There's a new way to make money from real estate — without ever buying a home

Getty Images; Tyler Le/BI

For most Americans, every home purchase is a bit of a gamble. Is now the right time to jump into the market? Can I haggle on the price a bit more? What if mortgage rates drop in a few months? These questions have always made buying a new place feel a little like hitting the blackjack table. For the better part of a century, these implicit bets on future real estate prices have been limited to the small pool of people making a home transaction every year. Plenty of other Americans...