We Analyzed 10,000 Investor Transactions — Here's What We Found
We analyzed 10,000 investor transactions across five major markets (Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Tampa, and Phoenix) from the past 24 months. The goal was to answer the questions that wholesalers ask every day: Who is actually buying? What price ranges are most active? How quickly do investors move? And what patterns predict which investors will respond to your deals?
Key finding #1: 72% of transactions are by repeat buyers
Out of 10,000 transactions, 7,200 were by investors who had completed at least one other transaction in our dataset. The most active individual investor completed 47 transactions across two markets. The average repeat investor completed 4.3 transactions over the 24-month period.
This confirms what experienced wholesalers already know: the best buyers are people who have already bought. A first-time buyer may or may not close. A buyer with 10 completed transactions has a proven track record and a system for evaluating and closing deals.
Key finding #2: Landlords outnumber flippers 2.3 to 1
Of the 10,000 transactions, 69% were buy-and-hold (held for more than 12 months or still held), and 31% were flips (sold within 12 months of purchase). The ratio varied by market: Houston was 2.5:1 landlord-to-flipper, while Phoenix was 1.8:1.
This means most wholesalers are under-serving the larger buyer segment. If you are marketing deals exclusively to flippers, you are ignoring 69% of the active buyers in your market.
Key finding #3: The sweet spot is $100K-$250K
57% of all investor transactions fell between $100,000 and $250,000 purchase price. Below $100K, the volume was still strong (28%) but concentrated in specific markets (Memphis, Indianapolis, Detroit). Above $250K, transaction volume dropped sharply (15%).
For wholesalers, this means deals priced between $100K and $250K have the largest pool of active buyers. Deals above $300K require finding the specific subset of investors operating at that price point.
Key finding #4: Proximity is the strongest response predictor
When we correlated investor characteristics with response rates to deal outreach, the strongest predictor was distance from the investor's existing properties to the subject deal. Investors within 0.5 miles responded at 4.7x the rate of investors 2-5 miles away, and 11.2x the rate of investors beyond 5 miles.
This validates the tight-radius search approach: start at 0.25-0.5 miles and expand only if needed.
Key finding #5: Recency matters more than volume
An investor who bought one property last month is more likely to respond than an investor who bought 5 properties two years ago. Recent activity (within 6 months) was a 3.1x predictor of response compared to older activity (12-24 months ago).
What this means for wholesalers
- Target repeat buyers over first-timers — they close at higher rates
- Include rental analysis in every deal package — landlords are the majority of buyers
- Price deals in the $100K-$250K range for maximum buyer pool
- Search within 0.5 miles first before expanding
- Prioritize investors with transactions in the last 6 months