As already said a trust is run by the trustees for the beneficiaries.
The person who originally sets up the trust is called the donor. The donor may specify the general strategy of the trust.
When you move into the realms of REITs, Investment Trusts, Unit Trusts you are getting into much more complicated arrangements and I don't think you are ready for that yet.
A REIT and a trust are pretty different. Usually a trust is for managing a pile of money without adding additional capital or removing capital except in proscribed ways. Trusts have beneficiaries and remaindermen and usually a trust document that describes how the money is used and possibly invested. That means it can probably invest in real estate but nobody would set one up to invest in real estate as LLC, LP's, S-Corps, REIT's, etc are all better structures depending on what you are trying to accomplish.
Trusts have trustees, not executors. They also have beneficiaries. It would depend on the type of trust.
I've always wondered what capabilities does a trust fund have? I mean could a trust fund "act" as an individual that owns say a Real Estate Investment business which buys and sell real estate and the proceeds from the sale of the property would go back into the trust? I'm thinking that maybe what I'm talking about is a Real Estate Investment trust? How much more different would an REIT be from a regular trust fund? Could the executor of a trust fund make certain decisions concerning the trust fund like purchasing properties and then selling properties and then keeping the profit from the sale of said properties in the trust fund.
