Investing in REITs for portfolio income

[Julissa Perez]

Hey everyone, I'm still very new to BiggerPockets and the world of real estate investing, however, so far I've had a great experience reading the discussion forums and learning from a lot of you. I'm currently coming off of a deployment and getting ready to transition back into civilian life and I'm trying to make some wise decisions with my money. I already plan to use my VA home loan once I get settled and find a civilian job, but the idea of investing in real estate investment trusts has come up in my research and studying. I wanted to know if anyone has experience investing in these stocks, or if anyone has any advice to point me in the right direction.

Thank you,

Julissa

[Andy Mirza]

@Julissa Perez REITs are a great way to get exposure to the real estate market and have liquidity at the same time. The downside is that you're giving up a lot of the profit, which goes to fees to run the REIT and profit for those running it.

Another way to be passive and get higher returns is to invest in real estate funds and syndications. The trade off there is that your investment is usually illiquid. Some commercial private offering will tie up your principal for 5 or more years.

Whichever direction you decide to go, make sure you do your due diligence on the operator that will be handling your investment. At the end of the day, you want to make sure whoever you place your money with is trustworthy and will do their best to earn returns for their investors.