Practical guides on finding deals, finding buyers, and closing your first wholesale assignment.
An assignment fee is what an end buyer pays a wholesaler to take over the wholesaler’s purchase contract. It equals the difference between the price the end buyer agrees to pay and the price in your contract with the seller, and it is usually paid through the title company at closing.
For most wholesalers, assignment fees and double-close profits are ordinary business income, reported on Schedule C and subject to both income tax and 15.3% self-employment tax. They are generally not capital gains, even if you held the contract for months.
A buy box is the specific set of criteria an investor uses to decide which properties they will buy: location, property type, condition, price, and returns. For wholesalers, knowing each cash buyer’s buy box is what turns a contract into a fast assignment.
A wrap-around mortgage is seller financing where the seller’s existing loan stays in place and the buyer’s new note “wraps” around it. Investors earn the spread between the two rates, but federal lending rules, the due-on-sale clause, and state laws like Texas Finance Code chapter 159 decide whether a wrap is safe.
Gap funding is short-term private money that covers the difference between what a hard money lender will fund and the total cash a flip or wholesale-to-flip deal requires. It can get a deal closed, but it is expensive and many first-position lenders forbid it.
Bandit signs are cheap “We Buy Houses” signs posted along roads to generate seller calls. They still produce leads, but most placements on public right-of-way are illegal, and in Texas the fines now reach $5,000 per violation.
A memorandum of contract is a short recorded document that puts the public on notice that a property is under contract, without recording the full agreement. For wholesalers it can protect a deal, but in several states recording one is now restricted or outright banned.
Flip margins, investor and cash-buyer demand, rates, foreclosure trends and the new state wholesaling laws: the public data that shapes wholesaling in 2026, with sources.
Zero-down loans, down payment assistance, seller financing, subject-to, partnerships and wholesaling: the realistic ways to buy a house with little or no money, and what each one still costs.
How seller financing works for buyers, sellers and investors: the note, the down payment, typical terms, the benefits and risks, and the rules that apply.