There are a lot of investment property with rental yield higher than 4.4%.
Check out the distress home on hudstore.com.
Yes but you have risks : market prices going down (like any market); bad regulation; rents not paid; renovations ect.
Paying off your mortgage is an investment : if you have a high rate interest on your loan and you don't think there will be massive inflation it is a good investment but if you can find a better investment (Gold; Bitcoin; energy ressources companies not based in the US..) and you think there will be a higher rate of real inflation than the interest rate on your loan you should use your available cash for those other investments
Maybe you can pay off part of your mortgage and invest the rest of it in precious metal, Bitcoin or abroad
