Wholesaling in South Carolina: What the 2024 Law Changed, in Plain English

If you learned wholesaling from a national course, a podcast or a Facebook group, most of what you learned about finding buyers doesn’t match South Carolina anymore.

In 2024, South Carolina changed the rules. The state now defines wholesaling in its real estate licensing law, and the South Carolina Real Estate Commission has published an advisory opinion explaining how it reads that definition. The short version: marketing residential property you don’t own yet, expecting to be paid, is treated as activity that requires a real estate license.

I’m Ben Lovro. I live in Lexington and buy houses across the Midlands through Cash Property Offers. I’m an investor, not an attorney, and nothing on this site is legal advice. What I can do is walk you through what the statute and the Commission actually say, in plain English, and tell you how I operate. Then you take it to a South Carolina real estate attorney.

What changed in South Carolina in 2024

In May 2024, Governor McMaster signed the revised Real Estate Practice Act, codified at S.C. Code § 40-57-5 and following. For the first time, the act speaks directly to wholesaling.

Three pieces matter most:

1. A definition. Section 40-57-30(44) describes wholesaling as holding a contract to buy a home (residential real estate) from its owner and then promoting it to another buyer before you legally own it. Elsewhere in the act, advertising another person’s real estate for pay is treated as broker activity, and broker activity needs a license.
2. An assignment carve-out — read carefully. The same definition excludes the act of assigning a purchase contract, or offering to assign one, from the term.
3. A marketing rule. Section 40-57-135 permits an ad for the contract position itself, as long as the ad doesn’t market — or hint at marketing — the house behind it.

On paper, that might sound like room to keep doing what wholesalers always did. The Commission’s advisory opinion explains why it’s much narrower than it looks.

What the Real Estate Commission’s November 2024 advisory says

On November 14, 2024, the South Carolina Real Estate Commission issued an advisory opinion on wholesaling. Here’s what it says, as I understand it.

It reads the definition as a whole

An assignment isn’t wholesaling just because it’s an assignment. It becomes wholesaling when the rest of the pieces show up alongside it. The Commission names four:

• a contractual interest in the property;
• marketing or advertising before taking ownership;
• an expectation of compensation; and
• a legal instrument — such as an assignment — transferring the interest.

It gives examples that are not wholesaling

Assigning to a spouse, to your own entity, or to another person when there’s no marketing, no advertising and no expectation of compensation.

It treats “marketing” broadly

The Commission includes the MLS, social media, print, Facebook groups, private email groups — and verbal communication.

It says marketing “just the contract” is practically impossible

Section 40-57-135 technically allows advertising a contractual position without marketing the property. But the Commission calls that “practically impossible” in practice, and says including photos, plats or surveys, descriptions like beds, baths or square footage, year built, condition, the address, TMS number or legal description, rental history, neighborhood, or any property detail would likely violate it.

It notes one narrow scenario

Being approached by someone about contracts you hold in an area, when you’ve made no effort to market or advertise the property.

Licensed firms

One more line in the advisory that surprises people: it says a licensed firm can’t be in the wholesaling business either.

I go through each section and element in more detail on South Carolina wholesaling law, section by section. You can find the Commission itself at the South Carolina Real Estate Commission website.

What this means for investors

If you came into this business expecting to lock up a house, post it in a Facebook group or email it to a buyers list, and collect a fee at closing — that model collides with how the Commission reads the law. The buyers-list blast, the group post, the “text me for the address” post, even talking up the property to a buyer at a meetup can all count as marketing.

So what do South Carolina investors do now? People commonly discuss a handful of options:

• Getting a real estate license and following the rules that come with it.
• Taking title first and marketing only after they own the property.
• Listing property through a licensed brokerage.
• Partnering with a licensed agent.
• Joint ventures where each party’s role is documented in writing.

I’m not going to tell you any of those is the answer for you. Each depends on specifics. The trade-offs of each are on my compliant-paths page — and then I’m going to tell you, again, to talk to a South Carolina real estate attorney.

If you’re learning wholesaling in general, my national wholesaling real estate guide covers the skills — finding sellers, underwriting, contracts — that matter no matter how you structure the exit.

What this means for sellers

If you own a house in South Carolina and someone offers to buy it, you deserve to know whether you’re talking to the person who will actually close or to someone planning to pass your contract along.

Ask directly. Read the contract — especially any assignment clause and anything about “and/or assigns.” Use a closing attorney, which South Carolina closings involve anyway. I wrote a page just for homeowners: questions to ask before you sell to a wholesaler.

What this means for licensed agents

For agents, the revised Act makes something clear: licensed firms may not engage in wholesaling. At the same time, licensed agents can market listings — which is exactly why agents are the deal channel I lean on in this state. If you list as-is, estate or tenant-occupied property, I want to hear from you; see investor-friendly agents in South Carolina.

How I operate in South Carolina

Here’s my stance, plainly:

• I buy and close as a principal. When I put a house under contract, I intend to close on it.
• I follow counsel. My process is reviewed by attorneys, and when they tell me to change something, I change it.
• I don’t market property I don’t own.
• I’d rather lose a deal than cut a corner.

That isn’t me claiming to be better than anybody. It’s the only way I know to build something that lasts — for my family, my team and the sellers who trust me with their homes.

Who should send me a property

If you’re a property owner, a licensed agent, an investor who already owns a property, or a personal representative of an estate, I’d like to see it. Send it through my submit a deal page and I’ll give you a straight answer. I can’t promise a price or that I’ll buy, but I’ll tell you where I stand.

If you’re an unlicensed intermediary with a property under contract, please understand that South Carolina law restricts marketing property you don’t own. Read the law page and talk to an attorney before you send anything to anyone, including me. For SC-specific investing knowledge beyond wholesaling — attorney closings, property tax assessment, judicial foreclosure — see real estate investing in South Carolina.

Your next step

1. Read the South Carolina wholesaling law page end to end.
2. Write down exactly how you find sellers, what your contract says and how you plan to exit.
3. Take that page to a South Carolina real estate attorney.

And if you have a South Carolina property you own, or a listing you represent, send it my way. Questions about anything on this site? The South Carolina wholesaling FAQ is the next stop.