Sell me why would you invest in real estate over another business

[Sunny P.]

so I am all for real estate but I want to see what you think about this:

You come across a $1 million in investment properties, you put down 20% and take a loan for $800,000.  Now you have $200,000 of your money tied up and 800,000 of bank note on your credit. 

Your cash flow on $1,000,000 invested is let's say $120,000 a year or 1% of purchase price  per month. 

After paying the mortgage, taxes, other expenses, you're left with maybe $15,000-20,000

Of the $1,000,000 invested, you only netted about 15,000-20,000. 

Why? 

You could've earned a lot more on that million invested.  For a cool million, you could invest in so many different businesses such as own multiple subways, start a daycare, own storage centers, own a car wash, own multiple great clips, etc. and your cash flow would be much larger.  

So why rentals?  

[Jim Shepard]

Ok, here's my take on it. I own 8 Subways and use them to generate my livelihood. My excess income is then poured into my real estate business. Eventually I will use the RE for my retirement income and put the money from selling the Subway biz in the market to diversify.
NOI on the Subways is around 15% so the earlier poster's net of 18k for a Subway or Taco Bell is way off. Trust me we earn the 15%. I had hair 24 years ago when I opened my first store. Employees are the biggest problem like any business. Thievery, not showing up, etc.
After I had reached the number of stores that I needed for the lifestyle I wanted, I started buying RE. Instead of toys (I have a few) I bought something that would generate more income.
Best advice I could give anyone is not to put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify. I've seen a lot of people zoom past me financially. I also saw them on their way down (remember 2007?). I guess it puts some credence in the saying "slow and steady wins the race".