Stocks yield a much better return. Where I live, houses doubled in 10 years while stocks like Google 10x. If you're scared, then VOO.
Yes it is stable but so are bonds.
If you want real estate exposure still then REITS or DST exist with no work. No buying yourself a part time job. No expenses.
Don't even get me started on being in a state like California. It gets worse with every law they pass.
I could see this being viable is mortgaging with leverage but even then you are probably breaking even with the rent and the gains are still no where near stocks. And all it takes is one bad to tenant to set you back months.
Another reason is to prevent banks from owning all the houses. But with these laws they pass it's getting harder and harder. You can't even have vacancies anymore or they penalize you. You can't even do what you want with your own asset, how insane is that? And if you think you can vote your way out of this, you can't.
I've had bad and good tenants and no matter how much you help the bad ones they will hate you and not take care of your property.
The point of having money is to get away from poors. Being a landlord is antithetical to that.