I made a huge mistake

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To preface this story, I am in California. You can yell at me if you want, but I know what I did was wrong. I am more looking for advice than an actual scolding. I will never wholesale again and i gave wholesalers a bad name.

I am currently working on getting my real estate license, but as of now I am doing wholesaling. I found a piece of land that fit a buyers criteria and after talking on biggerpockets, I sent her an email saying that I had the property under contract and I could sell it to her for under list price. I did not have it under contract, but I had talked to the agent of the property beforehand and had a good idea of a negotiated price. I did not want to put it under contract unless I had confirmation that the buyer actually wanted to check it out. Huge Mistake.....

Long story short, the buyer found out that I did not have it under contract and was extremely pissed. It turns out the buyer is actually an attorney and she said that she was going to file a complaint against me with the real estate commission.

I am now in the process of a panic attack. I know I messed up and I now know what I did was wrong. Is this a felony in CA? Is this a misdemeanor? Am i going to get arrested? Is the real estate commission going to send me a cease and desist letter only? Am i going to be fined? Should i get a lawyer? She only knows my name, number, and email address. She has no other info about me.

I have a baby on the way and I can't afford to have anything on my record that hinders me from finding work. I have never been in trouble in my whole life. I have always been a straight A student and i graduated University with honors. I am scared ****less right now. I am literally shaking and I can't sleep. I can't face my family if I get arrested for this.....

[JR T.]

@Jonathan Vese If you do it over the phone it's wire fraud. I think that can run up to 20 years.

My point is to deal with your counterparties honestly, ethically and transparently. All of this could have been avoided by approaching the potential buyer and telling her you have the ability to negotiate a deal on the land that will be attractive to her business model. If you can deliver there is value in that, even if you don't have the contract yet. Sell what you can deliver on.