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. 

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.

Too much to lose besides money 

And in states that allow deposits and then settle up competition is higher as the price of entry is so low 5 to 20k deposits to bid.. now if you dont finalize you lose the money and can be fined as its illegal to bid and not close.

People are losing money.

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

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.

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

Our dollar is losing value so you need to be with a solid operator in institutional assets that cashflow in markets while hedging inflation with tax benefits. 

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.