Hey Matt,
This is totally my opinion and I express this often to new wholesalers at meetups in both Omaha and Memphis.
Wholesaling is legal in NE. At its most basic level, you are simply assigning a contract to someone else and that doesn't require a real estate license. However, I believe(not a lawyer), that if your intent is to never close on a home then you probably should have a license. I do not believe you should put a contract on a house unless you know you can perform on the contract if you don't have a buyer. This may mean you need a partner, or hard money lender lined up to help you acquire the deal. This also means the deal must be good enough for a partner or hard money lender to be willing to participate so it acts as a check and balance for your deal.
Where you can get in trouble with wholesaling is when you don't perform on a contract and someone sues you for non-performance and it comes out you were trying to sell their house to another party and never had any real intent to buy the house.
With all of this being said, I always try to wholesale any deal I pick up first. I try to assign it first or simultaneous close. If I have to close on it I do and then keep trying to sell it while I fix it up. Once it is all fixed up I either lease it out or sell it retail.
I believe you should always try to wholesale your deals first for cash flow speed.
If you find a deal that is a real deal you should have zero problems finding a buyer for it.
I do think if your intent is only to assign contracts and never close on a loan you should probably be licensed. This will also expand how you are able to work your leads as you will have more opportunities.
I have had some wholesalers tell me they fully disclose their intent to flip to another buyer and never close to the seller, they are probably safe doing this in that the seller will probably never complain to the real estate commission, but that is openly admitting that they intend to fulfill what the state considers to be the role of an agent.