Real estate rules : the investor's guide to picking winners and avoiding losers in listed property / Harm Meijer.

Includes index.

"It is the classic mistake: buying real estate solely because the yield - rent as a percentage of the property value - is high. Of course, one can get lucky, for instance with a distressed seller, but more often it is a sign of a 'dressed-up' asset with poor rental income prospects. As Michiel te Paske, former fund manager of Morgan Stanley, says: 'You can't polish a turd'. But it is remarkable how many investors fall into this trap time and again. Particularly, private investors and smaller pension funds have been victims of buying assets for the yield, only to end up with declining rental income and almost worthless vacant buildings. The property might offer a high yield, but it is about the total return (yield plus valuation growth). In my experience, the high yield is often not high enough to compensate for the risk. In fact, there is often an inverse relationship between yield and total return: lower-yielding."-- Provided by publisher.