Forget that David Lerner Associates has thrown out the window any semblance to commonly accepted investment norms, by failing to asset allocate among stocks, bonds and cash, for example (read: imprudent). Then forget about the fact that the Apple REITs concentrate in real estate (read: reckless and dangerous). What’s left is a complete concentration in real estate, and real estate that is limited to just one sector – the hotel industry (with a large concentration there still in the extended stay hotel industry) (read: certifiably crazy).
And now the numbers. While the headlines discuss how well “real estate investments” performed in 2011, drilling down one finds an alarming disparity between the performance winners and the losers. Unfortunately for Apple REIT investors, the lodging and resort segment of the real estate market were the Biggest Losers of the Year! Down 14.31%! Compare that to self-storage (up 35%) and event apartments (up 15%) and you get the picture.
David Lerner and its Apple REITs have a lot of problems, and investors are taking note by retaining law firms like ours to file claims to recover their investment losses and rescind (get out of) their investments. Bad performance – indeed the worst sub-sector performance in the real estate investment area -- is another straw breaking the camel’s back!
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