Real Estate has been berry, berry good to me! Three homes and two rental properties owned. Made a tidy profit each time I sold. :)
But, that's in the Midwest where things remain pretty stable. I would've been a fool to speculate as I did on either coast, or in the coastal south.
Rust Belt Investing is about as stable as you can get...just have to approach it with long term vision and understand the markets.
If you try the "get rich quick" view, you will get your butt handed to you quickly.