Honestly, with everything going on right now I'd put my money in gold. Everything else feels pretty shaky, real estate included, especially in the Middle East. But that's your call obviously. I think you can easily find realtors on Facebook who know the Dubai property market inside out. They could help you track down the right villa.

Always insure the property after you buy it, that way you're not sitting there worried about losing either the roof over your head or your money. People lost their gold during the Great Depression too, so there's no completely bulletproof way to hold onto your savings. Property in Dubai is an interesting option though. The tourist flow there is insane year-round, so you can recoup what you put in through rentals pretty fast. You don't even need a realtor to start looking, you can look through villas for sale in Dubai, for example, here https://atvir.com/uae/residential-complexes/villas . Get a sense of the prices, see which layouts appeal to you, and then you can fly over to close the deal.