Buying and selling real estate has become one of the most popular forms of investing over the past decade and it is catching on for a reason. When it is done right the pay off can not only be huge but it can be quick. While typical investment strategies can take years to significantly pay off, real estate can increase the investor’s fortunes in a very short time.

The other thing that is exciting about the world of real estate investing is that it is more of a hands on investment. Unlike the stock market where you are pretty much putting money in to somebody else’s business in which all sorts of people are making the decisions, real estate is generally an investment where each play is your own. That said, there are real estate investment groups where you can buy in to someone else’s venture in order to gain a smaller share.

There are all kinds of different ways to make money on the real estate market. The one that seems to be more popular, at least in the one that is discussed more in the popular culture, is what is usually referred to as flipping. This is the practice of buying a property with the intention of selling it right away at a higher price. When it is done right the return on the investment can be huge, depending on what kind of property was purchased.

People are turning to this practice because it is an investment that keeps paying for itself. While slower growing investments are generally left alone until the money is finally needed for something such as retirement, the money gained on something like a flip can be immediately reinvested into another property. If the first cost a hundred thousand and was sound for a hundred and thirty, for instance, the investor can now easily acquire a property worth that much more. Once that property is flipped, the return on investment will go up again and then another even bigger property can be bought.

The big draw here, as you can clearly see, is that if everything is done successfully, after only a few properties are sold, you can continue to make investments almost entirely out of your profits.

Because of this it is easy to see that the potential pay off of real estate investments done right can far outweigh the actual risk; and, be sure, there is a risk. Generally these initial purchases are done with help from a bank. If something goes wrong along the way—property values could, in theory, drop quickly, or there just may not be anyone willing to buy—the investor is stuck with potentially all of their money tied up in a property.

If that were to happen the results are obvious. However, if the investor is willing to go into it slowly, start small and put the effort in to researching the market, then the risk is greatly diminished. Real estate is something that many people are getting in to because, when done right, it just seems to be paying and paying and paying.