Saturday, February 28, 2009

Add REITs to Your Portfolio

Making Real Estate Investing A Lifestyle

Are you a part time real estate investor? Do you have a few REITs in your portfolio that you look at from time to time to see how they are doing? If so, you are making one the mistakes that can keep you from being one of those investing success stories.

Many people look at investing as a hobby. It's just something to do with their extra money and they hope if they ignore it eventually it will grow into something. This is not the way to take care of your investments. Instead you need to take a more active role in them.

Investing is not a hobby. There is money on the line, serious money. It's your money, and you should treat it as such. That means once you start purchasing REITs you need to keep a closer eye on what they are doing as well as what the other markets around them are doing. This can help you key in on good time to buy, sell or make changes to your portfolio.

So what is the best way to do this? Well, you need to keep your investments in your own hands. The best method to this end is to go online with them. If your portfolio has REITs in it, it is even wiser to go with an online broker that knows and appreciates REITs like REITbuyer.com.

REITBuyer.com is a full service REIT brokerage firm, with REITs as their specialty, so you will be in a world where everything is focused on your market. That's good news for you because the more focused you can be on your preferred market, the more you can see what may be coming and know when to buy.

Once you sign up for REITBuyer.com, you need to learn how to use it to it's full potential to make sure you are getting everything you need to do better in investing. Start by making sure you know as much as you think you do about REITs. The education and advise area of the site will make sure you have all the knowledge you need to make smart decisions as you invest in new REITs or decide what to do with the ones you already have.

Next you need to keep up with what is happening right now. Remember, fortunes are made and lost in minutes on the market. While this is not as much the case with REITs, not knowing when to buy a REIT that is priced low can mean you are making less of a profit down the road. So, keep your eye on the REIT news section. This will give you an idea of what is happening in the market that could impact the REITs you have or are considering buying.

You should also look at the blogs and other statistics, as each of these things will give you a little more insight into what is happening.

Finally, when you are ready to buy or sell, you can take command of your portfolio and complete all of those transactions with online trading on the same website.

REITs - Real Estate Investing Made Easy

Eco Friendly Real Estate Investing

There are a lot of people who well understand the importance of taking a note of the carbon footprint they are leaving on the planet these days. Some of these same people would love to be members of the investment market, but worry about the impact they may be having on the planet, especially if they are thinking of investing in real estate.

Believe it or not you can make money investing in real estate and still be green. You just have to know how to do it and where to look.

These days many real estate investors are putting their money into real estate investment trusts (REITs). A REIT is essentially a fund that allows a company to either build or manage a real estate entity. Essentially you are purchasing a share of that entity whether it is a home, apartment complex, shopping mall or industrial warehousing complex.

The way you make money on a REIT is through profits from the property. For example, if it is a commercial real estate property, when the tenants pay their leases, the profit from that (or at least most of it) is returned to the investors in the form of dividends, just like you would get on other stocks and bonds.

While this all may be well and good as an investment strategy, you may wonder how you can use this investing tool as a way to be eco friendly. Well, that's simple. There are a lot of real estate management groups that specialize in eco friendly and green construction.

The fact is that new construction will always be necessary. With the rate the population is growing, there will always be a need for new homes and businesses to support them. But the key is in making sure that new ventures are being as friendly to the environment as possible.

When you are researching the REITs to buy into, look for properties that have worked to be more sustainable such as those that have a number of energy saving measures and others that conserve water. You may also want to look for those that have been created with environmentally friendly materials and methods of construction.

It's not that hard to find these types of companies. You can go to a company like REITBuyer.com and look up REITs that are specialized in this way. On REITBuyer.com you can even continue through the process and purchase the REITs you are interested in.

These days companies are bragging about their construction methods and maintenance plans to be more environmentally friendly. A lot of people will be happy to pay good money to live in such eco friendly places. That is money that will become a part of your profit if you are investing in REITs that support eco friendly construction.

The other thing to think about when it comes to profitability from green buildings is that not only are these buildings more attractive because of that designation, but they are also improving your bottom line in another way. The more sustainable the building is (i.e. less power use and water use) the lower the monthly costs to manage and more profit that can come back to you.

While on the front side green building can cost 2-3 percent more to build than traditional structures the impact on the environment and your bottom line will be worth it in the years to come.