In case you haven’t noticed… the housing market is making a recovery. Most investors still shudder at the thought of investing in real estate again, but it’s time to reconsider. But before we get into more reasons why we think now’s the time to buy real estate-related investments (and our favorite investments in this industry)… let’s take a quick look down memory lane. To a time when real estate used to be the absolute darling of the markets. Rallying behind one of Mark Twain’s many droll quotes – “Buy land, they’re not making it anymore” – people in the newly minted twenty-first century pounced on whatever property they could get their hands on, refusing to learn the lessons of even the recent past. Read More...

Home prices are rising at the fastest rate in seven years, with some communities seeing double-digit gains, as buyers are returning to a market where the number of properties for sale is in short supply. Prices increased 9.3% in February from a year earlier while mortgage-interest rates hovered near record lows, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index that tracks home prices in 20 major metropolitan areas. All 20 cities posted year-over-year gains for the second consecutive month, which hasn't happened since 2005, before the crash. Read More...