Common Sense Investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts

Koos A. de Beer is an ESL instructor in Vancouver, B.C.

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are an investment tool that take
advantage of the commercial real-estate market yet “expose investors
to lower risk and provide higher stability than many stocks or equity
mutual funds.” In lay terms, you invest in a company (a trust) that
owns and rents various types of real-estate space. Not only can the
stock increase in value, but it pays dividends and carries tax
advantages. To top it off, Canadian REITs are RRSP-eligible.

In addition to a general introduction to REITs, this book provides a
chapter on the significance of demographics and REITs, a sample REIT
portfolio, and information on the tax implications of owning REITs. The
most important chapter is the one on demographics. In this chapter, the
author explains in detail how demographics can be used as a basis for
choosing which type of REIT(s) to invest in; he also provides an
analysis of how changing demographics can affect your investments. While
his book suffers from an excessive use of exclamation marks, it is a
useful source of information for those considering REITs for their
portfolios.