First assignment closed for $9,400. My own contract nearly killed it.

Still a little stunned so I'm writing it down while I remember the order things happened in.

Seller was an out of state owner who inherited a 3/1 from an aunt, had been paying the taxes for two years and never once seen the house. Real reason to move. I got in at $152,000. ARV I put at $245,000 and my repair number was around $55,000, which came from walking it with a contractor I met through this forum's general room, not from a spreadsheet.

Buyer was a flipper I'd met at a title company closing in March. He signed at $161,400. My fee was $9,400, wired the day of closing.

The part that nearly ended it: my purchase agreement had no assignment language in it at all. I used a template off a course site and it named me as buyer with nothing about assigns and no clause letting me transfer the contract. My buyer's attorney caught it in about four minutes. I had to go back to the seller and ask him to sign an amendment adding the assignment right, which meant explaining, on the phone, what I was actually doing. He was fine with it. He said he'd assumed something like that was going on. But that was three days where I had no idea if I had a deal.

Second thing, the title company I first opened with told me they don't process assignments, full stop. Not a legal issue, just their policy. Closed with a different one that does it every week.

What I'd keep: walking the house with someone who swings a hammer before I put a number on repairs.

Answer

1dmitri_v6CapitalPRO6

The amendment worked, so nothing to fix retroactively, but the reason it was needed is worth understanding for deal two.

What you sell in an assignment is your position as buyer under that purchase agreement. If the agreement doesn't say you can transfer that position, you can't transfer it, and a form that names only you as buyer with a silent assignment clause is a form written for a retail buyer. So the fix is at the top of the document, in the buyer line, and in a separate paragraph that says the buyer may assign the agreement and names what happens to the earnest money on assignment.

Three other clauses I'd want in there before you sign another one. An inspection or due diligence period long enough that your out isn't a lie. A named escrow holder, so nobody is arguing about where the deposit sits. And language saying the seller acknowledges the buyer may assign for a fee, which is the sentence that makes the conversation you had on the phone unnecessary next time because it happened at signing.

How much disclosure you owe the seller, and whether your activity trips a licensing line, varies by state, and several states changed their rules in 2025. Get the form drafted or at least reviewed by a real estate attorney licensed where you're buying. It costs less than the three days you just spent not knowing if you had a deal.

The title company refusing assignments is common and not a signal about you. Ask on the first call, before you open escrow, whether they handle assignment closings and whether they'll disburse the fee on the settlement statement.

13 replies

1tashaford30PB2APRO7

How much earnest money did you have in, and was any of it at risk once you were past the inspection period? That's the number I'd want to know before I ever tried this, because it's the only real cash you put up.

1hannah_west29 Get yours

Run the buyer's side for me. $161,400 in, $55,000 repairs, that's $216,400 before he pays holding, closing on both ends, and a commission at resale. Call the exit costs 8 percent of $245,000, so about $19,600, and he's at $236,000 against a $245,000 ARV.

That's a $9,000 gross profit on a six month project. Either your ARV is low, his repair number is lower than yours, or he bought it as a rental and doesn't care about the flip math. Which one?

1devon_pierce Get yoursPRO5

@compass, you said the buyer was someone you met at a closing in March. That's the part I keep underestimating. I've got a list of 40 sellers and zero buyers, and reading this I think I've been building the wrong list first.

3omar_haddadActivePRO11

$55,000 on a 3/1 with an ARV of $245,000. What's in it? If that's a roof, mechanicals, kitchen and both bathrooms then fine. If it's cosmetic and someone told you $55k, you left money on the table, and if there's any foundation movement or a sewer line you haven't scoped, $55k is the optimistic version. Scope creep on an inherited house that's sat two years is usually water somewhere nobody looked.

4carlos_nunezActive

The title company thing bit me on my second deal too and it cost me eleven days. I now keep two escrow officers who do assignments routinely and I call before the seller signs, not after.

1karen_whitfieldPG4APRO7

I'm asking because I want to know, not to take a shot at you. When you were on the phone with the seller explaining what you were doing, did he understand he could have listed it and probably cleared more than $152,000? Two years of paying taxes on a house he'd never seen tells me he wanted it gone, and speed has real value. I just think we should be honest that the fee comes from somewhere.

1angela_burkeServicePRO6

@orchard that tension never fully resolves. What I've seen from the service side is that the sellers who take these offers are usually the ones who won't tolerate 45 days of showings and a repair addendum. The ones who would have listed, list.

1megan_doyle15 Get yours

Dumb question, when you assigned it, did you ever appear on title? I still can't picture what document actually goes to the closing table.

2devon_pierce Get yoursPRO5

@rigging he doesn't appear on title. The seller deeds straight to the flipper. The paper that moves is a short assignment agreement transferring @compass's rights under the purchase contract, and the fee shows up as a line on the settlement statement. That's my understanding at least, someone correct me.

1joe_delgado5AP4CPRO6

$9,400 on a first deal is a real number, most people's first is under five. Where are you? Fees swing hard by market and the sub $250k tier in my area has gotten crowded with buyers who used to only look above $400k. My last three were $4,800, $6,100, $5,200 and all three had a buyer waiting before I signed the seller.

1nataliehsuSO1BPRO7

The bit I find useful here is that the deal turned on a contractor walkthrough and an escrow officer's internal policy, neither of which is the part anyone teaches. That's where I think I'd actually be useful in this business.

2gregpowell66AG4BPRO8

@harrow's question is the right one. @compass, get the repair estimate in writing next time with line items, even if your contractor grumbles about it. Two reasons. You'll defend your ARV when a buyer pushes, and when the numbers go wrong you'll know which line was wrong instead of guessing. I'd also want a sewer scope on anything with an original cast iron stack before I quoted anyone a spread.