The day you know there is no certainty anywhere, is the day you start planning with good factor of safety, diversification of investment is one of them. The world will guaranteed nothing no matter how perfect it looks from the outside, many would tell their stories of good, bad and ugly, it has always been like that.

Real Estate investment is good, to the extent that people had started with $100 or lower and has built million dollars empire with it. But this is not immune from failure because bad luck and wrong choice can plague people more than they bargained for. The story you narrated is one of the bad luck and wrong choice examples, inexperience also adds to it, we should learn the investment before doing it.

The environment, what the location is earmarked for, its topography, government's future plan are few out of the factors to consider before investing in real estate.