The 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond is quite possibly the worst investment option out there right now… even your Uncle Dave’s coin and baseball card collection might offer better long-term returns.

Let’s forget for a moment about the Fed’s intention to raise interest rates, possibly as soon as December (which will put downward pressure on bond prices). And let’s forget that the longer a bond’s duration, the greater its sensitivity to interest rate movements. So with every basis point uptick, nothing will feel the pain more acutely than the 30-year “long bond.”

Let’s even forget that Uncle Sam’s credit rating has already been downgraded by at least one ratings agency in the past…

Even if interest rates don’t rise and Congress miraculously balances the budget — a best-case scenario, if you own Treasurys — you’re still tying up your capital for the next three decades at a paltry rate of around 3%. 

But here’s the kicker: when your principal is finally repaid in the distant future, those dollars will have lost much of their purchasing power.

Just ask anyone who bought one of these bonds back in 1983.

Let’s say they loaned the government $30,000 — enough money to buy three average new cars at the time. Now, when they get that money back at maturity, it will only get them one new car.

How much do you think your $30,000 will have eroded by 2045?

So if lending money out for 30 years is one of the worst things you can do, then borrowing it for 30 is quite possibly the smartest.

Instead of locking in today’s paltry rates as the payee, you’re locking in as the payor. Oh, and the lender can’t refinance if interest rates move against them, but the borrower can. Finally, instead of loaning full-valued dollars today and then receiving devalued dollars back tomorrow, you’ll be doing the exact opposite: receiving full-valued dollars upfront and then repaying with depreciated ones later.

That’s the opportunity you have with a 30-year mortgage right now. In fact, I’d be so bold as to say that taking out a 30-year loan is essentially like taking a short position in the 30-year Treasury.

But here’s the thing… You can even take it a step further and buy real estate as an investment.

Here’s why I think this is one of the best moves you can make…

1. While the overall national housing market has made great strides toward recovery, thousands of quality homes are still listed at bargain prices in some markets. Why not take advantage and make those borrowed dollars stretch even further?

2. Real estate is a durable hard asset that should appreciate in value as the dollar slowly weakens. A maturing bond only gives back what you paid in. No more, no less. Meanwhile, an average home that sold for $75,300 in 1983 is worth $247,900 today.

3. Real estate is not a vacant, idle asset. Find a tenant and generate steady monthly rental income along the way.

So you could park $200,000 in a long-dated Treasury and collect about $7,000 in annual interest. And that’s all you’ll get — capital appreciation potential is nil. Or you could invest that cash in a small Victorian home with a corner lot and rent it out for at least $1,000 a month, or $12,000 per year. And it’s not a stretch to say the home might appraise for $300,000 within the next decade.

Of course, these numbers are purely hypothetical. But scenarios just like this are playing out in thousands of cities across the country. Many of the best deals (the luxurious beachfront condos selling for pennies on the dollar) are long gone. But there are still plenty of attractively priced homes that can generate impressive rental yields of 10% or more.

But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Warren Buffett. The Oracle himself said it would be smart for affluent investors to purchase not just a second or third home, but “load up” on “hundreds of thousands” of single-family homes.

The “smart money” is following Buffett’s advice. Private equity groups, hedge funds and others have already scooped tens of thousands of properties. Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), for example, has sunk billions into purchasing homes and is now the largest institutional owner of single family homes in the country.

Unfortunately, most of us lack the spare cash to buy up entire neighborhoods or invest in new residential developments. Most of us would only be able to buy one or two rental properties to get started at best.

That’s why I’ve been telling readers of my High-Yield Investing newsletter about a special asset class that allows regular investors to get in on the action. They’re called real estate investment trusts, or REITs for short.

REITs allow regular Americans to invest in assets like real estate, and many of the best pay yields as high as 12%. They trade right on the major exchanges, and it only takes as little as $500 to get started. 

My High-Yield Investing readers and I have been profiting from these investments for years. But not all REITs are created equal… that’s why I recently identified my three favorite REITs in my special report: The High-Yield Hall of Fame. If you haven’t seen it, I urge you to check it out now by clicking here.