How do investors prepare themselves for when the market goes down?

[CJ Moulton]

Hello All,

For the last year or year and a half I have been hearing people (in person or online) saying that the housing market is bound to crash, with the inflated prices of most homes going down significantly. But then on the flip side I have heard of people saying that it's better to get started in real estate as soon as possible. It's obvious that you cannot predict every little thing, and there will be bumps in the road no matter the journey, I just don't want to buy a property just for it to lose a ton of value over the next few years.

Here's an example...

Say you were to buy a property for 250,000, and all of the sudden the market crashes and the property is worth 100,000. As an investor, what is the best way to go about this? Are there ways to prepare yourself? Is this just an irrational fear?

Any advice/insight on this matter is greatly appreciated, much love!