This week, Gallup released the latest edition of an annual survey asking Americans what they considered to be the best long-term investment. The No. 1 answer? Real estate! This chart doesn't go back that far, sadly, but you can see that just a few years ago, the percentage of Americans who thought real estate was the best investment was MUCH lower, a fact obviously attributable to the trauma of the housing crash. After the housing crash, numerous pundits predicted that America's love affair with homeownership would be doomed for good and that it might take generations for people to be into the idea of owning real ... (full story)