My contention is, if you time it right, it’s a no brainer. Sure you can find REIT’s that bought at the top and lost a great deal, but you should have known better. The truth is that REIT’s that funded after the crash and worked out before the crash, all did well and this fact seems to drive you crazy.

I realize this site was born out of the few REIT’s that failed AFTER the crash (due to greedy people who bought at the high and sold low or lost their arse), but you seem to have a hard time dealing with the FACT that the REIT’s that funded post & pre-crash did well.

Of course… Shhhhh…. that wouldn’t be good for business, or your carrier effort with this Reit Wrecks sham if everyone here knew the truth.

I’m sure, based on the quantity of posts here, that this sham on an effort looks to be like time and money wasted, but if you were able to rope some of these folks away from REIT’s and into your program, it was time well spent.

Verily… I’ll just count my profits and wish you all well.

Nevertheless, let’s embellish a bit and pretend this comparison is useful (it’s not). And let’s use Mid America Apartment REIT (NYSE: MAA) as our comparison. This REIT is publicly traded, fully liquid, widely covered by institutional analysts who can issue both buy AND sell recommendations, the share valuation is fully transparent, its 4.55% dividend yield is not just dependable but also FULLY covered with FFO, AND you can buy OR sell shares at ANY time from any discount broker for a grand total commission of $14.95 or less.

Here are the numbers: Six years ago today, on August 17, 2007, Mid America closed at $47.43/share. Yesterday, MAA closed at $61.04/share, which is a 29% gain — assuming you took your dividends in cash. If you reinvested your dividends, your gain would have exceeded 30%. Steve, I’m not sure, but I think this 30% is pretty close to your 30%. Of course, 30% over six years is quite a bit different than 30o% over two years, but you didn’t like that comparison, so here we are.

Steve, I’m glad you did well with your non-traded REIT shares, I really am, but comparing apples to oranges — especially when it comes to non-traded REITs — is a big, big mistake!

Carry on.

Truth is, if you use 2007 or 2008 as a starting point, there’s very little gain. Nothing even close to my 2yr 30% gain. And the best part about it was the steady share price and dependable monthly dividend.

Again, timing is very important in any investment. I feel that real estate is a lot easier than the stock and bond markets. I’ll leave that to the smart guys.

You state that you got a “modest” 30% return from a high-cost non-traded REIT (i.e Cole), vs. the “300% run” seen over the same period with traded REITs. Let’s be clear: you are talking a “modest” 30% with Cole vs. a “300% run” with traded REITs. If true, then it is still my contention that no investor would choose to pay more to earn lower returns with higher risk (i.e. 30% w/Cole) as opposed to paying less for higher returns with lower risk (i.e. 300% w/traded REITs), unless they are completely uninformed and don’t know any better.

Most sponsors and brokers of non-traded REITS depend upon this kind of confusion and lack of rigor to keep raising money, earning their 15% loads, and to help produce unmitigated disasters like Behringer Harvard REIT I, KBS REIT I, Cornerstone, and TNP Strategic Retail Trust. In fact, on a collective basis, FINRA Notice 11-44 caused Non-Traded REIT sponsors to publicly announce losses of more than $8 billion. Even J.P. Morgan’s infamous “London Whale”, whose bosses now face criminal charges in the U.S., would be impressed. Investors can do whatever they want, but if they were made fully aware of the risk/reward profile of non-traded REITs — never mind the real estate cycle you reference in your comment — then it is my belief that they would make different, more rational choices.

CNL Hospitality Properties Inc. , Apple REIT Five, Healthcare Trust of America a few from ARC, WP Carey CPA 14 & 15, Just sold out of COLE III for a modest 30% total return in 2 years and I have investments currently in Strategic Storage, Griffin-American Healthcare II and ARC Shopping Center REIT … My current invested assets in REIT’s represent 100% gains from the previous REIT’s. I wish I could say the same for the bulk of my investment capital which is in the stock market.

It’s all about timing. I stopped buying REIT’s back in 04 because the market was too high (My advisor also agreed to stay out of the bubble). Right now I believe commercial RE is possibly overbought so I’m going to play these last few and find somewhere else to invest once they pay out. These last few REIT’s have been open since 09 to present and are scheduled to close in a month or 2… That’s when you buy a REIT, when you have a good idea of the portfolio. I rarely buy when they open.

The only pooled real estate investments that I will not touch are limited partnerships and REIT’s that are not registered with the SEC – which I believe the misinformed proprietor of this website is in the business of selling. If you wondered why he would go through so much time and energy to bash REIT’s, there’s his impetus.

The next time the RE market crashes, He’ll be right again (for a very brief time), but the truth is, the traded and non-traded REIT’s have killed it over the last few years. As a matter of fact, the traded REIT’s had a 300% run… Not bad for an income vehicle.

I don’t believe you because nobody makes money on these things but management.

>Why not mention all the successful non-traded REITs that have made investors a lot of money with great returns

Why not?