No one is paying good interest rates on short term deposits (savings, CDs, money market, etc.) because the fed will loan them money for next to nothing and the same thing goes for debt instruments (bonds, notes, preferred issues).

Keep in mind that a conventional mortgage is a recourse instrument meaning that when properly administered by the lender, the buyer (you or your company) is responsible for any balance beyond the salvage price of the property. 

They put a humidity recorder in the attic by the vent for a few days without explaining to the tenant exactly how the instrument worked. 

Not an actual mortgage assignment where you buy the note and the note and security instrument are assigned to you?

That feature changes the landscape of things between US and Canadian security instruments (mortgages/deed of trust).

They work best with low cost index funds, rather than expensive mutual funds or low-yield debt instruments (CDs and such). www.bogleheads.org is a good starting point.Going self-directed and putting real estate or whatever in is also an option, but I don't have any experience with that.

Most, if not all, of that capital is being derived from interest-based instruments i.e. conventional bank deposits which get lent to other intermediaries. 

I'm sure you would never keep an investment in stocks or other instruments if the broker or advisor sent you a monthly bill of $800.  

If there was an instrument to short individual markets, I would buy puts aggressively and have a small option short on these two.

Although I haven't yet explored the process of finding a real estate agent due to my lack of familiarity with it, I understand that they can be instrumental in facilitating the process.