Watch That Rat Hole: And Witness the Reit Revolution

Description

The investment the experts ignored — and the man who saw it first. When a young Kenneth D. Campbell left his Pennsylvania steel town for New York, his boss at the investment newsletter gave him an odd assignment: “Watch that rat hole.” The rat hole was Real Estate Investment Trusts — REITs — a brand-new vehicle Congress had just approved and almost no one understood.

Campbell took it seriously. He created and edited an influential investment newsletter for twenty years, becoming one of the most knowledgeable chroniclers of the REIT revolution — the unglamorous idea that became one of the great wealth-building engines of modern finance. Watch That Rat Hole is his firsthand account. Campbell watched an entire asset class being invented — and explains it better than anyone.

For investors and financial-history readers. The story of how the boring idea won.

Watch That Rat Hole: And Witness the REIT Revolution by Kenneth D. Campbell

Some assignments change a life. When a young Kenneth D. Campbell left his Pennsylvania steel town for New York, he landed work as an investment newsletter editor — and his boss handed him a beat with an odd instruction, in classic newspaper slang: “Watch that rat hole.” The “rat hole” was Real Estate Investment Trusts — REITs — a brand-new investment vehicle that Congress had just approved and almost no one understood.

Campbell took the assignment seriously. He created and edited an influential investment newsletter for twenty years, becoming one of the most knowledgeable chroniclers of the REIT industry as it grew from an untested experiment into a mainstream pillar of American investing. He interviewed the pioneers, rode the market cycles, and watched ordinary investors gain access to commercial real estate for the first time.

Part memoir, part financial history, Watch That Rat Hole tells two stories at once: Campbell’s own journey from steel country to Wall Street, and the birth of an industry that reshaped how America invests. Warm, witty, and rich with firsthand detail, it is essential reading for REIT investors, finance history buffs, and anyone who loves a great behind-the-scenes business story.