You may already know that Real Estate in the US has a historic average return of only 5%. The stock market offers a better return. I will tell you why Real Estate is actually better. With real estate you use OPM Other people's money. Let's say you buy a $100,000 house. You only need to put down say $10,000. Your investment is $10,000 but you are getting a return of 5% on the $100,000. In your first year the house goes up 5% and is now worth $105,000. That is an extra $5,000 to a $10,000 investment. That is 50% return in a year. Now this is not exact. First there are fees to get a loan and purchase a house. Second you are also paying a mortgage. The mortgage though also helps you. As long as you can purchase a property that can at least be rented for your monthly payment you are paying back your mortgage too. That amount you are paying off the mortgage is also adding to your net worth. You also may not get 5% one year it may be 3% the next 6%. This is just going by the...