Do You Need a License To Wholesale Real Estate?

Do you actually need a real estate license to wholesale real estate…

Or is that just one of those things that keeps people from getting started?

Because this question alone stops a lot of people before they ever do their first deal.

🧠 Here is what I will tell you…

👉 In most cases, you do not need a license

…but how you do the deal matters more than anything.

And this is exactly where people mess up.

There is a right way to structure these deals…
 and there is a wrong way that can cost you.

🔥 If you are thinking about wholesaling, already trying to do deals, or just want to understand how this really works…

You need to hear this.

Because one small mistake can be the difference between getting paid… or getting shut down.

🚀 I am also going to break down one of the biggest mistakes new wholesalers make…

👉 Not having a real system to generate leads

I will even show you a tool I recommend that helps you attract motivated sellers instead of chasing them:

🎧 Tap in and listen to the full episode now.

If you are serious about wholesaling and want to do this the right way… this is one you do not want to miss.

And when you are ready to take it further:

👉 Schedule a free 1 on 1:
 https://calendly.com/homeloansnetwork

👉 Apply for funding:
 https://www.homeloansnetwork.com/apply

👉 Get your real estate investors website here https://carrot.com/?fpr=2775&fp_sid=assignor

Stay locked in and listen to this podcast Hosted By Ebonie Beaco - Mortgage Strategist… and I will see you at the closing table. 💼🔥

Contact Ebonie Beaco  (NMLS ID: 2389954)
📞 Direct: 312-392-0664
Website: www.HomeLoansNetwork.com

And don’t forget—join me LIVE every Wednesday at 7pm CST on YouTube @HomeLoansNetwork for Wine Down Wednesdays to get real-time mortgage and real estate tips, ask questions, and stay ahead of the market.

Let’s get you approved and ready to buy with confidence.

The Real Estate Wholesale Deal Room Powered By Home Loans Network, we are always looking to partner with realtors, insurance agents, builders, developers, and real estate attorneys to interview and feature on the podcast. If you're a professional who wants to share your expertise, we’d love to collaborate with you. BOOK HERE

And to our listeners — your questions matter. We want to hear from you, feature your questions, and answer them on future episodes. Don’t hesitate to reach out and let us know what you’d like to learn more about!

📞 Call or Text: 312-392-0664
🌐 www.HomeLoansNetwork.com

👩‍💼 Ebonie Beaco – NMLS #2389954
🏢 Home Loans Network (NMLS #320841)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the real estate wholesale deal room where real deals get broken down, real estate strategies get exposed, and learn how to make money as a real estate wholesaler. This is where the deals get exposed for you to learn how to be the best of the best when it comes to real estate wholesaling. I am your host, Ebony B Co, mortgage strategist, real estate investor, and mentor to thousands of real estate investors across the country. And in this podcast here, I'm not just going to be talking about, oh, how to become a wholesaler. No, no, no, no, not at all. I am going to be discussing real life wholesaling step by step, real strategies, real transactions, and how to actually structure deals in today's industry. This is where the beginners come to learn the game and experienced investors come to sharpen it. And if you're a realtor, this is also where you want to be because guess what? This is going to help you build more business and become the knowledge expert within your industry. With that being said, this particular episode is do I need a license to become a wholesale real estate person? So do I need a license to wholesale real estate? Typically, you do not need a license to wholesale real estate if you are doing it the correct way. And the correct way is as a principal in the transaction. You are not the seller, you are not the realtor, you are a principal in the transaction. So let me explain what that means. You are the actual buyer on the contract, right? You are assigning your rights in that contract. So when you assign your rights in that contract to an assignee, you are now the assignor. So that is why your contract will say and or assignees, but next to your name, it'll also have assignor. Sometimes you'll see the assignor, but just know you are the assignor. As long as you're not acting on behalf of someone else, you are fine so far. So right now we're not breaking any rules, we're keeping everything applying because remember, you under no circumstances should not be acting as a realtor, you should not be acting on behalf of someone else. You should only be assigning your rights and that contract to an assignee. Okay. Now, with that being said, you don't need a license when you put the property under contract in your name. When you sell in parentheses, assigna. So when you sell slash assign your contract to an investor, you clearly disclose your role, whether you're talking to the seller, whether you're talking to the realtor, I'm a wholesaler, I have an in buyer, I'm gonna assign this property over to them. Or if you don't want to say you're a wholesaler, it because some people frown up on the terminology wholesaler as if wholesalers are less than, then that's when you come into place you are a real estate investor. That's not breaking the law if you're a real estate investor. Anybody could be a real estate investor. My 16-year-old daughter could be a real estate investor. It don't mean that she has to have money, but she has the knowledge that I've given her to become that real estate investor. You are who you say you are, you are who you want to be. And if you are gonna be a real estate investor on a contract, you have the right to have a partner on the contract. So, with that being said, your partner is going to be your end buyer, which is your investor, who you're gonna sign your contract, your interest of that contract over to. Now, you cannot be marketing yourself as an agent. If you market yourself as an agent as if you're the actual seller of the property or even a seller, then this becomes a situation. So you don't need a license if you are acting as an actual principal, not a broker, but an actual principal. Let me tell you when you do need a license. As a real estate wholesaler, you're gonna need a license if you're trying to market the properties that you don't own or don't have under contract. Remember, as a principal, you an and slash assign or the person that's going to quote unquote potentially buy the property, whether it's you and or assignees, your partners, someone is gonna get that contract. You never said who's gonna actually buy that house, but your name is on there with the and or assignee. So as long as you have that contract, then in this particular case, you can go ahead and, like I said, market that property to your end buyers. You cannot act like a middleman representing the buyers and the sellers. Remember, they don't know who the seller is right now. You are the you are the seller, right? Indirectly, you are selling your interest of the contract, not the property, but the contract. So, with that being said, when you start acting as a middleman, oh John, this is Dave and Dave, this is Becky. That's the problem right there. You can't do that. Your name is under the contract, and that's and you should only be dealing with the seller, and they should only be dealing with you. So just remember that the end buyer should only be dealing with you. Negotiating the deals on behalf of others. Well, duh, if you do that, then you might as well become the realtor. And if you do that, then that means you must be licensed. So until you decide to get licensed, you do not do that. Okay, and if you are licensed, um, some brokerages found prowns up on you being a wholesaler selling your property off market, but they're not gonna cut into it. Sorry, that's just how it is. Now, you wholesale it at a high volume in certain states. Sometimes you will need a license for that because you have some states that say anything over five properties that you sold is considered um a real estate agent, and you have to have a license, but again, you have to just be careful with how the contract is written up. If you are sold principal on that, then that's a different story. It's really gonna determine how um your contract is written, and even honestly, the title company. And when I say how the contract is written, it's really important for the contract to not be written in your name or written in your LLC name, your DBA name. Okay, now if for whatever reason you are marketing properties that you don't own or don't have on the contract, or you're trying to act like a middleman, right? Representing the buyer and the seller, or you're trying to negotiate the deal on behalf of others, or you're doing so many wholesale deals in certain states to the point whereas a con a license is required. At this point, you are considered doing broker activity, which means that a license is required. So as long as you don't do any of the above of what I said, then you are fine. Now, when it comes down to who need a license and who don't, let me explain. No licensing is needed when you are part of the deal and you control the deal. Remember, you're the assignor, you're the person that's gonna assign your interest in the contract to an assignee, which is the end buyer. A license is only needed if you're representing someone else in the deal. Meaning there's John and there's Dave, right? And you're representing them too, but your name is not even on the contract. Then now we need a license for that. Now, if your name was on a contract as an assignor, that's a different story. What's really important for you to understand is that even though wholesaling itself doesn't always require a license, some states have stricter rules, some limits how many deals that you can actually do. That's why it's important to go ahead and do it in your LLC. Um, and then be honest with you, most people want to see it close in the LLC. As a matter of fact, half of the investors that you go into the closing table with are buying that property in a DBA or corporation or LLC in some form. So that's really important for you to understand. Some requires, um, some of these states this they're gonna require disclosures or licensing depending upon how much you scale. So you do have real estate um wholesalers that get licenses for the purpose of just being able to expand and do more marketing as a whole and putting yourself in the room with a lot of investors. So here's the thing if you're planning to do this consistently, I would highly suggest that you do get a license, but you don't have to. You can always partner with the licensed agent because if you do that, a lot of times those agents have a list of buyers also or real estate investors. So it is important to vet out the real estate um agents that you're working with to see if they're investor-friendly, meaning do they work with a lot of real estate investors? Because that's a that's a huge plus for you, you know. Or the reality is you just need to structure your deals very carefully. And when I say structure your deals very carefully, hint hint DBA, hint, hint corporation, hint, hint LLC, hint, hint, not your name. Okay. Now, people who actually do this long term, they actually do get eventually their real estate license for flexibility. But a lot of times they'll try to kind of go with a smaller company that doesn't have like all of these strict umbrella uh franchise type rules that you have to do this, you have to do this, you have to do this, you have to join the Realtors Association, you have to join, you know, become part of the National Realty National Association of Realtors or the MLS. Then that can become a little strenuous because you can't do things just discreetly, but still um ethically the way that you need to, right? And then remember, when it comes to real estate investors, one of the reasons they love off-market properties is because it's off-market, which means nobody can really try to go research and see how long they own a property for, how much they purchased the property for. Yeah, you can do that like with the deed and all, if it's been recorded, but you'll be surprised right now. A lot of these deeds take forever to get recorded. So which means if you're smart about it, you can hurry up and get it sold to them. They can hurry up and start getting it worked on um with their contractors, and they don't have to worry about showing what the true history is. The only person they're gonna know the history in the end is when it goes into underwriting, they need to do a chain of title. Of course, it's gonna show up on there. But an initial beginning where um everybody wants to go to Zillow or Redfin or Trulio to see how much person paid for the property and all of that, they won't really be able to do that with an offer deal. So, with that being said, it is important to build strong relationships with your realtors, your brokers, and your title companies, or use double closings when needed. And I will talk about that on another episode. The bottom line here is you don't always need a license to wholesale, but you do need to do it the right way. Because the moment you step outside of being an actual buyer, you're stepping in license activity. And that is something that honestly you do not want to do because that can put you in a very dangerous situation, whereas you mess around and get fined or something worse. So here's the deal. What I need you to do is if you're serious about learning how to wholesale or you want to start working with the real estate investors and wholesalers at a higher level, make sure you subscribe, stay tapped in with me, and don't just listen, but apply everything that I'm gonna teach you. Apply this knowledge to your wholesaling business. And if you're ready to actually take action, structure deals, get funding lighted up, or build real estate relationships in this space, my space, go ahead and connect with me directly. You can visit my website by Schedule 101 by going to wwwhomeloansnetwork.com or like I said, schedule 101. But there are links that's within um the podcast description, and just follow those links, and I am always available to assist. Thank you for listening to the real estate wholesale video role.