Sunday, May 17, 2009

REIT and Real Estate Mutual Fund Investing – Keep Positive in a Negative Time

If you have been anywhere near a financial news outlet in the past year, you may feel like the whole world is failing. Every story about the stock markets and investments seems to be a doomsday report. All this negativity is horribly contagious. Many people who have seen these stories have started to follow those negative trends and become worried about their own investments. This has caused a number of rash and costly decisions.

Instead of regretting something you do, you need to learn how to keep a positive outlook in this negative market time so you can make sure you are making decisions that are wise for your financial situation.

For those investing in real estate investment trusts (REITs) and real estate mutual funds, the decline in the market in the past year may have you second guessing your investment decisions. Don't. Here's what you need to know about those decisions.

First, understand that there are plenty of historical indicators that show this too shall pass. This is not the first time the real estate market has had a bad year, and probably not the last. But the lesson to be learned is that it will ALWAYS come back. Think about it. There have been crashes in the past, yet right before this recent roller coaster real estate interests were at record prices. That should tell you that even when there are bad times they WILL be followed by good times.

In addition to this making you a little more confident about being a part of the investment market, you also may want to think about the fact that right now REITs and real estate mutual funds are at their lows because of the recent markets lows. That means there is only one way to go for them – up. If you are able to get in at the low end of things right now, you can then sit back and give the market some time to get on it's feet again. As it goes back up and those REIT and real estate mutual fund prices rise, so will your profits.

If you liked the first history lesson, you are really going to like this one. Historically, real estate prices double every 10-15 years. This is especially the case in metropolitan areas. And usually right before there is a large growth in real estate prices there is something that will tune you in to an increase to come, a drop in the market.

Many analysts say now is that drop, which means there are increases to come.

Now is the time to start getting into the real estate market. Before you purchase any REITs or real estate mutual funds, make sure you know what you are buying. Team up with a website like REITBuyer.com. REITBuyer.com is the first and only online brokerage firm that specializes in real estate investment trusts and real estate mutual funds. In addition to letting you buy and sell on the site, they also have research, reports and analysis of the market so you can see the trends coming and know how to act accordingly to see profits on your investments.

This article was written by Earl E. Bird, spokes person for the REITbuyer.com, a site dedicated to educating Real Estate Investors on how to invest in Real Estate Mutual Funds to diversify their investing portfolio. Read more about REITs Investing at http://associationnational.blogspot.com