The sub-prime mortgage mess, housing bust, and credit crunch of 2007-2008 notwithstanding, it is safe to say investors in general and American investors in particular have a love affair with real estate of all kinds. There is a kind of certainty associated with being able to open the door of an investment and walk into it. While stocks and bonds are representations of income-producing assets, real estate is an income-producing asset.

We are not talking about your home here, but rather the investable pools of real estate known as real estate investment trusts, or REITs.