I spend my days selling apartment buildings and spent most of my younger years helping managing houses, condos, commercial and instutional properties. I think investment real estate is a accessable and efficient way to build wealth, however if you screw the pooch, you can bankrupt yourself. That said, I know folks who have been bankrupt a couple times but are still happy, healthy and generally good business people.
I wrote a
book about apartment buildings if that's something you're into. If you're thinking residential then I think Don Campbell's
Real Estate Investing in Canada 2.0 is awesome. And I generally stay away from condos - in my experience it's almost impossible to see a special assessment that's 3+ years out and I've paid tens of thousands in special assessments.