Private Commercial REITs Get Into the Game
MAKE WAY for private REITs.</br></br>Private real-estate investment trusts are increasingly becoming a popular way for individuals to invest in commercial real estate.</br></br>Like public REITs, they offer investors a way to reap fatter yields than they are likely to get in any other sector of the stock market these days. And like public REITs, they buy everything from office buildings to shopping centers to warehouses.</br></br>But private REITs have a few things that some investors might find more appealing than public REITs. They also have a few traits that some investors might find turnoffs. At the end of the day, deciding to invest in publicly traded REITs or private ones comes down to the style of investing and amount of liquidity you prefer.</br></br>Shares of public REITs trade on stock exchanges so investors can buy and sell shares as they please, which offers them liquidity as their shares can easily be converted into cash. Meanwhile, shares of private REITs, which are sold through financial advisers, aren't traded on a stock exchange. There is no public trading market for these companies' shares. Depending on the fund, investors can only cash out a few times a year, when the value of their stake is determined by REIT management. In other cases, they can only redeem shares.