Real Estate Investors ARE Responsible Property Owners...

Are landlords responsible citizens?

Some would say that they are not responsible. Some government officials have blamed housing investors for contributing to the recent property booms and the over inflated values in some areas.

While there are many reasons why property values rise and in the end it comes down to supply and demand, it can be argued that real estate investors act as a release valve to moderate the excesses of volatile property markets.

Generally speaking investors want to make their profit when they "buy" - not when they "sell", and because they need to pay attention to the bottom line, their purchases need to be profitable. It is rare for genuine real estate investors to get carried away with price when purchasing a new property.

Of all purchasers they almost certainly will have worked through the figures very carefully... obviously, more carefully than Congress!

By helping to maintain the national stock of rental property the investor will keep many would be home buyers out of the market simply because they are satisfied and well accommodated in a rental home... sounds like responsible landlords, to me.

In contrast, government itself can add to the cost of building a new home with a large array of infrastructure and compliance costs that have increased hugely over the last few years and have impacted on the final price of a new house.

Real estate investors are also criticized for not putting their investment dollars into the nation's stock markets and helping business to grow. The answer to that can be seen in the volatility experienced in the stock markets over the last few months. In contrast housing investment is a safer investment. Returns still tend to be good even in a depressed market if you have good tenants.

The rents bring in income and the fact that values drop has no barring on anything unless you are compelled to sell and of course you do not willingly sell in a depressed market.

Some would even argue that you never sell investment property. After all, why would you sell something that is making a profit. If you want to buy something else owner financing can be organized readily enough under most circumstances.

The fact that property investors own a huge portion of a nation's stock of rental homes, should make them valued citizens of in this country.

After all, who is going to accommodate the homeless if investors dropped out of the market. Government would doubtless pick up the slack, and, of course, the cost would be huge and there would be no economic advantage gained.

If there is a lack of investment in real business then that is a problem for business to sort out. Safer stock market offerings would do well and shakier enterprises may founder but in the end investors will look after their own interests.

Real estate investment has for years proven to be safe and lucrative for the long term investor.