There are some that are great for sure, but I have currently heard terrible stories about people putting money in the last 2-3 years and losing it all, capital calls and losing the whole deal due to bad bridge loans (some coming do very soon). 

We have a high saturation of rentals that has caused the market to lose money. 

Is it fear of losing money?

I see so many new investors that lose thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, every year because they make simple mistakes.

There are many ways to buy cheap elsewhere but still lose your shirt. 

As those prices fluctuate, there is a builders somewhere putting his feet up waiting to see a market turn more active because the last thing he wants to do is start paying crews to build houses, that could drop in value while he's halfway through the build process and losing equity halfway into the project.

You can read a book and multiple books, but unless you are out there doing it (I.e. getting bids and getting contractors to truly get you an exact estimate) you will be far off from the numbers you want and may even lose money on the flip/rehab.The best advice I would suggest in my experience is that you should get into the line of work by either partnering with someone or working with someone on some projects prior to going into a flip on your own.

What did I really have to lose?

Real estate for the last four years was betting on red or black but the ball was fixed to win as it was nearly impossible to lose.

With real estate, you have to make sure each property is functioning at full capacity or you’ll be losing money.You can analyze properties and be pretty sure (as long as you don't rationalize bad deals into good ones) what your numbers will be.