Overview

Two years ago, South Carolina made wholesaling illegal. Not kind-of-illegal — specifically, explicitly illegal. And Hayden Albert, who had just hired a new VP and staked his entire company on deal flow, watched it happen in real time. He didn’t quit. He figured it out. Today his team of 12 does over 200 deals a year in the tri-county area, spending $40–50K a month on marketing and operating one of the most active off-market acquisition businesses in the Lowcountry.

This episode is about how deals are still getting done — legally — and what the law actually says versus what most people think it says. Hayden breaks down the distinction between wholesaling (marketing a property you don’t own, which is illegal) and assigning a contract (which is not), and explains exactly how his business had to restructure its buyer outreach, deal flow, and operations to stay compliant without losing revenue.

If you’ve been confused about how to operate in the current environment, or you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for clarity, this conversation gives you the real picture from someone who’s been in the trenches since before and after the law changed.

Key Takeaways

[00:08] — Paul introduces the event topic and why he brought Hayden in to explain the post-law landscape

[08:00] — Hayden’s background: nine years in the military, going full-time in real estate in 2022, and building the business the hard way

[15:00] — What the SC law actually says: why the real estate commission wrote it, how it defines wholesaling, and why it’s a trap for both licensed and unlicensed investors

[24:00] — The legal workaround: how assignment contracts still work if the buyer reaches out to you first, and what the real estate commission told Hayden on a recorded Zoom call

[32:00] — How Hayden’s team finds off-market deals: skip tracing, inbound marketing (Google ads, PPL, social), and why he now spends $40–50K a month to generate leads

[42:00] — Building a compliant buyer’s list: why mass blast emails are gone, how his team adds 15 new buyers a day, and the “Facebook snipe” strategy

[50:00] — Hayden’s two-funnel model: why he wholesales marketing deals and buys brand deals, and why he never cherry-picks the best deals for himself

[58:00] — First 90 days advice: pull the foreclosure list, sort for equity, door knock, track your numbers, and why face-to-face still wins

[68:00] — Q&A: When double closing creates more liability, not less — and when transactional funding still makes sense

[75:00] — Q&A: Why Hayden only buys rentals when he has a tax problem, and how cost segregation erased $450K in taxable income in a single year

[82:00] — Q&A: What’s still legal to wholesale — land and commercial are both fair game

About Hayden Albert

Hayden Albert spent nine years in the military before leaving to go full-time in real estate in 2022 — the same year South Carolina’s wholesale law went into effect. Rather than pivot away from the business, he rebuilt his entire operation around the new rules, growing to a team of 12 and completing over 200 transactions in the Charleston tri-county area. His company operates across wholesaling, flipping, land development, and new construction, with a primary focus on building the highest-volume off-market deal flow in the Lowcountry.

About Your Host

Paul Kelton is a real estate investor and the founder of GRID Charleston, a monthly investor meetup that is part of a global network of 30,000 members across 30+ communities. He is also a partner at The Matt O’Neill Team, one of Charleston’s top real estate brokerages, and the founder of Tide Property Management. Paul focuses on multifamily acquisitions and has been investing in the Charleston market for over a decade.