Question 1

Do I need a real estate license to wholesale a Waco deal?

Accepted Answer

No, as long as you disclose the equitable interest in writing. Texas Occupations Code section 1101.0045 lets you acquire an option or a contract interest and assign or sell it without a license, provided you don't use it to broker deals and you disclose the nature of your equitable interest in writing. Since a 2023 amendment took effect on 2024-01-01, that written disclosure has to go to both the seller and the potential buyer, not just the buyer as under the original 2017 version. Skip the disclosure and the statute treats what you did as unlicensed real estate brokerage. That rule applies the same way on a Waco assignment as anywhere else in the state.

Question 2

If my Waco end buyer plans to run the property as a short-term rental, does that change my diligence?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and this is the detail most out-of-market wholesalers miss on a Waco deal. The City of Waco doesn't allow the classic non-owner-occupied single-family or duplex short-term rental (STR Type II) in its R-E, R-1A, R-1B or R-1C zoning districts, and the special-permit path that used to exist there was removed effective 2021-06-15. Just as important, the city says on its own site that an existing STR license does not automatically transfer with the property to a new owner. If your buyer's exit plan depends on Airbnb-style income, confirm the zoning district and don't assume any license the seller holds survives the sale. That's a zoning question worth running before you assign, not after.

Question 3

Is a double closing legal on a Waco property?

Accepted Answer

No Texas statute prohibiting double closings has been found. A double close, two separate deeds on an A-to-B and a B-to-C transaction, is not the same event as an assignment, so it doesn't trigger the same 1101.0045 written-disclosure requirement in the same way. The rule that actually governs the mechanics is state law, not local custom: Texas Insurance Code section 2651.202 bars a title agent from disbursing out of a trust account until good funds for the transaction have been received and deposited, and the Texas Department of Insurance implements that as Procedural Rule P-27, which requires good funds equal to all disbursements before any disbursement is made. In plain terms, your escrow officer cannot fund the A-to-B leg out of money that has not landed yet, which is exactly why the first leg needs its own capital. No source confirms a specific McLennan County title-company practice on this, so ask your title company how they structure the A-to-B leg before you count on a same-day turn. See the transactional funding program for how we fund that leg.

Question 4

Will I owe a transfer tax on the A-to-B leg of a Waco double close?

Accepted Answer

No. The Texas Constitution, article VIII, section 29, added by voters in November 2015, bars the Legislature from enacting any law that imposes a transfer tax on a transaction conveying fee simple title to real property, effective for transactions after January 1, 2016. That's a constitutional bar, not just an absent statute, and it applies to both legs of a double close the same way it applies everywhere else in Texas, including McLennan County. The one carve-out is a tax on the issuance of title insurance itself, which is not barred.

Question 5

Where does the A-to-B deed get recorded on a Waco deal, and what does recording cost?

Accepted Answer

The McLennan County Clerk, at $15.00 for the first page and $4.00 for each additional page. That flat schedule, effective January 1, 2024, covers everything filed in the Official Public Records: deeds, deeds of trust, releases and assignments are not priced separately. On a two-deed same-day close with three-page deeds, that is $23 a deed, so about $46 of recording on both legs before any extra. Watch the add-ons: $0.25 for each grantor or grantee past five, $4.00 for a rider, and double the page rate on anything larger than 8 1/2 by 14 inches. The clerk's office is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nothing on the schedule is a transfer tax or documentary stamp, because Texas has neither and McLennan County adds none.

Question 6

Will the McLennan County Clerk record my assignment of contract?

Accepted Answer

Yes, at the same flat Official Public Records rate, but only if the assignment carries a legal description. The county clerk's standard requirements state expressly that assignments must include a legal description, alongside the general rules that a document be an original with original signatures, be in English, carry a heading identifying the document type, and carry a return address. An assignment drafted with nothing but a street address is a rejection risk here, and a rejection on the A-to-B leg is what breaks a same-day double close. Pull the legal description off the existing deed before you file anything.

Question 7

What is the easiest way to get a Waco deed rejected or surcharged at recording?

Accepted Answer

Leaving the grantee's mailing address off the deed. McLennan County charges a $25.00 penalty for it, on top of the regular filing fee. The county states the grantee address is required for tax purposes, and it applies to a deed of trust as well as a deed. On a double close you are filing two deeds the same day, so the mistake gets made twice if your document prep is sloppy. For electronic filing, the county clerk does not publish an e-recording page of its own, and the national e-recording networks list McLennan County as covered, so confirm the submitter and any vendor fee with the clerk or your title company rather than assuming your usual platform is live here.

Question 8

Does McLennan County's foreclosure calendar affect how fast I need to line up a Waco double close?

Accepted Answer

It can, because distressed inventory here turns over on a fixed monthly clock, not a court calendar. Texas is a non-judicial, deed-of-trust state under Property Code section 51.002: sales happen at the county courthouse between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month, after at least 21 days' notice. On non-owner-occupied investment property, there's no residential 20-day cure notice, so the floor from default notice to sale can run close to 21 days. If your A-side contract is tied to a McLennan County foreclosure sale or a fast-turning distressed listing, that timeline is why the A-to-B leg needs capital committed before the first Tuesday, not after.

Transactional Funding in Waco

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