Has anyone on the board have experience investing in reits or real estate syndicates? Would you recommend it? My understanding is that instead of investing directly in a piece of real estate that you own stock in the company doing the investing. Is this correct? If yes, is it possible to get a (commercial?) loan to invest in these companies with the loan secured by the stock instead of the actual property?
try the search function on this site. It is by your screen name at the top of this page. Here is a link:
http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php?action=search
REIT’s have been discussed on numerous occasions.
While a few REITs are still privately owned, those that have gone public are sold in the secondary market. l own a few in my stock brokerage account. Your stock broker can give you a loan to purchase stock. Interest rates are generally prime+ and the LTV is capped at 50%.
Consult your stock broker for details.
Dave is right, you don’t get a commercial RE loan to purchase stock in a company. Your broker can give you a margin loan for this purpose. REIT stocks can be great investments in the right economic environment and there are numerous options; office reits, apartment reits, self-storage reits etc. They also pay great dividends.
Thanks all for the great feedback!
What is the view of investing in REITS under the current housing decline? I would expect shares & dividends to fall until the housing market finds its bottom? Do you REIT investors agree?
Correlating all REIT securities with the movement of the housing market is too simplistic. REITs come in all varieties; office space, storage units, strip centers etc. These property types perform differently so you have to understand their nature. I have owned REIT securities for many years and will continue to do so.
Yes, the residential housing market is declining. Just the opposite with commercial property. The best performing REITs today are invested in investment grade commercial property.