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Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (19588)	6/8/2002 11:53:28 PM
From: smolejv@gmx.net	Respond to of 74559

A nice spiritual support for this kind of situations: amazon.com To Have or to Be? -- Erich Fromm Allows us to rationalize our ass out of the cant-have position. Quite a good PE at that:15$ for the book/to be vs 150k(?) for the watch/to have. If original German soul engineering is desired, go for original - "haben oder sein" (smacks of Heidegger;) Further Erich Fromm suggestions: Art of Loving (Perennial Classics) Escape from Freedom dj

To: TobagoJack who wrote (19588)	6/9/2002 7:12:12 PM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74559

Hi Jay, I need some opinions from the thread. Lately, I've been researching REITs as a possible long term investment. I'm not ready to take the plunge yet, as I'm not yet comfortable with the industry. That is to say, I've got much more research to do yet, and I still don't have a good "feel" for real estate values. REITs are primarily divided into three types of asset classes: residential (apartment buildings, and the like), office buildings, and commercial enterprise (for example, shopping centers with anchor stores like a major grocer or a major discounter like Wal-Mart). Each of these asset classes has it own risks and rewards. Not all asset classes go up (or down) at the same time, but generally speaking, when economic times are good, most REITs rise with the tide, and when economic times are bad, most REITS go down in value. This year, although the economy is down, many REITs have appreciated and held their value far better than the S&P 500 or other indices. Notable exceptions would include REITs that have/had exposure to commercial tenants that went bankrupt, such as K-Mart. REITs (usually) provide an excellent source of income, as they (usually) have much higher than average dividend yields. Capital appreciation (in good economic times) is an added bonus. Sounds good so far? Well, there are some risks. Foremost in my mind would be the question of whether or not a real estate bubble currently exists in the USA. If true, does the bubble exist only in residential real estate (private homes) or does the bubble extent to other areas of real estate, such as commercial buildings, malls, offices, and residential apartments? Just to offer up one example of risk, I recently discovered a statistic that shows many residential renters have discontinued leasing apartments in favor of becoming a homeowner. If that recent trend continues, that could spell trouble for apartment owners who may have to lower rents (significantly) in order to keep their rentals occupied. If a real estate bubble exists and bursts, that could be trouble for REITs, as the value of their underlying assets would decrease, and likely so would their market capitalization. So, do any of you have any wisdom or insights you can share on REITs? I'm still in research mode, and not looking to plunk down any capital any time soon. Just looking for some opinions and "gut" feelings... Thanks. KJC