Realty Income - What is Our Business




			What Is Our Business?
			What is Our Market Focus?
			What are Our Plans for 2008?
			Why Invest?
			What is Realty Income's Financial Position?
			What Do We Own?

Realty Income The Monthly Dividend Company® is a real estate company headquartered in Escondido, California. We have a long and distinguished history that goes back to 1969 when we were formed to acquire a very specific type of real estate: freestanding, single-tenant properties leased to retail chains under long-term net-lease agreements. (Retail chains like Taco Bell, Pier 1 Imports, Staples, Office Max, Children's World day care, Jiffy Lube, and Hollywood Video.)

What this means is that we own properties located on busy street corners or on separate parcels in large shopping centers throughout the country. These properties are leased to just one tenant (as opposed to a number of tenants in the same building) and that tenant is responsible for all of the taxes, maintenance and insurance on the properties, in most cases, hence the term "net-lease."

We operate as an equity real estate investment trust, which means we own properties that provide our principal source of revenue, which is rental income. According to federal law we are also required to pay out the majority of our taxable income as dividends to our shareholders. This is because real estate investment trusts (or REITs - "reets") do not have to pay federal or state taxes on their income.

We employ a staff of 74 professionals with in-house expertise in real estate acquisitions, lease execution and management, real estate law and transactions, retail and real estate research, real estate asset management and in the capital markets.

Our acquisition and investment focus is primarily on purchasing the properties of middle and upper market retailers who provide goods and services that consumers use every day. Typically, we purchase a property from the retail company and then lease it back to them under a 15-20 year lease agreement. This type of real estate transaction is called a "sale-leaseback" and allows the retail company to pull their capital out of real estate and put it back into their retail business. This provides them with access to capital to fund further growth or expansion.

Home > Investing > More About Realty Income > What is Our Business?