How to invest when the Real Estate market seems about to crash?

[Silvia M.]

Hello,

The Real Estate market in my country (Romania) was booming up until now, as a direct result of government sponsored programs. Long story short 90% of the purchases were made through this program in these past few years and there are some stories out there that this program might stop next year or at least the rules will be stricter. This hypothesis, coupled with some other events that have been going on (new laws, banks increasing down payments) make me think the market is about to crash sometime in the near future. 

On to my situation and problem. A few months ago I've sold some land, made a decent profit and was thinking about purchasing a property and renting it after. This is the only kind of real estate investment for passive income worth bothering with in my country.

The problem is I've been sitting with the money in a bank deposit for the past couple of months waiting to see a clear sign about what is going to happen with the market, but I realize I could be sitting like this waiting for a market crash for 2-3 years or more, and meanwhile the deposit rate is so small I am almost losing money by keeping it in the bank. 

As I am not an experienced investor I wanted to pick your brains a little and ask what would you do in my situation? Is it crazy to invest in real estate when the market is clearly at a peak? 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my story!