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Most new wholesalers chase distress. Foreclosures, code violations, tax delinquency. Those signals work, but they miss a bigger and quieter group of sellers: owners who have so much equity that they can accept a below-market offer and still walk away with more cash than a traditional sale would leave them.
Here is the number that matters. Across 21 states, more than 71.4 million properties carry at least 75% equity. In Texas and Michigan, 93% of those owners hold 90% or more equity, which means they are close to owning their home free and clear. That is the group with the financial room to say yes to a fast, discounted sale.
This guide ranks those states, explains the math behind why deep equity creates a motivated seller, and shows you how to pull this exact list. Let's break it down.
Why Deep Equity Beats a Traditional Sale for the Owner
Here is the part most beginners get backwards. A homeowner with high equity is not giving away money by selling to an investor. In many cases, they net about the same, and they save months of hassle.
Run the numbers on a $300,000 home. A traditional listing looks clean on paper, but it carries real costs:
- Agent commissions: 5% to 6% is $15,000 to $18,000.
- Repairs to make it list-ready: often $8,000 to $15,000.
- Carrying costs for 60 to 90 days: mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilities can run $4,000 to $7,000.
- Concessions and closing costs: another 1% to 2% is common.
Add those up and a $300,000 listing can quietly lose $30,000 to $40,000 before the seller sees a dime. A cash offer that comes in under retail, with no repairs, no commissions, and a two-week close, often nets the owner a similar amount with far less risk. When the owner owes almost nothing on the mortgage, they keep nearly all of the proceeds either way. That is why deep equity is a motivation signal, not just a financial detail.
For a wider look at the signals that point to a ready seller, see our list of the top 23 ways to identify motivated sellers.
What "75% Equity" Actually Means
Equity is simple. It is the estimated value of the property minus the balance still owed on the mortgage. If a home is worth $250,000 and the owner owes $50,000, they have $200,000 in equity, or 80%.
DealMachine calculates this at the parcel level for every property in the country. We aggregate deed and mortgage records from every county in the United States, then apply an equity estimate to each individual address. That is different from a regional average or an MLS summary. It is a property-by-property number, which is what lets us count how many homes cross a specific equity line in each state.
Two thresholds matter for lead sourcing:
- 75% equity or more: the owner owes 25% or less. They have deep room to negotiate.
- 90% equity or more: the owner is near or fully free and clear. A discounted cash offer still leaves them with almost everything.
The Ranking: Deep Equity Properties by State
The table below ranks 21 states by the number of properties carrying at least 75% equity. Where we have pulled the deeper tier, it also shows how many of those owners hold 90% or more, and what share of the 75% group that represents.
| State | Properties ≥75% Equity | Properties ≥90% Equity | ≥90% Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas (TX) | 9,257,431 | 8,600,333 | 93% |
| Florida (FL) | 6,664,476 | 5,931,672 | 89% |
| California (CA) | 6,642,816 | 5,323,723 | 80% |
| New York (NY) | 4,466,681 | 3,966,388 | 89% |
| Ohio (OH) | 3,939,358 | 3,560,228 | 90% |
| North Carolina (NC) | 3,877,573 | 3,519,599 | 91% |
| Michigan (MI) | 3,738,375 | 3,462,066 | 93% |
| Pennsylvania (PA) | 3,731,407 | 3,336,306 | 89% |
| Illinois (IL) | 3,617,618 | 3,284,374 | 91% |
| Georgia (GA) | 3,174,393 | 2,825,674 | 89% |
| Indiana (IN) | 2,520,444 | N/A | N/A |
| Wisconsin (WI) | 2,428,230 | N/A | N/A |
| Alabama (AL) | 2,402,162 | N/A | N/A |
| Tennessee (TN) | 2,361,062 | N/A | N/A |
| Virginia (VA) | 2,267,175 | N/A | N/A |
| Missouri (MO) | 2,229,192 | N/A | N/A |
| South Carolina (SC) | 2,193,680 | N/A | N/A |
| New Jersey (NJ) | 1,784,654 | N/A | N/A |
| Kentucky (KY) | 1,779,689 | N/A | N/A |
| Arizona (AZ) | 1,630,089 | N/A | N/A |
| Nevada (NV) | 666,572 | N/A | N/A |
| 21-State Total | ~71.4 million | N/A | N/A |
Texas sits at the top for two reasons: long ownership tenure and more than 20 years of steady appreciation. People buy, stay put, and watch the value climb while the loan balance drops. Florida is the surprise at number two. It has the third-largest population of residents 65 and older, and older owners tend to have held their homes the longest, which builds equity year after year.
The Patterns That Change How You Source
The ranking is useful on its own. The patterns underneath it are what give you an edge.
The Equity Cliff
Here is the finding that competitors miss. In most states, the vast majority of owners with at least 75% equity actually carry 90% or more. In Texas and Michigan, that share is 93%. In Ohio, Illinois, and North Carolina it sits around 90% to 91%.
What that tells you is simple. When you pull a deep equity list, you are not mostly finding people with a moderate cushion. You are finding people who are near or fully free and clear. Most of them could clear a discounted cash sale without a mortgage payoff eating into their proceeds. That is the difference between a filter and a strategy.
The Midwest Cluster
Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois all rank in the top group despite lower average home prices than the coasts. Price is not the driver here. Generational ownership is. Homes get held for decades and passed down, and long tenure builds high outright-ownership rates even when the dollar values are modest. For a beginner, that is a friendly place to start, because acquisition costs are lower and the deep equity pool is huge.
Sun Belt and Legacy Markets
Florida and California together hold 13.3 million deep equity homes. Different story, same result. These are long-held properties that appreciated hard over the last two decades, so the equity is a function of value growth rather than modest prices. The takeaway for you: high-equity owners exist in cheap markets and expensive ones, for different reasons, so the strategy travels.
Who Should Target Deep Equity Leads
This list is a strong fit for new wholesalers and newer real estate investors who want high equity motivated sellers without competing head-on for the most obvious distressed properties. High equity leads give you room that the crowded distressed lists do not. These owners have financial room too. They do not need full retail proceeds to retire a large mortgage, so a fair below-market offer can still work for them.
It is also a volume play. With more than 71.4 million qualifying properties across these states, you can size a market before you spend a dollar on marketing. That matters when you are deciding where to focus. For a broader primer on building your first target lists, our guide on wholesale real estate and our breakdown of the essential lead lists for wholesaling success are good next reads.
How to Pull and Use This Data in DealMachine
Here is the process. It takes a few minutes.
- Set equity to 75% or higher. This is your base list of deep equity owners in the state or county you want.
- Layer a second signal. Add absentee owner status or a senior-owner filter to narrow toward the highest-motivation subset. An out-of-state owner with deep equity is often ready to sell.
- Use the state totals to size the market. Before you commit to direct mail or cold calling, know how big the pool is so your budget matches the opportunity.
- Advanced move: pair the 75% equity filter with pre-foreclosure status. That finds owners who have deep equity and a reason to move quickly, which is one of the strongest combinations in wholesaling.
Once your list is built, run skip tracing to pull owner contact info, then start outreach. Consistent direct mail and follow-up calls turn a filtered list into signed contracts. You can also work these leads on the ground with driving for dollars if you want to focus a specific neighborhood. Stacking equity with a motivation signal is one of the simplest lead generation strategies a beginner can run.