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DIG Main Meeting October 16th Review

By Matt Wahl - Wednesday, October 29, 2025

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Happy Friday Everyone,

Last night we enjoyed a presentation on House Hacking led by Todd Hessbacher, featuring Cindy Wollman, Todd Bently, and me.  Some highlights from the presentations:
-Cindy got her son into real estate by having him arbitrage one of her existing rentals.  She "let" him be the guinea pig for trying out short term renting one of her properties.  He did such a good job with it, she realized this was a fruitful endeavor and began doing it herself on another property.
-We learned that both Todd B and I lack chivalry, charging rent to our not yet wives in our house hacks.
-Each of us was able to live close to, or entirely rent free in houses we have hacked.
-Todd and I definitely, and Cindy may have, entered into real estate investing through house hacking.
-Todd has only house hacked and is amassing quite the fortune doing so.
-Todd's a rocket scientist?
-Todd Hessbacher was able to refrain from busting our stones long enough to allow us to present!
-Cindy has either a very loving son, or a son with a fatter wallet after his praise for his mother while asking a question about her house hacking experience.
-We had at least one person in the audience who probably should have been up on the panel with us.  I did not catch her name (my apologies), but the blonde haired woman voraciously taking notes in the front row surprised me with how well she did house hacking her first house.
In addition, I met some potential and ne ... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting September 18th Review

By Matt Wahl - Wednesday, October 29, 2025

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Hi Everyone,

We had another interesting meeting last night with a presentation by Robert Mohan on making yourself attractive to bank lenders.  A few tidbits I picked up from his presentation:
  • The ideal mix of things to show up on your credit report
    • 3-5 credit cards (I've subscribed to a no CC lifestyle, but will consider picking some up since listening to his presentation.)
    • one installment loan
    • one mortgage
  • Bump your credit score 25 points in a short amount of time (1-3 months? I forget) by using your credit cards for some small purchases, then paying them down to $1 once every week.  
  • Freeze your credit with the major credit bureaus.  It's free. You can do it online.  After initial set up, it only takes a few minutes to apply a thaw when you actually are applying for credit.
  • Maintain relationships at a variety of banks and visit them in person often, or at least with a phone call if they're out of state.
  • Get a copy of your Consumer Disclosure Report and dispute anything incorrect.  This is different than your credit report.
On the networking front, I met a couple who do some wholesaling and picked up a few pointers about their cold calling that has made their cold calling endeavors more successful than mine.
I also got some flooring estimates scheduled with Blain from Touch of Color Flooring.  Making my life easy.
See everyone next time,
Matt Wahl
... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting August 21st Review

By Matt Wahl - Wednesday, October 29, 2025

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Hi Everyone,

I received a lot of positive feedback about the speed networking last night.  This is always a fan favorite and something we may consider doing more than once a year.
My biggest takeaway came from Don Rotanz regarding seller financing.  My question was how to handle a seller who is unfamiliar and, therefore, uncomfortable with the idea of seller financing?  This is something I'm encountering at the moment.  He explained keep the numbers simple.  Use round numbers such as $2500/month for X number of months.
I met a young guy, Kyle Tucker, who has done 5 seller financed deals already in his young career. Killing it!  Gives me motivation to offer that more often.
I talked with another investor (blanking on your name at the moment, sorry!) who completed what I believe was his first deal out in Reading over the past year, sold it, doubled his money, and bought another property with money left over for another one.
Dig volunteer All Star Nadya is getting down and dirty doing a rehab with her own hands right now.  She reminds me of me earlier on in my career--although I was not as handy despite doing some work in my rehabs early on--I was afraid to borrow hard money because I didn't have confidence in myself.  Once I finally did, I was able to run 3 rehabs at a time versus just one.  Nadya, you've done enough rehabs and know enough to take the leap!  I have confidence in you.
I learned from Mason a bit ab ... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting May 16th Review

By Matt Wahl - Friday, May 16, 2025

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Happy /Friday Everyone!

Another great turnout for another great meeting.  The rain let up for a nice evening to grill.  Todd Hesbacher handled the majority of the grilling, so if the burgers and dogs weren't any good....  Actually, I heard a lot of positive feedback.  Angie Smith kept the machine oiled throughout our grill session keeping the cheese and buns prepped.  Because I was out grilling, I missed Rob Caldwell's Numbers presentation, but I heard good things about it from Ed who runs that.
Kathy Gilmore gave a great presentation for anyone looking to get into flipping.  She also gave out a bunch of her new books on flipping.  She even had two of DIG's own All Star contributors to the book....and me...share some tips.  It's funny, while I was on stage I looked over at Don Rotanz and thought he should really be up here giving out tips with his extensive and successful history.  There is a tip he shared years ago (and I'm sure many times since then) that always gets repeated in my own head.  It was in the form of a question when someone once was complaining about not being able to get deals.  "How many offers did you make this week?"  If you're not constantly making offers, you won't be getting deals. Getting back to the two all star contributors to Kathy's book on stage-- shout out to Deb Nye and Deepta Hiremath.  I think Deepta had the quote of the night when referring to Deb and Kathy providing in ... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting October 17th Review

By Matt Wahl - Tuesday, October 22, 2024

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Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the delay on this.  My back was giving me problems on Thursday which restricted me to laying in a recliner most of Thursday, Friday and intermittently over the weekend, bemoaning my existence.  Unfortunately, I only caught a small portion of Thursday's meeting as I could not stay very long.
That said, it was a real treat to get a presentation from both Anil Dham and Dan Harvey, two DIG superstars.  Anil showed us a 9 unit deal he recently completed in Royersfod (I think).  While I didn't catch the whole thing, I did pick up a few things:
1. Some of his decision making on installing one unit in the basement vs. two.
2. A floor paint that is durable and does not seem to get dirty (I need to know what it is specifically)
3. That he left money in the deal--this was important for a couple of reasons to me.  Almost all of my deals have not required me to leave money in the deal.  I buy it with hard or private money, fix it up, rent it out, and refi it, pulling all of my money back out.  Over the past few years, however, this has not been the case for many of my refis.  In talking with many investors, the cash out refis are becoming less frequent.  Creativity on deals moving forward will be more important than ever.  Whether it's utilizing seller financing, or partners with money, we will need to think about more ways to make deals happen so we don't run out of money.  On my recent pro ... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting September 19th Review

By Matt Wahl - Sunday, September 22, 2024

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Good morning DigLand,

I hope everyone enjoyed last night's meeting.  For those of you that missed it, we had Rich O'Neill discussing how to bulletproof your rentals.  Two of the items Rich discussed caught my attention.  Using schedule 40 pvc pipes under the sinks with a cleanout after the trap because the pipes are smoother and more robust than the typical thinner pvc pipes normally used.  This will prevent damage and leaks caused by tenants jamming things under the sink.  The other item was oversizing all drain and sewer lines by an inch compared to code.  More space = less clogs.  I heard even Anil learned something new with the schedule 40 drain pipe idea!
On the networking side of things, I got to meet long time DIG member and answerline contributor Steve Ammon.  I had an interesting conversation with newer DIG member Joseph [last name]--sorry Joe!--about a project he's under contract for in Reading.  He plans to buy it in his own name, rehab, rent it out, then refi it.  He has a broker/lender who claims he can do a cash out refi for him as a rental held in his own name.  This is something I have not heard of...mainly because I've never attempted it.  I encouraged him to confirm this with the broker before purchasing in his name.  I also offered some options for him using an LLC and some of our local hard-ish money lenders in DIG such as Steve Hitlabiddle of Success Lending and Karen Fischer of&nbs ... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting August 15th Review

By Matt Wahl - Friday, August 16, 2024

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Good morning DIG Fam!

Another month, another great meeting.  Last night we had our "speed networking" event where we have specialists in a variety of areas helming tables that guests and members spend about 10 minutes at a piece.  A bell rings, and on to the next table of your choice.
I can't provide a full feedback this month as I was with John and Jim Welsh at the table devoted to partnerships.  That said, it was nice to see the interest people had in our topic and the intelligent questions that were asked.  For those interested, the book we had on display was the BP produced "Real Estate Partnerships" by Tony Robinson and Ashley Kehr.  As what was no surprise to me, the Belles of the Ball were our wholesaling experts, Corey Ruyak and Mark Morey.  They had a full table up until the meeting ended.  It seemed like everyone else's tables were well attended, although I was up against a wall on one side, so my sightline was restricted.  Plust I was too concerned with stuffing my face with hot dogs and pretzels!
As much as I enjoyed our conversations at my table, the only negative was that I didn't get to experience the other experts' contributions and the conversations had at their tables.  
See you all next month!
Matt Wahl
Wahl Properties
215-837-4320
... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting July 18th Review

By Matt Wahl - Friday, July 19, 2024

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 Hi Everyone,

There are times when I walk away from a meeting upset.  Last night was one of those nights.  The three gentlemen we had last night for our panel of wholesalers are truly superstars.  I walked away pissed at myself.  Pissed that I'm not nearly as good as them.  Pissed that they are doing what I want to be doing much better than me.  On the bright side, I woke up with a renewed vigor to improve my situation today.
Fortunately, I have three excellent sources to reach out to to make those improvements.  While I usually pull out a few pointers of things I learned at a meeting, i'm not going to do that from last night as there was just too much good info.  What I will say that I found most interesting is that all three do what they do in significantly different fashion.  Much like in life in general, there are many different paths to success.
I've seen wholesalers present at numerous RE investment events in the past, but this one I found to be the most eye opening.  It may have to do with my own increased knowledge and experience or the fact that I'm in the middle of working on my own marketing machine right now.  Speaking of which, it was about a year and half ago that I was taught how to set up my marketing machine by one of our speakers last night, Josh Bacon.  Talking to him beforehand and listening to him speak, if we were to compare our two marketing machines, mine looks like a tricycle with ... Read More…
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DIG Main Meeting June 20th Review

By Matt Wahl - Friday, June 21, 2024

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Hello DIG fam,
Packed house last night, which should come as no surprise despite it being summer as Ashley Wilson was our speaker. In fact, here's my review: Ashley Wilson spoke. Nuff said.


OK, I can't leave it like that. It was just too good. Before I get into Ashley's awesomeness, shout out to some friendly faces that graced us with their presence last night--Anil was back again, now with a new HVAC company. As you can imagine, his company is slammed right now with work. Travis Edelman, long time A/L contributor, finally poked his head out of the bushes and showed his face at a main meeting again. And newbie Tyler Fox, a contractor I know from the gym (if you met him last night, you know why I know him from the gym, he could probably bench press Anil, Travis and me all at once) who was looking to learn about tax liens and pre-foreclosures---Marc Sherby, where were you??

Up on stage I gave shout outs to Raymond Lemire and Todd Hessbacher who weren't even there! C'mon guys, what's the problem? Were you in the hospital or something?

We all got to drink from the firehouse that was Ashley's presentation. A few highlights:
1. Much like driving for dollars with single family properties, you can do the same for apartment complexes! They don't need to look in distress, though, as you would be looking for with singles. You just need to train your eyes to start noticing them, then reach out to them.
2. Get the money first. This was an eye opener for me and I imagine many of you. I've ... Read More…

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National REIA’s Monthly Government Affairs Update

By NREIA - Wednesday, June 5, 2024

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National REIA’s Monthly Government Affairs Update…

 

Sloppy Inflation: The discussion around inflation has become quite sloppy. Rather than focus on all the misstatements, please know that references to inflation “coming down” is in no way an actual reduction in costs. It is a reduction in the rate of increase. This is critical when thinking about budgets and longer term planning. The deflationary aspect of the economy has not reared its head except in parts of China. In the event deflation starts, prices will actually go down. So will value. Have a discerning ear…
Another Domino: In late May, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed into law Tennessee’s new anti-squatting legislation. The new law will take effect on July 1, 2024. Click here to learn more.
Sticky Red Tape: A recent report from the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) says building codes can raise concerns about construction costs and make it increasingly difficult to develop much needed housing. Go figure... Click here to read more about the report.

 

 

Paneling: While at a recent conference, Charles Tassell moderated a panel discussing the valuations & future valuations of Single Family Rentals. Accordingly, there are four themes creating a pattern: 1 – The current shortage of affordable/entry-level housing is creating consternation for those entering the market. 2 - Demand from Mill ... Read More…

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