Depending on your age, and the earnings you need to make in what amount of time should be what determines where you invest. The stock market is for long term investments, look for stocks with a good dividend, good brand name, and a DRIP program. If you are looking to make quick money you best bet is to sell everything you own walk up to a roulette table pick black or red and pray(It did work for one guy a couple of years ago, think he was from the UK), its close to a 50/50 shot. Real estate everywhere is way overpriced and on the down swing, alot of people have already found that with the rise in interest rates they are now upside down (Negative Equity as Dazzag said before) that is when you owe more on the property then it is now worth.
If you were to invest in realestate and you have some time, look at undeveloped areas like new hampshire, New mexico, etc there you can get acres of land dirt cheap and eventually it will get developed. When my wifes grandmother built her home she got the initial lot for $33 and had a chance to buy additional lots for $1 each, she bought only 1 additional of the 200 available. that land laid mostly undeveloped till about 15 years ago and now those lots are worth an easy $150k (If only she had bought more).
