Wednesday, December 9, 2009

REITs – Investing in Real Estate without the Hassles of Owning Property

You’ve been told how great of an investment real estate is, but you don’t care for the idea of owning and managing property. The profits would be nice, but you are not thrilled with being a landlord or complicating your income tax return.

It sounds like REITs are just what you are looking for. REITs allow you to enjoy the profits of owning property without having to hold title, deal with tenants, make repairs and risk liability exposure should something happen that is beyond your control.

REITs – How they Work for You

Instead purchasing and owning a piece of property, you can purchase a share in a real estate management group. There will be at least 100 shareholders that join into the purchase and their money will be pooled to be used for real estate development or real estate management.

When a purchase is made at least 90 percent of the profits from the rent or lease payments will be paid to the shareholders in the form of dividends. The other 10 percent is allocated to maintenance or growing the REIT. This means you will almost always see a good return on real estate through REITs. All you need is a series of places that are rented and you will see regular income.

This kind of profit making on property is essentially what you were thinking of doing on your own through real estate investing. If you were going to buy a piece of property, you would either want to sell or lease it out to make a profit. The only problem is that you would also be responsible for all the work of keeping the place in order and keeping things running. By moving into the REIT market you are able to get all of the benefits of this fund without having any of the headaches.

Now, it's important to note that you may not make a fortune in REIT investing, but it is a pretty steady way to see income, and sometimes you really can hit it just right and make a fortune. As a matter of fact some people, like Ivana Trump, count real estate as the only place to put their money. She was quoted as saying. "I made a tremendous amount of money on real estate. I'll take real estate rather than go to Wall Street and get 2.8 percent. Forget about it."

If you don’t know enough about REITs to make an intelligent investing decision then there are online resources for getting the education your need. Begin by going to REITBuyer.com, a website loaded with resources and education to give you the insight you need. When you are ready to buy, let their real estate investing brokers do the work for you. Once you have added a few REITs to your portfolio use their online tracking and analyzing tools keep an eye on your investments and to see how they are stacking up.

REITbuyer.com is an online brokerage information site specializing In REITs and Real Estate Mutual Funds – The World’s first and only site dedicated to REITs Real Estate Mutual Funds. This is a place for the small investor to own a piece of world class real estate.

Investing in REITs to Stabilize your Portfolio

If you are following the stock market and mutual funds, you may think you don't want to let your money get anywhere near those investments. You’ve watched as the stock market plummets as companies go bankrupt, wiping out all the funds that were invested with them.

So you may be keeping your money in the bank while you decide on the best way to invest it. This is a good time to consider real estate investing.

Historically, real estate has been a safe, profitable investment. Many people see the news articles as of late about the real estate market problems. Sure, there are fluctuations, but over the long term, real estate is a wise investment. When other markets fall apart, real estate tends to be the constant that holds strong.

Additionally, if there were to be a complete market downturn, while your real estate investment may lose some of its value the important thing to remember is that with real estate you have a tangible asset that will always have value. That is much more than you can say for your stock certificates.

This doesn’t mean that you should put all your money into real estate; however, a well-diversified portfolio should contain at least 10-20% of real estate related investments. This will give your a strong backbone to hedge against a bad day in the market.

The easiest way to invest in real estate is by purchasing REITs or real estate investment trusts. These are essentially real estate development and management groups that purchase and manage income producing property, including residential, industrial or even commercial real estate ventures.

Instead of purchasing a piece of property outright, you will purchase a share in the group that is doing the purchasing and managing. In return, as they make profits, they pay you a dividend. REITs are required to return at least 90% of their profits to their shareholders. That means if the REIT does well, you are going to get a great return. Even in a moderate year you will likely get a good return.

Additionally, REITs are generally constant and stable as people rent homes or lease buildings. They intend to stay a while; therefore, the income is consistent year after year.

Getting involved in REITs is not too difficult. Begin by going to a website like REITBuyer.com. They have everything you need to add this type of investment to your portfolio. From the information provided you can research the REITs available and begin investing or have the REITBuyer.com brokers do it for you. They also provide online tools to monitor your investments so you know how your portfolio is doing.

REITbuyer.com is an online brokerage information site specializing In REITs and Real Estate Mutual Funds – The World’s first and only site dedicated to REITs Real Estate Mutual Funds. This is a place for the small investor to own a piece of world class real estate.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Real Estate Investment Trusts – The Time is Right for REITs

Real Estate Investment Trusts, aka, REITs, are quickly gaining the attention of real estate investors. Because of the shifts in the stock investing market, people are worried about putting their money into it at this time. With stock values declining, how does one know where to put their cash?

Perhaps it's time to consider other investing options out there like real estate. I don’t mean to say that you should buy properties. That comes with way too much hassle, putting together the cash to buy the property, fixing it up, maintaining it and managing it. It’s enough just to invest your money; your time may be better spent doing something else, like enjoying the return on your money

Real estate investment trusts are another option for investing in real estate. Real estate investment trusts or REITs are funds where you purchase shares of the investment and a real estate management group buys, develops, maintains and manages the income producing property. You essentially fund a portion of a property acquisition and management group.

In return for your investment, you will be paid a portion of any profit that the company makes, much like a stock dividend.

While you may be wondering how wise it is to consider real estate in today's tough market, this is exactly why it may be a good time to look at a little more investing. Here's why. Sure, there has been a tough time for the markets. Lending has decreased; foreclosures are on the rise. We're in tough credit times.

But now let's look at the positive side of things. Many experts believe the slide has slowed down and things will soon stabilize. Add this to the fact that those capital markets that REITs use to get their funding for expansion and other purchases are low and that means the chances for REITs to get the capital they want to expand has dropped, for now. While you may think this is a bad sign, the truth is this is a time when the value of REITs is lower, meaning you can get in at a lower price. As things settle and go back to normal, your profits will go up and you will see an even greater return on your investment.

This is the time to log onto a website like REITBuyer.com and find out what REITs are available, what they are selling for and get yourself in on this low tide so you can enjoy the ride when the financial wave picks up again.

Your other option is putting all of your money in the bank and seeing little to no growth.

Money Making Guru Robert G. Allen may have said it best saying, "How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case."

REITs – Going to the Head of the Real Estate Investing Pack

REITs are quickly gaining popularity with real estate investors. In the world of real estate investing there are two kinds of people, those who see a profit and those that don't. Everyone wants to be a part of the first group, but few really know how to do it.

If you are to be successful with investing, you need 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 are the experts; they make great role models.

The first thing you need to know is where to invest your money. There are many money moguls who will tell you they made their fortune in real estate.

Look at Donald Trump; his whole career was made on the right real estate moves at the right time. One thing to consider is that real estate is an asset, not a fluid commodity that could disappear overnight. What happens during a market downturn? 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 difficult venture than most people want to attempt. With REITs, the investor owns a part of a fund, with something as liquid as a stock, without having to deal with all the paperwork, responsibility and liability exposure of a property owner.

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 a fund for a real estate management or development group to build or purchase real estate which they manage and operate.

Your profits are paid to you as dividends from the income produced by the property. 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 resource for investors to learn about REITs and see how they are performing. They are also are a full service investing real estate broker that you can purchase your REITs through.