Think about this for a minute. Unless it is going to sink into the ocean or completely disappear into a black hole, the property behind a real estate investment will always be around. Sure, it can lose money and have a tough time, but it will be around and still have value.
Another thing to keep in mind is right now, as many other investors are doing what you are doing and worrying, those who move forward and make a buy will be the ones who have the most to gain as the market starts to rise again.
It's like Albert Einstein said, "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity". While he may have been talking about science, it also works for the world of economics and investments. Sure we are in the midst of a difficult economic time when it seems every stock, bond and mutual fund has dropped through the floor and that any investment is doomed to fail. But, what if you look at the opportunity side of that. If you look around, the real estate market has bottomed out for the most part. That means the current opportunity is in investing in more of it and seeing a return on that investment.
Now that I have you thinking of opportunity, you may be thinking there is no way you will be able to afford purchasing properties right now. No one said you had to buy properties outright. Instead, why not purchase shares of property? This can be accomplished through real estate investment trusts or REITs. Being a part of a REIT allows you to purchase shares of a real estate development or real estate management company and still be in on the market without having to buy a whole property yourself.
In a REIT when the management group profits (through leases, rent or mortgage interest) at least 90% of that profit must be passed on to the investors. This will come in the form of a dividend. In many cases you will see a 6-10% return on your investment every year, as that is the average. In some years you may even see your real estate out perform the stock market.
Investing in REITs is easy. They are publicly traded and you can go to a website like REITBuyer.com to research the REITs you are interested in, look at their past, possible futures and even make the purchase all in the same place, as they are an investing real estate broker.
We're at a point in the economic tide right now where it's either time to make a move or stay out of the game. Only those who play can win.
This article was written by Earl E. Bird, spokesperson 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. Learn more at http://www.reitbuyer.com
Years ago, I found myself the COO of a company in the quick service restaurant industry. The board of directors charged me with the responsibility to make that company grow—quickly but within reason. We knew that the quickest and best way to do that was by making competitive, but sensible acquisitions; so I researched, negotiated and bought as many other similarly franchised outlets as I could; until the board said "stop....now work on assimilating them."
Approaching these acquisitions I learned a few things about buying other companies. The first key success variable was how to value a prospective acquisition. This involved everything from observations, discussions with others, obtaining objective advice and research, to the direct, face-to-face negotiation with the seller. A major component of the analyses included conducting detailed comparisons between the subject company and others, regionally or nationally. This meant conducting endless, time-consuming comparisons, analyses and research of competition, other options, financial projections and so on.
I was thinking about this time-consuming, mind-numbing, floundering about in the stock data quagmire the other day, in relation to the task of managing one's own financial portfolio. If you're going to buy stock in one company versus another, isn't this almost the same as me making those acquisitions in the past...as if you were buying the company? How do you make those decisions? Do you rely on the advice of others, or do you figure out what to do by yourself? Or do you just wallow about in this sea of data, not really knowing what to do?
If you rely strictly on the advice of others, isn't that the same as me not visiting those restaurant outlets, or having them 'mystery shopped', or visiting there anonymously? How do you really know for sure if you're getting accurate, truly objective advice? If you are being given specific advice, aren't others being given the same? If this is so, won't that help force the stock's price up by way of demand? Does that cause you to lose your edge?
But if you're doing your own research and you have some 'secret weapons' or tools to help you, won't that allow you to find the best opportunities that others don't have or yet even know about?
One such investor, Ian Campbell liked to manage his own stock portfolio. But he found it painfully time-consuming to do the analyses, pouring over piles of charts, other web sites, trying to make sense of all the inputs for so many different companies. Additionally, often the information he heeded and wanted most, simply was not there. He reasoned that there must be thousands of investment advisers and other investors who like him desired a solution. Campbell has developed a website (stock researchdd.com) focused on Small Cap Canadian Mining and Oil & Gas stocks. Among many other things you can do at this site is the detailed comparison of the 250+ companies embedded there. For instance, users can compare companies in more than 40 different ways: everything from 'Trailing 90 Day Volatility' on a daily basis; to 'Interest Bearing Debt/TTM After-tax Cash Flow'; on a trailing 12 month's basis. Each comparison table is automatically generated when selected by a subscriber. Companies are ranked in the comparison table in either ascending or descending order depending on the characteristic the subscriber selected.
You can generate company comparisons for any segregation level you wish, simply by using the main navigation bar and the drop-down menu there. For example, selecting Company Research -> Mining -> Gold -> Producer -> Mexico from the drop-down menus will result in all companies who produce gold as their main output, and who operate principally in Mexico, being compared by whichever characteristics the member-subscriber then selects. The significance of each comparator is stated, along with how it has been calculated originally.
This is amazing stuff. I sure wish I had a web site like this when I was figuring out which companies to buy back in the day. If you want to feel comfortable and secure that you have the very best information available to make your own buy or sell decisions, this should probably be a part of your own stock research tool kit.
Both Robert Shumake & Roy Macnaughton are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Robert Shumake has sinced written about articles on various topics from Best Mutual Funds, Property Investment and Best Mutual Funds. Robert Shumake's mission is to inform the public about mortgage fraud and real estate scams and to provide tips on how to avoid being a victim. ?Sometimes people will commit identity theft to obtain a housing loan, sell someone else's house or take over. Robert Shumake's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.
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