Sunday, May 17, 2009

Real Estate Investment Trusts – Know When To Sell

When it comes to any type of investing there are generally three things you can do – buy, sell and hold.

While this seems like a common sense trio of options, you may be surprised at the number of people who have a tough time deciding which one to do and when to do it. The most common problem comes when deciding whether or not to sell.

Many people who have made an investment want to stick by it to the end. They hope that the end will be a profit for them, but often if things seem to be going the other way they also keep holding on hoping things will turn around and that the investment, and their investing skills will pay off in the end.

Perhaps it is a fear of failure or at least a few of admitting failure that leads to this problem. Maybe somewhere in their head they really do think that it will turn around and pick back up if they just wait out this tough time. Or maybe they are just not able to see the writing on the wall and ignore what is happening to their hard earned money that has been invested. No matter the reason, there are many people who just don’t know when to stop the bleeding from an investment.

Instead of keeping items in your investment portfolio when they are failing or not working for you, you need to regularly look at your investments and ask yourself some questions.

Is it making money?

The first and most important question is whether or not your investment is making you any money. After all, this is what investing is all about, right? If you had a stack of money at home and someone kept coming in an taking a handful of it here and there, would you lat that continue? That is what is happening to your investments if they are losing, and you need to do something to stop it. If your investments are losing you money each year, it's time to cut your losses, make a sale, and move on.

If you do this you can take the money from the sale and invest is somewhere else. For real estate investors, the wise way to do this is to sign on with a website like REITBuyer.com. REITBuyer.com is the first and only online brokerage that specializes in REITs and real estate mutual funds. This means you will find plenty of news and research to discover where would be better to put your money and also be able to make the purchases in the same place.

Is this moving me towards my goal?

You should have an investment goal. This could be to put aside a particular amount of money towards your retirement or to save enough to send your kids to college. No matter what your investing goal, you should regularly look at your investments and ask yourself if those investments are moving you towards that goal. If they are not you really need to take a serious look at whether or not it is time for this investment to go and give you a chance to purchase something that will move you in the right direction.

This article was written by Earl E. Bird, III, spokes person for the REITbuyer.com, a website designed to educate investors on REIT buying and investing in Real Estate Mutual Funds. Whether you are a savvy investment guru or a new investor looking for guidance, Reitbuyer.com has everything you need to be successful. Read more about REITs Investing at http://apartmentsnear.blogspot.com

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Real Estate is Always a Sound Investment

Some REIT Markets are Stronger than Others

If you are worried about the state of the economy and what you should do with your investing dollars, you may be able to take a little bit of solace in knowing that things are not always as bad as they seem. Perhaps you just need to look at them differently.

Let's look at real estate investing. Many people like the idea of REITs or real estate investment trusts because they know real estate is always a sound investment. After all, the worst-case scenario is a piece of property loses a little value, but it will never become worthless and always has some trading clout.

But with the housing market struggling in the US over the past year, you may be wondering just how smart it is to fund real estate investment ventures.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that real estate investment is not only available in the US. There are REIT funds that are putting money into real estate all over the world. In many developing countries real estate developers have so many projects they don't know what to do as countries develop and need new infrastructure. Getting in on one of these investing options could reap large rewards.

There are a wide variety of options available in these countries where you can invest your money. You could look into commercial real estate funds that will help businesses grow in these budding countries. Another option is to have put your money into residential real estate fund programs in the cities of these developing countries. When a country is developing and industrializing, people often move to the city to take part in the growth. This means those residential real estate investments stand to make a great profit.

But how do you know what markets are about to make that boom or are just starting to hit their stride so you know where to invest? This is going to take a little research on your part. If you are a pro in the real estate investing arena, you can do this yourself. If you're not, you may prefer to get a helping hand from some pros.

A website like REITBuyer.com is a great place to start. Not only are they real estate brokers that can help you purchase the REIT funds you want, but they are also a great place to get all the information you need to know which REITs are the best to buy.

Real Estate Investment Trusts as Investment Tool

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.