New IL broker license: Wholesale-friendly sponsoring broker recs?

Question

Hi all,

I Just passed the IL broker exam and am looking for a sponsoring broker in the Chicago/NW suburbs area that's genuinely wholesale-friendly. I'll mostly be doing assignments as a principal.

For those wholesaling with a license here: who are you hung with, do they charge anything on your personal/assignment deals, and anyone I should steer clear of?

Existing threads on this are a few years old, so looking for current recommendations. Thanks in advance!

Crystal Smith · Answer

Congratulations on passing the brokers exam. From our perspective every brokerage is wholesale-friendly- unless they specifically state in their company policies that they will not allow wholesale transactions to be processed through their company on the MLS. The only time we ever get our brokerage involved in any of our transactions is if we decide to resell or assign a contract on a property we control using the MLS as a marketing tool. We are with a 100% brokerage and the only $ the brokerage makes on any of our transactions is a transaction fee. Assignment fees are paid out at closings directly to us.

If it's an off market property that we control under our company name & we decide to fix and flip it, hold it or assign the contract and not use the MLS then we do not involve the brokerage.

We are with ERA Partners. A licensed company that specializes in wholesaling that you may want to check out is New Western.

Amit Patel · Answer

Look for a broker who will put in writing how they treat your personal and assignment deals, whether they take a cut on those, and what supervision they require. Ask how many licensed wholesalers they already sponsor, how they handle contract assignments, and whether they have had issues with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on those deals. A low or no fee on your own assignments is common with the friendlier shops, but get it in the independent contractor agreement before you hang your license.

Brie Schmidt · Answer

IMO I would do NetWorth. Wholesaling is very involved and requires lots of expertise in negotiation, estimating rehab costs, projecting ARV, and marketing. I would say it would take about 2 years under a mentor to really learn the business and be sucessful.

Joshua Miller · Answer

Hello Elise,

I'm just getting started wholesaling in the western suburbs of Chicago and had the same question. I ended up boiling it down to the following three options.

First is NetWorth Realty, which is a brokerage in Oak Brook that actually exclusively does wholesale transactions. Second is Real, which is an online brokerage that I found out about through Jerry Norton, a well-known wholesaler on YouTube. Finally, there is eXp, another online brokerage that I found out about through one of my buddies who is a licensed wholesaler.

From my understanding, most brokerages will just be a place to hang your license and won't charge any fees, but they also won't provide any support with your transactions, including eXp and Real. With a brokerage like NetWorth that exclusively does wholesaling, there will be commission splits, but you'll also have all the systems and resources you need to get started at your fingertips.

I hope this was helpful, but again, I'm just starting out myself and am going off the information I've found from my research, not actual experience.

Crystal Smith · Answer

Send me a DM & I'll make a recommendation.

Jonathan Klemm · Answer

Hey There @Elise NA - Big Congrats with passing your brokers exam! That's huge accomplishment and not easy!

We have a couple of brokers at our Chicago brokerage who are working on wholesaling (one of them actually closed their first deal a week ago). Most people think they want to wholesale, but don't understand the sales grind that comes with it. Personally, I'd recommend finding someone who is running an active business and working as an acquisition manager... If you are interested, I can recommend some people to connect with.

We also started to charge a $90 sitting fee for any brokers not transacting to cover insurance and business expenses.

Igor Ganapolsky · Answer

Elise, congrats on passing the exam. The broker sponsorship question is valid — Illinois does require a license for wholesaling, and you'll need a sponsoring broker who understands assignments.

But here's what I'd suggest: before you spend time hunting for the perfect broker, spend a week learning Cook County's three public databases:

1. Tax Collector — tax delinquent properties (owner is financially pressured)
2. Code Enforcement — open violations (property is neglected, usually absent owner)
3. Clerk of Court — probate filings and liens (family/legal situation creating motivation)

When the same property shows up in all three databases, you have government-confirmed motivation. That's not a cold lead — that's a conversation where you already know their situation.

Here's why this matters for your broker question: when you walk into a broker interview and say "I have 15 properties with confirmed distress across three county databases, all with clear title potential," you're not asking for sponsorship — you're offering deal flow. Brokers want wholesalers who close, and wholesalers who close are the ones with pre-vetted leads, not generic cold lists.

The framework:
- Start with ~200 names from the Cook County tax delinquent list (free)
- Cross-reference with code enforcement → ~80 properties have violations
- Cross-reference those with probate court → ~20 properties have all three signals

Those 20 are your highest-probability leads. Once you have one under contract, the broker question solves itself — every wholesale-friendly broker in Chicago will want to sponsor you when you're bringing them deals.

The order matters: county data → motivated seller → contract → THEN broker sponsorship. Most new licensees reverse it and spend months finding the perfect brokerage before they have anything to bring to the table.

As for specific broker recommendations: I'd connect with active Chicago wholesalers at the local REIA meetings. The ones who are consistently closing will tell you exactly who they use — and more importantly, why.

New IL broker license: Wholesale-friendly sponsoring broker recs?

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