I'm not a fan of REIT ETFs because I don't want to own malls or offices - two sectors which are being made dinosaurs by technology. Residential, industrial, and healthcare real estate are less prone to disruption. Healthcare faces threats from office conversions, but I think it's harder than it looks to turn an empty office building into a nursing home or hospital.
I like residential ETFs like EQR, MAA, and maybe UMH. I'm shying away from otherwise-attractive residential ETFs concentrated in HCOL areas like ESS because another RE correction could be a triple-whammy of rising interest costs, falling asset prices, and rising discount rates.
I also like healthcare ETFs like OHI, SBRA, NHI, GMRE, LTC, MPW, and HR. These are unappreciated Covid recovery plays too.
Self-storage REITs like EXR, PSA, and SELF have decent dividends and steady businesses.
In the industrial space, I like MNR.
I also own a few preferred stocks for apartment, industrial, and healthcare REITs, including CSR-C, GMRE-A, MAA-I, and MNR-C. Each of these yields over 6%, and is senior to the common dividend. I'm tempted to go all-in on these preferreds and take a year off work. I'm also tempted by MORT, but don't have the guts.
Note: All the above ideas besides MORT is a bet on interest rates staying low.