Preferreds are thinly traded but can be sold. I buy preferreds that are discounted from the usual redemption value of $25, have coupons of 7% or lower since they are less likely to be redeemed. I am interested in permanent income streams with little or no interest in liquidating or selling them. I own BAC-E, PSA-M, UDR-G, HPT and HRP preferreds, SKT-C, AMB(all yield above 7%). These are all strong investment grade companies with the chances of them omitting the preferred virtually nil and are unlikely to have their ability to raise capital significantly affected. The only real risk in these is, like most income producing vehicles, can move downward with risiing interest rates(what doesn't?). You aren't really missing something...it is just that yields of these preferreds have moved upward because of the volatility of the credit markets and one must differentiate the good preferreds from the not so good.