Friday, May 22, 2009

Look For REITs with the Green Seal of Approval

If you are looking to be a little friendlier to the globe in your personal life, you may also think about going this route in your investing and business life. Sure, turning off the light switches at home when you can and trying to recycle as much of the materials you use in your home area great ways to make a difference, but what about the money you give to other companies? Is it speaking for you?

When you are investing in REITs and real estate mutual funds, how often do you really think about where the money is going in the long run? You think about your investments in a manner of what will make you profit, right? But why not think about if the companies you are giving your money to are working to be as green as you are?

While you may think this is a great idea, how do you know if a REIT or real estate mutual fund is really green? anyone can say they are environmentally friendly, but can they prove it? One thing you may want to look for is those REITs and real estate mutual funds whose buildings have a good green rating.

What you need to be looking for is a LEED or Energy Star rating. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Both of these rating systems take a look at a lot of aspects of construction projects. From being energy efficient to conserving water and building with sustainable resources, there are a number of ways real estate entities can be ranked in these rating systems. Obviously the higher the rating, the better that REIT or real estate mutual fund holding is at being environmentally friendly.

Finding out if a company is green and has these ratings should not be too hard. Many companies are very proud of these ratings and will brag of them on their literature. The reason for this is that they understand that there are people just like you who are out there looking for environmentally conscious investments where they feel comfortable putting their money.

At the same time, you should do your own research to make sure the facts back up the claims.

One way to do this is to log onto a website like REITBuyer.com. REITBuyer.com is the first and only online brokerage that specializes in REITs and real estate mutual funds. When you log onto REITBuyer.com you will be able to do all of the research you need on their site, without wading through mountains of other investments. Since they only specialize in the real estate sector, all the information they have relates to your sector.

Once you have found out that the company you are interested in does in fact have the ratings you had hoped, it's time to buy. With REITBuyer.com you can also do this in the same place since they are a full service brokerage, and you can monitor your investment here as well.

This article was written by Earl E. Bird, III, spokes person for the REIT Buyer.com, a full service online information resource dedicated to assisting investors who are interested in learning more about Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Real Estate Mutual Funds and how to invest in them. Visit http://bankofonlinebanking.blogspot.com to learn more.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

WHY Investing in REITs are Better Than Worrying About the Price of Your Stock

How to Get Involved in the Business of Real Estate

Many people want to learn how to make the big bucks when it comes to investments. Generally this means knowing how to get into commercial real estate and how to do it right. This is how people like Donald Trump made their fortunes. But are you ready to be the next Donald Trump?

For most people the answer is no. Not because they don’t want to be the next Donald Trump, but because they don't have the cash on hand to get started like Donald does. That's ok. You can start small. One way to start small on commercial real estate is through REITs. A REIT is a real estate investment fund. This is a fund that that works much like a mutual fund but in the area of real estate. You can purchase shares of this fund and then that money is used to purchase, build or maintain properties.

As those properties make a profit, you will get a good percentage return on your investment. By US law, 90% of the profit from a REIT has to be returned to the shareholders in dividends, so if a REIT investment goes well, there could be major earnings.

As you wonder if this is the right way to go for you, why not take on this quote from Will Rogers, "Buy land, they aren't making anymore of it."

That is a very true assessment! There is only so much land to go around and with a growing population, more and more people are going to want a piece of it.

While you may think this only impacts residential properties, if you think a little harder you will see how it could also have an impact on commercial real estate.

While all those people in the growing population will indeed need places to live, they will also need places to shop, have their hair done, buy cars, and for any number of other services that they expect these days. That means commercial ventures that are going to serve this growing population are going to need commercial real estate to work from. If you are a part of a real estate REIT that owns that property you can have a tenant that is paying you profits for years and years to come.

Beginning your venture in to commercial REITs is easy. Start by going to REITBuyer.com. This is a website that focuses specifically on REITs instead of all the other types of investments out there.

Now take a little time to research the REITs that are available. You can look into the portfolio of a REIT to see what type of property is in its holdings. Some are residential and industrial as well as commercial, so if you want just commercial, make sure to weed out the rest.

Next, you should take a little time to see what that REIT has done in the past. See if it has been steady (give or take a few tough market seasons) and if the area where they are located is a good market for future revenue.

If so, it only takes a few steps to purchase the REIT through the site and enjoy your first step into the world of commercial real estate.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Receive Consistent Dividend Checks No Matter What the Stock Market is Doing When You Invest in REITs

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!