I am hesitant as a dividend investor with modest growth in equity to go near anything in the real estate market. Reason-> Who knows what kind of poison/toxic mortgage, legal gambling business model someone is thinking about putting together and what this country does not need is another 2008 meltdown.
ETF's, I have to admit, I am a little wary of, because they seem to have large fees associated with them...getting in, getting out, management in the middle,
If I prefer to stick with solid infrastructure based units, such as mid-stream and pipeline MLPs, they pay pretty darn well, there is little or no tax consequence.