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.