The SAFEST ROI is probably a 5 or 10 year US Treasury bond... but that's not exciting, nor does it pay a lot. 

We focus primarily on real estate lending and most banks are going to price their loans at a spread over the 5yr or 10 yr treasury.

Ya the tax benefits seem pretty straightforward, it sounds like Treasury still needs to provide guidelines on funds and how they get certified (or something along those lines).

Probably not the return shareholders are hoping for, since that's only about a $3/share return, which is a pretty paltry 15% over a 10-year holding period, based on current stock price of about $20/share--so if there was no operating income, this wouldn't be a great stock investment.There is definitely some risk baked into their model, which is why they have to pay bondholders a better rate of return than they would get investing in a Treasury Note where your principal is guaranteed by the US Government, or putting the money into CDs where it is guaranteed by FDIC.

I think 5.25% is expected now since the 10-year Treasury jumped 50 basis points in just the last few months.

I have several commercial loans, they are 5 year fixed at 5%, they adjust every five years to the 5 year treasury note rate(around 2%) + the bank adds 3%.

I plan on also doing a credit check / background check after I receive the application back from prospective tenants.Heres the link: http://www.nj.gov/treasury/dpmc/Assets/Files/Renta...Also - do you guys usually charge application fees?

I thought those revenue rulings you mentioned were superseded by more recent Treasury regulations (TD 9107). 

Treasury bonds and require tenants to pay taxes, insurance and improvements, can fool property investors.

@Martin GoodenbergerYes, the rate is fixed for 7 years, and then resets at a benchmark, whether to the treasury or the 10 yr t Bond.