Assignment of contract.
What it actually means.

What actually transfers

You are not selling a house — you never own one. You are selling the equitable interest a signed purchase contract gives you: the right to buy at that price on those terms. For it to work, the contract has to be assignable, which means the assignment language survived the seller’s review and no clause prohibits transfer. The assignee typically replaces or reimburses your earnest money and steps into your deadlines exactly as written, inspection periods included. Anything you negotiated poorly — a short closing window, a large non-refundable deposit — transfers along with the opportunity.

Making the fee real

An assignment fee only exists if the contract price is genuinely below what a cash buyer will pay for that condition in that neighborhood. That means after-repair value from real comparable sales, a repair scope built from what a contractor would actually charge, and enough margin left for the end buyer to profit after their own costs. A contract written at retail does not assign at any price. Wholesalers who last build the number backward from the buyer’s required return and then negotiate to it, rather than tying up a property and hoping a buyer materializes at a price the math never supported.

Assignment fee = price the end buyer pays − price you have the property under contract for. A $110,000 contract assigned at $122,000 produces a $12,000 fee before marketing and closing costs.

The paper trail and the legal line

A clean assignment leaves a clear record: the original contract, a written assignment agreement naming the fee, and a settlement statement showing the fee paid at closing. Sellers are increasingly likely to ask whether you intend to assign, and in a growing number of states the answer must be disclosed up front. Some jurisdictions limit how often you can do this without a license, restrict marketing the property itself rather than your contract position, or regulate the practice directly. This is the part of the business where rules change fastest and differ most by state — get an attorney in your market to review your contract and your process before you sign anything.

What the end buyer is checking

Cash buyers vet an assignment before they wire anything. They will re-run your after-repair value against their own comps, walk the property with their contractor, and check that the closing date leaves them time to inspect and fund. They also look at whether the seller knows about the assignment, because a seller who feels ambushed at the closing table can stall or refuse to sign. Bringing your buyer the same documentation you would want — scope, photographs, comparable sales, title status — is what turns a first assignment into a repeat one.