My stocks n bonds don't drive drunk-they will never be sued. 

You can make sure they are bonded well above the amount you put in trust. 

I think it will be important for you to have a bit of a lengthy conversation with someone that can dial your questions in better and guide you in the path of making some money on your investment, not just selling you on the investment.

You could just do bonds, stocks, REIT whatever and do better. 

I totally agree that most people want to room with people that are similar to them, and that's a great bonding point!

I plan on legally turning this area into its own unit at some point, but I understand this is an expensive and lengthy process and do not have the liquid cash to afford it at this time.

US government set up REI to be more favorably treated than stocks bonds.  1031, depreciation, OZ, 2 out of 5 primary, expense deductions, leveraging, etc.  

I know that you can go for Exchanged Traded Funds, but I'm not terribly excited about stocks and bonds, no matter how they are bundled.

@Brian Bond, Overbrook is northwest of West Philadelphia. 

- I wrote a pretty lengthy post on this topic a while back and it's still very relevant.