You have plenty of options when it comes to investing in real estate. You can purchase a single-family home, rent it out and collect monthly rent checks while waiting for its value to rise high enough to generate a big profit when you sell. Or you can purchase a small strip mall and collect monthly rents from hair salons, pizza restaurants, mattress stores and other businesses.

You can go bigger and invest in an apartment building with dozens of units, collecting a steady stream of rent checks from your tenants each month.

The key is to do your research to find out which type of real estate investing is the best fit.