Customer Reviews

Getting Started in Real Estate Investment Trusts

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Richard Imperiale's "Getting Started in Real Estate Investment Trusts" is a primer on REITs. While the content covers the range of REITs and he makes a case for including REITs in an investment portfolio, it is slightly basic. The subject of non-US REITs and tax issues a US investor should consider when investing overseas is not addressed. Too bad, a chapter or two covering foreign REITs would have improved this book substantially.

With the stock market seeming always ready to freeze or fall, author Richard Imperiale believes that investors who want cash return and diversification should consider Real-Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). You may remember some nasty history in decades past associated with shadowy real-estate tax shelters, but the U.S. Congress cleaned that mess up and created this rather stable investing medium instead. REITs' magnetism comes from their required payout from income, their ease of entry and exit, and their overall return, which usually matches stock market results. This makes REITs a nice way to accumulate wealth and line your 401k retirement pillow. Of course, since REITs are publicly traded, they face the stock market's uncertainties. After the "getting started" chapters, the author gets into the nitty-gritty of REIT securities analysis. As a boon for the very serious investor, Imperiale analyzes numerous real-estate sectors. He asserts that a substantial REIT infusion of 5% to 20% should make most portfolios "juicier," but he does not emphasize REITs' market negatives or today's erratic real-estate market. So with an added dose of caveat emptor, we recommend this book to people looking for access (without heartburn) into the numerous opportunities in the multitrillion dollar real-estate market, including a quick getaway if needed.

This book is absolutely great to get down to the basics of what REITs are. It's a very easy read and there are lots of very relevant graphs. The topic is not really difficult and this book really gives you what you need.

In this book, the author teaches basic information about REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). They are real estate companies that are publicly traded on national exchanges. The author argues that they should be part of individuals' portfolios because they provide diversification among property sectors such as residential, office, or retail, and they also distribute the majority of earnings in the form of dividends. Just like bank stocks, they can be valuable to those looking for current income. I particularly liked how the author explains the financial analysis of REITs using different valuation methodologies. If you think that REITs are valued the same way as privately held real estate, then you should definitely read this book. Discrepancies between private value and public value can be exploited for profits.

- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market