Saturday, February 28, 2009

Stop Worrying About Fund Stealers When You Invest in REITs

Attain Stability By Investing in Real Estate

If you have been watching the regular investment world like the stock market and mutual funds, you may think you don't want to let your money get anywhere near those fund stealers. In recent months you have seen stocks plummet. Many companies have been completely wiped off the map and all those investment funds with them.

But at the same time, you would love to have an option to make a little more money with that extra cash that you have. What can you do? This may be a time to look into real estate investing.

Historically, real estate is a pretty safe investment field. 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 tank and fall apart, real estate tends to be the constant that holds strong as some of your other investments may be failing.

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

While you may not want to go 100% into real estate, if you are building a well-diversified portfolio, you should try to have at least 10-20% of that portfolio real estate related. This will give your investments a strong backbone that helps you in case you need to hedge against a bad day on the market.

The best way to get into real estate investing is through REITs or real estate investment trusts. These are essentially real estate development or real estate management groups that want to purchase, build and then maintain property units. These could be 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 maintaining. In return, as they make profits, you will get a portion of those profits sent to you as a dividend. As a matter of fact, REITs must 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 once people rent homes, business buildings, etc, they tend to stay there, meaning the profit will keep coming in year after year.

Getting in on the REIT game 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 you need to begin the process and research the REITs out there to being able to make the purchases for you, they can do it all as they are a real estate broker as well. Once you have made the purchase, you can even use their tools to monitor your investments and keep an eye on how that new portfolio is doing.

What to Invest Your 401k Money in? Try REITs and Be Happy

Real Estate as A Savings Plan

Are you one of those people who love the idea of putting money away to make sure you have it if you need it down the road, but never really gets around to it? Perhaps you have a tough time just leaving the money in the bank and when you see something that looks like it would be nice to have you cave in and make a purchase. Either that or you look at the low interest that is coming in from banks these days and think 'what's the use?' as you're not even making interest that will meet inflation.

If this sounds like you, you may need to look at another way to save your money and a REIT may be the answer. A REIT is a real estate investment trust. This is essentially a mutual fund for real estate that will be used to buy, build or manage real estate ventures.

Those who are in REITs purchase shares, just like you would any stock, mutual funds or commodities on the stock market and allow that money to grow. In this case the growth comes from the lease, rent or mortgage insurance paid to the fund. The average return on REITs is 6-10%, which is triple, or quadruple of what most savings plans will net you in the bank.

Additionally, for the most part, REITs are pretty strong investments. Most of them are based on tangible pieces of property that are not going anywhere, so while values may fluctuate, they will still have some value.

Unlike buying real pieces of property, which means a lot of money, paperwork, and quite the hassle finding a buyer if you want to sell, REITs will allow you to instead sell your shares just like you would any other stock, mutual fund or commodities on the stock market.

If you're smart about this type of investment, you will treat it as a savings plan. As you get the money to purchase shares, make a purchase and then allow your annual dividends to be rolled back into purchase more shares. If you keep making your purchases on a regular time frame and let them grow. You may be surprised at just how much it grows for you to have down the road when you need it.

With the recent down market, there's no time like the present to buy. In the immortal words of multi-millionaire T. Harv. Eker, "Don't wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait."

If you have never heard of REITs or worked with them before, don't let that be a deterrent to you. Simply by logging on to a website such as REITBuyer.com you will be able to learn everything you need to know to be investing like a pro in no time and start that savings plan.

If you're completely new to this, begin with the basics. Make your way through the website learning all you need to know about REITs and then choose the ones that are best for you. The best part about REITBuyer.com is that you can then make your purchase on their website, as they are a full service investing real estate broker, and watch your portfolio all in the same place.