Thanks to being a part of a global economy, a lot of the walls that were once in place on investing in foreign markets have now disappeared. That means if you have investment dollars to spend, you can really spend them anywhere in the world.
Now you may have known that you could put your money into any of the stock markets around the world before, but have you considered the other markets you can get into. Real estate investment trusts or REITs are also becoming available in more and more countries around the world.
Looking into this type of investing is taking a page from real estate pro Sam Zell who said, "I've always been called a professional opportunist, and in the future I'm open to anything. We've spent a lot of time offshore, looking at opportunities in real estate outside the United States"
Some of those opportunities may be REITs. REITs are investments where you can purchase shares of a property development or property management group. Instead of traditional real estate investments where you will have to fork out a lot of money for one piece of property, in this case you can purchase smaller shares of a property and still have some level of ownership without all of the responsibilities.
In the case of REITs someone else runs and manages things while you get a portion of the profits.
One of the newer markets to be coming in to REITs is the UK. While most people think the US and UK are pretty similar, they are just catching up with the REIT movement and starting to offer their own REIT options.
In the case of US REITs that portion of the profits has to be at least 90 percent of the profit that comes in from the properties. But as you consider looking beyond US shores for investment options you have to understand that there are different rules in different countries and the return may not be the same. You just need to do your research to know.
It's always smart to do a fair amount of research before investing your money. Begin by going to REITBuyer.com. This is a full service website that can help you through the process.
Start by taking advantage of their education and research areas. You need to know just what you are getting into before you purchase shares in a REIT. The more you research, the more you know.
Take a look at past performance of REITs that have been up and running for a while. In the case of the UK there are not too many to reference, but they will give you something to look at. There also will likely be articles and reports that you can look at concerning funds that are about to come into creation and get a feel for them.
About the Author:
Robert Shumake's mission is to inform the public about
mortgage fraud and real estate scams and to provide tips on how to avoid being a victim. “Sometimes people will commit identity theft to obtain a housing loan, sell someone else's house or take over someone else's property,” says Shumake. “It is my goal to inform the public on how to protect themselves from being victims of this crime.”
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161
Date Published :
Feb 28 2009