Ahhh… Real Estate. How much do I love thee… let me count the ways.

Kidding. But not really. I think if you’re reading this blog, you a) know me b) love real estate too or c) know me and I continuously slam things to you to read. Any way you look at it, I believe Real Estate provides one of the best investment vehicles we have, and I want to use this as a multi-part blog of many of the reasons I personally love real estate, and you should too.

Reason 1 - You Can Touch it

Yes, Real Estate is a TANGIBLE investment vehicle. By that, I mean it’s something that can be touched, or in our case, lived in. It’s shelter, it’s warm (or cool), it’s home. If it’s commercial real estate it becomes “HOME” for a business. If it’s land, it’s something that can be built on. When you invest in Real Estate, you’re investing in something that can provide you something physical in return.

Don’t get me wrong, I have investment accounts and a stock portfolios too. I love the ability to log into an account and see the green arrows heading in the right direction. It is a rush. I know, if I need to, I can hit another button and have those funds transferred into a liquid (or near liquid) stage in a matter of days. There is something to be said about that. But liquidity aside…. what do you ‘own’ when you invest in a stock? You own a small (read, minuscule) portion of a company. When the company does well, you do well. When the idea of the company does better, you do better. When things, outside of your control change, instead of seeing green, you can see RED, and red isn’t a fun color. Or, if you’re investing in Bonds, you’re basically an educated and high level loan shark. You’re lending a company money, hoping (most likely) to get a certain set of funds back. Yeah, you can trade those bonds, and you can make profit on those investments as well, but you’re basically set in a smaller window for opportunity. Are bonds safe, sure. Are ALL bonds safe? Ask that question to people who bought Lehman Brothers bonds back in 2006, or more recently, ask those that were lending money to Sears.

At the end of the day, if you know what hits the fan, Real Estate may be harder to sell ‘quickly’, and that will always be something people point to. But, especially with residential real estate, Real Estate can always provide you shelter and protection. If times get tough, no matter the situation, you need a place to shelter. Never more have we realized this than the last 8 months or so. Shelter is important. Real Estate is important. And this is just one of the reasons I love Real Estate.

Until part II…

-GZ