The theory goes something like this: In a recession investors tend to have a "flight to quality", which usually means buying more government bonds, which pushes their interest rates lower. REITs tend to have relatively higher yields, so in comparison to government bonds, REITs become more attractive and their prices go up as well.

In 2008 all real estate valuations were crushed due to the nature of the crisis, but real estate has historically been a pretty stable asset class in recessionary environments.

I wasnt arguing it was a good strategy, I took part of the assumption that it was, as the premise.

it was moreso that just cuz you got lucky and got in and out of a scam at the right times, that in and of itself doesnt invalidate the strategy itself.

And like the other person commenting said, the 2008 crash was a real estate crash.