Sunday, May 17, 2009

Real Estate Investment Trust Tips – Network

When it comes to your investment portfolio, most people think this is something you do alone, on your own time and don't really talk to others about. This is not necessarily the wisest way to go about things.

If you think of the major investors who have made millions and made a name for themselves in the investment world, you may notice that they are not just people who put their money on the line, but also people who talk to anyone and everyone in their field, trying to get a pulse on what is coming and what may happen next in the industry.

The main reason you want to make sure to build up an investing network is to make sure you know what is coming (or about to go away) in your industry. One change in the real estate market in on sector often will translate to changes in all of the other nearby sectors, which in the long run can have a major impact on all of your investments. The sooner you see something coming, the sooner you can react and possibly save yourself a loss or set your self up to make a great profit.

So where do you find this network of people? Here are a few options:

Investment Brokerage

If you are investing in stocks, bonds, REITs or any of the other Wall Street offerings, you may be best to start your network of knowledge with the brokerage. Many brokerages not only allow you to do your buying and selling, but they also amass information relating to your industry to give you cutting edge information you need to make wise investing decisions. How easy this is to access will depend on what kind of brokerage you use. If you use a general-purpose brokerage, it may not be as simple as if you use a brokerage that is specialized in your industry. REITBuyer.com is the first and only online brokerage that specializes in REITs and real estate mutual funds.

Investing Groups

Another place to network for information is in investing groups. There are always groups of like-minded investors who are getting together to talk about their industry and plan for their future. When choosing this type of networking, make sure to act carefully on the information you get. Sometimes people will make comments about investments in hopes that you will buy something they want to sell and increase the price. Others are speculating with no supporting information. It is best that any information you glean from this type of networking you back up with your own research.

Real Estate Industry

Who knows more about what is happening in real estate than those who are on the front lines in the industry. From landlord associations to real estate agents and others who have a role in the operation of the industry you are investing in, they will often see the signs of things to come before anyone else. Having this type of people in your network will help you also get that earlier view of what may be coming down the pike.

This article was written by Earl E. Bird, spokes person for the REITbuyer.com, a site dedicated to educating Real Estate Investors on how to invest in Real Estate Mutual Funds to diversify their investing portfolio. Read more about REITs at http://communitieshomes.blogspot.com

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

An Investment With Proven Returns for Corporations

Consistent Returns with Real Estate Investment Trusts

If you're looking for an investment that has proven returns, you may not be sure just where to look in today's ailing economy. What about REITs? REITs, or Real Estate Investment Trusts are known for consistent returns and can be a strong and always positive part of your investment portfolio.

Sure, everyone wants to find the next great investment, an investment that will bring them the big bucks and make them an overnight millionaire. Although this does happen, the cases of that are few and far between. Instead, you need to focus on making sure you have a diverse portfolio that will hold you through all times.

Consider this scenario. You see the next big thing coming. You sink all of your money into that particular thing and wait for it to reach the top. Before you get a chance to pull out, the market plummets, taking all of your profits with it and possibly even some of your principal. That's a horror story that comes true for plenty of investors year after year. The flaw in their thought is that they put all of their eggs in that one basket! When the basket fell, everything went with it.

Now consider this scenario. You see the next thing coming and put a good portion of your investment funds in that arena, while still also putting some of your money into more secure or long-term investments like real estate. You again wait for the investments to reach the top, but the bottom falls before you expect. While you may take a major hit on the one side, that other, long term investment side of things you had also been putting money into will still be there and will give you a little bit of a base to rebuild from. You will still have a portfolio with some strength, versus one that is nearly empty.

Real estate is often considered the rock when it comes to investment, just ask Donald Trump who says, "It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate."

The good news is while being solid, REITs can still bring a pretty good profit. Consider that many REITs make a 10-14 percent return every year. That's a nice strong return when it happens for 10, 20 or 30 years without fail! If you look at the overall performance of the stock markets and most mutual funds, you will see there is not much difference in the two for long-term returns.

When you're ready to start investing in real estate, you need to make sure you know what you're getting into before you buy. While you could search all over and try to find out for yourself, there is another option as well. Consider a website like REITBuyer.com. REITBuyer.com offers all the information you need to understand REITs, where they come from and how to best begin investing. In addition, you don't have to go anywhere else when you are ready to add REITs to your portfolio, as they are also investment real estate brokers. It's one stop shopping for a stronger and more secure financial future!

Why REITs with Corpation Financial?

REITs: Real Estate Investment Trusts to Hedge the Stock and Bond Markets

Have you taken a look at your investment portfolio lately? If you have, and it's filled with the normal stock and bond investments, you may have noticed that there has been a lot of damage to those investments in the past year or so. With the credit crunch and the market crash, most investments are half, or less, of what they should be.

This is when you should consider what you should be doing to hedge those other investments. This is where REITs come in.

REITs are Real Estate Investment Trusts. These are funds where you fund a real estate management company. There are a variety of REITs out there. Some offer a way to back real estate developers who are taking on new ventures in construction. Others are meant to fund management of residential real estate such as apartment complexes, condominiums or even neighborhoods. Still others use the funds put into the REIT to operate commercial real estate interests.

I think Louis J. Glickman said it best when he said, "The best investment on earth is earth.” Real estate is always a wise investment. No matter what happens the land will always be there. Sure it may waiver in value from time to time, but in the long run, it will always be around, unlike businesses that can close their doors and take your investments down with them.

With this said, adding a REIT or two to your portfolio it would offer you a little more diversity and security in your investments.

You never know what the stock market will do. Just in the past few decades we have seen a number of sweeping changes in the market that completely broke some investors. Think of how many people you know who went bust during the Doc.com era.

Often the problem for them was they were too focused on the flavor of the month. They were putting everything they had into the new Dot.coms hoping to continue to ride the boom and make great profits. While they did see some great profits, those did not last forever. For those who kept putting everything they had into the doc.com market, they felt the agony of defeat in a major way when the market fell, many losing everything they had.

While there is nothing wrong with trying to jump in on an up and coming thing and make a great profit, it comes down to the old 'all your eggs in one basket' cliché. You don't want to have everything hedging on one investment. Instead have a diverse portfolio so if there is a drop in one area, you have other investments hedged against it.

In this case, even when there is a drop in the stock market and mutual funds, real estate usually will hold pretty strong through the down times, keeping you from feeling that all of your investments have been swept away.

When you're ready to take a step towards diversity, make sure to do it right. Going to a website like ReitBuyer.com will help you do just that. They will not only give you the research and information you need to buy wisely, but they are also real estate brokers for these investments and can help you seal the deal.