Chicken Little is nobody's hero.
Little Orphan Annie is a much better role model.
After all, when you are down, there's no where to go but up.
Or as the Annie character would chirp, "The sun will come out tomorrow."
That's how Eric Tyson wants you to face today's weary housing and mortgage markets.
"The problem is not as widespread or as devastating as some people believe," says Tyson, a personal finance advisor and New England author and co-author of a collection of "Dummies" guides for sellers, buyers, mortgage shoppers, investors and those looking for personal finance assistance.
Tyson's latest and yet unpublished tome, "Let's Get Real About Money" (Financial Times Press, $19.99) throws the book at infomercial come-ons and get-rich-quick schemes by presenting successful personal finance as a discipline of fiscal fitness.
It's an example of his pushing back from glass-half-empty table of pessimism in favor of sound financial principles that get you through tough times.
Don't mistake his prudence for Pollyannaish pish.
Tyson, who has been around the boomed out and busted up block a few times, has the experience to know that housing market conditions could be a lot worse.
"It's true that the housing market isn't performing as well as it had been, but don't think of it as a downturn. Think of it as a market correction," Tyson advises.
Real estate, just like the potentially topsy-turvy stock market, is a solid long term investment. Home values have their ups and they have their downs.
If you've spent most of your adult life as a homeowner, no matter what's going on in the market today, you are likely quite equity rich -- provided you haven't squandered your gain.
Tyson says there are quite a few other ways to keep a stiff upper lip until the market corrects itself in the other direction.
If you are a home buyer in the making or and investor in the wings, here's how to fly now.
Subject yourself to a diet heavy in any one thing and well, you'll get sick of it and become insensitive to the sagest advice.
"Just like a steady diet of junk food is bad for your physical health, a continuous stream of negative, hyped news is bad for your financial health. Conflict is always occurring somewhere in the world. The business world will always have unethical and corrupt company executives. Holding stocks always carries risk. That's why those who see the glass as half full, and who see the positive and not just the negative, build wealth by holding stocks, real estate, and small businesses over the long-term," Tyson says.
Many markets continue to offer appreciating home values, even in areas where sales are in the tank. Buy at the right time in the right area. The best time to buy is often are the bottom of a cycle when everyone else is on the fence.
Of course finding bottom can be a crap shoot because you won't know where the bottom is until the market reveals an improvement for some time. But you can get close with careful analysis, assistance from professionals and patience.
"Remember, housing is a local market situation. If you're looking to buy, you need to know the area you are buying in," Tyson says.
"If you're going to buy a house and you take out a loan where the payment is artificially low in earlier years and then balloons, don't sign on the dotted line until you are certain you will be able to afford that ballooning rate," says Tyson.
"These loans can quickly blow up in your face," says Tyson.
Right now, for example, many who purchased balloons years ago can no longer qualify for the same loan today, or another loan to get them past balloon time.
Tyson advises, "Take a balloon loan, if and only if, 1) it is your only financing option and you've really done your homework to exhaust other alternatives, and, 2) you're certain that you can refinance when the balloon comes due."
"Many of the subprime mortgage lenders that we saw fall to pieces were bad lenders," says Tyson.
"They convinced people to take out risky loans that they really couldn't afford."