With Congress considering a return to Washington this month for another economic stimulus effort, the National Association of Realtors has proposed what they are calling a "four-point plan", which they want included in any future stimulus plan being put forth. The trade organization, which represents 1.2 million members across the country, says more is needed from the government in order to boost the economy and calm jittery real estate markets.

NAR officials say such measures are needed because the housing sector has historically lifted the country's economy out of past economic downturns. Many economists have also argued that stabilizing real estate markets must be the core of any additional economic stimulus bill. Sheila Bair, the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), has argued that more has to be done to help homeowners struggling with foreclosure. Bair has told Congress that the government is "clearly falling behind the curve" on the foreclosure issue, according to the Associated Press. The FDIC has proposed that the government put $24 billion toward helping 1.5 million borrowers by guaranteeing modified mortgages through the end of next year, the AP reports.

Paulson resistant
At a hearing on Capital Hill on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that he must reverse course and spend some of the $700 billion in bailout funds to keep individual homeowners from losing their homes, according to the Wall Street Journal. Paulson is opposed to Bair's proposal to use funds from the bailout to help modify home loans. He reiterated his opposition to using any of the money to buy mortgage-backed securities or individual mortgages, although that was his original plan in September when he asked Congress for an unprecedented amount of money to keep global credit markets going.

NAR's plan includes:

· Making the $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit available to all buyers and eliminate repayment requirements. Currently, the credit's limited availability and repayment requirement severely limit the credit's use and effectiveness.

· Making the 2008 FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits permanent. New rules for 2009 will reduce them. Now is not the time to limit mortgage affordability.

· Getting the Treasury relief program back on track and target more funds to mortgage relief. Create a federal mortgage interest buy-down program to make below-market rates available and stabilize home prices.

· Permanently bar banks from engaging in real estate brokerage and management. The banks have proven they have enough to do to simply manage the loan process. Banks should not manage home sales and purchases.

According to the latest quarterly survey by NAR, distressed sales - foreclosures and short sales - accounted for 35 to 40 percent of transactions in the third quarter, pulling down the national median existing single-family price to $200,500. This is 9 percent lower than the third quarter of 2007. A year ago, when there were significantly fewer distressed transactions, the median price was $220,300.

To know surprise, the steepest declines in single-family home prices in the third quarter were in three California markets: the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area, where the median price of $227,200 dropped 39.4 percent from a year ago, followed by Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville at $212,000 - down 36.8 percent from the third quarter of 2007 - and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, where the price dropped 36 percent to $377,300.

Regional median single-family home prices

*Western region: $266,300 in the third quarter, a 21.4 percent below the third quarter of 2007.

*Midwest region: 5.5 percent decline to $159,900 in the third quarter from the same period in 2007.

*Southern region: $174,200 in the third quarter, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier. The strongest price increase in the South was in the Tulsa, OK, at $139,800, up 5.1 percent from a year ago, followed by Amarillo, TX, with a 4.2 percent gain to $128,300, and the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area of Louisiana at $166,800, up 4.1 percent.

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