Buy a home, live in it two years, improve it, sell it. Single filers keep $250,000 in profit tax-free, married couples $500,000. Repeat every two years. Market conditions and execution matter.
The safest, most conservative way for the average American to build wealth in real estate is for you to buy and fix up over time. Let's say you stayed in your primary residence for two years while you lived there, you improved it and then it appreciated in value over those two years. You sold it and didn't have to pay capital gains taxes on it. So now if you're single, you can have a gain of up to $250,000 without tax implications. And if you're married, you can have a gain of up to $500,000. Now you can do that every two years and get that non taxable gain on repeat. Obviously it's not all going to be sunshine and rainbows, but you wealthy once you master it.
