Gold is safer but wont https://fundrise.com/ give you a good return and yes it can drop in price, it did 20 year ago.
the current market is allowing to buy up to 50% of the homes value.. most expert say that if you have money to Invest and you are not planing to use it for 4 year that will double your money...after the market hits bottom an it will house prices wil start to go up an higher than before between 5% and 15% a year depending on the area, if you add the 50% discount on the house you bougth that's a really nice investment.