All Forum Posts by: Kevin Humphreys

All of what I see here makes sense.  However, i would remind all of us of the obvious point that Bigger Pockets is a website devoted to direct investing in real estate.  So i would suspect a slight bias in favor of direct investing over REITs.

My question is pretty basic.  What are the main reasons why investing directly in real estate is a better idea than just investing in REITs.

My understanding is that the rate of return on REITs is generally higher than direct investing, REIT investing costs far less on the front end (i.e., requires less up front capital) , they are a more liquid form of investing, and of course there are none of the associated tenant headaches, from collecting rents to making repairs.

i apologize if i picked the wrong forum for this question.  i didn't see anything more specific.

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

@Louis Simmons Jr.--i appreciate your response but i'm not quite sure I follow it.  Could you clarify a little?  Thanks.

I have read some excellent posts from @Brandon Turner  (and others) on building one's real estate portfolio incrementally and how the math works.  It all makes great sense.

My question is this--how did billionaires who made their fortunes in real estate (like Sam Zell, just to pick a name) make so much money solely through real estate?  Brandon's posts describe the piece by piece process of building a real estate portfolio.  Seems like it would take a long time to become a billionaire this way.

I apologize if there is a better BP forum for posting this question.

Thanks!

Kevin

Thanks @Kurt Brumfield and @Ryan Reaux!  I'm looking forward to being part of the BP community.

My name is Kevin.  Right now I'm more of a prospective investor, just getting my feet wet.  Since I'm starting from scratch I feel like the best use of my time is reading and asking questions.  Thanks!