If you're investing for short-term appreciation, you are in for a bumpy ride in the current business climate. I think most people would agree that short-term appreciation isn't a reasonable goal these days.

If you're looking for long-term appreciation, you can buy a property. You need to purchase it at a reasonable price to allow room to pay for management fees. Or you can manage it yourself. The tenants are the wild card, aren't they?

In commercial real estate, you run the risk of not having any tenants, if the local market is glutted. And that is the case in many local markets. In residential real estate, you may find yourself doing a fair amount of maintenance. You may worry about finding the right tenant. How do you create a lease? How do you screen tenants so as to find the ones who will stay a long time and keep up your property for you?

You may decide to try a the truly hands-off alternative: a real estate investment trust (REIT). THis is a publicly traded fund that owns property (usually commercial) and/or mortgages. The value of these funds doesn't trend with the stock market, so that can diversify your portfolio.

But REIT funds, like mutual funds, charge management fees. Are these taking away your profits? Perhaps you would prefer a property with a deed as your real estate investment.

You could consider a pre-packaged system where you choose a new or nearly new single-family house from a variety of relative low-cost local markets. With the system comes a pre-selected reliable property manager at negotiated rates. The loan situation is negotiated, too, at five to 10 percent down.

An arrangement like this provides you with a balance sheet with predictable income and expenses. Your tenant will simply pay off the mortgage. In 15 years, you can sell the house and walk off with the equity.