NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - A majority of Americans have more than half their wealth locked up in their homes. It's a big risk to have so much wealth tied up in a single, illiquid investment, and there's essentially nothing we can do to hedge that risk.

Related articles • What's next for real estate • Your Home: Bracing for higher rates • MBA: No bubble in this forecast

Unless, that is, you happen to live in Syracuse. There, because of something called "home-equity protection," a homeowner can make a one-time payment and be protected from dips in the housing market.

Right now, it's basically an experiment, but for locals, it's a bid to stabilize the real estate market and revitalize the city. For the economists behind the scheme, it has a grander aim as well: to show that home-equity protection can work anywhere. Continued...