@Remington Lyman It's a good thing the real world doesn't follow single variable statistics, it's far more complex than that.

It is ok to study statistics, but emotions will affect how long you stay.

At least bold absolute posts invigorate emotion and discussion.  

That's not an impressive statistic for realtors and their sales skills.

I'm no expert on either area and have relied heavily on realtors and property managers from the area for input regarding neighborhoods in addition to other statistical data.  

.: Back in the 1990s, that statistic I read was that 80% of graduating high school seniors expected to become millionaires in their lifetimes.

I'd love to go back and tell myself not to worry so much and act more boldly!

The next study below from Cambridge associates looked at 942 funds from 1986-2016 data and showed around 3.9% outperformance of equity REITs over private real estate with median leverage between 54%-60% so not as high as individual house flippers but still with significant leverage:There are many other studies in US and also by EPRA out of Europe in developed countries as well as many academic studies, https://www.nareitphotolibrary.com/m/750b587aba063147/origin...and they mostly all agree that on the whole, on average, for the Average investor, that private Real Estate investing is statistically worse than stock market in US by about 2% and worse than buying equity REITs by around 4%, over last 20/30/50 years. 

Keep in mind every offering i have ever seen and the few I have personally put together The first page is Generally in Bold print this is a risky there is no liquidity and you could lose 100% of your money.. this is disclosed up front..

@Russell Brazil,Aint it AWESOME how those who were bold enough to make the decision to get into the Real Estate business have been able to become wealthy by HELPING OTHERS!