During the summer of 1980, living in Texas was a lot like living in my vision of hell.

The thermometer at our house was in the shade, but it regularly registered temperatures of 120 F and up. Moms who typically shooed their kids outside to enjoy the day instead insisted that their children be inside by noon. The heat was just too dangerous.

So my friends and I played marathon games of Monopoly. And to make them longer and eat up the endless, oppressive days, we made up our own rules.

One of these rules involved trading properties. As everyone knows, players in Monopoly must have all properties of one color before they may construct houses or hotels. And the more railroads and utilities you own, the more rent you collect.

So those of us who wished to prosper would make deals and trade our way to increased rents. This led to high-stakes games where the timid players were quickly destroyed, their assets taken over by those with a strong survival skills.

These survivalists enjoyed strength in numbers. Isn’t that what Monopoly is about? If you concentrate your properties geographically on the board, even the lowest-rent spaces can jack up their prices and lead to great wealth.

Why am I torturing you with this childhood anecdote? It’s a perfect illustration of what REITs all over the country are doing right now.

REITs seem to be learning the lesson of perfecting their portfolios.

Take The Meditrust Companies (NYSE: MT), for example. This group is completely restructuring to separate its medical and lodging properties. Why? Several reasons, core competencies among them.

"We continue to believe the separation of healthcare and lodging is the best way to maximize shareholder value," said David Benson, president of Meditrust.

Last week, the REIT entered into an agreement to sell its Cobblestone Golf Group real estate and operations to an affiliate of ClubCorp, Inc. and American Golf Corporation. In return, Meditrust will receive "aggregate consideration" of $393 million, including the assumption of some debt.

Since Meditrust announced its restructuring plan in November, the company has sold about $1 billion in property. The REIT plans to use $250 million of the proceeds from the sale of Cobblestone to pay off term debt due in July.

Based in San Diego, Cobblestone owns and operates 45 golf courses in major golf markets in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The portfolio includes 13 private country clubs, 18 semi-private clubs and 14 daily fee courses.

Example two: Prime Hospitality Corp. has sold its AmeriSuites in Portland, Maine, to Ocean Properties.

The 130-unit Portland AmeriSuites is located at 303 Sable Oaks Drive. The hotel was opened in September 1998 and is situated near the Maine Mall.

While this is a small transaction, it is also an instructive one. The sale is part of Prime's ongoing strategic initiative to divest hotel real estate, while maintaining franchise and/or management agreements.

Prime is negotiating to sell additional hotels during the year and will use the proceeds for stock repurchases, debt repayments, and hotel development.

Prime Hospitality Corp. is an owner, manager and franchisor of 190 hotels throughout the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Company operates three proprietary brands -- AmeriSuites, HomeGate Studios & Suites and Wellesley Inns.

This decision to off--load real estate reflects another growing trend among owner/operators. Since REITs are the preferred ownership structures for these property types now, hospitality and other industry owner/operators are off--loading their real estate and focusing on what they do best -- franchise and/or operate.

Expect more REITs and owner/operators to learn the power of core competencies. This will show up not only on the companies’ P&L statements, but also in increased productivity. For real estate--based companies, this trend will have the largest effect on productivity since the spread of the personal computer.