People frequently fall for investment tricks, thinking that the only way to earn big returns is to do the latest trendy thing. Unless you have access to a sitting politician’s financial advisor to benefit from insider trading, you’re not likely to do much better than the average market return. Chasing trends is almost guaranteed to do worse. (And insider trading gets you in jail unless you’re politically connected.)

Basic Personal Finance Chapter 9 talks about real estate as an investment. Sp...