Sunday, March 8, 2009

What Kinds of REITs Can You Invest In?

Getting to Know Two Kinds Of REITs

By now, you may have heard of REITs. If not, this stands for real estate investment trusts. These are essentially funds that you can purchase shares of to build, buy or manage real estate holdings. Annually, the bulk of the profits from the real estate holdings are used to send dividends to the shareholders.

Generally there are two kinds of REITs – Property Owning and Mortgage.

Many of the most popular REITs fit into the first category – property owning. These are REITs that use their funding to purchase properties and then make a profit from those properties that they pass on to their shareholders.

These REITs could own any of a number of property types. Many focus just on commercial real estate such as strip malls and stores. Others focus on residential real estate like homes, condominiums and apartment complexes. Still others have a focus on the industrial sector, with real estate investment in warehouses and other industrial needs.

The other style of REIT is a mortgage REIT. These REITs are more on the backside of things. Their money goes into mortgage securities and purchasing mortgages with a hope to make a good profit on the interest from those properties.

There are also REITs that combine both of these aspects and put some of their money into each area.

For the most part, REITs are a smart investment. Generally they see a return of 6-10 percent on investments. They can always see more, but many people just like the fact that for the most part they will have a positive return that they would not have seen otherwise.

Before you begin on any sort of investment path, you need to know just what you are getting into. That means you need to do your research. If you want to start to get a look at some REITs and what they do, that's not a problem. Just like other stocks, bonds and mutual funds, they are publicly listed, so you will have no problem finding them and seeing how they are faring in comparison with the stock market.

The wisest way to go about this research is to use a site like REITBuyer.com. This is a site that is focused on this specific type of investing. You will be able to do the research you need to learn about the specific REITs you are interested in, plus get a lot more.

One of the things you may want to keep an eye on at REITBuyer.com is the news feed. It is news specifically related to the REIT market. That means you don’t have to spend a lot of time sorting through all the financial news of the day. The information you need will be right there.

Then when you are ready to buy, that's made easy as well. Considering that REITBuyer.com is a complete investing real estate broker, you will be able to buy, sell and trade your REIT investments right from their website.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

REIT - Invest in Real Estate the Way the Big Dogs Do

Real Estate – Going To The Head of the Investing Pack


In the world of investing there are two kinds of people, those who make money and see a profit and those that don't. Everyone wants to be a part of the first group, but not everyone knows how to do it.

If you are truly to do well in investing, you have to take a few lessons from the big dogs. After all, they got to where they are through years of hard work and investing. They must have done something right.

The first thing you need to know is where to invest your money. Many of those money moguls will tell you their fortunes were made in real estate.

Look at Donald Trump! His whole career was made on the right real estate moves at the right time. Another thing to consider is that real estate is an asset, instead of a more fluid commodity that could disappear overnight. What if the market had a tough time? Warren Buffet once said, "Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years." Can you say that about your other holdings? If you have real estate in your investment portfolio, you probably could, as real estate is something that will still have value.

For many people who are accustomed to the more traditional types of investments, they are not really sure where to start when it comes to investing in real estate. Do you have to buy a piece of property? A house? An apartment complex? The answer is no. You don’t have to do any of those things. Purchasing property outright, while still a nice investment, is a much more detailed investment than most people want to try. You want to be a part of a fund or have something as liquid as a stock, not be stuck in a situation where you are forced to deal with all the contracts and deeds of property as well as the maintenance of it.

This is why you should be looking at REITs. REITs are Real Estate Investment Trusts. Essentially these are the mutual funds of real estate. When you purchase shares in REITs you are putting money into the pot for the real estate management group or real estate development group to build or purchase real estate with and then manage it and keep it operational.

How you profit from this system is when through the money the management group makes annually. From rent in residential properties to leases of business properties, 90 percent of the profits from REIT investments must go back to the shareholders in the form of dividends each year.

Beginning investing in REITs is simple; you just need to know where to look. A website like REITBuyer.com is a great place as they not only have all of the education and research you need to find out what REITs are out there and see how they are performing, but they also are a full service investing real estate broker so you can purchase your REITs through them as well.