Nebraska Wholesaling Law: LB 892

State: Nebraska | Bill: LB 892 (2022), amending the Nebraska Real Estate License Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-885.02), narrowed by LB 187 (2025) | Effective date: July 20, 2022, in effect for years now; the vacant-lot carve-out (LB 187) is also in effect now | Applies to: Public marketing of an equitable interest in a contract to purchase real property, other than a vacant lot. The trigger is not limited to residential, so commercial and multifamily are covered; only vacant lots are carved out | Bottom line: Nebraska did not ban assignments. It made publicly advertising a property you do not own, or your contract on it, a licensed brokerage activity. Your disposition method is what is regulated, not your contract.

What the Law Says (Plain English)

Nebraska took a completely different route from the disclosure states like Missouri, Louisiana, and Maryland. There is no disclosure form, no waiting period, no cancellation window, and no earnest money rule here. Instead, Nebraska amended its Real Estate License Act so that a specific activity is real estate brokerage. The codified trigger, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-885.02(2), says that acting as a broker or salesperson "includes publicly marketing for sale an equitable interest in a contract for the purchase of real property, other than a vacant lot, between a property owner and a prospective purchaser."

Two versions matter. The 2022 bill (LB 892) that created this trigger covered all real property with no property carve-out. In 2025, LB 187 amended the same section to add the words "other than a vacant lot," so a contract on an unimproved vacant lot is now outside the licensing trigger. Commercial buildings, multifamily, and any other improved real property remain covered.

Translated: when you put a house under contract, what you own is an "equitable interest," a contract right to buy, not the house itself. If you then advertise that interest (or the house) to the public for compensation, you are doing what licensed brokers do, and you need an active Nebraska real estate license to do it.

The trigger has two parts stacked together: you (1) hold an equitable interest in a contract to purchase real property (any property other than a vacant lot), and (2) publicly market that interest for sale. Our industry research report says it flatly: "The trigger is public marketing, not simply assignment."

Two more pieces ride along:

• Assignments themselves are untouched. Nebraska "does not ban contract assignments." The paperwork of assigning your contract to an end buyer remains ordinary contract law.
• Licensed agents who help wholesalers get a defined role, under NREC guidance. This role is not written into LB 892 itself. After the bill, the Nebraska Real Estate Commission updated its agency disclosure forms and its wholesaling policy so that a licensee who helps you sell your contract position acts as your seller's agent under standard Nebraska agency law, with the normal agency disclosures and the agent's fiduciary duties running to you.

After LB 892, the Nebraska Real Estate Commission (NREC) published formal guidance: a Commission Policy and Interpretation on Wholesaling Activities, updated agency disclosure forms, and an Assignable Contract Addendum form. Nebraska expects wholesaling to happen inside the licensed system or through genuinely private channels.

What You CANNOT Do

• Post a house you have under contract (but do not own) on Facebook, Craigslist, a public website, or bandit signs without a Nebraska real estate license
• Blast your contract deal to a mass audience of strangers ("assignable contract available, $25K under market, serious buyers only") without a license. Listing style ads and broad buyer blasts are exactly what the law targets
• Advertise "the contract" instead of "the property" and think that fixes it. Nebraska's trigger IS the marketing of the equitable interest, so relabeling the ad changes nothing (see Not Loopholes below)
• Stand between the seller and the end buyer negotiating both sides like an unlicensed middleman. The industry report warns that "acting as an intermediary between seller and buyer without licensure may constitute brokerage" even apart from advertising

What You CAN Still Do

• Assign contracts. The assignment itself is legal. Nebraska regulates how you find the buyer, not the assignment
• Sell deals privately to buyers you already know. One to one calls, texts, and emails to a pre-identified cash buyer list are private disposition, not public marketing (see Loophole #1)
• Hire a licensed agent to market your contract position. Under NREC guidance and standard Nebraska agency law, the agent represents you as a seller's agent (see Loophole #2)
• Get your Nebraska license and market deals openly as a licensee (see Loophole #3)
• Double close: buy it, own it, then advertise it. Once you hold title you are marketing your own property, which has never required a license (see Loophole #4)
• Publicly market a contract on a vacant lot. The 2025 amendment (LB 187) carved "a vacant lot" out of the trigger, so an equitable interest in a raw-land contract is outside the licensing rule (see Loophole #5)

The Loopholes

Loophole #1: Private Disposition to a Known Buyer List (Gray, the Standard Play)

The trigger word is "publicly." The law reaches those who "publicly advertise, market, or offer for sale" the contractual interest. Direct, private communication with pre-identified buyers, your vetted cash buyer list, a repeat hedge fund buyer, an investor you met at a meetup, is the other side of that line. The Chico report calls this the primary loophole: "Sharing a deal with a known investor network via email instead of listing it on a public website."

How to stay on the right side of it:

• Build the buyer list through relationships and networking, then take deals to specific people
• One to one outreach, not mass blasts to purchased lists of strangers
• Never post the deal anywhere a member of the public can see it

Why Gray and not Clean: no source quotes the statute's actual definition of "publicly," and the NREC "may still scrutinize activities perceived as deceptive or resembling brokerage" (Chico report). A 2,000 person "private" email list starts to look public, and working both sides of the deal looks like brokering regardless of channel. Keep the list genuinely known and the outreach genuinely targeted, and talk to a Nebraska attorney about where your volume sits. Gray.

Loophole #2: Use a Licensed Agent for Disposition (Clean)

This arrangement is not spelled out in LB 892's text. It comes from NREC guidance and standard Nebraska agency law: when a licensed agent assists a wholesaler, the agent represents the wholesaler as a seller's agent, with the normal agency disclosures. So the compliant way to market broadly is to let a licensee do the marketing. The agent can advertise publicly because advertising is what their license is for, and the NREC's Assignable Contract Addendum exists for these transactions. Cost: a commission or fee to the agent, and their fiduciary duties run to you, which is a feature. Clean.

Loophole #3: Get Licensed (Clean, Full Solution)

Because the statute converts public equitable interest marketing into brokerage, holding an active Nebraska license makes the prohibited act legal for you. If you plan consistent volume in Nebraska, this is the durable answer. Cost: pre-license education, the exam, a sponsoring broker, and once licensed you carry license law duties (disclosure of your licensee status in deals, commission oversight, agency rules) on every transaction. Clean.

Loophole #4: Take Title, Then Market (Clean, Costs Money)

The trigger is marketing an equitable interest in a purchase contract, meaning property you do not yet own. Close on the house, take title, and you are an owner selling your own property, which requires no license anywhere. Buy with transactional funding, then list, market, and resell openly. Cost: a second set of closing costs, transactional funding fees, plus Nebraska transfer taxes and recording fees (verify current amounts with your title company). The order matters: market AFTER you own it, not before. Pre-marketing the deal while still under contract puts you right back in the statute. Clean, if the sequence is respected.

Loophole #5: Vacant Lots Are Carved Out (Clean, Statutory)

This is the single clearest exclusion in Nebraska, because it is written into the statute itself. The 2025 amendment (LB 187) changed Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-885.02(2) to reach an equitable interest in a contract for real property "other than a vacant lot." A contract on an unimproved vacant lot is therefore outside the licensing trigger, and you can publicly market that equitable interest without a license. The catch: "vacant lot" is not defined in the statute (see gaps), so a parcel with a demolished or uninhabitable structure, agricultural land, or a lot with minor improvements is untested ground. Stay on raw, unimproved lots and this is Clean. Drift toward anything with a structure and you are back in the general "real property" trigger. Clean for genuinely vacant lots.

Not Loopholes in Nebraska (Know These)

• "Market the contract, not the property." This is the classic fix in states like Oklahoma that regulate advertising the house itself. Nebraska aimed at exactly this move: the licensed activity IS marketing the equitable interest in the contract. Wording your ad as "assignable contract for sale" is still public marketing of the equitable interest. Closed.
• Commercial and 5+ units. The statute reaches an equitable interest in "real property," with no residential limitation, so commercial buildings and larger multifamily contracts are covered. The only property carve-out is a vacant lot (see Loophole #5); improved commercial and multifamily are not an escape. Closed.
• Disclosure. There is nothing to disclose your way out of. This is a licensing statute, not a disclosure statute. A disclosure paragraph in your contract does not authorize public marketing.

Penalties If You Violate It

• Unlicensed real estate brokerage under the Nebraska Real Estate License Act. Practicing brokerage without a license is its own violation, separate from and older than any wholesaling debate, enforced by the Nebraska Real Estate Commission
• NREC enforcement exposure: investigation, cease and desist, and the civil and potentially criminal penalties license acts carry for unlicensed practice (the sources do not itemize Nebraska's specific amounts; see gaps, and get the numbers from a Nebraska attorney)
• Deal risk: a seller or buyer looking for an exit can point to your unlicensed marketing, and courts are unfriendly to fee claims arising from unlicensed brokerage activity

Quick Reference

This summary is an analysis of secondary reports, not legal advice. Confirm your specific disposition method with a Nebraska real estate attorney, especially where your private marketing sits relative to the public marketing line.

Sources: the codified statute (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 81-885.02, as amended by LB 892 (2022) and LB 187 (2025)), retrieved from the Nebraska Legislature; a third-party industry report on wholesaling regulation (NEBRASKA section); the Chico report (Nebraska chapter); and the Google deep research report (strict broker licensure states section; its LB 860 bill number is a citation error, confirmed against the Legislature's own history line for § 81-885.02). NREC guidance documents cited by URL in the reports were not reviewed directly.