Friday, May 22, 2009

Going Green While Buying Real Estate Investment Trusts

As you are considering your next investment options, you may have a lot of things going through your mind as you decide what to buy.

First and foremost you know you want to put your money into real estate. You are confident about real estate and think that is the best place to allow your hard earned cash to grow.

You started your research into the real estate investing market by looking at stocks, bonds, mutual funds and the other investment options on Wall Street. If you are like a lot of people, now that the research is done, you are pretty focused on two categories - real estate investment trusts (REITs) and real estate mutual funds. REITs and real estate mutual funds are essentially portfolios that you can purchase into. By purchasing a share of a REIT, you are in fact purchasing shares of a number of different investments in the real estate arena.

But beyond just knowing you are purchasing into real estate interests, you may also want to know that you are purchasing ethically wise investments. For many people today, knowing what are environmentally friendly decisions to make is very important to them. So, how do you make sure your investments are environmentally sound?

Green Real Estate

In recent years there has been a major push in the real estate market to go green and become more environmentally friendly. There are a number of ways this can go.

Sustainable Resources

Some real estate companies are going green by trying to use as many sustainable resources as they can to construct and maintain their real estate ventures. When it comes to building real estate buildings there are a lot of materials that go into those buildings. Unfortunately, often in the past when resources were pulled from the environment they were not replenished, causing damage to the earth. But now many construction companies are focusing more on resources that are quickly and easily replaceable, such as bamboo.

By looking for REITs and real estate mutual funds that focus on using sustainable resources in their construction projects you can know you are going to be putting your money into investments that may not only be good for your bottom line, but also for the environment as a whole.

Power Saving

Another way many companies are choosing to go green is by looking for ways to save on power and energy usage. the usage and waste of energy is a major problem in the world today, especially in developed nations. It seems that many people just take all that power for granted. They don’t think about the fact that it is often based on fossil fuels that are not replenishble. By putting your money into REITs and real estate mutual funds that are power-wise you can do your part to support more responsible power usage.

When you are ready to make a purchase into green REITs, you need to go with a broker that knows this market. A company like REITBuyer.com is best. REITBuyer.com is the first and only online brokerage that specializes in REITs and real estate mutual funds.

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. Learn more at http://associationamerican.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Instead of Watching the Stock Market Drop, Invest in REITs

Making Money off Multi-Family Apartments

If you have ever thought of real estate as an investment you like a lot more than stock trading, you may wonder how you can fund your own way to make money off of real estate instead of having to go the traditional stock and mutual funds route. Real estate investment trusts may be the answer.

Consider if you were able to own an apartment, rent it out and then keep the profits that you make? That would be a nice investment? What if you owned a complete apartment complex? There's a chance to make a lot of money there!

But now you're thinking there is no way you would be able to afford the purchase of a single unit to rent out much less a whole multi-family apartment complex.

But there is a way that you may be able to still get a piece of this pie within your budget through REITs. REITs are real estate investment trusts. These are like the mutual funds of real estate where investors put money into a fund that is used to purchase properties and then manage and maintain them.

The way you will make a profit is through the money that comes in from those units. The rent that comes in from the units will be used to pay for operating expenses and then much of the profits will be given back to the investors and shareholders. US law states that at least 90% of the profits must be given back to the shareholders each year.

One place a lot of people see as a possibility to make money is through multi-family apartments. The logic here is if one rental unit would make a nice amount of money, wouldn't more rental units mean even more money? The answer is yes, they would!

Most people could not afford to even consider purchasing an apartment complex and being a landlord to make those profits because it's too costly. This is where REIT's come in. By being a shareholder in a REIT you will be able to be a part owner in those multi-apartment buildings you were thinking of and reap the rewards.

Getting involved in REIT buying is easy. When you are ready to learn more about this type of trading and investment, go to REITBuyer.com. Here you will be able to find all the education and information you need to make informed decisions about purchasing and investing in REITs.

With the research tools available on their website you will also be able to find out which REITs have the investments you want, multi-family apartments, so you can start seeing those fast returns.

Before you buy, you may want to do your homework. With REITBuyer.com you will be able to look up the REITs, their past, and get an idea of where they may be going in the future so you buy wisely.

Then when you're ready to buy you can make the purchase on the website and watch your investment grow.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

No Need to Worry About Stock Markets Crashing with 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!