Definition of "Mutual funds"

Investment companies investing in investment instruments including real estate. Mutual funds are popular to investors and represent equity in a professionally managed portfolio of securities. Major benefits of investing in real estate mutual funds are:

  1. Small minimum investment. An investor with limited funds can accomplish diversification by owning many securities in the portfolio.
  2. Diversification. Each fund share provides an investor an interest in many real estate companies.
  3. Automatic reinvestment. Most funds permit reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Funds usually do not assess a sales fee on automatic reinvestments.
  4. Automatic withdrawals. Many funds permit shareholders to withdraw funds on a periodic basis.
  5. Liquidity. An investor may redeem the shares owned.
  6. Switching. An investor may change in his investments as his objectives change.
    Mutual funds are of different types, according to structure, the fees charged, means of trading funds, and investment objectives. In open-end funds, investors buy from and sell their shares back to the fund itself. An example is Fidelity Real Estate. On the other hand, closed-end funds have a fixed number of shares outstanding, which trade among individuals in secondary markets like common stocks. All open and closed-end funds have management fees. A major point of closed-end funds is the size of discount or premium, which is the difference between their market prices and their net asset values (NAVs). Some funds sell at discount, which may make them more attractive. Funds charging sales fees are referred to as load funds. Load funds usually do not do better than no-load funds. Some analysts feel investors should buy only no-load or low-load funds. The prospectus of a real estate fund includes information as the fund's investment objectives, way of selecting securities, management and sales fees, and other costs.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Agreement between the seller and buyer involving the terms of sale. ...

Some real estate sales require court confirmation of purchase to protect heirs and debtors from financial wrongs. These sellers have to sell their property due to unique circumstances. They ...

A financial obligation comes in several ways. In general terms, the meaning of liability refers to the amount of money an individual or company owes to a lender. We define the party holding ...

Tax credit aimed at encouraging the conservation of natural resources, as well as the development of alternative resource. ...

Placed by the federal government on a individual's real property for federal estate tax or income tax law violations. In the case of a federal estate tax lien, upon the owner's death, the ...

A clearly stated notice that an owner or operator will not assume responsibility for an inherent risk. For example, at a parking garage, a large notice of nonresponsability clearly states ...

The logical definition of both words is almost enough to understand what is earnest money. Money is a form of exchange between people to assert value to something and Earnest equals ...

Another residence in addition to the main residence where a person or family resides. An example is a second home out of the city used on weekends and during vacations. Interest and real ...

Taxable profit or loss arising from a sale. It is reported in the income statement. ...

Popular Real Estate Questions