The National Association of Realtors (NAR)® recently issued its latest report on the status of the national housing sales market for March 2009, revealing that existing home sales declined 3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million units.

That’s a 7.1 percent drop in Feb. 2009; however, remember that those figures were actually a huge surprise (an increase of 5.1 percent between Jan. and Feb. 2009), which was largely attributed to the enormous interest in discounted foreclosure homes.

In fact, the report indicates that distressed real estate is selling for about 20 percent less than traditional homes right now. That’s perhaps a conservative estimate — we are seeing a tremendous amount of deals that offer great savings between 30 and 50 percent listed on Foreclosure.com every day.

Regardless, it’s good news for those buyers who are currently searching for homes … even if there are less of them — they have more options from which to choose and less competition!

First-time homebuyers are apparently responsible for about 53 percent of the transactions in March 2009, demonstrating that record low home prices and interest rates, as well as limited-time government incentives, are luring them to get while the getting is good. And Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, is confident that the number will increase sooner rather than later.

Here’s a snip:

“The share of lower priced home sales has trended up, indicating a return of many first-time buyers, which we also see in a parallel member survey…. Buyer traffic has been rising, and real estate offices are getting phone inquires about the tax credit. By early summer we should be seeing a positive impact on home sales from record-low mortgage interest rates in addition to the stimulus provisions.”

Be sure to check out Foreclosure.com today and take advantage of our FREE 7-Day Trial to search for amazing home deals in your neighborhood at absolutely no cost. It’s better (and wiser) to get in on the action before everyone else does!

While the final numbers may not be available for a few weeks or even months, a preliminary report released earlier this month by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration indicates that the recently introduced $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers is working better than expected.

In fact, as of either March 6 or March 7, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) it appears that about 1.4 million taxpayers intend to claim the the tax credit on their 2008 tax returns. And as Inman News points, out that’s very close to meeting or exceeding “the 2 million target set by lawmakers before it sunsets Nov. 30, 2009.”

Of course, taxpayers had until April 15, 2009, to claim the credit on their returns, which means that the estimated 1.4 million figure will likely increase. What’s more, buyers who buy between then and Dec. 1, 2009, can also pocket the $8,000 on their 2009 tax returns.

But there does appear to be a little confusion: Of the 567,685 households that claimed the tax credit, 38,158 weren’t eligible because they may have been homeowners in the last three years.

So be sure you know the requirements before filling out form number 5405!

For those who may be a little late to the party let’s do a quick reset of the $8,000 tax credit, which was part of the $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — a blockbuster stimulus initiative that is expected to boost employment and jumpstart the national economy.

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The two-year anniversary of what is now your premiere resource for distressed real estate information and education, Foreclosure.com’s “Investment Exchange” newsletter, is almost here.

We’ve come a long way since our debut, which is the reason we want to reset and touch on things that you may have missed along our journey in our April 2009 edition.

Regardless of what we cover each month, whether it’s short sales or tax lien certificates or some other interesting investing method, our primary goal is to always provide you with the tools and resources you need to achieve your real estate goals, whatever those may be.

And what the all often boils down to is how to find the best real estate deals in your area. So that’s exactly what we wanted to touch on in “Investment Exchange Two-Year Review.” We’re going back to the basics!

To check out Investment Exchange Two-Year Review today be sure to click here.

Remember that “Investment Exchange” is a FREE resource that Foreclosure.com provides its site visitors. Sign up to receive the educational real estate newsletter each month at no cost right here.

You’ve had the itch to make money flipping real estate for awhile now, but just haven’t had the resources to know how to scratch it.

That’s all about to change.

In our most recent edition of “Investment Exchange” — our free educational real estate newsletter — we dive into how you can build your own investment team, covering everything from where to find the best deals in your area to how to find the contractors and financing necessary to flip them fast for profits.

Real estate investing can be a very tricky endeavor for those looking to get their feet wet — there is a laundry list of items of which you need to be aware at every turn throughout the process. Therefore, we recommend that you surround yourself with people who have experience in certain areas, freeing you up to do what you do best … whatever that may be.

So how do you get started?

Find out in the “Creating Your Investment Team” edition of the Foreclosure.com March 2009 newsletter right here.

Remember that “Investment Exchange” is a FREE resource that Foreclosure.com provides its site visitors. Sign up to receive the educational real estate newsletter each month at no cost right here.