Customer Reviews

REITs: Building Profits with Real Estate Investment Trusts

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Reasons not to read this book:
-it's out of date
-75% of the book is nothing more than a summary/overview of
existing reits. Basically book stuffin'
-one can obtain the above info from nareit.com and company
profiles from yahoo or other sites
-15% of it is the history of reits... nice to know but doesn't
help me pick the best reits
-10% is some basic accounting terminology and a vague sense
of what to look for in picking out a reit to invest in. I
already had this information from my web readings.

For someone with absouletly no knowledge of reits
or even investing I guess this would be a ok starting point.

just my two cents...

Make no mistake- Laws have changed and REIT offerings have expanded since the first publication of this book. However, the text offers the best, most accessible summary of the key principles involved in REIT investing for the little guy. I would pay very close attention to the general principles outlined in chapters 3, 4 and 16. Several chapters in the book look at a distinct property type (multi-family residential, commercial, triple net lease, among others) and deserve attention as well. Ignore all of the stock data and company profiles, as all of that information is useless now, given all the changes that have happened in this space over the last decade.

Don't let the admitted dated nature of the text keep you from gleaning its important 'secrets'. Too many gullible investors look at REITs for their fat, juicy yields, and inevitably get burned in the process. Like I said, pay very close attention to chapters 3, 4 and 16, and in a pinch, before investing, consult chapters 4 and 16 before you commit your funds.

I wish the guy would write an updated version of this little gem of a book. Read this book before you read a book like Block's Investing In REITs (latest publication is the 3rd Edition, circa 2006 or 2007) in order to put this particular investment into proper perspective.