Weighing risks, rewards of real-estate trusts
Despite housing woes, investment funds that focus on property can pay off.
Here’s a thought for the bold: Take the subprime mortgage meltdown as a buying opportunity and plunge into REITs.
But only if you have a cast-iron stomach.
A REIT, or real estate investment trust, is stock in a company that’s something like a mutual fund but specializes in buying office buildings, malls, apartment houses, mortgage-backed bonds or other real estate holdings. There are about 180 REITs of various types, plus a string of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that invest in them.