What Dispositions Actually Covers
Acquisitions gets all the attention in wholesaling content, but dispositions is where deals actually turn into paid assignment fees. Dispositions (dispo) is everything that happens after you have a property under contract: pricing the assignment correctly, marketing it to the right buyers fast, negotiating with multiple offers, and executing clean paperwork to close on time. A wholesaler with great acquisitions and weak dispo ends up with a pile of expired contracts and angry sellers. A wholesaler with mediocre acquisitions and excellent dispo can still run a profitable business because they never let a signed contract die on the vine.
Building a Cash Buyer List That Actually Closes
The single biggest lever in dispo is the depth and quality of your buyer list. A thin list means every deal takes weeks to sell and gets shopped at a discount out of desperation. Build your list from these sources, in order of ROI:
| Source | How | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Recorded cash sales | Pull county records or MLS sold data for non-owner-occupied, cash-financed purchases in the last 12 months | Highest-quality source — these are proven active buyers |
| REI Facebook groups / meetups | Join local investor groups, post value (not pitches), DM active commenters | Slower but builds real relationships |
| Bandit sign & Marketplace inbound | Capture every caller/inquirer into the CRM even if they don't buy immediately | Compounds over time — don't discard "no" responses |
| Paid buyer-list ads | Facebook/Google ads targeting "we buy houses" and landlord keywords | Fastest way to scale volume in a new market |
| Title company & hard money referrals | Ask title reps and local hard money lenders who their most active investor clients are | Warm introductions convert faster than cold outreach |
Qualifying Buyers Before They Waste Your Time
Not every name on a buyer list is a real buyer. Qualify every contact with four questions before sending them deals:
- Proof of funds or lender pre-approval on file — verified, not just claimed
- Buy box specifics — target zip codes, price range, bed/bath count, rehab appetite
- Closing track record — how many deals closed in the last 12 months, and with which title company
- Speed of response — how fast they reply to a new deal alert; slow responders get deprioritized on hot deals
Tag buyers in your CRM by tier (A/B/C) based on these answers. A-tier buyers get first look at every new deal; B and C tier only see it if A-tier passes.
Pricing the Assignment Correctly
Pricing is where most new wholesalers lose money or lose deals. The formula:
Max Allowable Offer to Buyer = (ARV × 70%) − Repair Estimate
Your assignment fee is the gap between what you contracted the seller for and what an end buyer will pay under that formula. If you contracted at $140,000, ARV is $260,000, and repairs are estimated at $40,000, the buyer's ceiling is roughly $142,000 (70% of $260k = $182k, minus $40k repairs). That leaves almost no room — a deal like this needs re-negotiating with the seller before it goes to market, not marketing at a fee that kills buyer interest.
| Deal Quality | Typical Assignment Fee |
|---|---|
| Thin margin, competitive market | $3,000–$7,000 |
| Average single-family wholesale deal | $8,000–$15,000 |
| Distressed / high-equity deal | $15,000–$30,000+ |
| Land, multifamily, or commercial | Highly variable — often percentage-based |
Marketing the Deal: Channels Ranked by Speed
- Direct text/email blast to your A-tier buyer list — fastest, usually produces an offer within 24-48 hours if priced right
- Dedicated wholesale deal groups (Facebook, Discord, local investor forums) — good secondary channel, moderate speed
- Wholesale marketplace platforms — wider reach but more tire-kickers, expect lower average fees due to competition
- MLS via a wholesale-friendly agent (where permitted and compliant) — slower, more paperwork, but reaches retail-adjacent buyers on marginal deals
- Bandit signs / open marketing — slowest and least targeted, use only as a last resort or in markets with a thin buyer list
Always create a simple one-page deal flyer with photos, comps, repair estimate, and ARV — buyers move faster on deals they can evaluate in under two minutes.
Assignment of Contract vs. Double Close
| Factor | Assignment of Contract | Double Close |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Fast — single closing | Slower — two closings, sometimes back-to-back |
| Cost | Low — assignment fee only | Higher — two sets of closing costs, possible transactional funding fee |
| Fee visibility | Often disclosed on settlement statement | Hidden from seller and end buyer |
| Best used when | Seller is comfortable, fee is modest, contract is assignable | Seller is uneasy about assignment, fee is large, or contract restricts assignment |
| Funding needs | None — buyer funds directly to seller | May require transactional/gap funding for the A-to-B leg |
Realistic Dispo Timeline
| Day | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Day 0 | Contract signed with seller, dispo marketing begins same day |
| Day 1-3 | Deal blasted to A-tier buyer list, flyer distributed to secondary channels |
| Day 3-7 | Offers collected, best offer negotiated and accepted, assignment or double-close paperwork drawn up |
| Day 7-10 | Title work, buyer inspection (if applicable), earnest money collected |
| Day 14-21 | Closing — funds disbursed, assignment fee paid |
Dispo KPIs to Track
| Metric | Healthy Benchmark |
|---|---|
| Days on market (contract to buyer contract) | 3-10 days |
| Buyer response rate to deal blast | 10%-20% of list responds within 48 hours |
| Average assignment fee | Track trend by market and property type |
| Fallout rate (buyer contracts that don't close) | Under 10% |
| Repeat buyer rate | 40%+ of deals sold to a repeat buyer |
Common Dispo Failures — and Fixes
- Thin buyer list, over-reliance on cold marketing — fix by dedicating consistent weekly time (or a VA) to buyer list growth, not just deal-by-deal outreach
- Overpricing the assignment fee — fix by re-running the MAO formula honestly before marketing, not after buyers go silent
- No backup buyer when the first one falls through — fix by always collecting at least 2-3 serious offers before locking in one buyer, and keeping a backup on standby
- Weak or missing paperwork — fix by using attorney- or title-reviewed assignment and double-close templates, not generic internet forms
- No dedicated dispo owner — fix by assigning dispo to a specific person (owner, dispo manager, or trained VA) rather than treating it as "whoever has time"
Negotiating Multiple Buyer Offers
When a deal is priced correctly, it's common to get two or three serious buyer offers within the first 48 hours of marketing. Don't just take the highest number blindly — weigh proof of funds strength, closing timeline flexibility, and the buyer's track record with your title company. A buyer offering $500 less but closing in 10 days with verified hard money is often the better choice over a buyer offering top dollar but requiring 30 days and unproven financing.
Run a simple best-and-final round when you have multiple serious offers: notify all interested buyers of a firm deadline, ask for their best number and proof of funds, and pick the winner within 24 hours. This keeps the deal moving and prevents buyers from stringing you along indefinitely.
Working With Title Companies and Transactional Funding
A wholesale-friendly title company is one of the most valuable relationships in dispo. Not every title company will handle assignments or double closes smoothly, and using the wrong one can add days or kill a deal entirely. Vet title companies in advance by asking directly whether they've closed assignment and double-close transactions before, and get a named point of contact you can call on deal day.
For double closes where you don't have the cash to fund the A-to-B leg yourself, transactional funding lenders provide same-day funds for a flat fee (typically $1,500-$2,500 regardless of deal size) as long as the B-to-C sale is already lined up and closing the same day or next day. Build a relationship with at least one transactional funder before you need one urgently.
Dispo is a skill and a system, not an afterthought. Shops that treat it with the same rigor as acquisitions consistently close a higher percentage of the contracts they sign — and capture more of the fee they negotiated instead of leaving it on the table for a rushed, underpriced sale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is dispositions in real estate wholesaling?
Dispositions (dispo) is the back half of the wholesaling process: once you have a property under contract, dispo is the work of marketing that contract to cash buyers, negotiating the assignment fee, executing the assignment or double-close paperwork, and getting to a funded closing before your contract deadline expires.
How do I build a cash buyer list from scratch?
Pull recent cash sales from public records or the MLS in your target zip codes, scrape investor-friendly Facebook groups and REI meetup rosters, run targeted ads to landlords and flippers, and — most importantly — capture every buyer who calls on your bandit signs or Facebook Marketplace listings into a CRM tag, even if they don't buy the first deal. A working buyer list of 50-100 active, verified buyers is enough to move most single-family deals in under two weeks.
Assignment of contract vs. double close — which is better?
Assignment of contract is faster and cheaper (just an assignment fee and a simple addendum) but requires seller and sometimes title company cooperation and discloses your fee on the HUD/settlement statement in many states. Double close hides the assignment fee, works better with reluctant sellers or non-assignable contracts, but requires transactional funding and adds an extra set of closing costs. Use assignment when the fee is modest and the seller is comfortable; use double close on larger fees or squeamish sellers.
What's a realistic dispo timeline once I have a contract?
For a well-priced deal with an active buyer list, expect to get it under buyer contract within 3-7 days of marketing, and to closing within 14-21 days total from your original contract date. Deals that sit on the market for more than 10 days without a buyer usually indicate a pricing problem, not a marketing problem.
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