South Carolina wholesaling law · checked October 21, 2026
The short answer — South Carolina
Honestly: South Carolina is the closest thing in America to a ban on the usual wholesaling model. Assigning your own contract, privately, is not by itself 'wholesaling' under the statute — but marketing the property to a different buyer before you take title is brokerage, and the Real Estate Commission has read the one exception so narrowly that it calls compliant contract-only marketing 'practically impossible.'
Rule: S.C. Code §§ 40-57-30(44), 40-57-135, 40-57-350 (2024 Act No. 204, H.4754); Real Estate Commission advisory opinion, Nov. 14, 2024 · In force: May 21, 2024 · Penalty if ignored: Unlicensed-practice penalties under Title 40, Chapter 57. Licensed firms face discipline for participating in wholesaling at all.
Checked October 21, 2026 against the official source: www.scstatehouse.gov. Information only — not legal advice.
South Carolina law defines wholesaling as having a contract to buy residential real estate and then marketing the property to a different buyer before taking title. Marketing property owned by another for compensation is brokerage and requires a license. Assigning a contract, standing alone, is expressly not wholesaling — but the Commission's advisory opinion of November 14, 2024 counts photos, the address, bed/bath counts, condition details, MLS, social posts, email groups, and even verbal descriptions as 'marketing,' which leaves almost no room to find a buyer without crossing the line. Separately, § 40-57-350 bars licensed brokerage firms and their agents from engaging in, representing, or assisting wholesaling at all.
Yes. Honestly: South Carolina is the closest thing in America to a ban on the usual wholesaling model. Assigning your own contract, privately, is not by itself 'wholesaling' under the statute — but marketing the property to a different buyer before you take title is brokerage, and the Real Estate Commission has read the one exception so narrowly that it calls compliant contract-only marketing 'practically impossible.'
Taking title first (a true double close where you actually own the property before reselling) steps outside the statutory definition, which requires marketing before title. Confirm with a South Carolina attorney — the Commission is actively watching this space.
This is the closest any state comes to a functional ban on the traditional model. No other state's regulator has said the quiet part out loud like South Carolina's did.
Scope: Residential real estate under contract, marketed before title passes. Cancellation: No wholesaling-specific cancellation window; unlicensed-practice exposure controls. Source: official text / regulator page.
The free checker asks five questions — your state, your license, your deal count, how you will market, your structure — and computes your verdict with the citation attached.
The statutory disclosure forms, the deal calendar, the marketing words sheet and the walk-throughs for South Carolina's tier — rendered from the same checked dataset as this page — live in the kit.
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