Transcription
Land flipping is changing in 2026, and here's how to win. So, the regulations targeting real estate wholesalers are now coming for land flippers, and what worked in 2023, 2022, 2021 is not going to work in 2026. The game has completely changed. This is not theory. This is what I'm actively going through right now. I'm running my business, and what my clients are actively going through as well. It's already happening in so many different states, and things are changing. And if you guys don't change very quickly, then what's going to happen is you will lose, and you will not be a profitable land investor. You will not do consistently profitable deals coming into 2026. And in this video, I'm going to show you exactly how to make sure that you are still a profitable land investor in 2026, 2027, and beyond.
For those who don't know who I am, my name is Femi. I've made multiple seven figures flipping land throughout my career. I've helped many of my clients achieve six-figure profit years, six-figure profit months, and I have several seven-figure clients that will be crossing the seven-figure mark within the next six months or so. So, I do know what I'm talking about. I've done several six-figure profit deals, so on and so forth. But enough about me. This is about you and how we can make sure that we have a profitable 2026. So, let's get into it.
And so, here's what most operators don't understand. I run the business every day, and I help my clients run this business, scale the business every day as well. And regulators are starting to crack down on wholesaling assignments, double closing, and so on, and they do not distinguish between the asset. It doesn't really matter. So, places like South Carolina, places like Oklahoma, they're all starting to crack down on these things. And the AP and the American Land Title Association have also created a model legislation with one goal: to pass it in all 50 states. And this is the predatory wholesaling law, and they're framing it as protecting vulnerable sellers from investors, people that go in and offer less than market value of the property. They already have the narrative there, and the momentum is building. Like, they're passing the law actively, and this is not the only law that they're passing. But this is scary. This is scary for you if you want to be someone that makes multiple seven figures or multiple six figures or runs a business based upon how we're running the business.
So, as an example, Oklahoma's SB 1075 went into effect November 1st, 2025. Pennsylvania's Act 52 went into effect January 2025. [snorts] These are not future threats. These are things that are happening right now. If you are still trying to go on YouTube like this and figure out what's working and what's not working, this is quite literally the only video you'll see like this that has this level of detail. So, stick to the end.
So, here are a few things that you have to be able to navigate as you go into 2026 and as you start to scale your business, how to build, and so on and so forth. So, the double close and assignment crackdown. People are really cracking down on double closing and assignments. It's going to get really, really difficult to do double closes and assigned deals if you're marketing to other, you know, if you're marketing on MLS, for example. So, you shouldn't be posting properties really if you don't control them and if you're not fully aware of all the bylaws in the area. Like, 2023, it was so easy. 2022, it was so easy to double close, assign, and so on. But people have made it harder because there are very bad actors and bad batches of people who will go in here and scam, unfortunately. And so, since people have been such bad actors, they're starting to crack down on it a lot more. [snorts] So, it's something you have to watch out for, and I'll explain that all throughout this video.
Next is MLS lockout and marketing restrictions. So, you cannot publicly market a property that you don't own in many of these places, even if you have the clause in your contract. So, places like Alabama, you you can't really do that if you don't have the clause in your contract. There, Oklahoma, same thing. You can't do that anymore if you don't have the clause. Even if you have the clause in your contract, they don't care. You have to have control over the property. Why? Because so many bad actors have been in the space messing things up for everyone, faking identities, so on and so forth, and completely, I mean, just just ruining the game in my opinion. And so, it's going to be about the people that have skill. It's going to be about the people that negotiate deals down, and we'll get into that a little bit later. [snorts]
Lastly, another threat that you have to be able to navigate going into 2026 is the TCPA lawsuit trap. So, man, I've seen a lot of people's businesses get completely wiped out by this because they don't know any better. So, compliance violations cost people up to millions of dollars. Some of these lawsuits can go to class-action level lawsuits. One wrong text message can completely, like I said, trigger a class-action lawsuit. You text the wrong person, someone that was on a do-not-call list or do-not-contact list, and then you reach out to them. And there are people that make complete businesses out of suing people for texting. Complete businesses. I mean, multiple seven-figure-a-year businesses. And this doesn't mean not to text. But you do have to know exactly what you're doing. If you're going into this and you just think like, "Oh, yeah, I'm going to send out a bunch of texts or I'm going to cold call a bunch," and I'm going to like, you need to know what you're doing. You need to be working with people who know what they're doing. You need to be working with people who have experience doing this. You need to be working with people who are actively operating in the game. That's why it's so important to get help.
So, each one of these threats requires immediate action. If you do not, if you do not, each one of these threats requires immediate action. If you don't act now, I mean, the game is going to catch up to you. It's going to be really difficult for you to get deals done. You're going to get wiped out.
Alrighty. So, let's really break down threat number one, the double close and assignment crackdown. So, if you're currently double closing and assigning deals, it's going to become pretty much illegal, and it's already becoming impossible in many different markets. And most land flippers don't want to hear that. We are not exempt from this. When Oklahoma passed SB 1075, they did not write "except for vacant land." When Texas passed SB 577, these are codes you guys can look up, by the way. They didn't carve out rural acreage. It applies to all of us. Oklahoma just became the first state to actually define double closing in a statute. If you're flipping a contract or flipping a property same day without intent to improve it, you're in the same regulatory bucket. Texas, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Maryland. All of these states are moving in this exact same direction. These are all states where I've done several deals in. And over the past years, we're able to double close like no problem. It is getting increasingly difficult to go into these areas and double close if we're not making vast, vast improvements. That's why I'm going to get into that later, but that's why withholding tax and all these things are starting to come up and rise up in the area. It's getting a lot harder. So, if you guys don't change what you're doing, if you don't change strategy, you will not be profitable in 2026.
So, what these laws actually do to your business. So, mandatory written disclosures. You have to tell the seller that you plan to assign or resell before any contract is signed. No more "and/or" signs buried in the fine print. So, every single seller that we work with, we disclose. Like, there's no more of this, "Oh, I'm going to try to keep them in the dark about it." No, you don't do that. That's not how you run your business. You need to let people know that this is what we're planning on doing. We have multiple different strategies that we do implement. However, this is probably the primary thing we're going to do, and [snorts] the reason why we're able to add value to you is because of this.
Two, cancellation rights. Oklahoma, as an example, gives sellers two business days to back out with no penalty. Pennsylvania gives them 30 days. Your locked-in deal can evaporate legally. This is also why we don't tie sellers, unless it's like a huge deal, to any deal. We always let them know that it's non-binding. And [snorts] then we're always following up with them. We're always building rapport with them. We always have good camaraderie with 99% of our sellers up until the point that we close. They they rarely cancel unless it's they don't trust us. But we really make sure that they do trust us. So, like, you can avoid a lot of these things by just honestly following really good business practices. You follow good business practices, it's going to be easy to mitigate through a lot of this stuff.
Three, contract validation. You need to make sure that you disclose to the seller exactly what you're going to be doing. Like I said earlier, there's no reason to go in and try to pull the wool over a seller's eyes. We're not trying to do that. We're letting them know exactly how we are adding value to them. We're letting them know exactly what we are doing. There's no keeping them in the dark anymore. It's going to get so much more difficult. Trust is in this market at an all-time low. And so, if you're not able to keep trust with your sellers, well, first of all, establish trust and then keep trust with sellers [snorts] is going to be extremely difficult for you to build in 2026.
Also, licensing requirements. So, Pennsylvania, as an example, is requiring a real estate license to wholesale. So, that means education hours, background checks, ongoing compliance, and state board accountability. Now, this is not happening in all states yet, but it is certainly moving in that direction. If you look at the withholding taxes, if you look at how they're literally putting double closing in statutes now because so many people have done it and if and several people have messed it up by again doing fraudulent things. If you look at that, that is the way that the country is going to head. That's the way that most of these states are going to go. So, you also have to do your best just to follow good business practices as well. And don't be one of these bad actors that goes in here and thinks you're going to be able to make a bunch of money if you do things fraudulently. That will always catch up to you. Always. [snorts] And it, it really irritates me as well because so many people, you, you can like change your family's trajectory of of their lives. I've been able to do that with this business model. I didn't have to cheat anybody. I didn't have to beat anybody over. I didn't have to lie to anybody. I didn't have to do any of that. All I did was commit to the game, build up my pipeline, close deals consistently, invest my money wisely. That's all I did. So, anyone that's on here watching this video that thinks like, "Oh, I'm just going to like," no, follow good business practices. Follow good business practices. Build rapport with your sellers. Establish trust. Keep the trust. Be trustworthy. Simple.
But we're going to get into it a little bit deeper here because I need you guys to understand just how much this game is about to change going into 2026 and beyond. So, what is the solution for all this? You need to start having way more control over your deals. That means actually closing on properties, having capital or funding relationships in place, and operating as a true buyer, not just a flipper waiting for an exit. You need to act as an investor. When you own the property, very few of these regulations will touch you, especially none of this wholesale, double close stuff. They, they don't touch you anymore. You're not assigning anything. You're not a wholesaler. None of that. You're just a landowner selling the land. So, the reality is, do you have the capital and the systems to operate that way? So, you need to do your best to start building funding relationships and then on top of that, getting much better at locking up deals at at prices and where they need to be locked up at. There's no more locking up a deal at 120 and hoping that it's going to sell on market for 140. Very rarely should you do that. You need to have the skill to negotiate down to 80 in order for you to actually close on it and resell it, as an example.
Now, let's go to threat number two. This is what I was just saying. So, the MLS lockout and the end of lazy deals. The days of locking up anything with a pulse and hoping you find a buyer are completely over. That's done. When you could freely list an equitable interest on the MLS, you could be sloppy. I, I have been guilty of doing this before as well. 2022, 2023, I was doing this all the time, and we made a lot of money doing that. But unfortunately, if you just have all these listings and you're being lazy with deals and you're just listing stuff, eventually some of that stuff is going to turn. It will churn. That is just, that's the nature of the business. I've, I've had times where I had 65 MLS listings at one time. [snorts] And some of that stuff will churn. About 10, 15 of those will churn. Well, those 10, 15 individual people, individual situations, and they're going to be upset if their properties do not sell. Now, then add on top of that if someone did something fraudulent. So, that's why I mean, again, that's why the game is changing so much because the MLS is just not going to go for that anymore.
So, the safety net is disappearing. South Carolina passed HB 4754, one of the strictest wholesaling bans in the country. You cannot publicly market a property you do not own. You can still assign a contract privately to a known buyer, but you can't advertise to find that buyer. The moment you try to market something publicly, you do need a license. And so, you see, like, these are rules that did not exist before that now exist because so many people were just locking up stuff, listing it, locking up, listing it, locking up, listing it, and so on. The MLS rules are getting stricter everywhere. East Tennessee MLS update in 2024. Explicit ban on wholesale listings, any listing involving equitable interest like purchase contracts or assignments. And they're giving fines if you do this as well. The N settlement impact, more transparency requirements, written buy agreements before showings, compensation fields removed from the MLS. You can't. So, you can't do anything about a broker getting bonuses or anything like that in your MLS listing descriptions anymore. You used to be able to do that. That used to get us a ridiculous amount of leads, and now we have to do it in a different way. But this is why, like, being active in the game, it matters so much because this, this is a side example. So, with the MLS, when we list properties on the MLS, right, what I used to be able to say is like, "Hey, we will give you this. We will incentivize you this way if you bring us a buyer by this date." No, we can't do it that way anymore. We have to do it another way. But it's like the game changes so quickly month over month that if you don't know this stuff, then you're going to be like, "How come I'm not getting any deals done?" Well, there's so many different factors that entail. And this is only part of the, this is only part of it. Only part of it.
So, the entire system is just moving toward more scrutiny on every single deal. Anything that looks non-traditional will get flagged immediately. So, what this means for you, you have to be pickier. You have to negotiate better on the front end. You can't lock up deals hoping that the MLS will have a buyer 20k more than what you locked it up for. The "throw stuff on the wall and hoping that it sticks" stuff is just, it's not going to work anymore. I see people still not being picky with their deals. I see people still not negotiating better. Like, you need to really in 2026 focus on how good your acquisition skill and your negotiation skill is, can be. Like, be as as good as you can at talking to sellers over the phone. Be as good as you can at negotiating. Be as good as you can on pulling those emotions out of that seller. Be as good as you can at all those things to get pain points out of them so you can actually close them when it comes time to close.
So, how do you win with this? You win again by closing on property yourself or with deal funders. So, negotiate harder on the front end so you actually have margin, not just like, "Oh, okay, I can make 20K on this, maybe." Only lock up deals that you intend to close on. If you don't intend to close on this deal, do not lock it up. Operate as a real principal in every transaction that you do, not a middleman trying to flip paper. And honestly, guys, like, if you think that, "Oh, well, I but I don't have money." This is such a big objection. "I don't have money to buy the deals." You don't need money to buy the deals. You do not need money to buy the deals. I have capital to fund deals. I know a whole gang of other people that have capital to fund deals as well. It's about the deal itself. I'm only going to fund deals that are good deals that I feel like can sell really quickly. I'm not [snorts] just going to fund any old deal. And remember this, ingrain this into your mind: Money always finds good deals. Always. So, it doesn't matter if you're on your last $5. If you go and find a good deal, you go and find me a really good deal that we can work on, and you're a client of mine, well, then I will fund that deal. I don't tend to find deals that are don't come to me from clients because I do get so much deal from from my clients. But if you have a deal and it's a good deal and you've negotiated it well, then guess what? Money will find that deal. Whether it's my money or whoever, money always finds good deals. Always. So, focus on getting the skill of finding good deals as opposed to like, "Oh, I just want to get a deal. I just want to get a deal. I just want to get a deal." And then you end up making three grand on a deal for all that work. Unnecessary.
So, when you own the property, you list as the owner. There's no equitable interest issue. There's no MLS violations. There's no disclosure about your intent to assign. You're just selling your property that you control. That's the difference between a land flipper and a contract flipper. And 2026, only one of those will survive.
Withholding taxes are something that I've been seeing a lot. It's just been getting like way more rampant. And I started not noticing this last year. In 2023, early 2023, I got my first withholding tax. And there are some states that actually still owe me money from 2023. And I'm talking mid-six figures they owe me. And I've already filled out all my my forms and everything like that. Still haven't gotten the money back on a lot of stuff. So, you do have to watch out for withholding tax traps. When you actually close on a property as a buyer, you need to be aware of this. This is why strong negotiation on the front end is critical because this is an expense for you. So, Georgia, I mean, this is just a long list of them. Long list. Georgia has 3% of sales price or 3% of gain with an affidavit for sales over $20,000. California is 3.3% of sales price for sales over $100,000. There's also another tax in California. I've been charged, but I can get to that a little bit later. It's not withholding. Maryland has 8% for individuals and 8.2% for entities. And this is for all non-resident sales. South Carolina, 7% for individuals, 5% for corporations, all non-resident sales. Alabama, 3% for individuals, 4% for entities, all non-resident sales. Rhode Island, 6% for individuals, 9% for corporations, all non-resident sales. Mississippi, 5% of the sales price sales over $100,000. See, the point with all this, right, it's only going to be more. Like, they're only going to continue to add withholding taxes. They're only going to continue to add red tape so it becomes more difficult for you.
So, what's going to happen in 2026 is the people that have the skills are the people that will ultimately rise to the top. If you don't have the skills, if you don't have the knowledge to be able to do this kinds of research on the front end of when you're actually doing your market research and you think it's just something you're going to send out to mail and then whippity-doo, you have some some money in your bank account. That's not how this works. This is a business. You are building a business. You are not hustling here. You need [snorts] to actually build a business. You need to actually build yourself into a principal of someone who can do deals consistently no matter what gets thrown at you, right? And again, this is why you have to be able to negotiate harder. So, when we go into any of these states, I already know that our negotiation has to be a little bit extra because we're going to get an extra 3 to 10% knocked off of our profit, which is crazy. But ultimately, if you can buy something for 50 and sell it for 150, it doesn't end up being that bad after all this, which is why we also go for higher margin deals as well.
Now, [sighs] now threat number three, and this is what I like to call the silent killer that no one is really talking about. I mean, everyone likes to kind of run away from this stuff, but I know so many people who this has been happening to, and it, it's crazy. It's really crazy. So, I'll give you an example at the highest level, right? Keller Williams actually just paid a $40 million settlement fee to a TCPA class action. Coldwell Banker's parent company just settled for $20 million, 298,000 class members, 700,000 phone calls. The penalty structure is brutal. It's $500 to $1,500 per violation, per text, per call. If you multiply that by your last SMS campaign, you just do the math on that. Again, it's, it's crazy how many businesses I've seen this destroy completely to where people have to like completely wipe out all their marketing and their business is tanked because of this.
Now, there is a little detail that most people miss in this, and there's favorable case law saying calls to buy property are not telemarketing because you're not selling anything. Courts have ruled that offering to purchase someone's property doesn't fall under the statute's definition of solicitation because you're not selling anything. You're offering to buy something from them. But here's the thing. When your outreach sounds like you're offering a service, instead of making a direct offer to purchase, you're exposed. "I can help you sell your property." Telemarketing. "I want to buy your property at address for this price." And that could potentially be protected, but, you know, speak to your legal counsel, your lawyer. I'm not a lawyer. I'm just, I'm just giving you information based upon what I know and what works for me as well. [snorts]
The only thing is that most land flippers blur this line constantly. You're using auto-dialers, pre-recorded messages, texting numbers on the do-not-call registry, and your scripts sound like sales pitches, not purchase offers. You don't sound like business owners. You sound like sleazy car salesmen. And this is the thing that we've gotten away from at Lverse is like, you want to completely get away from being a sleazy, oily, nasty car salesman. That is not the industry that this is growing to be. The industry that this is growing to be is that of a professional, well-spoken, clean investor because for the next 50 plus years, sellers will need to sell for a particular reason. And for the next 50 plus years, you can be there to sit, and it doesn't have to be 50 years, it could be five, but you could be there to serve that seller and saying, "Hey, here's exactly how I can help you moving forward. Here's exactly how I can, here's an offer that we can, we can be right here to provide that offer for you. I know you you said you listed it and it spent two years on the market. Well, I'm going to offer you this and we can close next week." There will always be multiple people in that situation and where they need it solved. Always. So, you have to position yourself there to solve that problem. And you also can't be, I can tell you, "Oh, yeah, well, we no professional, well-spoken, well-capitalized investment firm." That's what you want to be.
So, the barrier is rising. Things are changing. They're changing very quickly. And if you don't change with the times, the times will wipe you out. So, when you can't assign freely, you need capital to close. Transactional funding does work, but it costs 1 to 2% minimum per deal. And title companies get really picky with who they work with and exactly how they will change entities and administer funds and so on. We've had several title companies this year for deals that we've tried to transactional fund, and they're getting just way more particular about what I have to do. And it was never really like that. A couple years back, even a year ago, it wasn't like that. Things are just really, really cracking down. They don't really like last-minute entity switches. Like, all these things are changing, and so you, you really have to dot your eyes and cross your tees as you move forward.
The regulations are not random, though. These are things to protect asset owners and property owners. Many of these people are in their 60s, 70s, and maybe have dementia or maybe have issues where they can't make decisions justly. They can't do that anymore. And so, I do understand like why they're trying to protect uh the people, but also on your end, you need to make sure that you're not a person that these people need protecting from. If they don't need protecting from you, then you're going to be able to come in here and make a lot of money because you're genuinely serving people. There are people that a lot of these owners need protecting from.
But here's the other thing. This is fantastic news. If you're watching this video and you want to be a land flipper in 2026, or maybe you're watching this video and you already have a land flipping business that you want to scale in 2026, it's fantastic news because that means that there's less competition. The people that came in and the people that were bad actors, those people are not here anymore. And if they are here, they're going to get completely wiped out by a lot of these different rules. Now, higher barriers mean that you can come in here, get really good on the skill end, from the marketing aspect to the acquisitions aspect to the pipeline build aspect to the follow-up aspect to the team building aspect to selling properties on the market quickly, and then figuring out the process of how you can go from all the the functions I just mentioned to making them happen as quickly as possible in revolution so you can continue to make money and continue to cash flow. But you need to be positioned properly. As long as you have capital access, compliance systems, knowledge of the game, and how quickly it's changing, you're going to be in a solid spot. You can't fake this. You can't figure it out as you go. The margin for error is just not here anymore because it's gotten so much harder with compliance and statutes and rules and so on.
So, this is really about control and knowledge. Adapt or get left behind. Research your markets immediately. Identify the two biggest markets you operate in and research their current bylaws on assignments and double closing. Don't wait. In most states, the rules have already changed. You want to go in and see what things specifically to your state to assigning contracts, double closing, land flipping, buying and selling land. What specific laws do they have in place? Or are they thinking about passing that you might need to watch out for? Secure access to capital. Make sure that you have a track record of deals built up that you can go bring deals to people and go do deals consistently with people. And then also, while you're doing that, while you're stacking your cash, start making sure your credit is solid. So then you can go and get lines of credit on your own. Number three, implement compliant systems. Audit your outreach scripts, calling systems, and marketing methods. Make sure you're making purchase offers, not selling services. A lawsuit can end your business. And please talk to your legal counsel. Do not take this as legal advice. Do not take this as financial advice or anything like that. This is just what's working for me and was working for my clients as well.
The operators who win in 2026 won't be locking up 50 lots and hoping 10 work out. They won't be running cold SMS campaigns with scripts copied from Facebook groups. They won't be praying the MLS finds them a buyer before their contract expires. They'll be the ones who actually close on properties with real margin negotiated on the front end because of high-level skill, real capital behind them, and full control over every single deal. The land flipping space has had it easy compared to house selling. We've operated in the shadows while regulators focus elsewhere. The advantage is closing fast. The same playbook that killed house wholesaling will come for us. This is land flipping 2.0. The game has changed. The only question is whether you change with it. And if you want help navigating this difficult game going into 2026 and actually being able to build a profitable, robust land flipping business in 2026 and beyond, you can apply to work with me in the link below. My team and I will be happy to help. I'll see you on the next video.