Well, I was mentioned otherwise I probably wouldn't post except for the fact that John Chapman posted.
First look to the basic legal requirements of having a valid contract, go ahead, drop all the way down to business law 101, competency of the parties, meeting of the minds, adequate consideration, lawful purpose, ability to perform.......now, wholesalers bump up against each of those requirements except competency (hopefully, but I sometimes have doubts).
Is there a meeting of the minds, no, the seller thinks the the buyer is buying!
Adequate consideration, probably not, $100 is just BS for a home purchase.
Lawful purpose, not really as the wholesaler is acting as a straw-man, an agency capacity lacking the intent to perform as agreed.
Ability to perform, no, they can't buy and have no intention of buying.
This means the contract is voidable, it's not accomplished in good faith and that's where John's seller was going, my bet is that his seller didn't have a good attorney willing to fight, the seller caved in and John won from employing his professional skills.
You have to meet all of those requirements to have a binding contract, not just some.
If you use seller financing and then pay your note off ten minutes later you can wash away the intent, ability to perform, meeting of the minds issues, you actually closed then you sold. Transactional funding does the job as well, just know you can obtain funding and you can then have the intent to perform.
Now, as to throwing around "making $10,000 for assignment fees", not only do those wholesalers don't understand valuations of real property they also don't understand fair trade and dealing in pricing services performed. Valuations of property or services don't come from thin air!
So, if you assign at an inflated valuation, you either screwed the seller or the buyer to make room for that inflated fee for your services.
Charging arbitrary outlandish fees is unethical. Breaking the law is unethical.
The service performed is basically the same as a Realtor, work wise in reality it's the same thing and the fees should be in line with customary commissions. Anything higher should then be justified by additional services that a Realtor would not do in the course of that job.
If you have a license, use it, list it, because wholesaling only takes you down the "Net Listing" road, especially if you can't perform. Have any of you brokers forgotten why you had to get a license (?) does protecting the public ring any bells? The license laws are there because the State doesn't want a bunch of yahoos dealing with the public in the sale of real property, especially homeowners who lack specific knowledge. So, now you just think you can use sale contracts and avoid the responsibilities and ethical use of your knowledge as a licensee for your personal gain. Again, take title and avoid the ethics and legal ramifications. Or, charge any commission you can and justify a higher commission based on the degree of difficulty to market the property!
Avoid this mess and take title, then sell, at that point you're not a straw-man, you're an owner, owners can set any price for property without being seen as a service provider.
And "disclosures", LOL, get your seller to agree to you "selling" the place, you just arranged a brokerage deal, say you're buying and don't you're scamming regardless of what you lead others to believe.
So, let's also drop this "down with wholesaler" talk, bashing them or belittling them as they accuse me of doing, I just told everyone how to do this stuff legally and ethically, but for those who continue with assigning voidable contracts, you put yourself in pot to boil.
:)
