Saturday, March 21, 2009

"Correspondent Lending" in Real Estate Investment Trusts 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. "Correspondent Lending" recommends REITs.

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.

"Correspondent Lending" about Stability with REITs

If you have been watching the regular investment world like the stock market and mutual funds, you may think you don't want to let your money get anywhere near those fund stealers. In recent months you have seen stocks plummet. Many companies have been completely wiped off the map and all those investment funds with them.

But at the same time, you would love to have an option to make a little more money with that extra cash that you have. What can you do? This may be a time to look into real estate investing.

Historically, real estate is a pretty safe investment field. Many people see the news articles as of late about the real estate market problems. Sure, there are fluctuations, but over the long term, real estate is a wise investment. When other markets tank and fall apart, real estate tends to be the constant that holds strong as some of your other investments may be failing.

Additionally, if there were to be a complete market downturn, while your real estate investment may lose some of it's value the important thing to remember is that with real estate you have a tangible asset that will always have worth. That is much more than you can say for your stock certificates.

While you may not want to go 100% into real estate, if you are building a well-diversified portfolio, you should try to have at least 10-20% of that portfolio real estate related. This will give your investments a strong backbone that helps you in case you need to hedge against a bad day on the market.

The best way to get into real estate investing is through REITs or real estate investment trusts. These are essentially real estate development or real estate management groups that want to purchase, build and then maintain property units. These could be residential, industrial or even commercial real estate ventures.

Instead of purchasing a piece of property outright, you will purchase a share in the group that is doing the purchasing and maintaining. In return, as they make profits, you will get a portion of those profits sent to you as a dividend. As a matter of fact, REITs must return at least 90% of their profits to their shareholders. That means if the REIT does well, you are going to get a great return. Even in a moderate year you will likely get a good return.

Additionally, REITs are generally constant and stable as once people rent homes, business buildings, etc, they tend to stay there, meaning the profit will keep coming in year after year.

Getting in on the REIT game is not too difficult. Begin by going to a website like REITBuyer.com. They have everything you need to add this type of investment to your portfolio. From the information you need to begin the process and research the REITs out there to being able to make the purchases for you, they can do it all as they are a real estate broker as well. Once you have made the purchase, you can even use their tools to monitor your investments and keep an eye on how that new portfolio is doing.