I want a steady stream of passive income.

Mid-term rentals provide a steady stream of income for a longer period of time, which can help landlords avoid the hassle of constantly searching for new tenants.

I mentioned this because if you want to stick to some traditional lending, or some form of steady income while you get started on your REI journey this might be a great place.

What I would do is get the steady income of a duplex or a multi-family of some sort.

@Ryan Williams proves slow and steady wins the race!

A property to be held comes with a certain value profile of risk, management work, steady income, growth potential, tax savings potential, prestige if you care about that kind of thing, etc. 

After the steel mill hunkies vacated it turned to a steady decline.  

If you do this, you dont have to get fancy or complicated but be steady and if you dont die you will become wealthy.  

Not to mention, as a passive real estate syndication investor, you can still get awesome tax benefits associated with RE investing thanks to depreciation, that you wouldn't get from most other types of investments - if you are looking for a steady, reliable, predictable form of real estate syndication investing I would encourage you to consider investing in net lease deals versus value-add multifamily or development deals that can be a bit more up and down - of course depends on your goals, timelines, level of risk tolerance, and whether you are looking for more cash flow in the short term v appreciation in the long term...or diversify into a combination of these types of deals. 

Owner financing would also provide steady cash flow with the benefit that their income gets spread out (also distributing the tax burden over several years).If they still want to wait, let them know that they can contact you any time if they change their mind...