The wholesaling glossary

Wholesaler

A real estate wholesaler is an investor who puts a property under contract at a discount, then sells the rights to that contract to an end buyer for a fee.

Assignment Fee

An assignment fee is the amount a wholesaler is paid for transferring (assigning) their purchase contract rights to an end buyer.

Off-Market

An off-market property is one being sold without a public listing on the MLS or major listing sites.

Cash Buyer

A cash buyer is an investor who can purchase a property without a mortgage contingency, closing with cash or cash-equivalent funds like hard money.

Fix and Flip

Fix and flip is an investing strategy where a buyer purchases a distressed property, renovates it, and resells it for a profit.

ARV (After Repair Value)

ARV (after repair value) is the estimated market value of a property once all repairs and renovations are complete.

Rehab Cost

Rehab cost is the total estimated expense to repair and renovate a property to reach its after repair value.

70% Rule

The 70% rule says an investor should pay no more than 70% of a property's after repair value minus rehab costs.

Gross Yield

Gross yield is a rental property's annual rent divided by its purchase price, expressed as a percentage.

Section 8

Section 8 is the federal Housing Choice Voucher program, in which a local housing authority pays part or all of a tenant's rent directly to the landlord.

Seller Finance

Seller financing is a deal where the property seller acts as the lender, letting the buyer pay in installments instead of getting a bank mortgage.

Subject-To

Subject-to is a purchase where the buyer takes title to a property while the seller's existing mortgage stays in place and the buyer makes the payments.

Creative Finance

Creative finance is any method of buying real estate outside a standard bank mortgage — including seller financing, subject-to, lease options, and wraparound loans.

Buy Box

A buy box is the specific set of criteria — location, property type, price range, and deal type — that defines what an investor will buy.

Skip Tracing

Skip tracing is the process of finding a property owner's current contact information — phone numbers, emails, or mailing addresses — from public and commercial data sources.

Dispo (Disposition)

Dispo, short for disposition, is the selling side of wholesaling — finding a buyer for a contracted deal and getting it to the closing table.