Correction · North Carolina

North Carolina HB 797 is not law

If you wholesale in North Carolina, you have probably read — on a major national guide, in exactly these words — that HB 797 took effect October 1, 2025, that you now need a license, and that wholesaling without one is a Class 1 misdemeanor. None of that is law. Here is the bill's actual paper trail.

What actually happened

1. HB 797 (the Residential Property Wholesaling Protection Act) passed the House 103–0 on April 30, 2025.
2. It was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations on May 1, 2025.
3. That referral is still its last action. No committee vote, no Senate floor, no signature, no effective date.

What the law in North Carolina actually is today

Current North Carolina law is the Real Estate Commission's December 2023 guidance: a bona fide buyer may assign contract rights without a license, but soliciting sellers with no intent to buy, negotiating between seller and buyer, handling third-party deposits, or marketing beyond the assigned contract can be unlicensed brokerage. HB 797 — the bill that would make residential wholesaling brokerage, add a 30-day cancellation and a Class 1 misdemeanor — passed the House 103–0 on April 30, 2025 and was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations on May 1, 2025, where it still sits. Multiple national guides state HB 797 as in-force law. It is not.

Why this matters beyond North Carolina

A unanimous House vote makes a 2027 revival plausible — this is the highest-probability 'next state flips' in the country, and this page will change the day the Senate moves. Until then: a guide that states a pending bill as law will state other things as law too. Check the date, then check the statute.