People can look at real estate on a 3-D graph measured in time and money and risk.With that in mind, low time (required) and low risk, you find the products you listed in your post: REITs and RE index funds. 

I pay based on specific milestones as outlined in the contract.  

I just recently got into real estate investing in the summer of 2020, but have already hit some great milestones in 6 months. 

Here are some free tools to aid the comparisons:https://datausa.io/ > Quick Graph on theMarkethttp://www.city-data.com/ > Extensive Market Data on median income,population growth, crime, etchttps://www.niche.com/ > Combines Market analysis with Reviewshttps://www.point2homes.com/ > Market Analysis with cool graphshttp://www.justicemap.org/ > Income Map at neighborhood levelhttps://www.deptofnumbers.com/ > Data on Employment, Rent, Income, GDPhttps://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219 > Population and Demographic infohttps://multifamily.cushwake.com/Research > Great Market reports on all Major Citieshttps://www.berkadia.com/research-and-resources > Great Market reports on all Major Citieshttps://alndata.com/market-reviews/ > Multifamily reports on all Major Citieshttps://www.apartments.com/ > Rent Compshttps://www.rentometer.com/ (edited)

Or do market values not so much decrease as simply plateau, as the below graph may suggest.

After looking into some patterns from the previous financial crisis, I’ve honed in on a source of wholesale leads that have a 41% likelihood of defaulting within the next 6-12 months.In this post, I’ll go into how to farm these wholesale properties from publicly available information.COVID-19 impact on foreclosuresSince April of this year, there are several factors have created an effective dam preventing foreclosure sales: Federal and local stimulus packagesTemporary increases in unemployment benefitsCancelled foreclosure auctionsIn the following graph, you’ll see the steep drop off in foreclosure notices since April.

I think this graph bears that out:https://worldpopulationreview....Notice the population shoots up, then stalls, shoots up, then stalls.

That's a major milestone.

And if you are stubborn and hold out past that, doing it yourself actually costs you money.Next milestone will be outsourcing the bookkeeping and check writing.

They have all the info you need plus pie charts, graphs and everything else. 1 year to 30 year projections.