My TIAA-CREF account is finally allowing us to buy into their REIT. For some reason, California wouldn’t allow us to add the REIT to our CREF retirement–until, of course, the most massive boom in real estate had run its course.
Now that I can buy into it, I am allocating 5% of new money to it–but I have 30+ years until retirement and I am bullish on looong term RE. Besides, they own commercial RE, which is looking good right now, and, as was previously mentioned, they make money off of rentals, etc., which is looking up. BUT, before getting too excited, go back and read the President of TIAA-CREF’s message that came in the same newsletter that announced we could finally buy their REIT–it was decidely guarded, if not bearish.
Lastly, it’s good to remember that RE really is local and much of the country is not in a bubble. TX, MI, NC, GA, etc. have not broken out of their long term trends–unlike SoCal, Boston, D.C., FL, NY, which have (had) gone completely unhinged.
I anticpate that a geographically diverse REIT, such as the TIAA-CREF will take significant collateral damage during the housing shake-out, which might be a great time to buy it, for long term (10+ years) IMHO.
