Assignment Fee

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

When a wholesaler signs a purchase contract with a seller, that contract has value if the price is below what investors will pay. The wholesaler assigns — transfers — the contract to an end buyer, and the difference between what the buyer pays and what the seller receives is the assignment fee. It is typically paid at closing through the title company or closing attorney, spelled out on the settlement statement.

Example: you contract a house at $80,000 and assign it to a cash buyer at $88,000. Your assignment fee is $8,000. The size of the fee comes from the spread in the deal, not the hours you worked — a deep discount can pay five figures, while a thin contract may pay nothing. Across BuyBox Cartel, the average assignment fee is $6,704.

Beginners get two things wrong. First, they price their fee before they price the deal — buyers pay for the numbers, and a fat fee on a bad deal just means no buyers. Second, some try to hide the fee, which blows up trust at the closing table. Be transparent, and know that some states have disclosure and marketing rules around assignments. Check your local requirements — this is not legal advice.