The National Association of Real Estate Advisors (NAREA), formed in 2012, is striving to become one of the foremost educational associations for real estate professionals. With a total value of residential and commercial real estate in excess of $30 trillion, real estate is by far one of the largest components of the investment world. Unfortunately, a lot of real estate professionals do not have the expertise to advise their individual and institutional clients on how to wisely invest in real estate. Consequently, many clients are left on their own to ascertain the best approach to real estate investing. For too long, real estate professionals have been focused solely on listing and selling real estate for their clients and, because they don't have the expertise, have neglected to assist their clients in the acquisition of real estate. Alternately, many clients have so little experience in real estate investing that they have chosen to put their investment capital into the stock market, bonds, gold and other investments that may or may not have been wise choices over the years. Investing in real estate should be a fundamental part of most client's portfolios.