REIT Schmeet

I just saw this article on MSNBC.com: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20973389/page/2/

It's about Real Estate Investment Trusts losing money. The article is fascinating, but I did lose interest after reading about 60% of it. Now, I have never felt that REITs are really like real estate ownership because they are, essentially, stocks tied into aspects of real estate. If you can trade your lousy real estate as easy as buying and selling stocks, then, well, you don't quite get the full spectrum of experiences as you would with your name or LLC on title.

However, I thought that I'd invite anyone who has lost money by owning REITs to post a comment on this blog. I've never been a REIT fan because 1) I felt that the return was very low by industry standards (compared to a TIC or something similar) and 2) no control over the actual real estate. This is coming from someone who leveraged much, took great risks, and lost a boat load of moola. But, I was always under the impression that they were a "safe" and mindless (not in a negative sense) way to invest in real estate. I guess I was wrong. Everyone even remotely related to this industry will eventually feel the burn, I suppose.

So, you REIT enthusiasts out there, are you holding on for, what history tells us, are better days or are you dumping your REIT and buying pork futures?