While the book serves well as an introduction to the sector, it devotes a mere single chapter, the last, to what could go wrong. What a missed opportunity.

The author could have brought the caveats of REIT investing to life by using more real world examples, even some drawn from real world SEC statements.

The author spends an inordinate time selling the idea of investing in the sector. My guess is people who reach for this book are already interested or even invested in REITs, and are looking for help in navigating the potential minefields.

The book needs a second edition, to bring it more current.

Per KPA's 10k, President Clinton signed a new law Dec 99 that allows a REIT to own up to 100% of stock in a taxable subsidary. How does this impact paired share reits? What will be the long term impact of this legislative change on the REIT landscape?

A good effort, yet one that can be improved upon.

After watching the current accounting scandals, I was interested in finding a safe investment with a good return. I read about REITs in Smart Money and that is how I was referred to this book. It is well written and comprehensive introduction to REITs and I plan to reread it several times so I can gain the expertise necessary to start investing in these relatively new investment vehicles. For those who do not want to wait, Vanguard offers a REIT index that has a nice return and looks pretty solid as we ride out the Bush Jr's recession.

Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITs, that, in my opinion, are more of an asset class, like fixed income bonds, than a sector of the general stock market. Every investor should be familar with this asset class just as every investor should be familar with fixed the income class. One can choose not to invest in REITs, just as one can decide to be 100 per cent in equities, but the choice should be an informed one. "Investing in REITs" by Ralph Block is an informative and clear introduction to REITs suitable for new investors. Investors who have followed REITs for a couple of years will also benefit from the book.

Part 1 of this book give an overview of REITs. In particular Chapter 2 shows why REITs are different (not better) than than electric utilities, bonds, and preferred stocks.

Part 2 of this book discusses the history of REITs and then some of the myths regarding REITs. REITs have been around since 1962 when a law was passed that excluded REITs from corporation tax if they paid out 95% of their taxable income as dividends. Before 1962 small investors could invest in real estate in limited partnerships. The myths probably arose because investors confused REITs with these limited partnerships.

Part 3 discusses how professionals evaluate REITs. For most equities earnings are the important number to look at. But real estate can throw off alot of depreciation for tax purposes, but the real estate is not really depreciating (very much hopefully). The numbers used to evaluate REITs FFO, AFFO, NAV (and much more) are explained in this part. By the way the balance sheet and income statements of REITs are much easier to understand, in my opinion, than other corporations. That's because most of the assets are hard assets and the revenues are stable. You don't have to worry about foreign competition and technological obsolesence.

Part 4 looks to the future. The total market capitalization of REITs was about $1 billion in 1982, now it is about $133 billion. Of course this growth primarily came about by starting new REITs, and REITs issuing stock to purchase more real estate. This part looks at the economic forces that caused this growth and whether it can continue. It also looks at the risks of REITs

A clear, well written book about REITs which can benefit the new as well as experienced investor.

klee12