No, savvy real estate investors with a lot of hard-won knowledge beat the market and, more importantly, achieve their returns consistently in a variety of economic climates. It's not based on luck but, like using a piece of farmland optimally, requires knowledge of how to best leverage the asset. Unlike traders/mutual fund managers/hedge funds, who have been shown time and again to be charlatans, the regulars in real estate prove the naysayers wrong year after year.