Investors' understanding of the REIT industry has improved over the last five years, said Ralph Block, author of "Investing in REITs" and longtime industry veteran, at REITWorld 2012: NAREIT’s Annual Convention for All Things REIT. There are still areas of confusion, however. "I think probably the biggest misconception relates to risk. We were probably on the way to dispelling that up until the great recession, and then we had the problem where REITs had to scramble to raise a lot of equity capital and pay off debt. As a result, the stocks became very volatile."