Sunday, March 8, 2009

How REITs can Quadruple the Interest that you can Currently Net at a Bank

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.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

REITS - Get A Good Return on Your Investements

Real Estate Investments to See Real Profits

Many investors say they want two things in their investments – a return on their money and some security that their money will not be here today and gone tomorrow. When it comes to trading on the stock market or purchasing mutual funds, those are usually two things that cannot be promised. When you purchase stocks, you never know if the company is going to have a bad quarter, losing you a chunk of your investment or if they are going to fail altogether, taking your money with them.

The only place you can really be sure that you will not lose everything in a bad session is in real estate.

Even if the bottom falls out of the real estate market, real estate that has been purchased is an asset. So, while there may be losses in a major downturn, you won't lose everything. Often in this case if you were to hold on for a little while and be patient it will all bounce back and you'll be seeing dividends come in again like nothing ever happened.

There are two ways to invest in real estate. The first is to make a real estate purchase. For the most part this means having a lot of money in hand to be able to buy a piece of property or a building outright. For most people this is not a possibility as this means having tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in hand to invest.

There is another option however. Instead, why not be a part of a real estate investment trust or REIT. A REIT is where you are a shareholder in property ownership. This means you will purchase shares that go into a collective pot that is used to purchase and maintain properties. These properties could be anything from commercial buildings that are being leased out to residential buildings that are rented out.

The way a REIT works is that as the real estate management group makes a profit, that profit will be given to you as a dividend. Laws dictate that at least 90 percent of the profits from a REIT have to be returned to the shareholders, so barring a major downturn in the economy you know you will get a return on your investment year after year.

That other 10 percent of the profit from the REIT will go back into the management of the properties or possible improvement or expansions that will give you even more return on your investment dollar in the future.

Unlike regular real estate purchases, there is another benefit to REITs. If you ever needed to pull some of your money out it is as easy as selling a few shares instead of having to sell a property and go through all those hassles.

Getting into the REIT market is also relatively simple. Just go to REITBuyer.com and you can research the REITs out there and even make your purchases in one stop, as they are an investment real estate broker as well.