Four Ways to Hedge Against Falling Home Prices

Homeownership has become risky business.

And when business gets risky, investors hedge.

Your house is no longer the bottomless piggy bank it was when home prices rose 40 percentage points above rentals in just five years. Which means -- in investor-speak -- there's huge downside potential.

And many people's housing prices have already started to drop: Nationwide housing prices fell 5.8% in 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. ...