To most Americans home ownership fulfills a dream. It defines who we are and in many cases represents the majority of our wealth. And yet for others the buying and selling of real estate is a highly profitable business enterprise. Like all successful businesses, the buying and selling of real estate requires an outstanding strategy. Only by applying tried and true strategies to buying properties, whether they are single-family homes or office towers, can one hope to profit in the shortest possible time.

Recently we have witnessed rock bottom interest rates, which has led many people to leave the uncertainty of the stock market and to invest in the roof over their heads. The returns to real estate investing have never been better.

Figure 1: U.S. Household Assets

Note: Although the returns to financial assets (stocks and bonds) have been negative for the last few years, people have taken their money out of the stock market and put it into the housing market driving house prices higher and thus preserving overall total wealth.

With lots of cheap financing in place, more and more people have entered the real estate market. This has led to an escalation of home prices in all of the major markets. In cities like New York the average price of a two-bedroom apartment is just below a million dollars.

As an asset class real estate is hard to beat. What other investment do you have a reasonable prospect of earning a three, four or even five hundred percent return on your investment? Only real estate offers you the chance, with relatively low risk, to become very wealthy and often in your spare time. In essence, becoming a successful real estate investor comes down to three specific skills: (1) Value Investing – finding undervalued properties, (2) Financing – finding a way to pay for these properties, or have them pay for themselves, (3) Marketing – selling these properties for top dollar.

Report on Money with its special reports, market newsletters and insights based on research rather than conjecture is the answer to your real estate questions. Take the next step in learning how to become the investor that you’ve always wanted to be by developing the necessary skills and learning the proven strategies that have allowed others to profit from real estate.