Florida never passed a wholesaling statute, so the legality question runs through § 475.42 and § 475.011 instead: sell your equitable interest in a contract and you are inside the owner exemption; market a property you do not own for a fee and you are practicing unlicensed brokerage, a third-degree felony.
By InTym Properties
Yes, wholesaling is legal in Florida, but the answer has a load-bearing clause: Florida never passed a wholesaling statute, so the legality question runs through the real estate licensing chapter instead. What a wholesaler is allowed to sell is their contract. What they are not allowed to sell is your house. That distinction is the whole answer, and it is worth understanding because the difference decides whether the person buying your property is allowed to be in the deal at all.
This is an explainer, not legal advice. If you are holding a contract right now, take it to a Florida real estate attorney before you sign or walk away.
Florida Statute § 475.42 makes it a third-degree felony to practice real estate brokerage without a license. Brokerage under Chapter 475 includes selling, offering to sell, or advertising the sale of real property belonging to another for compensation. Read plainly: if you market someone's house to buyers and collect a fee for it, you are brokering without a license.
The carve-out is § 475.011, the owner exemption: the licensing chapter does not apply to anyone dealing in property they own or hold a bona fide interest in. A signed purchase contract creates that interest, called the equitable interest. Assigning that interest to an end buyer, for an assignment fee, is the legal form wholesaling takes in Florida.
So the legal test is not "did you wholesale." It is "did you have a real contract, and did you sell the contract rather than market the property."
The patterns that turn an assignment into unlicensed brokerage:
Marketing the property instead of the contract. Blast emails advertising "3BR/2BA in Hollywood for sale, $280k" when the sender does not own it is advertising another person's property for compensation. The compliant version markets the contract or the equitable interest.
A contract that was never real. A signed purchase agreement with no earnest money, a purchase price the signer could never pay, and no intent to close is a paper interest, not a bona fide one. Regulators and courts look at whether the wholesaler could have actually closed.
Collecting a commission instead of an assignment fee. § 475.41 makes compensation agreements with unlicensed parties unenforceable. A fee structured as a percentage commission for procuring a buyer is brokerage compensation by another name.
Discouraging counsel. Telling a seller not to involve an attorney or an agent is not itself a licensing violation, but it is the tell that accompanies the bad version of every pattern above. A legitimate counterparty does not mind your lawyer reading the contract.
Florida is one of the states with no wholesaling-specific consumer statute, but the direction elsewhere is visible. Connecticut's law taking effect July 2026 requires registration, written disclosure to the seller, and a cancellation window. Ohio's SB 155 adds disclosure duties. Illinois requires a license after the first deal in a year. Oregon added registration; Missouri and Arizona added written-disclosure requirements.
None of that binds a Florida deal today. It does say where the floor is moving, and it is the reason some buyers operate the stricter way voluntarily: a seller who knows who is closing, what the structure is, and what the numbers are is a seller who cannot later claim they were misled.
On single-family houses, InTym Properties closes as principal: the entity that signs the contract is the entity that closes, with its own funds, and there is no assignment clause to wonder about. On multifamily deals both structures occur, and when a contract is assigned to a vetted end buyer from the company's investor list, that is disclosed in writing before signing, with your price and terms unchanged. The sell multifamily page puts it on the page for the same reason this post does.
If you are comparing offers and want to know which structure you are looking at, the cash buyer versus wholesaler post lays out the contract tells, and the vetting post has the full checklist for separating a real buyer from a middleman.
Wholesaling in Florida is legal as contract assignment and illegal as disguised brokerage, and the difference is not paperwork magic: it is whether a real contract existed, whether the contract rather than the property was marketed, and whether the fee was an assignment fee rather than a commission. As a seller, the practical question is simpler: who is actually closing, and does the contract say so in writing. If the answer is vague, slow down and let an attorney read it.
Want an offer where the entity on the contract is the entity at the closing table? Call or text (650) 540-1854. On houses, InTym Properties closes as principal, in writing, and you can take the contract to your own attorney before you sign.
Yes, when done as an assignment of contract. Florida has no statute banning wholesaling. The legal structure is selling your equitable interest in a purchase contract to an end buyer. What is illegal is marketing a property you do not own for a fee, which is unlicensed brokerage under § 475.42, a third-degree felony.
The line is what you market and what you collect. A wholesaler may advertise and assign their contractual right to buy, the equitable interest. Advertising someone else's property for sale, collecting a commission for bringing a buyer to a property, or negotiating the sale of real estate you have no contractual interest in are all brokerage activity under Chapter 475.
No license is required to sell your own interest in a contract under the § 475.011 owner exemption, provided you have a bona fide contractual interest, meaning a real signed contract with a real earnest money deposit. A contract signed only to be flipped, with no intent or ability to close, is where regulators and courts start treating the deal as brokerage.
Several states have passed disclosure or registration laws: Connecticut requires registration, disclosure, and a cancellation right starting July 2026, Ohio's SB 155 adds disclosure duties, Illinois requires a license after one deal per year, and Oregon, Missouri, and Arizona have registration or written-disclosure rules. Florida has none yet, which is why the disclosure practices some buyers use voluntarily matter.
Read the contract for an assignment clause and ask directly who is closing. A wholesaler's contract names an assignable buyer or leaves the buyer entity vague. A principal buyer signs in the entity's own name with its own funds. On houses, InTym Properties always closes as principal. On multifamily, if a deal is assigned to a vetted end buyer, that is disclosed in writing before you sign.
Options include refusing to close if the contract allows, filing a complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation for unlicensed activity, and consulting a real estate attorney about voiding the contract. § 475.41 makes commission-style deals by unlicensed parties unenforceable. Nothing here is legal advice; an attorney should review your specific contract.
Written offer usually within 48 hours, signed by InTym Properties, every number shown. No repairs, no fees, no obligation.
The scams follow patterns: bait-and-switch offers, fake proof of funds, hidden assignment clauses, upfront fees. Six checks that verify any cash buyer without trusting them, run against InTym Properties too.
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