Oregon uses which security instrument?

While mortgages are legally permissible in Oregon, they are rarely used in practice because they require judicial foreclosure — a court-supervised process that is far slower and more expensive than the non-judicial trustee's sale available under a deed of trust; saying Oregon uses 'mortgages only' is factually incorrect.

Although both instruments are technically legal in Oregon, deeds of trust are so overwhelmingly preferred by lenders due to the non-judicial foreclosure advantage that saying they are used 'equally' misrepresents the reality of Oregon's mortgage lending market.

Land contracts (also called contracts for deed or installment sales contracts) are a specific seller-financing arrangement where the seller retains title until the buyer completes all payments; while they exist in Oregon, they are a niche instrument and are not the state's primary security instrument for conventional or FHA/VA lending.