Tuesday, March 10, 2009

REITs - The Real Estate Mutual Funds Worth Owning

If you are compiling your investment portfolio, you likely have a lot of items that you are considering. Do you want stocks or mutual funds? Local or international? And have you considered real estate?

Often when people are asked if they have considered investments in real estate they envision having to plunk down a lot of money to purchase whole property. That's far outside of the budget of most people. They may have a few hundred or thousand dollars to spend, but not enough to purchase large pieces of commercial or residential property, which tend to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Likewise you may think of all the hassle that goes with purchasing property and wonder why anyone would ever consider buying real estate as an investment because it is such a nightmare. Well, it doesn’t have to be.

Instead of purchasing property outright, what if there was a way to invest in real estate without all of the hassle of purchasing the title and deed to a property and much less funds? There is. It's called a real estate investment fund or REIT. A REIT is essentially like a mutual fund of real estate.

Instead of buying a complete piece of property, you are buying shares in a real estate management group that will then purchase and maintain a property.

So, you may be wondering, how do you make a profit? Well the way REITs work is that as they make money, 90 % of that earning has to go to the shareholders. This is money you will get in the form of dividend payments.

Essentially, REITs are the best of all worlds. Not only are they secure real estate investment options, but also they are also just as liquid as the stocks and bonds you are used to.

Most financial advisors recommend having at least 10% of your portfolio be associated with real estate. The reason for this is that those investments are more secure than other stocks and mutual funds and just a swing of the market can wipe you out on all of the other investments, while the real estate should hold up through the tough times. This gives you a hedge for those other, more volatile investments.

Getting involved with REITs is also a lot easier than you would think. Begin with a real estate broker like REITBuyer.com. By working with REITBuyer.com, you will be able to start at the beginning and get everything you need.

Begin by doing your research. They have articles and research tools that will help you investigate the REITs you are interested in so you can get a feel for which ones best fit your portfolio.

When you are ready to buy, they can take care of that as well, as they are a complete real estate broker and can handle your investments in a professional manner.

Finally, once you have made the purchase, use their tools and analysis options to keep an eye on how your investments are doing and size them up to the rest of the market.

Investing In REITs - Make it a Lifestyle

Are you a part time real estate investor? Do you have a few REITs in your portfolio that you look at from time to time to see how they are doing? If so, you are making one the mistakes that can keep you from being one of those investing success stories.

Many people look at investing as a hobby. It's just something to do with their extra money and they hope if they ignore it eventually it will grow into something. This is not the way to take care of your investments. Instead you need to take a more active role in them.

Investing is not a hobby. There is money on the line, serious money. It's your money, and you should treat it as such. That means once you start purchasing REITs you need to keep a closer eye on what they are doing as well as what the other markets around them are doing. This can help you key in on good time to buy, sell or make changes to your portfolio.

So what is the best way to do this? Well, you need to keep your investments in your own hands. The best method to this end is to go online with them. If your portfolio has REITs in it, it is even wiser to go with an online broker that knows and appreciates REITs like REITbuyer.com.

REITBuyer.com is a full service REIT brokerage firm, with REITs as their specialty, so you will be in a world where everything is focused on your market. That's good news for you because the more focused you can be on your preferred market, the more you can see what may be coming and know when to buy.

Once you sign up for REITBuyer.com, you need to learn how to use it to it's full potential to make sure you are getting everything you need to do better in investing. Start by making sure you know as much as you think you do about REITs. The education and advise area of the site will make sure you have all the knowledge you need to make smart decisions as you invest in new REITs or decide what to do with the ones you already have.

Next you need to keep up with what is happening right now. Remember, fortunes are made and lost in minutes on the market. While this is not as much the case with REITs, not knowing when to buy a REIT that is priced low can mean you are making less of a profit down the road. So, keep your eye on the REIT news section. This will give you an idea of what is happening in the market that could impact the REITs you have or are considering buying.

You should also look at the blogs and other statistics, as each of these things will give you a little more insight into what is happening.

Finally, when you are ready to buy or sell, you can take command of your portfolio and complete all of those transactions with online trading on the same website.