REITs

How Do You Pronounce REIT?

Some people are wary of REITs because they have a funny name and sound sophisticated. REITs were “created by Congress to make real estate incomprehensible,” according to financial author Roger Lowenstein. He was simply slightly exaggerating his point. Then there’s the issue of pronunciation. REIT is a terrible little term that rhymes with street. You’ll

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How Does Mortgage REIT Work?

Mortgage REITs (mREITS) purchase or originate mortgages and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and earn income from the interest on these investments to fund income-producing real estate. Are mortgage REITs good? When the spread between short-term and long-term interest rates (where they borrow) is substantial, mREITs can produce a significant net interest margin (where they lend). Unfortunately,

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Can REITs Lose Money?

REITs (real estate investment trusts) are common financial entities that pay dividends to their shareholders. One disadvantage of non-traded REITs (those that aren’t traded on a stock exchange) is that investors may find it difficult to investigate them. Investors find it difficult to sell non-traded REITs because they have low liquidity. When interest rates rise,

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Can You Short REITs?

Investing in ETFs that are short on real estate is one alternative that is akin to shorting a stock. These ETFs are primarily created to provide inverse returns on a pool of real estate investments, usually REITs. An investor can get similar results by shorting real estate ETFs as opposed to shorting individual securities. You

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