Conservative LTV first trust deeds are currently paying over 9%  and generate good cash flow when buying doesn’t make sense.Yes that´s another wonderful alternative, I invest in notes as well, got no tenants & no toilets and with those interest rates a return, where I don´t need to buy real estate for cashflow.

@Forest WuBroker dealers search you will want to find those investing in alternative investmentsHappy to send you a list

However there are also those tenants that I see are getting to raise their kids in a much safer/nicer neighborhood than if they didn't have it; and I have seen some people be able to move up in their career and their portion of rent get higher and higher, over the years, until they got off sec 8.

You can use a DCSR loan alternatively, or as I love to do; buy homes using seller financing.

Real estate is hard and needs commitment, but it's one of the most interesting alternative investment.Legal: it depends on what you need. 

As I am in California seeking property in Pittsburgh with over 90 different neighborhoods, its very hard to tell which are the safer ones, but area vibes helps alot.

With regards to traveling nurses, I was mentioning them as a potential tenant pool if I decide to purchase a STR, as an alternative or supplement to vacationers as occupants. 

The alternative would be to invest $260K in the stock market. 

But you are less diversified if that building or area does poorly versus geographically dispersed alternatives?

An application, approval/denial letter, lease, checklist, termination and security deposit notice, will cost many thousands of dollars from a lawyer if he drafts it from scratch for you and, for example, if he is not located in Cincinnati he probably will not be familiar with the ordinance requiring deposit alternatives or providing tenants copies of the ordinances and statutes the City requires.