which the column states was open through 10 July 2026. TC Bulletin found no published summary of the results as of this story, and no confirmation that a Real Estate Board agenda item has yet been scheduled. The column states only that the agency has been asked to explore the TC matter further, make it an agenda item at a future Real Estate Board meeting, and form a work group if necessary.

Two risks the agency flagged without waiting for a rule

The column does not wait on the survey to name two problems it sees now. On confidentiality: 'A licensee hiring a transaction coordinator needs to ensure that confidentiality requirements are understood by all parties and addressed appropriately in writing.' That is a plain instruction to put the terms in writing rather than assume them.

The second is more specific to Oregon's licensing structure. The state bars a broker or principal broker from engaging in professional real estate activities under more than one registered business name. A licensed coordinator who works across several brokerages, which is ordinary practice for an independent TC, can run into that rule depending on how their business is registered and which name their work is conducted under. The column flags it as a trap worth checking rather than assuming away.

  • Put confidentiality terms in writing before a transaction coordinator starts work on client files, rather than relying on an understanding.
  • If you are a licensed coordinator working with more than one brokerage, confirm how your business name is registered against the one-name rule before taking on the second engagement.
  • Discuss errors and omissions coverage with your managing principal broker before beginning TC work. The column raises this as a factor to weigh, not as a settled requirement.

Why a coordinator should watch this rather than wait

An agency that says a role does not exist in statute or rule, then runs a stakeholder survey and floats a work group, is telling an industry it is genuinely undecided rather than settled. For an Oregon coordinator, that is worth tracking for its own sake: whatever the agency eventually proposes will likely set the shape of the case-by-case standard that currently governs the work. TC Bulletin has found no comparable process underway in any other state at this scale, and will report the Real Estate Board's next step when the agency schedules one.