Real estate tends to be the average middle-class American's greatest asset. It seems like the gate keeper of wealth. As soon as people get equity in their first home or property, they can move up more quickly by leveraging over people's money (in this case, generally their bank's money).
What's so interesting about real estate investing is the capital that people can pull out of the market in anywhere from a day to a few decades can range between tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
I recently learned about this cool technique called wholesaling which is glorified way of expressing that someone found a deal, and sold it to someone else who wanted it for more money. A good example of this is buying a home for $500,000, and turning around to sell it to a local investor for $750,000 because the investor sees opportunity in the property. It's insane to me that literally finding property, and sourcing the deal can be so incredibly lucrative. The time window even allows for the wholesaler to skip getting approved for a loan. Essentially, if they can make the bid, and find the investors in time, then they simply get paid without dropping a dollar.
That's just scratching the surface. There are many strategies and techniques to being profitable in real estate transactions, but the common thread between successful real estate moguls seems to be that they have a strategy going in and stay focused. Financial freedom is a key to living a happy life.