Choosing Real Estate as a career is always a smart choice. You may not want to take the hassle of selling and buying properties. Though you can enter this fastest growing profession which is real estate investment trust (REIT) and become a professional REIT investor. Here we will give you all the information that will help you to understand “is real estate investment a good career path“.
What Are Real Estate Investment Trusts(REITs)?
REITs or real estate investment trusts are organizations that own or fund revenue-producing real estate in all over the property sector. But real estate companies must have to fulfill all the requirements to be a part of REITs. Most of the REITs invest in the stock market and offer a lot of benefits to their investors.
REITs allow anyone to invest in real estate. It is modeled for Americans to get investment opportunities in real estate portfolios the same as mutual funds. The REIT stockholders can generate a good income from the share without buying, managing or financing in properties. According to the record more than 150 million American households have invested in REITs through their investment funds like 401(k), pensions and IRAs.
What does a REIT company do?
A REIT company purchases profitable real estate properties for their clients. They observe the market carefully and sell the acquired properties when it seems profitable.
It is quite like a mutual fund. They monitor the growth of all the properties everyday where their clients invest and give commissions to them.
Different types of REITs
Equity REITs : Equity REITs are such real estate companies who manage, acquire, build and sell revenue producing properties. They invest in office spaces, shopping malls and large apartments and offer them in lease or rent. Equity REITs are the majority in REIT units.
mREITs : Mortgage REITs (mREITS) makes investments on income producing real estate properties. MREITS purchase or originate mortgages and mortgage backed securities and generate earnings from the interests of those properties.
Public Non-listed REITs : Public non-listed REITs or PNLRS are enrolled with SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). They do not make major investments on security exchanges.
Private REITs : Private REITs are not enrolled with the SEC. These real estate funds or companies do not take part in trading in national stock exchanges.
Is Real Estate Investment Trusts A Good Career Path?
Yes, real estate investment trusts are obviously a good career path in the real estate industry. If you have enough skills understanding investment strategies, accounting, financial analysis, managing assets, construction skills and more, then REITs is a lucrative career path for you.
However you need to start from the scratch and have to become more productive everyday when you start your career in REITs. Your salary may not be enough at the beginning of your career. If you stick to it for a longtime you can see the growth of your earning potential.
Real Estate investment Trusts Career Paths
There are popular career choices in the REIT industry. Here we will narrow your options to choose the right one.
Property manager
A property manager is responsible to oversee property maintenance and daily operations like budgeting, financing, and solving tenant queries. Mostly property managers are hired by rental property holders or tenants. As a property manager you have to take care of all the vital property maintenance tasks.
REITs do partnership with property management companies just for their strong assistance and excellent ground support. If you get into a property management company as a property manager you have to be very efficient with your job profile. You have to maintain rental properties on behalf of REITs and their clients.
Expected Annual Salary: $45k – $90k
Asset manager
If you start your career as an asset manager your responsibilities will be overseeing risk analysis, preparing financial statements and managing assets. You have to look at the policies and investment reports to develop a profitable growth of the asset.
REITs asset managers will go through the market rates and decide which property to invest in. An asset manager decides if it is ok to have a debt to invest in a property and finalize the highest return on invested property.
Head of Marketing
Real estate market is one of the competitive markets. So marketing is a big part of it. If you want to prefer your career as a marketing head in REITs , this is going to be the hottest career choice.
Marketing industry is booming. If you have a bachelor degree in marketing, advertising and business, you can be a part of it. You need to have creative thinking and adaptability to develop the sales process.
Expected Annual Salary : $130,000 – $160,000
Site Acquisition Specialist
Site acquisition specialist is one of the highest paying careers in REITs. For this job role you have to have comprehensive knowledge of leasing, entitlement and construction codes.You need to handle all the purchasing records of a property and other legal documents for buying and selling. After completing the verification process the acquisition specialist suggests a REIT company to invest in and get the most benefits.
Expected Salary: $130,000 – $160,000
What are the Advantages of REITs?
1. You don’t need immense knowledge of real estate to invest in these.
2. Doesn’t need much capital.
3. You can easily sell your stocks or shares.
4. All the available properties are examined and trusted.
5. The system is very transparent and 90% of the profits are distributed among the shareholders.
6. You’ll get some tax advantages.
What are the Disadvantages of REITs?
1. All the stocks depend upon the economy. So there is always a risk.
2. You have to trust someone else to manage your properties.
3. You have to pay a management fee since someone else is looking after your property.
Conclusion
Both the government and the investors are fond of REITs and that’s why there are more job opportunities for people who want to grow in this industry. If you like the real estate market and have severe knowledge in investing, analysis and marketing then REITs would be the best career choice for you. You can make a decent salary and can earn incentives if you go for a long-term.
