Real estate investment trusts (REITs) are a unique form of stocks with broad appeal for stability-seeking income investors. REITs finance, own, and operate diverse types of income-generating real estate.Those firms invest in everything from apartment buildings, data centers, healthcare facilities, cell towers, hotels, retail centers, warehouses and more. REITs must also pay at least 90% of taxable earnings to shareholders as dividends. That high payout is the primary reason income investors like REITs so mu ...