Over the years I've had several family and friends want to invest with me but I've been unsure what SEC friendly vehicle I could use.

yes, its declining in all educated areas. but housing costs will continue to go up. in our Multifamily rentals, we will be upgrading everyone's living standards to assure we have upper-income earners as tenants, will be adding separate Electic Vehicles charging and 1st $100 of electricity for free included in the rent with Solar panels offsetting the cost producing the electric we sell to tenants. also adding Smart building ready FOG network for security and looking at new Smart Toilets the five-star hotels have been installing.

Do you drive around with a gun rack on your vehicle? 

There's no reason to reinvent the wheel here.If you don't have a 401K (I think that's good because real estate is a better retirement vehicle in my opinion) or family that are willing to help because they're broke, don't do what they've done. 

It's not far below 1 pct rule so it depends on the taxes, potential appreciations, what finance vehicle you would use, and if there are value-add possibilities for the property that could increase the rent, and also if the tenants are current on said income-producing rent.

Lastly, maybe consider putting the funds into multiple investment vehicles.

She has been unemployed for over a year and has two functional vehicles, yet she can't find time to come to the office or call us during work hours.

with students gone from most colleges for over a year thanks to COVID and the rising cost of college tuition, is renting to students in college towns not a smart financial vehicle of the future?

That's the value of the business component of the sale.In larger companies (roughly $10M+) , there is a different method called EBITDA - earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.To that SDE value, we add the value of assets (vehicles, machinery, etc) and real estate, if any is to transact. 

Pave a large portion of the lot and rent out parking for RVs, Campers, Boats for the nearby neighborhoods (HOA doesn't allow large vehicles in driveways/street parking)5.