Real estate dispositions is the work of selling a property or a contract position to an end buyer, and for wholesalers it covers everything between signing a seller and collecting an assignment fee: pricing the deal, marketing it, showing it, choosing the buyer and getting to the closing table. Acquisitions finds the deal; dispositions turns it into money.
Most guides stop at “blast it to your buyers list.” That skips the parts that decide whether you get paid: how to set the price, what you can legally say in your marketing, how to collect a deposit from your buyer, and what to do when nobody bites. This guide walks through the full process with a worked example, the rules that apply to marketing a contract, and the warning signs that a deal won’t sell.
Dispositions starts before you sign the seller
The best dispositions work happens during acquisitions. If you put a house under contract at a price no buyer will pay, no amount of marketing fixes it. Before you sign, you should already know:
- Who buys this kind of house in this neighborhood: flippers, landlords, BRRRR investors or small builders.
- What those buyers pay, based on recent investor purchases, not retail listings.
- Whether they take this condition, this occupancy status and this closing timeline. Your buyers’ buy box answers most of that.
- How much time you have, including any inspection period and the closing date in your contract.
If you can’t name three buyers who would want the house at your price, renegotiate or pass. That rule alone prevents most failed dispositions.
Step 1: Confirm you have something to sell
Before marketing, check the paperwork. You need a fully signed purchase contract that allows assignment, a closing date you can meet, access to show the property, and a title company that has opened the file. Our guide to equitable interest in real estate explains why what you’re selling is the contract position, and the wholesale real estate contract guide covers the clauses that make it transferable.
Step 2: Price the deal for your buyer, not for you
Your assignment price is your contract price plus your fee. The fee has to fit inside what the buyer will pay, and the buyer’s number comes from their own math.
- Estimate after-repair value from recent comparable sales. Run it through the ARV calculator and keep the comps you used.
- Estimate repairs at the level your buyer will actually renovate, not a full luxury rehab.
- Work out the buyer’s maximum price using the formula your buyers use. For flippers, the MAO calculator gives you a starting point; landlords will look at rent and cash flow instead.
- Subtract your contract price. What’s left is the room you have for a fee.
- Leave the buyer a real margin. If your fee consumes the profit, experienced buyers will pass and the inexperienced ones are the ones who back out.
Our guide to the assignment fee covers how wholesalers set and justify that number.
Step 3: Build the deal package
Buyers decide fast. Give them everything they need to decide without a phone call.
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Address or general location | Location is the first filter for every buyer |
| Asking price and closing date | Lets buyers check their buy box in seconds |
| Property facts | Beds, baths, square feet, lot size, year built, occupancy |
| 20 to 40 clear photos | Interior and exterior, including the worst areas |
| Repair notes | What you saw: roof age, HVAC, foundation, water damage |
| Your ARV and the comps behind it | Shows your work; buyers will check it anyway |
| Showing times | One or two group showings instead of a dozen private ones |
| Terms | Deposit required, assignment or double close, who pays which closing costs |
Be honest about condition. Hiding a foundation problem may get a buyer to the showing, but it won’t get them to closing, and it costs you their next deal.
Step 4: Market the deal to the right buyers
Start narrow and widen only if you need to.
- Your best two or three buyers first, by phone, with a short window to claim it. Buyers who close reliably deserve first look.
- Your full list, segmented by area and strategy, by email and, where you have consent, text.
- Other wholesalers and dispositions partners through a joint venture if your list is thin. Put the fee split in writing before you share the address.
- Investor groups and local meetups, if your state’s rules allow you to advertise the deal there.
If you’re still building a list, our guide to finding cash buyers covers where to find them before you have a deal to send.
What you can and can’t say when marketing a contract
This is where many wholesalers get in trouble. You’re marketing a contract right, not a house you own, and several sets of rules apply.
State licensing and disclosure laws
A growing number of states regulate marketing a purchase contract directly. Pennsylvania’s Act 52 of 2024 brings wholesale transactions within its licensing law starting January 4, 2025. Illinois treats marketing assignable contracts on two or more occasions in a 12-month period as brokerage activity. Oklahoma requires wholesalers to hold a license. Other states have their own disclosure rules. Check the state guide for the market you’re working in before you post anything.
Where unlicensed wholesaling is allowed, the safest practice is to describe exactly what you’re offering: “I have a property under contract and am assigning my contract,” not “my house for sale.” Never advertise on the MLS or a retail platform as if you’re the owner.
Fair housing rules apply to your ads
The federal Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to publish any notice or advertisement for the sale of a dwelling that indicates a preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin, under 42 U.S.C. Section 3604(c). Describe the property and the deal, not the neighborhood’s residents. Phrases about who lives nearby, “ideal for” a type of buyer, or school descriptions that hint at demographics have no place in a deal blast.
Email and text rules
Your buyers list is a business audience, but the CAN-SPAM Act still applies. The FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email, that each violating email can carry penalties of up to $53,088, and that messages need accurate headers, honest subject lines, a valid physical postal address and an opt-out that you honor within ten business days. Texting buyers raises separate consent rules; see our guide to the TCPA for wholesalers.
Tailor the pitch to each buyer type
The same house reads differently to different buyers. Segment your list and lead with the numbers each group cares about.
| Buyer type | What they look at first | What to put in the pitch |
|---|---|---|
| Fix-and-flip investors | ARV, repair scope, days to resell | Comps, repair notes, contractor bids if you have them |
| Buy-and-hold landlords | Rent, taxes, insurance, condition of systems | Market rent estimate, current lease if occupied, utility setup |
| BRRRR investors | Refinance appraisal and rent after rehab | ARV support plus rent comps; see our BRRRR guide |
| Small builders | Lot size, zoning, teardown value | Lot dimensions, zoning designation, utilities at the street |
| Wholetail or owner-occupant buyers | Livable condition, financing | Light repair list; note that financing may require repairs |
A landlord who receives a flipper’s pitch full of ARV math may delete it without reading. A short subject line built for each segment, such as “3/1 rental, $1,450 rent estimate, $118K” for landlords, gets opened. For rental buyers, include the cash-on-cash return at your asking price so they can compare it with their target.
Step 5: Run showings that create competition
- Hold one or two scheduled showings rather than private tours. Buyers seeing each other at the property is the strongest signal that the deal is real.
- Bring the deal package on paper and be ready to answer repair questions directly.
- Set a deadline for offers, often 24 to 48 hours after the last showing.
- Get the seller’s agreement to the showing schedule in advance. Your contract should give you access rights.
- Keep occupants informed if the house is occupied, and follow your agreement with them. Our cash for keys guide covers occupied deals.
Step 6: Choose the buyer, not just the price
The highest offer isn’t always the best one. Rank offers on:
- Proof of funds that covers the full price and closing costs, or a lender letter for financed buyers. Our guide to the proof of funds letter explains what to look for.
- Track record: has this buyer closed with you or other wholesalers before?
- Deposit size and terms: a larger, nonrefundable deposit signals commitment.
- Closing speed relative to your contract deadline.
- Conditions: an offer that requires another inspection period is weaker than one that doesn’t.
Line up a backup buyer before you sign with the first one. Tell them they’re second and that you’ll call if the first buyer falls through.
Step 7: Sign the assignment and collect the buyer’s deposit
The assignment agreement transfers your rights under the purchase contract to the end buyer. It should state the assignment fee, the buyer’s deposit, the closing date, that the buyer takes the contract as written, and what happens to the deposit if the buyer doesn’t close.
Collect the buyer’s deposit promptly and have it held by the title company or closing attorney, not in your personal account. A meaningful nonrefundable deposit protects you from buyers who lock up a deal while shopping for something better. Our earnest money guide covers how deposits work on both sides of a wholesale deal.
If the contract can’t be assigned, or the fee is large enough to upset the seller, consider a double close instead, which needs funding for the first closing but keeps your fee off the seller’s settlement statement.
Step 8: Manage the closing
- Send the assignment and buyer’s deposit to the title company the same day.
- Track title issues such as liens, judgments or missing heirs, and tell the buyer early.
- Confirm the buyer’s funding a week before closing, including any hard money lender’s draw and appraisal schedule.
- Coordinate the final walkthrough and any move-out.
- Review the settlement statement to confirm your fee is shown correctly.
Worked example: one deal from contract to closing
All figures are hypothetical and illustrate the process rather than predict results.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| ARV from five recent flips nearby | $240,000 |
| Repairs a typical local flipper would do | $35,000 |
| Flipper’s maximum price at 70% of ARV minus repairs | $133,000 |
| Your contract price with the seller | $120,000 |
| Room for your fee | $13,000 |
| Assignment price you advertise | $130,000 |
| Your assignment fee | $10,000 |
| Buyer’s nonrefundable deposit held by title | $5,000 |
Day 1, you sign the seller. Day 3, you send the package to your top three buyers. Day 5, you hold a group showing with six buyers. Day 7, you accept a $130,000 offer from a flipper who has closed two deals with you, with a $5,000 deposit and a 14-day close, and line up a second buyer at $128,000 as backup. Day 21, the deal closes. You left $3,000 of margin on the table compared with the flipper’s maximum, and that margin is what made the deal easy to sell.
When a deal won’t sell
If a week of marketing produces no offers, the market is telling you something. Diagnose before you discount.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Lots of calls, no showings | Price looks too high on paper | Recheck your ARV and repair estimate; share comps |
| Showings, no offers | Condition worse than described, or repairs underestimated | Get a contractor’s bid; adjust price |
| Offers far below your price | Your contract price is too high | Ask the seller to renegotiate with the repair bids in hand |
| No interest at all | Wrong buyers or wrong area | Find buyers who work that neighborhood; consider a JV partner |
If none of that works before your contract deadline, ask the seller for an extension in writing, or exit the contract properly under its terms. Walking away quietly and letting the closing date pass damages your reputation with sellers, title companies and buyers.
Where beginners lose money in dispositions
- Overpricing the assignment and burning the deal across the whole buyers list on the first send.
- Marketing before the contract is signed by every owner.
- Accepting a buyer without proof of funds, then losing a week when they disappear.
- No backup buyer, so a single dropout kills the deal.
- Letting the buyer’s deposit sit refundable, which turns it into a free option.
- Daisy-chaining, where wholesalers pass the same deal to each other until no one knows the real price, which frustrates sellers and buyers alike.
When to hand off dispositions
As your deal flow grows, dispositions becomes its own job. Many wholesalers hire or partner with a dispositions manager who owns the buyers list, the showings and the closing coordination, while the business owner focuses on acquisitions. If you’re doing your first few deals, handle dispositions yourself; it’s the fastest way to learn what buyers actually pay. If you want feedback on pricing your first deals, that kind of deal review is part of our mentorship program.
Real estate dispositions questions
How long does dispositions usually take?
It depends on your contract timeline and the market. Well-priced deals in active investor markets often get offers within days. Build enough time into your purchase contract to market, show and replace a buyer if needed.
Should I share the address in my first email?
Many wholesalers share only the general area until the buyer is vetted, to prevent other wholesalers from contacting the seller. Others share it to save time. Whatever you choose, your seller relationship comes first.
Can I list a wholesale deal on the MLS?
Not as the owner. Listing on the MLS requires a licensed agent and a listing agreement with the property owner, and presenting a contract position as an owned property creates licensing and misrepresentation risk.
Do I need a written agreement with my end buyer?
Yes. A verbal yes at a showing isn’t a buyer. The signed assignment agreement, or a separate purchase contract in a double close, is what binds the buyer to the price, the deposit and the closing date. Until it is signed and the deposit is with the title company, keep marketing and keep your backup buyer warm.
What if my buyer wants to assign the contract again?
Your assignment agreement can prohibit further assignment. Most wholesalers do, so they know who will actually close.
Sell deals faster
Send buyers a deal they can say yes to
Our free starter kit includes a deal analyzer to price your assignment, a buyer’s list checklist, starter contracts and a seller script.