Is wholesaling legal in Orlando FL?

[Adonis Hernandez]

Hello BP community i'm a newbie in the world of real estate investing with a plan to build a long term rental portfolio. I plan on building this portfolio through direct mail and driving for dollars. Since i might run into owners that will want "all cash" offers i also wanted to use the wholesale strategy for those properties that i don't have the cash for. While researching how wholesaling works i ran into different opinions on it's legality, some say its legal, some say it's illegal and some say it depends on your state,county and how you do it. I'm in Orlando FL.

Has anybody had this conversation with their attorney here in FL?

[Braden C.]

@Adonis Hernandez This is something discussed pretty often on BP so be prepared for a lot of different opinions. The short answer is yes, it's considered brokering without a license, I have this in writing from FREC. If you don't own the property you legally can't advertise to sell it, even with what some consider "equitable interest" by having a contract to purchase the property. That being said, it's not something that I have personally ever seen enforced. It will likely be enforced one day, and they will make an example out of that person. 

To avoid any issues, just get your license and disclose to potential sellers that you're a licensed real estate agent but not acting on their behalf. You'll not only be doing things legally, but you'll probably earn quite a bit of extra money each year just by helping friends/family when they purchase or sell real estate.