Sales of Inland American REITs have produced a firestorm of financial headaches for investors, many of whom were sold on the products based on inappropriate recommendations from broker/dealers. Investments such as the Inland American Real Estate Trust and the Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust are non-traded, or unlisted, REITs – financial products that have come under increasingly scrutiny lately because of the potential risks they may carry.
Non-traded REITs are not listed on a stock exchange, and investor redemptions are usually limited to a specified time frame. Most important, non-traded REITs can be pricey to get into, with fees as high as 15%.
In conversations with several investors, Maddox Hargett & Caruso has learned that many individuals who invested in non-traded REITs, including the Inland American Real Estate Trust and the Inland Western Retail Real Estate Trust, were ill-informed by their broker/dealer of the high fees, illiquidity and other risks tied to the products. If you suffered investment losses in either of these REITs or another non-traded REIT, contact us to tell your story.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:56 am
My investment adviser put me in Inland REIT without explaining the risk associated with this type of investment. I have to confess that I was in the voulnable as a new investor. It was a life insurance proceed from my husbands death. As she explained that shares were easy to liquidate. Thank goodness it was small portion of my investment, but I have no access to my cash at this point. Do you have any suggestions? I received the offer to buy the shares at deeply discounted price, but I am tempted to take the offer to just get out of this.
June 11th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
My mother passed away very recently and we learned that her banker advised her to purchase Inland American, now we have no where to turn. . .
July 17th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
My Broker, with Contempory Pensions Incorporated, suggest this REIT and at no time did he explain the risks associated with this investment. I now hold upwards of $55,000 in this REIT and I understand it has no liquidity until they (The Board) makes a decision on when the funds can be redeemed. This was further not explained by my financial adviser.
September 24th, 2010 at 12:18 pm
i have over 6000 shares of inland american reit my financial advisor got me into this because it was considered safe i was told the share price is $10.00 a share since it is not publicly traded the price does not change, paid a dividend of 6.5% which also does not change, and shares can be sold back to inland after 3 years. all of this has turned out to be not true. no byback, divdend now 5% share price to go down signifancly any time now
December 14th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
I am in the same situation as Fred and Rich. I had $55,000 in my Inland American Fund and was told that is was a safe investemnt and that I would earn more interest on it than I would in the bank. I beleive my fund has now been revalued at $44,000.
For anyone interested I would also recommend people to stay away from Pacific Life. My father and I opened an annuity with them and my father passed in 2008. I was the beneficiary on his account and his only heir. He left a Will stating this. A Judge in Oklahoma named Tom Lucas granted a court order and cashed out the fund. The money ended up in the hands of my fathers EX wife and she divorced him in 1999. I suppose nobody can be trusted. Our legal system is a complete joke.