Real estate investment trusts (REITs) can be great investments for those seeking to generate passive income. Most REITs offer dividend yields well above the S 500's average of 1.3% (the sector average is over 4%). Many REITs offer even bigger income streams.

EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR) and W. P. Carey (NYSE: WPC) currently yield more than 6%. They should be able to sustain and grow those big-time payouts, making them great REITs to buy hand over fist for income. Unfortunately, that's not the likely case for Annaly Capital Management's (NYSE: NLY) monster payout. Because of that, investors should avoid its big-time dividend.

Annaly Capital Management currently offers an eye-popping dividend yield of more than 13%. That's 10 times the income you could generate from investing in an S 500 index fund.

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Source Fool.com