Today's guided visualization focuses on the next set of 10 Commandments of Real Estate Investing that Jason Hartman espouses. As a reminder, they are: 11. Thou Shalt Not Be a Sucker 12. Thou Shalt Hold Thy Tenants Responsible 13. Thou Shalt Look at the Big Picture 14. Thou Shalt Make Rational Decisions 15. Thou Shalt Have a Reality Check 16. Thou Shalt Pursue Quality 17. Thou Shalt Embrace Fragmentation 18. Thou Shalt Use Shelters to Protect Wealth 19. Thou Shalt Not Make Emotional...

Today's Guided Visualization focuses on revisiting the 10 commandments of Jason Hartman's real estate investing: 1. Become Educated 2. Seek Guidance 3. Stay In Control 4. Remain Prudent 5. Do Not Gamble 6. Always Diversify 7. Be Area Agnostic™ 8. Use Borrowed Money 9. Identify Universal Needs 10. Purchase Tax-Favored Assets Website: www.JasonHartman.com

Today we focus on Jason Hartman's Commandment #20: Thou Shalt Look at the Big Picture. What this means to us as investors is that we need the ability to step back from the daily fluctuations, hassles, and difficulties to think about our long-term goals and vision. The first component of the big picture is a knowledge of what we are investing for in the first place. The simple answer “to make money” is nowhere near sufficient. Every person invests to achieve some future goal. Keeping this...

Today's guided visualization looks at Jason Hartman's Commandment 19: Thou Shalt Not Make Emotional Decisions. In the world of finance and investing, the single greatest enemy that most people will face is themselves. The reason for this is because even seasoned investors can fall prey to making emotional decisions. The danger is that emotional decisions are very seldom intelligent decisions. This is compounded by the fact that the situations when most of us act emotionally tend to be at...

Today's guided visualization is focused on Jason Hartman's Commandment #18: Thou Shalt Use Shelters to Protect Wealth. As children, we’re taught that a human only needs three things to survive—food, water, and shelter. And while real estate offers a physical shelter (which is one of the reasons it is so great—people will always need shelter) what we’re talking about here is real estate as tax shelter. It might first be helpful to define what it is we mean by tax shelter. Simply put, tax...

Jason Hartman's Commandment #17 is Thou Shalt Embrace the Fragmentation. Fragmentation acts as a defense mechanism for investors. It is more difficult to confiscate and the act of doing so costs significantly more than 401k and IRA assets, so it is less likely to happen. Laws governing the landlord-renter relationship happen on the local level. This local focus ensures that large, sweeping changes (even on a national level) are less likely to change the renter-landlord relationship for income...

Today's guided visualization is centered around Commandment #16: Thou Shalt Pursue Quality. One of the traps that many new investors fall into is rushing to buy, and purchasing investments of marginal quality. Frequently, this also involves partnering with people of marginal quality to find the deals. The unfortunate part of all this is that it is unnecessary. Quality deals and quality people are out there to be found. The trick is that they need to be found … you can’t expect them to come...

Today's visualization focuses on Jason Hartman's Commandment #15, Thou Shalt Have a Reality Check. There are many times during your investing career that you're going to hear about deals that sound too good to be true. When you hear about them, however, make sure you put on what Jason calls your "sanity glasses" and look at it for what it really is. Look past things like rent guarantees and make sure the deal is being evaluated on real market conditions. Website: www.JasonHartman.com

Today we focus on commandment 14: Thou Shalt Make Rational Decisions. It's a reminder to be wary of impulse decisions that grab the heart, not the head. Keeping a cool head and refusing to be swayed by impulse can prevent a lot of regret later on. A study on the effects of stress examines the way both chronic and short term tension can affect the brain’s ability to process information, adapt to new situations and, yes, make clear decisions and plan for long term goals. Website: ...

When most people hear of “The Theory of Relativity” they think of Einstein and E=MC^2. As it turns out, there is another theory of relativity that investors need to know about. This relativistic view of the investment world can be summarized by the phrase: “Compared to what?” When viewing income producing real estate as an investment vehicle, we must always ask what we are comparing it against. This is especially important in a zero percent interest rate environment where risk free assets...

As the owner of a rental property, your tenants have a legal responsibility to pay for the rent from their lease contract, and to pay for any damages that they cause to the property. All too often, landlords will fail to pursue their former tenants for what they are owed because of a concern that they will not have the financial resources to pay. This may certainly be true in some cases, but it is not true in all cases. When your tenants have failed to complete their legal obligations, you...

Over the course of a long and successful income property investing career, Jason has noticed a few things about people. One of those things is that few people want to dig in, do the work, block out the static, and crank out a fortune. Too many are distracted by the next flashy salesman who dangles visions of sudden wealth in front of your eyes with one hand while debiting your bank account for a few thousand bucks with the other. Do you know anyone who has actually gotten rich quick after...

A good portion of your success can be tied to your willingness to visualize yourself finding it. If we don't believe we can succeed, we won't. If we believe that we're worthy and that we will find it, then we are much, much more likely to do so. Website: www.JasonHartman.com

Why are the real estate commandments important? Today's journey again examines why these axioms are worth following in your journey to financial freedom. Website: www.JasonHartman.com

Jason Hartman has his 10 Commandments of Real Estate Investing. We've discussed them in prior visualizations. But why should you care about them? Today we focus on what we can achieve if we trust and follow those commandments. Website: www.JasonHartman.com

Website: www.JasonHartman.com

Real estate is the most tax-favored asset in America. Most people tend to get bored with the subject of taxes, but this is a major mistake for property investors! Do not get bored with taxes. Taxes should be exciting to you (wait until you see how much money you can save by owning income properties!). Tax structures favored by real estate investors – such as the “1031 Exchange” – can accelerate your wealth-creation to an whole new level. Non-cash tax write-offs and deductions are real money...

Unlike commodities or market speculation, real estate is a “real” need among all people, which is why it is a wise investment choice. No one needs stocks, bonds or gold, but EVERYONE needs a place to live. With local populations and social affluence both growing all around the world, the consumption of raw materials will continue to cause upward price pressure on residential real estate. But within the world of real estate itself, residential properties stand out for a reason. Following the...

Use as much borrowed money and as little of your own money as possible. Borrowed (mortgage) money can be repaid by the tenants who will move in to your income property! By letting other people’s money work for you, you can reduce your personal risk and become wealthier much faster. (There are also legal protection benefits, since real estate assets with standing debt are much less likely to be pursued if any legal claims arise against a property owner.) Nuclear weapons have a shocking...

Be Area Agnostic™ (Do Not Limit Yourself To Certain Areas) Do not allow yourself to maintain pre-conceived notions about a certain market just because you happen to like “the weather” or whatever else an area might seem to have going for it. From an investor’s standpoint, it is absolutely illogical to fall in love with an area unless it makes good financial sense. Additionally, to avoid a conflict of interest, only invest with an adviser who is not partial to any one market or investment...

Always Diversify (Balance Your Investments In Various Markets) Reduce risk and maximize returns by investing in several areas as every market is different. You’ll hear it from most prudent financial advisors: “diversify, diversify, diversify!” chanted like some sort of prophetic mantra. A great piece of advice, to be sure! The problem is that most advisors are merely “diversifying” between a group of fairly lame assets like stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. These types of assets are not...

Today's Guided Visualization is Commandment #5: Do Not Gamble (Avoid Flipping, Speculating, And Other Risks) The opposite of a prudent investor is a gambler – someone who chases after get-rich-quick schemes, fleeting market trends, or other risky forms of speculation. Only invest in properties that make good financial sense – starting from the day you buy them. While flipping houses and other quick-cash “guessing games” have been popularized by TV and the media, true long-term wealth is...

Today's Guided Visualization is Commandment #4: Remain Prudent (Keep Your Long-Term Goals In Mind) Keep your investment goals in mind at all times (i.e. retirement, financial freedom, creating wealth), while always abiding by your own unique risk tolerance limits. In simpler terms: stay true to your investment plan! Of course, this requires actually having a plan, which should be based on a combination of your self-education, your financial resources, the advice offered by an investment...

Today's Visualization Follows Commandment #3: Stay In Control (Maintain Direct Control Of Your Investment) Any investment situation in which you are relinquishing decision-making power to other parties is a potential disaster waiting to happen. I strongly recommend avoiding any LLCs, partnerships, tenant-in-common deals, real estate investment trusts, or other similar arrangements when making investments. Additionally, never leave your financial future in the hands of incompetent, unethical,...