here with some different ideas to repair the housing market is john wasik, author of "the cul de sac syndrome." >> in most places, the home market is like a cat on its tenth life. home sales and prices are dismal. the market is not going to come back without some serious economic catnip. remember last year when congress offered those big tax credits for new homebuyers? bring them back, only sweeten the pot. buying a foreclosed home? get an extra two grand. still living in a foreclosed home? get a rent-to-own deal. underwater on your mortgage? get a one-time tax write-off on lost principal. we have to move on and work off that nine-month inventory of unsold homes. to do that, we have to treat homes differently. look, if you were a company, you'd get to write down a money- losing unit, take an earnings hit, and move on. why not do this with homes? it's about time we treated homes like economic assets and liabilities. we should be able to write off their losses like stocks and bonds. yes, i know-- home ownership is the most sacred part of the american dream. but if homes are truly inves