I used to write the letters that show up in your mother's mailbox.
Cash offer. Close in ten days. No repairs, no agent, no showings. I never lied in a single one of them. I did not have to. The letters worked because of what they left out, and because of how fast the whole thing moved once somebody picked up the phone. A homeowner who had two weeks to think was a homeowner who called her daughter, and her daughter called an agent, and the deal was gone.
Speed was not a convenience I offered. Speed was the product.
That is the part I want you to sit with before you read the rest of this. Because a bill is sitting on a governor's desk in Missouri right now, and the whole thing it does is slow the deal down by fourteen days. Not ban anything. Not cap anything. Just make the buyer print the truth on a piece of paper and hand it over two weeks early.
And if you understand why that terrifies the people who make their living this way, you understand almost everything you need to know about protecting your parents' house.
What Missouri Senate Bill 973 Actually Says
Missouri SB 973 passed the legislature on May 15, 2026. As of this morning, the Missouri Senate's own bill tracking page lists its current status as "Delivered to Governor." The governor's official legislative actions page shows no action taken on it. That means it is not law. If it is signed, the bill's stated effective date is August 28, 2026.
I am being tedious about that because bill status is the single most common thing people get wrong when they share this kind of news, and the mistake always runs in the same direction. A headline says "Missouri passes new law" and thousands of people believe a protection exists that does not exist yet. Read the legislature's own page. Not the article about the page.
Here is what the bill text says.
The wholesaler disclosure, Section 407.3600
The bill adds a new section to Missouri's chapter on merchandising practices. It defines a "wholesaler" as a person or entity that, for a fee or commission, enters a purchase contract for residential real property of one to four dwelling units and then assigns or novates that contract to somebody else. In plain English: someone who ties up your house under contract and then sells the contract, not the house. They often never take title at all.
Under the bill, not less than fourteen calendar days before entering into a contract, the wholesaler has to hand the record owner a written disclosure. Separate from the purchase contract. Printed in boldface type no smaller than twelve points. Signed and dated by both of them before any binding contract exists.
And the disclosure is not vague. The bill writes the exact words. Among them:
"A wholesaler is acting on the wholesaler's own behalf and does not represent the owner in this transaction."
"The wholesaler may assign the wholesaler's interest in the purchase contract to a third party without the owner's consent before closing."
"The wholesaler may charge a fee to the third-party buyer separately for profit."
"The agreed purchase price between the owner and wholesaler may be below market value and is conveyed voluntarily."
If the wholesaler skips the disclosure, the owner can cancel the contract any time before the close of escrow, without penalty, and the escrow agent has to hand the wholesaler's earnest money to the owner within thirty days. The owner keeps it. The provisions cannot be waived by any oral or written agreement, and any agreement that tries to waive them is null and void. A violation is an unlawful practice under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. The homeowner gets a private right of action, and the attorney general can bring a civil suit for damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees.
The sale leaseback disclosure, Section 442.920
The same bill creates something called the Missouri Residential Sale Leaseback Protection Act, and honestly this section is the one that made me sit up.
A sale leaseback is exactly what it sounds like. You sell your house to a company, and as a condition of that sale you sign a lease to keep living in it. The pitch is beautiful, and it is aimed with a laser at a paid-off home with an older person inside. Unlock your equity. Stay in your home. No more mortgage.
The bill would require the buyer to hand the seller a single page, in clear and conspicuous boldface, at least fourteen calendar days before the agreement is signed. The state wrote the warning itself:
"If you sign a sale leaseback agreement, you are entering into a contract to sell your home. This means you will no longer own your home."
"You may be subject to eviction if you do not follow the lease terms."
"You may lose the right to buy back your home."
"This may affect your credit, taxes, and legal rights."
The page has to tell the seller to speak with an attorney, a real estate agent, a housing counselor, a tax advisor, and a real estate appraiser. It has to say no sale leaseback can close for at least thirty days after signing. It ends with "Do not sign unless you fully understand the terms."
Then the bill bars any transfer of title until thirty days after the agreement is executed. Violations carry a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars each. The attorney general can sue for penalties, injunctions, and restitution. A harmed seller can recover actual damages plus ten thousand dollars in statutory damages plus attorney fees. Like the wholesaler section, none of it can be waived.
Read that list of warnings one more time. Nobody wrote those to be cruel. That list is not a critique of a sale leaseback. That list is a plain, accurate description of what a sale leaseback is.
Why a Piece of Paper Is Such a Big Deal
Here is the thing that took me years on the wrong side of the table to understand.
These deals are almost never illegal. The we buy houses letter is legal. The assignment is legal. The sale leaseback is legal. The lowball price is legal, because your parent agreed to it. Every part of the machine is legal, and that is exactly why "is it a scam" is the wrong question. It is usually not a scam. It is just not built to get your family the most money.
What these transactions run on is asymmetry. The buyer knows what the house is worth and what the contract is worth. The seller knows she is tired, the roof leaks, and her son lives four states away. The buyer knows there are five ways to sell a house. The seller has heard of one and a half.
A disclosure does not fix a bad price. It fixes the asymmetry. And fourteen days is not a protection either, not really. Fourteen days is just enough time for somebody's daughter to read the contract.
When I was buying, that is the only thing that ever blew up a deal. Not a regulator. Not a lawyer. A daughter, at a kitchen table, on a Sunday, asking "wait, what does assign mean?"
What This Means for Your Family, Wherever You Live
Missouri is one state, and this bill has not been signed. Do not wait on a legislature. Every word of that disclosure is already true, in your state, today. The only thing the bill would change is who has to print it.
So print it yourself.
The wholesaler already does not represent your parent
There is no fiduciary duty. There is no obligation to get a good price. The person sitting at the table is a buyer, and buyers want to buy low. That is not evil, it is just what the word buyer means. It only becomes a problem when your parent believes the buyer is helping.
The contract can be sold without your parent's consent
This is the mechanic almost nobody understands. Your parent thinks she sold her house to the nice man from the letter. What she actually did was give the nice man the exclusive right to buy her house at a set price. He then sells that right to an investor for a spread. He may never own the house, never fix anything, never see it again. The spread on those deals commonly runs ten to twenty five thousand dollars, and it comes out of the only asset your parent has left.
The price may be below market value
"May be" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. A below market price is not automatically wrong. If your parent needs to close in eleven days because a memory care bed opened up, a fast cash sale at a discount can be the correct decision, and I will tell a family that to their face. The problem is not the discount. The problem is a discount taken without ever knowing what the number should have been.
A sale leaseback is a sale
You will no longer own your home. That is the state of Missouri talking, not me. Whatever the marketing says about staying in the house, the ownership is gone, the equity is gone, and the rent is not. If the lease is broken, the eviction is real. The buyback right, if there even is one, is usually conditional.
What To Actually Do, Step by Step
Step 1: Never sign anything on the day it is presented
This is the whole ballgame. Not a week. Not a lawyer. Just do not sign on the day. Every predatory play in this space depends on compressing the time between the pitch and the signature. Missouri wants to mandate fourteen days. Give yourself fourteen days without a mandate.
Step 2: Ask the buyer to put the disclosure in writing
Hand them the four sentences from Section 407.3600. Ask them to sign it. In most states nothing requires them to, and that is the point. Watch what happens. A legitimate cash buyer who plans to close and hold the property will sign it without blinking. Someone who is planning to flip the contract for a spread will suddenly get busy.
Step 3: Find out what the house is actually worth before anyone makes an offer
Not a Zillow estimate. A real comparative market analysis, or a paid appraisal if the number is going to be contested among siblings. You cannot evaluate an offer without a baseline. Running a net proceeds calculation is a twenty minute job and it is the difference between "that sounds like a lot of money" and "that is sixty thousand dollars under."
Step 4: Learn all five ways to sell before you pick one
List it with an agent. Sell it as-is to a cash buyer. Owner financing. A lease option. A subject-to arrangement. Each one fits a specific situation, and each one is wrong for the other four. Most families only ever hear about the first two, and then they are told to choose between them like that is the whole menu.
Step 5: Get a second bid on every repair before you spend a dime
I spent eight years buying, fixing, and selling houses. I can tell you that the repairs that come back to you at closing are a short list, and the repairs that just make the house prettier for the open house are a long one. If an agent tells you to put twenty thousand into a kitchen before listing, ask what the comparable sales say that kitchen adds. Make them show you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is real estate wholesaling illegal?
In most states, no. Wholesaling generally means putting a property under contract and then assigning that contract to another buyer for a fee. It is legal in most places, though a growing number of states have added disclosure or licensing requirements in the last few years. Missouri SB 973 would add a disclosure requirement, not a ban, and as of July 10, 2026 it has not been signed.
What is the difference between a wholesaler and a cash buyer?
A true cash buyer intends to purchase the house with their own money and take title. A wholesaler intends to sell the contract to somebody else before closing and keep the difference, often without ever owning the property. Both may knock on the same door with the same letter. The way to tell them apart is to ask, in writing, whether they intend to assign the contract.
Is a sale leaseback a good way for my parents to access their equity?
It is one way, and it is rarely the best one. In a sale leaseback your parents stop owning the home, become tenants, and can be evicted under the lease terms. Missouri's proposed disclosure says exactly that. Before considering one, price out a home equity line, a reverse mortgage, downsizing, and a straight sale, and talk to an attorney and a housing counselor who are not paid by the buyer.
How much do wholesalers typically make on a deal?
The assignment fee on a residential wholesale deal commonly runs from about ten thousand to twenty five thousand dollars, and it comes out of the price the seller receives. It is not disclosed to the seller in most states today.
My parent already signed a contract with a cash buyer. Is it too late?
Not necessarily. Read the contract for an inspection period, a due diligence window, or an attorney review clause, and check the date. Many of these contracts give the buyer a wide escape hatch and the seller a narrow one, which is worth knowing. Talk to a real estate attorney in your parent's state before you assume you are stuck. In North Carolina, Legal Aid of North Carolina handles civil matters like this for income-qualified residents.
About Ryan Riggins
Ryan Riggins is a senior transition advisor and former house flipper. After 8+ years buying homes from families in transition, he walked away from the cash-buyer side to help families avoid the $50K mistakes he used to profit from. Based in Greensboro, NC. NC Real Estate License #361546, eXp Realty. Founder of Riggins Strategic Solutions and the SeniorSafe app.
Not sure which of the five paths fits your family? The free Strategic Exit Engine walks all of them: rigginsstrategicsolutions.com/tools/strategic-exit-engine
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Coordinate your family in one place. SeniorSafe app (web, iPhone, Android): app.seniorsafeapp.com
Talk it through. Book a free 20-min call with Ryan: rigginsstrategicsolutions.com/work-with-ryan
Get the SeniorSafe App
Ryan Riggins is the founder of Riggins Strategic Solutions, a consumer protection company for families navigating senior transitions. He spent 8 years in construction project management and house flipping before switching sides. Two books on Amazon. Free resources at rigginsstrategicsolutions.com.
Sources: Missouri Senate Bill 973 bill text, sections 407.3600 and 442.920 (https://www.senate.mo.gov/26info/pdf-bill/tat/SB973.pdf). Bill status and effective date, Missouri Senate bill tracking (https://www.senate.mo.gov/BillTracking/Bills/Billinformation?year=2026&billid=321). Governor's legislative actions, no action recorded on SB 973 as of July 10, 2026 (https://governor.mo.gov/actions/legislative-actions/senate).
