9/10/2015 REITs (1) If you want to invest in real estates, you may consider investing through REIT. A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is a trust company that owns and operates income-producing real estates. It can be either a publicly traded in major exchanges or non-listed REIT. REITs are strong income vehicles as they must pay out at least 90 percent of their taxable income in the form of dividend. Therefore, if you buy a share of a REIT, you are essentially buying physical assets with a long expected life span and potential for income through rent and property appreciation. The two major types of REITs are Equity REITs and Mortgage REITs. Equity REITs are about 90% of the REITs, they invest in and own properties, and their revenue comes from rents. Equity REITs usually specializes in owning certain categories of property, for example, commercial, shopping mall, industrial or residential sectors. As for Mortgage REITs , their core business is dealing with investment and ownership of property mortgages. Their revenue comes from Interest earned on mortgage loan. They do not own any real estate. To be continue…