Wisconsin Wholesaling Law: 2023 Act 208 (Wis. Stat. 710.13)

State: Wisconsin
Bill: AB 918, enacted as 2023 Wisconsin Act 208 and codified at Wis. Stat. 710.13 (the identical companion bill SB 870 died on the calendar and is not law)
Effective date: March 24, 2024, the day after publication (Wis. Stat. 991.11). This law has been in effect for over two years.
Applies to: Anyone who enters a contract to buy 1-to-4-unit residential real property as the buyer and intends to assign that buyer's contract to a third party for consideration
Bottom line: Wholesaling by assignment is fully legal in Wisconsin with no license and no waiting period, and only 1-to-4-unit residential deals are covered. You give two written disclosures, one to the seller and one to your end buyer. Skip them and either side can cancel before closing (the seller keeps your deposit, the buyer reclaims theirs). Licensed agents who skip them also face a civil forfeiture of up to $5,000 per violation plus board discipline.

What the Law Says (Plain English)

Wisconsin took the light-touch route. Wis. Stat. 710.13 formally defines "real property wholesaler" and regulates the practice with disclosure requirements, not with a license requirement and not with a waiting period.

Who counts as a wholesaler: A person who "enters into a purchase agreement as a buyer and intends to assign the person's rights as buyer under the purchase agreement to a 3rd party for consideration" (710.13(1)(b)). This is aimed squarely at the assignment-of-contract model.

What property is covered: Only "residential real property," which the statute defines as real property in Wisconsin "that includes one to 4 dwelling units" (710.13(1)(c), cross-referencing s. 101.61(1)). Anything larger than a fourplex, plus commercial property and raw land, sits outside the definition (see Loophole #3).

What you must do, twice:

1. Disclose to the seller, in writing, no later than when you sign the purchase agreement as buyer: that you are a real property wholesaler (710.13(2)(a)). That is the only content the statute requires of the seller notice. It does not require you to state that you may assign the contract or that you will be paid.
2. Disclose to your end buyer, in writing, no later than when you enter the assignment contract: that you are a wholesaler holding an equitable interest in the property as the buyer under the purchase agreement, and that you are conveying your interest in that contract, not title to the property (710.13(2)(b)). "Equitable interest" is the legal term for the buyer's stake in a property created by a signed purchase contract, before the deed changes hands.

That is the whole compliance burden. No license, no 14-day clock, no state-mandated script or format beyond the content points above.

What You CANNOT Do (In Effect Since March 24, 2024)

• Put a 1-to-4-unit residential property under contract intending to assign it without telling the seller, in writing, that you are a real property wholesaler
• Assign your contract to an end buyer without first telling them, in writing, that you are a wholesaler conveying an equitable interest in a contract, not title to the property itself
• Let the end buyer believe they are buying the house directly from the owner
• Treat the disclosures as optional paperwork to clean up later. The seller's disclosure has to exist no later than the purchase agreement, and the buyer's disclosure has to exist no later than the assignment contract
• Waive these rules by agreement. The seller's and buyer's rescission rights cannot be waived (710.13(4), see Loophole #4)

What You CAN Still Do

• Wholesale by assignment, same day, no waiting. Unlike Missouri's 14-day rule, Wisconsin has no cooling-off period. You can disclose and sign at the kitchen table on the first appointment
• Wholesale without a license. The law regulates wholesaling through disclosure instead of licensing
• Charge whatever assignment fee the market bears. The law requires disclosing that you are a wholesaler, not disclosing the amount of your spread or capping it
• Wholesale commercial, larger multifamily (5+ units), and vacant land free of this law. The disclosure duties only attach to 1-to-4-unit residential deals (see Loophole #3)
• Double close. Take title and resell; the definition never reaches you (see Loophole #2)

The Loopholes

Loophole #1: Just Comply (The Best Play Here)

In most regulated states the workaround is the product. In Wisconsin, compliance is the product. The entire law costs you two short written disclosures and zero days of waiting. Hand the seller a wholesaler disclosure with the purchase agreement, hand the end buyer an equitable-interest disclosure with the assignment contract, keep signed copies, and you are operating fully inside the law with your same-day assignment model intact. Clean. There is no cheaper regulated state to comply in.

Loophole #2: Double Closing

The definition triggers only on a buyer who "intends to assign the person's rights as buyer under the purchase agreement to a 3rd party for consideration" (710.13(1)(b)). If you close on the property, take title, and then convey it to your end buyer by deed, you never assigned the contract, so you are not a "real property wholesaler" under this law and neither disclosure is required. Clean on the quoted trigger words. The cost is a second set of closing costs plus Wisconsin's real estate transfer fee and any transactional funding, which is real money against the roughly zero cost of Loophole #1, so this only makes sense when you do not want the parties seeing your spread.

Loophole #3: Commercial, Larger Multifamily, and Vacant Land (Clean)

The statute only reaches "residential real property," defined as property "that includes one to 4 dwelling units" (710.13(1)(c)). A wholesale on a 5-unit-or-larger apartment building, a commercial or industrial property, or raw land with no dwelling units on it is not a "purchase agreement" for covered property, so neither disclosure is triggered. Clean on the statute's own scope language. This is a real carve-out, not a paperwork dodge: on a five-plus-unit, commercial, or land deal the law simply does not apply. On mixed or borderline properties (a duplex with a storefront, a lot you plan to build on), the count of existing dwelling units controls, so document what is actually on the parcel.

Loophole #4: Seller or Buyer Waivers (Closed)

You cannot paper your way out of this with a waiver. The statute is explicit: "A person may not waive the person's rights under this section" (710.13(4)). A seller's or buyer's signed waiver of their rescission rights is unenforceable. The only thing that ends a rescission right is proceeding to closing, at which point the right terminates by operation of the statute, not by agreement (710.13(4)). Closed. Do not build a waiver into your contracts as a shortcut. Just give the two disclosures.

Closed: Doing Deals "Quietly"

Keeping your deals inside a private buyer network does not escape this law. The disclosure duties attach to the purchase contract and the assignment, not to marketing. If you contract and assign for consideration on a covered residential property, you owe the disclosures no matter how privately you operate.

Penalties If You Violate It

For every wholesaler, licensed or not: the deal can be unwound. This is the real teeth of 710.13, and it applies to everyone.

• The seller can cancel any time before closing and keep your money. If you skipped the seller disclosure, the seller may rescind the purchase agreement at any point before closing, without liability, and retain your deposits and any option fees (710.13(3)(a))
• The end buyer can cancel and claw their money back. If you skipped the buyer disclosure, the end buyer may rescind the assignment before closing, without liability, and recover any deposits or option fees they paid you (710.13(3)(b))

For licensed agents only: money penalty plus discipline. Act 208 also amended the real estate licensing chapter (ch. 452). A violation of 710.13(2) is now a disciplinary ground against a licensee (452.14(3)(im)), and the board may assess a civil forfeiture of up to $5,000 for each violation (452.14(4m)(a)), on top of suspending or revoking the license. This layer reaches licensed brokers and salespersons, not unlicensed wholesalers.

No blanket criminal jail for a disclosure lapse. Chapter 452 carries a criminal penalty of up to a $5,000 fine or 6 months in jail (452.17), but that penalty attaches to violations of the licensing chapter itself, most directly acting as a broker or salesperson without a license. A bare failure to give a 710.13 disclosure by an unlicensed wholesaler sits in chapter 710, not chapter 452, so the 6-month criminal exposure very likely does not reach it. Do not run your risk analysis on jail. The consequence that actually bites the ordinary wholesaler is losing the deal and the deposit under 710.13(3).

Related Rules in the Same Bill

Act 208 also tightened the license-discipline machinery in ch. 452 and clarified a broker's disclosure standard of care (452.23), but those provisions govern licensees, not the wholesaler disclosures themselves. Separately, the current codified version of 710.13 (as amended by 2025 Wisconsin Act 60) adds subsection (3)(c): once a valid rescission notice arrives, whoever is holding the deposit or option fees may disburse them to the rescinding seller or assignee without liability. It changes nothing about your two disclosure duties.

Required Disclosure Language

Wisconsin mandates the content of the two disclosures but does not prescribe exact wording, a font size, bold type, or a separate-document format. The statute only says each notice must be "written." Use your own clear language that conveys these points:

• To the seller (710.13(2)(a)), no later than when you sign the purchase agreement as buyer: that you, the buyer, are a real property wholesaler. That single fact is all the statute requires of this notice.
• To the third-party assignee (710.13(2)(b)), no later than when you enter the assignment contract: that you are a real property wholesaler holding an equitable interest in the residential real property as the buyer under the purchase agreement, and that you are conveying your interest in the purchase agreement, not title to the property.

There is no state-issued form and no mandated script. Keep signed, dated copies of both notices as proof of timely delivery, since the entire penalty regime turns on whether the disclosure existed in time.

Quick Reference

This summary is an analysis of the enacted statute (Wis. Stat. 710.13) and secondary sources, not legal advice. Confirm your specific deal structure with a Wisconsin real estate attorney.

Sources: 2023 Wisconsin Act 208 (2023 Assembly Bill 918) as enrolled and as codified at Wis. Stat. 710.13 (current text reflects 2025 Wisconsin Act 60); the licensing-chapter amendments at Wis. Stat. 452.14 and 452.17; and secondary industry analyses.