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Most beginners start looking for deals in the wrong states. They pick Texas or Florida because those are the markets everyone talks about. The data says that is a mistake for a first deal.
We pulled equity and assessed-value data on more than 150 million parcels and ranked the states by one number: how many of their equity-rich properties are actually priced for a beginner. The answer is clear.
Alabama leads every state for beginner-deal density. 98% of its 2.64 million equity-rich properties are assessed below $150,000, followed by South Carolina (97%) and Missouri (96%). The Deep South and the Midwest are the best markets for new wholesalers who need an affordable entry price and a built-in negotiating spread.
Here is the part that matters. A property can have plenty of equity and still be too expensive to wholesale. What a beginner needs is the overlap: high equity and a low price. That overlap is what this index measures.
How We Measured It: The Affordability Rate
We used one metric to rank the states. We call it the Affordability Rate.
Affordability Rate = properties assessed below $150K with equity ≥50%, divided by all properties with equity ≥50%.
A higher rate means more of that state's equity-rich inventory is beginner-priced. Let me break down the two inputs.
- Estimated equity (≥50%). This comes from a parcel-level automated valuation model. It compares the estimated property value to what is owed. Equity matters because it tells you how much room the seller has to discount. The more equity, the more spread is available for your offer.
- Assessed total value (under $150K). This is the county tax record's assessed value. It is the cleanest proxy for whether a deal is cheap enough that a beginner can realistically close it.
The intersection is the whole point. High equity tells you the deal can work. A low assessed value tells you it can work for you, without a $300K entry price. When you stack both filters, you are looking at cheap houses with equity, which is exactly the profile a first deal needs.
One note on the threshold. Assessed value is the county-assessed total, which in most markets runs close to but slightly below market value. A $150K assessed value typically maps to a $150K to $200K market value, depending on local assessment ratios.
The 2026 Beginner Equity Deal Index
Below are the 15 states ranked by Affordability Rate. Together they hold roughly 42.1 million properties with 50% or more equity. The Deep South takes the top spots. The Midwest follows with high volume and strong rates.
| Rank | State | Under-$150K + Equity ≥50% | Total Equity ≥50% | Affordability Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AL | 2,597,116 | 2,643,201 | 98% |
| 2 | SC | 2,461,864 | 2,539,483 | 97% |
| 3 | MO | 2,502,527 | 2,595,268 | 96% |
| 4 | TN | 2,490,837 | 2,784,035 | 90% |
| 5 | IL | 4,002,714 | 4,461,214 | 90% |
| 6 | OH | 4,241,374 | 4,773,035 | 89% |
| 7 | MI | 3,244,481 | 4,362,580 | 74% |
| 8 | GA | 2,821,857 | 3,869,446 | 73% |
| 9 | PA | 3,290,075 | 4,604,186 | 71% |
| 10 | KY | 1,337,983 | 1,964,422 | 68% |
| 11 | IN | 1,543,665 | 2,946,878 | 52% |
| 12 | TX | 4,955,329 | 10,521,713 | 47% |
| 13 | NC | 2,167,795 | 4,606,887 | 47% |
| 14 | FL | 3,419,122 | 7,866,303 | 43% |
| 15 | VA | 1,034,076 | 2,884,652 | 36% |
What the Data Shows
Deep South dominance: almost everything is beginner-priced
Alabama (98%), South Carolina (97%), and Missouri (96%) sit at the top because nearly every equity-rich property in those states is also cheap. The number does not move much between "has equity" and "has equity and is under $150K." In Alabama, 2.64 million properties have 50%+ equity and 2.60 million of them are under $150K. That is almost the entire pool.
This reflects a real pattern. These are markets where owners have built decades of equity on modestly valued homes. You get the negotiating room that comes with high equity and the low entry price that makes a first deal realistic.
The Midwest volume play: more raw inventory than anywhere
Ohio and Illinois are the volume story. Together they hold about 8.2 million affordable equity deals, more than any other region in this index. Ohio alone has 4.24 million under-$150K equity-rich properties. Their Affordability Rates (89% and 90%) are still strong, and competition tends to be lower than in the Sun Belt.
If you want a deep pool of leads in beginner-priced markets, this is where the raw count lives. It is one reason the Midwest keeps showing up when we look at the best cities to invest in wholesale real estate.
The Sun Belt trap: big numbers, lower rates
Texas and Florida look impressive on raw count. Texas has 4.96 million under-$150K equity-rich properties and Florida has 3.42 million. But their Affordability Rates are only 47% and 43%. More than half of their equity-rich inventory is priced above the beginner range.
That is not a knock on those markets. They are great for experienced wholesalers operating at scale. For a beginner, the entry point is just tougher because you have to sort through a lot of higher-priced inventory to find the cheap deals.
Who This Is For
This index is built for first-time and part-time wholesalers working with a tight budget. If you need deals where a $15K to $25K assignment fee is realistic, you need markets where the entry price is low and the equity is high. That is the whole reason to look at affordable real estate wholesale markets instead of the most-hyped ones.
If you are brand new, the affordability data does more work for you than a list of "hot" cities. You do not have the capital or the buyer network yet to compete in a $300K market. You can read how others got started in our breakdown of how new wholesalers land their first deals, and what the income actually looks like in our wholesale real estate salary guide.
Before you make an offer, run your numbers with a quick ARV calculation, and line up your cash buyers early so you can assign the contract once it is signed.
Why Only DealMachine Has This Data
Most "best states for wholesaling" lists rank markets by population growth, job numbers, or how friendly the laws are. Those are opinions. None of them tell you how many affordable equity-rich deals actually exist in a state.
Producing this table requires cross-filtering two independent data layers in real time: assessed value from county tax records and estimated equity from a parcel-level valuation model, across more than 150 million parcels. Most tools show these as separate fields on a single property lookup. DealMachine lets you combine them as simultaneous bulk filters and export the resulting list. That is why no competitor has published this beginner deal density calculation. They do not support cross-filter equity queries at this scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "assessed value under $150K" mean for the actual deal price?
Assessed value is the total value on the county tax record. In most markets it runs close to but slightly below market value. A $150K assessed value usually corresponds to a $150K to $200K market value, depending on the local assessment ratio. For a beginner, it is a reliable signal that the property is cheap enough to wholesale without a large entry price.
Why is the Affordability Rate a better measure than raw count for beginners?
Raw count tells you how many cheap equity deals exist. The Affordability Rate tells you how concentrated they are. A high rate, like Alabama's 98%, means almost every equity-rich property you pull is already beginner-priced, so you waste less time sorting. Texas has more raw deals than Alabama, but at a 47% rate you have to dig through twice as much higher-priced inventory to find them.