IMO these are mostly landlords though some more exotic businesses are organized as REITs. These, to me, do fit in a conservative income investors portfolio. They provide income, can give some growth, and keep pretty good pace with inflation. There can be issues like lack of transparency or poor alignment of manager with shareholder interest, but those often show during DD. The worst obstacle for me, the stronger REITs usually paid 6%-8% when I first started looking at them in the early 2000’s. I just can’t get past the paltry current yields. If they ever revert to the longer term mean, investors will get crushed. So aside from low Fed rate induced distortions, I like the investing potential for property REITs.
