It's different than REIT, not necessarily universally "good". One obvious difference is with a house you get a collateral for a huge low-cost leverage, that in some cases might be easier to settle if things go South (e.g. shortsale). Another one is rent you save/collect from someone else.

To me, rent just seems like a form of dividend payment, which is of course not unique to property ownership.

I know someone who bought a 4 plex here in Dayton for $50k in cash, and earns 500 per unit ie 2k per month or 24k per year. Paid for the investment in 2 years, and is now earning 24k per year residual and bought another property for 78k.

Renting is a good investment if you can handle sourcing tenants and outsourcing or handling maintenance issues.