Friday, February 27, 2009

Invest in Real Estate with REITs Without the Concerns of Having To Manage Properties

REITs – Buy Now, Sell High

With so many people panicking after this past year's investment woes, there are some great deals to be had in the investment world. One of the best ones out there is in the real estate arena.

A lot of people are reluctant to put out any type of money into investments right now, thinking that since it's a bad time, things must be getting ready to get worse and worse. Well in real estate, this is not possible.

Think about this for a minute. Unless it is going to sink into the ocean or completely disappear into a black hole, the property behind a real estate investment will always be around. Sure, it can lose money and have a tough time, but it will be around and still have value.

Another thing to keep in mind is right now, as many other investors are doing what you are doing and worrying, those who move forward and make a buy will be the ones who have the most to gain as the market starts to rise again.

It's like Albert Einstein said, "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity". While he may have been talking about science, it also works for the world of economics and investments. Sure we are in the midst of a difficult economic time when it seems every stock, bond and mutual fund has dropped through the floor and that any investment is doomed to fail. But, what if you look at the opportunity side of that. If you look around, the real estate market has bottomed out for the most part. That means the current opportunity is in investing in more of it and seeing a return on that investment.

Now that I have you thinking of opportunity, you may be thinking there is no way you will be able to afford purchasing properties right now. No one said you had to buy properties outright. Instead, why not purchase shares of property? This can be accomplished through real estate investment trusts or REITs. Being a part of a REIT allows you to purchase shares of a real estate development or real estate management company and still be in on the market without having to buy a whole property yourself.

In a REIT when the management group profits (through leases, rent or mortgage interest) at least 90% of that profit must be passed on to the investors. This will come in the form of a dividend. In many cases you will see a 6-10% return on your investment every year, as that is the average. In some years you may even see your real estate out perform the stock market.

Investing in REITs is easy. They are publicly traded and you can go to a website like REITBuyer.com to research the REITs you are interested in, look at their past, possible futures and even make the purchase all in the same place, as they are an investing real estate broker.

We're at a point in the economic tide right now where it's either time to make a move or stay out of the game. Only those who play can win.

What Kinds of REITs Are There?

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.