Realtors hope Fed stimulus boosts home sales

Thomas Wilds and Kim Lamon just bought a home in Melbourne two months ago. They say it needs a lot of work, so they went shopping again and again -- and again.

"We've been to Home Depot and Lowes, 15 to 20 times," Thomas said.

The Federal Reserve hopes there are more Thomas and Kim's out there ready to pump money into a stalling economy. It just announced an aggressive stimulus plan that will pump $40 billion in the economy every month until the job market shows more improvement.

How will they do that? They will buy foreclosed homes or mortgages from the banks that have been sitting on the market for years.

Sally McFolling is President of the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors.

"Now that the banks can now lend money because they don't have these mortgages on the books, that frees up the money for new buyers," McFolling said.

She believes this aggressive stimulus plan might work, especially if interest rates continue to stay at an all-time low. Sally says for every 100 new homes sold, 300 jobs are created in the economy.

And for every two resale homes sold, Sally says those pump $60,000 into the local economy.

"Buying new refrigerators, carpet, paint, fixing up the house, furniture, things like that," she said.