Handling Wholesaler and Cash Offers on Your Bexar County FSBO

Put a sign in the yard in Bexar County and within 72 hours you will get texts like "we buy houses cash, no repairs, close in 7 days." Some are real. Most are wholesalers trying to tie up your property under contract at a discount and assign that contract to an end buyer for a fee. Neither is inherently bad, but they are not the same thing, and the terms you accept should reflect which one you are actually dealing with.

This is the part of a FSBO sale where sellers lose the most money — not on price alone, but on non-refundable option fees that never materialize, 45-day contracts that die at day 44, and assignment clauses that let a stranger show up at closing instead of the person you signed with.

Wholesaler vs. actual cash buyer

A true cash buyer has liquid funds — their own, or a private-money line — and intends to take title in the name on the contract. A wholesaler signs the contract in their own name (or a shell LLC), then markets the contract to a network of landlords and flippers, and assigns the deal for a fee, often $5,000–$20,000. You still close, but with someone you never met.

Texas allows this because buying real property for yourself does not require a real estate license. What TREC does prohibit is marketing someone else's property without a license, which is why wholesalers are careful to say they are marketing "an equitable interest in a contract" — a legal gray area that the Texas Real Estate Commission has warned about but not comprehensively closed.

Signals you are talking to a wholesaler, not an end buyer:

• Offer arrives before they have walked the property, sometimes sight-unseen off a driving-for-dollars list.
• Purchase price is 60–75% of what comparable homes are actually closing at.
• "Proof of funds" is a screenshot from a transactional lender or a letter from an LLC you cannot find on the Texas Secretary of State site.
• They ask for a long option period (14–21 days) and a long closing (30–45 days) — that is inspection-shopping time to find their end buyer.
• Earnest money offered is $500 or $1,000 on a $300,000 house.
• The contract has no financing addendum but also no meaningful earnest money at risk.

Proof of funds that actually proves something

Before you sign, demand one of the following, dated within the last 30 days and in the name of the buyer on the contract:

• A bank or brokerage statement showing cleared funds of at least the purchase price.
• A letter from a private lender on letterhead with a callback number, naming this specific property and this specific buyer.
• A HELOC statement with available credit greater than the purchase price.

A generic "pre-qualification" from an online lender is not proof of funds. Neither is a screenshot with the account number redacted and no institution name. If they resist providing it, that answer is your answer.

Restrict assignment in the contract itself

TREC 20-17, the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), does not prohibit the buyer from assigning the contract. Silence on assignment usually means it is allowed. If you do not want a stranger walking into closing, add language in Paragraph 11 (Special Provisions) such as: "Buyer may not assign this contract, in whole or in part, without Seller's prior written consent, which may be withheld at Seller's sole discretion." Have a Texas real estate attorney or your title company's escrow officer review the exact wording — Paragraph 11 is for factual business terms, not legal drafting, and courts have thrown out overreaching Special Provisions.

If a wholesaler pushes back hard on that single sentence, you have your answer about their business model.

Earnest money and option fee should hurt to walk away from

Under TREC 20-17, earnest money is deposited with the title company (in Bexar County, commonly Independence Title, Alamo Title, Texas National Title, or Stewart Title) within 3 days of the effective date. The option fee — for the unrestricted right to terminate — goes to the seller and is non-refundable.

For a real cash buyer on a median-price Bexar County home, reasonable numbers look like:

• Earnest money: 1%–2% of price ($3,000–$6,000 on a $300,000 home).
• Option fee: $300–$800 for a 5–10 day option period.
• Closing: 10–21 days after effective date. Cash does not need 45 days.

When a "cash" buyer wants $500 earnest money, a $100 option fee for 21 days, and a 45-day close, they are not paying cash. They are paying with your patience while they find someone who is.

The Third Party Financing Addendum should not appear

If the offer is truly cash, the Third Party Financing Addendum (TREC 40-11) should not be attached and Paragraph 4 of TREC 20-17 should be marked as an all-cash sale. If it is attached "just in case," you have a financed buyer wearing a cash costume, and you now have appraisal risk and lender-timeline risk that a real cash offer eliminates. Reject it or renegotiate price and timeline accordingly.

Title, survey, and the HOA still apply

Cash does not skip title work. The title company still runs a commitment, still resolves liens, still needs a survey (or a T-47 Residential Real Property Affidavit so the buyer can use your existing survey), and, if your home is in an HOA — very common in Stone Oak (78258), Alamo Ranch (78253), Cibolo, and Schertz — the resale certificate still takes 10 business days and costs $200–$400. A wholesaler promising a 7-day close in an HOA neighborhood is either paying rush fees you should see in writing, or lying.

What most people get wrong

• Confusing "cash offer" with "clean offer." A cash offer with a 21-day option period and a $500 earnest deposit is not clean. It is a free option on your house.
• Not restricting assignment. If you do not want to close with a buyer you never met, say so in Paragraph 11. TREC 20-17 does not do it for you.
• Accepting a proof-of-funds letter from a "transactional lender." Transactional funding covers the wholesaler's back-to-back close for a few hours. It is not the same as a buyer who can fund the deal and hold the property. Ask specifically whether the funds are transactional or long-term.
• Taking the first cash number as gospel. A wholesaler's opening offer is built to leave $30,000–$60,000 of assignment margin on the table. That is your margin, not theirs. If the property is genuinely retail-ready, list it retail and let the market pay you.
• Letting the buyer pick the title company by default. In Texas the parties negotiate who pays for the owner's title policy (Paragraph 6.A of TREC 20-17), but the seller commonly designates the title company. Use one you can walk into — a local Bexar County branch that will answer the phone when a wire instruction looks off.
• Ignoring wire fraud risk. FSBO closings are targeted. Confirm wire instructions by voice with a number you looked up yourself, not one from an email. Your escrow officer will not be offended.

When a wholesaler offer actually makes sense

There are real scenarios where taking a discounted, fast, as-is offer is the right move: an inherited property in another county, a home with foundation or roof damage you cannot finance repairs on, a preforeclosure timeline, a bad tenant in place under Property Code Chapter 92 that you do not want to inherit into a retail sale. In those cases, get two or three competing offers, insist on real earnest money, cap the option period at 7 days, prohibit assignment or price the assignment right into your number, and close at a title company you chose.

If your home is in average or better condition and you have 60–90 days, you almost always net more by listing it — through a flat-fee MLS entry into SABOR, solid photos, and disciplined pricing against actual Bexar County comps — than by taking the first "cash, as-is, close Friday" text that comes in.

When you are ready to run your own sale on your terms, you can list your home free on RentInSA at /list-your-home, browse comparable active listings at /rentals to sanity-check pricing pressure in your ZIP, and read the rest of the FSBO pillar at /resources for the contract, disclosure, and closing pieces that come next.