Much has been said about real estate and its wonders. But do you really know the real score on how it creates wonders for your money? After all, different people hold various opinions on how much good do leverage and OPM (other people's money) have.

First of all, always make a qualified mortgage professional part of your team of experts; the examples that follow may not be appropriate or even possible for your particular situation. Some people have the goal of receiving cashflow every month to supplement their incomes while others want long-term financial success through investment appreciation.

In achieving your financial goals, we can look at some options you can consider. The best thing here is that you are in control when it comes to real estate. To start with, let's say you have $20,000 as a principal. If you are eyeing a $100,000 worth of property, you can deposit a 10 percent down payment. Alternatively, you can put in a 20 percent down payment for a $200,000 property. The rest is for you to decide.

Maybe you want to ask: what is the difference between these two options? Considering you decided to put in a larger down payment, chances are, you will pay your mortgage at a much lower price and you do not need mortgage insurance at the 20 percent mark. Larger down payments can provide you cashflow if that is what you like.

On one hand, let us say that the appreciation is set at 6 percent for both properties. (Appreciation rate varies depending on the location, type of property, etcbut for this specific article, we will assume it at 6 percent). In just a matter of one year, your $100,000 property is now worth $106,000. However, the $200,000 property becomes $212,000!

The amount of appreciation for both properties ($100,000 and $200,000) obviously doubles itself year after year. All these and more, but you would not be spending any thereby saving yourself some serious bucks!

Greater appreciation values mean a shorter time until you have enough to pull out some equity and use it to buy ANOTHER property and then have two properties working for you, again compounding the effects of appreciation. What are you sacrificing? Since you paid a lower percentage down payment, the cashflow might not be there on the $200K home, and maybe there are even months where you have to pay some maintenance expenses out of pocket, but look at the long term gain advantages.

Moreover, you get more advantage since debt payments and maintenance costs are tax deductions (using leverage or OPM and getting less monthly cashflow) unlike cashflow that is taxable. In the case of some people who needed monthly cashflow - the solution is simple, your approach can be modified to get what you really wanted. Besides, most people would agree that extra payment every month realizes wealth building benefits in the future!

With these in mind, its not surprising that you chose the better one. Start pooling your team of experts now and make the right choice!