How Empire handles wholesaling regulations, RESPA, fair housing, and AML obligations.
Effective May 18, 2026
Real-estate wholesaling is regulated at the state level and rules change rapidly. In some states (e.g. Illinois, Oklahoma, parts of Arizona), wholesaling without a real-estate license is prohibited or sharply restricted. In others, wholesaling is permitted only if specific disclosures are made or the wholesaler is selling an interest in a contract rather than the real property itself.
It is your responsibility to know the wholesaling laws in every state where you list a deal, and to comply with them. Empire provides marketplace tooling; we do not provide legal advice and do not warrant that your listing is lawful in any specific jurisdiction. When in doubt, consult a real-estate attorney licensed in the state of the property.
All Empire activity — listings, blast emails, vendor inquiries, community posts, partner posts — is subject to the federal Fair Housing Act and analogous state and local laws. You may not discriminate against, advertise a preference for or against, or target a protected class (race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, disability, or any class added by your state or municipality).
Listings or messages that violate fair-housing laws will be removed and the posting account will be suspended pending review. Repeat or willful violations result in permanent termination.
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) prohibits kickbacks and unearned referral fees for federally related mortgage settlement services. Empire’s vendor sponsored-placement system is a paid advertising product, not a referral-fee arrangement: vendors bid for placement, buyers freely choose providers, and Empire does not split fees with vendors based on closed transactions.
If you are a vendor and uncertain whether sponsored placement is permitted in your category and state, consult counsel before activating a campaign.
Cash-heavy real-estate transactions can attract money-laundering risk. Empire monitors for patterns consistent with structuring or layering and may file suspicious activity reports to the extent required by law. We may suspend an account pending AML review at our sole discretion and without prior notice. If FinCEN or another regulator subpoenas account information, we will comply.
Empire is not a registered broker-dealer or investment adviser. The Partner Network surface (joint-venture intros, capital introductions) is designed for direct, private, accredited-investor relationships outside any general-solicitation framework. You may not use Empire to make a public offering of securities, conduct a syndication, or solicit investment from non-accredited persons without complying with all applicable federal and state securities laws. Empire reserves the right to remove any content it reasonably believes constitutes a regulated securities offering.
For CCPA, GDPR, or other privacy-law data subject requests, see our Privacy Policy or email privacy@empire.com.
Saw a fair-housing violation, an unlicensed wholesale in a state that requires licensing, or a suspected scam? Email trust@empire.com with the listing URL and a description. We investigate every report.