I hold about 5% of my ETF portfolio* in the (ZRE) BMO Equal Weight REIT here in Canada. I bought it based on the recommendation of the Canadian Couch Potato portfolio, and I've been fairly happy with it (about a 4.9% return thus far).
I see all index ETFs as permanent purchases. Unless something is very obviously dramatic and looming (i.e. a 1929 stock market crash) I have no intention of selling any of them, ever.
So every single share of ZRE I have bought is a permanent possession. It cranks out a dividend every month, which I apply to building the snowball (I tend to buy whichever part of my portfolio is falling behind in my percentages).
If it goes up or down is less important to me. Presumably at some point it will go down, but since I am never selling it that won't bother me, and it just means that I will be able to buy a few more next time I am balancing.
The whole point of indexing is not to have to worry too much. If you are buying index funds then buy and hold and don't stress about the graphs. Over the long term (which is the point after all) it will be successful. Just get the low cost, high quality index funds like Vanguard and some few others.
NOTE: I'm not sure how it is in the US, but here in Canada you definitely want Real Estate income to be inside a tax sheltered part of your portfolio (RRSP or TFSA).
* I do have some individual equities in a higher risk portion of my portfolio. So far I do fairly well, but of course time will tell if that is foolish.