But she has no interest in actively participating.Lots of folks refuse to invest in anything riskier than bank CDs or treasuries.

Compensation is defined in IRC Sec. 219(f)(1), Treasury regulations, and IRS Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

Based on the Proposed Treasury Regulations section 1.1402(a)-2(h)(2), there is a strategy that will effectively reduce your self employment tax up to $60,000 - $70,000 with your wife as a limited partner.

The Treasury Regulations only require that the taxpayer have the intent to hold for rental or investment or business use. 

Besides treasuries, saving bonds I am exploring the note funds options, lending club/prosper investing, trust deed investing, private money lending.

So the apples to apples investment, where it's guaranteed ROI, would be a Certificate of Deposit, or Treasury Note, or similar, and those rarely offer more than your mortgage interest rate. 

You can check the NJ tax info here: https://wwwnet1.state.nj.us/Treasury/Taxation/TYTR...- Is this property close enough to the school to attract other students?

Track Comparable SalesAlthough we are still hovering near the all-time lows with respect to the 10-year treasury, consider that for every 1 percent rise in interest rates it takes somewhere in the neighborhood of an 8 percent increase in Net Operating Income to remain at par as far as your property value is concerned.

As the stock market has gotten better in the past three months, the 10yr treasury yield has increased as well.

You should be able to find most of this information on the County Assessors website or the Treasury Department for that county.