I'm rather confused as to what you're asking, so could you rephrase it? (I'm very brain-dead at the moment.)
However, empirically speaking, probably because of the society in which we live in, exactly as you had said. Due to its nature, there are far more incentives to become a waged worker in a decent paying corporation than to be a property manager.
Personally speaking, I would never want to be a property owner/manager. Having spent many a summer, fall, winter and spring helping my father repair our former, very old and large house, I can honestly say that even if I didn't do repairs regularly, I wouldn't want spend the my life being a property manger, even if the rent was high. On the contrary, having spent many days in my father's office helping him with generic stuff like patient paper work, tech support and shuffling files and instruments between rooms, it really doesn't seem all that gloomy. Naturally, I don't want to be a corporate cog (lol who dreams of being a corporate cog when they're a kid?!), but I actually am contemplating business (in addition to electrical engineering) above everything else at the moment. Starting my own business would be nice, and for no social or economic incentive either. Simply because I believe I would enjoy, for the most part, the work.
Also, I believe that your last statement is fallacious; you can't know the outcome of something you can't do.