Question 1

Does a double close in Orange County trigger extra city transfer tax?

Accepted Answer

No. All 34 Orange County cities, including the ten charter cities, sit at the same base $1.10 per $1,000 combined city and county documentary transfer tax. None has adopted a city add-on, so the A-to-B and B-to-C legs of a double close don't stack a local surcharge on top of the state base.

Question 2

How does an Orange County double close compare to one across the county line in Los Angeles?

Accepted Answer

Orange County stays on the base rate; Los Angeles stacks two layers on top of it. The City of Los Angeles adds its own $4.50 per $1,000 city tax to the $1.10 county rate, and Measure ULA adds 4% or 5.5% on the entire price, not just the excess, once a transfer crosses its thresholds. No Orange County city has adopted an equivalent add-on or mansion tax, which is one reason wholesalers working both counties route deals through Orange County when they can.

Question 3

Do I need a real estate license to assign a wholesale contract in California?

Accepted Answer

California has no wholesaling-specific statute, so the answer runs through the general broker-license law. Acting "for another or others" for compensation in selling real estate requires a DRE license under Business and Professions Code section 10131. The industry position, that assigning your own equitable interest in a purchase contract is acting for yourself rather than for another, is not backed by DRE guidance we could locate. Talk to a real estate attorney before you market a property (rather than a contract) to a buyer. If you decide to close on the property and rehab it yourself instead of assigning it, see Orange County fix and flip terms.

Question 4

Who handles escrow on a double close in Orange County?

Accepted Answer

Expect a separate independent escrow company alongside the title insurer, not a title company running the whole file. That split is the Southern California norm, versus Northern California where the title insurer more often runs escrow directly. Who pays the owner's title premium is negotiable everywhere, but seller-pays is the customary starting point in Southern California, which matters when you're pricing the B-to-C leg.

Question 5

How much of the A-to-B leg do you fund on an Orange County double close?

Accepted Answer

Up to 100% of the purchase price. That is the point of the product: you are not parking your own capital in the A-to-B leg for the few hours it exists. Pricing is a flat fee, not a rate, the term is days rather than weeks, and the funding is built around a simultaneous close. Because every Orange County city sits at the same base $1.10 per $1,000 transfer tax, neither leg picks up the city add-on a Los Angeles double close has to price in. Subject to underwriting.

Question 6

Does a down payment or a credit score gate an Orange County double close?

Accepted Answer

Neither one. We fund up to 100% of the purchase, so there is no down payment on the A-to-B leg, and there is no credit check and no appraisal on this program at all. What we do need is a real B-to-C buyer, a closing that lands the same day, and an escrow officer who has run a double close before. In Orange County that usually means an independent escrow company working alongside the title insurer rather than the title company running the whole file. Subject to underwriting.

Transactional Funding in Orange County

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Transactional Funding in Orange County, answered.

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