Rodney

Don't have any experience with British real estate, but if you're talking about buying income property, well yes -- very few lose money on it, unless you buy a dump that needs 'way more repair than was expected.

However, you may not make as much money as you'd expect, or as fast. Real estate prices tend to move in cycles, at least where I live. They go up for a few years, then level off some, then go down some, then rise again to a peak that's somewhat higher than the last one. If you buy at the peak, you may face the situation where prices go stagnant or fall a bit for a few years. But if you stick it out, even in a worst case like that, you'll eventually make money. (Unless all the major local employers close down, or the world economy goes to hell in a handbasket.)

You do want to make sure that your monthly cash flow isn't too much in the red at first; even if the rent was to cover your mortgage payments, there's still insurance, repairs, more repairs, even more repairs, and so on. And of course sometimes the "best" deals on property are in neighborhoods or towns that are undesirable and less likely to appreciate quickly.

I don't know the tax rules in England work, but if you make decent money in the states from your regular job it is desirable to have an income property even if you don't make huge money off it, because of tax advantages.

I had an income property for a few years. I didn't make a lot of money, but I enjoyed good tax benefits and got a fair profit when I sold it (only "fair" because I cheaped out and bought in one of those less desirable towns I was mentioning, while prices in towns 10 miles away were going up much faster.)