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Direct Real Estate Investing vs Reits vs Syndication vs Crowdfunding vs Collaborative Smart InvestingTM

In today’s world, within any given industry, there are many investment vehicles available to us and when it comes to real estate investment, it’s no different.

The most conventional way of investing is by directly purchasing a residential investment property, which comes with the added responsibilities of property management and upkeep. This method is becoming increasingly more difficult with some global markets setting unattainable high entry prices like Australia as well as many of the major cities around the world.

For some, this method is still a viable investment option but has proved to only really be affordable for the Ultra High Net Worth Investors (UHNWI), because these options are not always available to all people. It is generally considered that 99% of the world population, just don’t have access to the same options as the top 1%.

With the median house price set at $865,000 in Sydney Australia, a 70% increase on five years ago, many people do not financially qualify for direct residential real estate investing. Commercial real estate is unachievable in that the deposit alone generally equates to millions of dollars.  This does not consider having the knowledge or access to the right opportunities in the right markets or right countries.

It is interesting that according to the latest Wealth Report by Credit Suisse, UHNWI with a net worth more than $10m are increasing their exposure to direct real estate investing, specifically commercial, as it is a safe asset class, based on income producing assets and no correlation with corrections of the stock market.

However, now there are more options available to investors who wish to enter the real estate market and benefit the positive returns that these investments can yield.

One investment method that has earned great interest over recent years is Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). These are specialised Mutual Funds, focused on investing in real estate. They are a tradeable security usually traded on stock exchanges such as the ASX, NYSE, etc and therefore are quite liquid. However, with liquidity comes greater risk in that REITs are financially correlated by more than 70% with the stock markets so volatility is often dependent on general market sentiment.

REITs invest in many commercial properties and therefore it can be difficult to know exactly which direct stock you are investing in without knowing the constituents of your REIT. Investors own a share of the total fund and not directly in a share of the underlying property. If you don’t know exactly which properties you are investing in, it’s hard to complete a thorough risk assessment to an already established fund for example if a REIT has invested heavily in one market or area, this can create higher risk should that market or area’s property value decline. Due to these factors, diversification isn’t easily obtainable when investing in a REIT.

The fee structure of a REIT is generally based on the AUM (assets under management) and is not generally aligned with the investors long term interests. They carry large overheads and many middlemen who often facilitate the sale and marketing of REITs from financial planners, consultants, bankers and listing services often diluting the net return to the investor.

Research done by Tony Robbins in his 2017 book, Unshakable, confirms that 96% of Mutual Funds do not beat the market average over a 15-year period. However, because people are generally ‘educated’ on