I posted a little bit ago about a company in Utah that did out of state turnkey investing, the owners of which are now being indicted for bilking 28M from investors in a ponzi scheme. It would be hard to know that something is amiss when getting involved with such a company until things start to fall apart, because even the established investors are initially happy bc they are getting their returns.
If you want something different from a REIT, you could try one of the crowdfunding realestate companies--realtyshares, realtymogul, etc. I don't have any personal experience with them, but have heard some positive things.