Reits

Is now a good time to invest in REITS? Why or why not? What about the BUY and HOLD theory? Does one buy a REIT and hold it for the income, or sell when the price goes up?

BUY and HOLD doesn't always work very well with REITs over the long haul, due to the choppiness of the real estate market as a whole, by region, and by specific company. REITs have still performed well (whereas home builders have not) as a whole during this Subprime debacle.

REITs that focus on commercial properties had been mentioned more than once on CNBC as having better potential, due to the growth of the retail market and how Subprime factors does not affect them as highly.

Of course, I bought Novastar and New Century last year...

The reit mutual funds have performed very well over the past 10 years with great total returns. The reinvested gains and dividends compound the total gains and within a retirement plan the returns have been impressive. The last 10 years is a good indicator as the market has had good and bad times and so you get a good picture as to how the fund will perform....hopefully, never any guaranatees! So I don't think you would get hurt. My Reit mutual fund has a respectable return for YTD and for past year. Check out various funds and you should be able to find funds that have consistently performed well, and not just over the past 5 yrs which is too restrictive if you are looking for the long haul!
Good luck

The first question might be: should I own REITs, not is this the time to buy or sell. What function do they have in a portfolio, how do they behave in concert with the rest of my portfolio, would I benefit from exposure to this asset class and at what percentage? And what risks do they pose? Knowing the answer to these will go a long way to making things clearer.