Don't go confusing yield with return.LordMortis wrote:So
2) How do I go about finding out the proper REIT? I'm thinking safe. I don't want to babysit it. I want to dump money into it and not touch it for years. So I'm thinking like FRT, who have been in business for years and years and years. But then I see cheap stocks that have been around for like five or six year with huge returns like NCT or ORC and then I remember how dumb I am.
ORC is paying a 17% yield because it hasn't yet adjusted proportionately to its 30% loss this year. You'd have made around $1.75 in dividends per share and lost around $4 in share price.
FRT pays around 2%. Investors accept lower yield for FRT because it's less of a risk and has a chance of capital appreciation (increase in share price). In 2015 it's up around 11%
So ORC has a current 17% yield and yet, even with the dividend, has lost its investors around 18% in 2015. FRT has a 2% yield and has made investors round 13% in the same time period.
EDIT:Oh, and I just noticed that ORC is a mortgage REIT. Very different than FRT or NCT, who I think make their money of real estate income and possibly sales.