wishing for badness and wanting to do the right thing to protect yourself are different things. “getting a house on the cheap” sounds like profiteering from someone else’s misery. what about just avoiding one’s own damned misery? getting a good deal means being somewhat more financially stable. the economy after all is made up of an innumerable number of little tiny decisions. you don’t make your money when you sell, as they say, you make it (if you do) when you buy. so i would say it’s less about ‘wishing” for bad things to happen, or “wishful thinking”, but more about enhanced prudence and awareness in very financially risky times. in other words, i’d rather make a smart decision than a so-so decision, or a really bad decision.