More people have become wealthy through real estate investing than any other single form of investment. Real estate investing allows you to control large sums of money with very little down. You can also improve your property by either performing work yourself (what I call buying a second job) or by hiring others to do it. In that way, real estate is unique. It is like buying a business and running it yourself.
Real estate investing is usually a long term investment. Many people lose money when they look at real estate investing for a short term gain.