This is a “SMART” car for more than one reason.

It was spotted in a Home Depot parking lot over the weekend near our corporate headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. As you can see, the energy-conscious vehicle stands apart from the endless sea of cars in the crowded parking lot.

And not just because of it’s unique compact design.

Leveraging a small space, this real estate agent tandem took an opportunity to promote their services within the community by wrapping the car with a clever marketing message. Without the message it’s just another SMART car driving around town.

In this tough economic climate, successful agents are going above and beyond the ordinary methods of building their businesses. What worked five years ago doesn’t necessarily cut it anymore. And since more than 70 percent of homebuyers start their real estate searches online, expensive traditional print ads just don’t have the same impact … or return on investment.

Indeed, homebuyers today are savvy — they understand what’s going on around them and are looking to save big money on home purchases. This reality is underscored with preforeclosures and foreclosures selling at a rate of 2-1 over non-distressed real estate.

So bargain shoppers are out on the Internet in full force. It’s no coincidence, therefore, that most of them end up on Foreclosure.com — the name says it all.

Many of the folks who search Foreclosure.com do not currently have agent representation. It’s the reason we launched our Community Expert Program, which provides exactly what it says — a community agent expert to help homebuyers achieve their goals of homeownership.

Many of our agents have had overwhelming success with this program. It accomplishes two things:

1. Assists homebuyers with finding incredible deals
2. Directs homebuyers to the “cream-of-the crop” agents in their communities

Homebuyers can find community experts on each property details page just under the listing address. An agents name, photo and complete contact info are displayed. So just do a quick home search on Foreclosure.com and you will be on your way toward connecting with the community expert in your area.

If you are an agent who would like to be considered as a community expert click here.

First-time homebuyers are still taking advantage of the unbelievable real estate market conditions, pushing sales up 3.2 percent to 84.6 on the Pending Home Sales Index in March 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

It’s 2.6 points higher on the index than in Feb. 2009 (82) and 1.1 percent more than March 2008 (83.7).

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, had this to say about the latest progress:

“This increase could be the leading edge of first-time buyers responding to very favorable affordability conditions and an $8,000 tax credit, which increases buying power even more in areas where special programs allow buyers to use it as a down payment. We need several months of sustained growth to demonstrate a recovery in housing, which is necessary for the overall economy to turn around.”

Remember that the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers is only available until Dec. 1, 2009. And with the market showing signs of life there is no telling how long the record-low home prices and interest rates will remain at their current levels.

Put simply, now is the time to cracking on your home search before it’s to late.

Head over to Foreclosure.com today to see what deals are available in your area at rock-bottom prices. We offer the best listings in the nation and give you total access to our massive database for seven days free with no strings attached.

So what are you waiting for? Click here.

Foreclosure.com Founder, President and CEO, Brad Geisen, recently shared some expert thoughts on the hot-button issue with the New York Times Freakonomics blog:

“When property values are cheap enough that they equal rental values. What I mean by that is when you can buy a property with very little money down and finance it at a good rate, and then rent it out for just enough to cover the mortgage, insurance, and taxes, then you’ve hit what I call ‘economic value.’ That’s when the property value is the same as its economic value. That’s pretty close to bottom. Now, when you have a pendulum swinging, and values are still dropping a bit, it may swing a little past that. If the property was already 30 percent less than market value, and property values are still dropping, and it gets down to economic value, then that’s when the pendulum will begin to stop and begin to swing the other way.”

To check out the entire high-profile question and answer session click here. It’s a must-read “power session.”

“The Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffet — who happens to be the world’s richest man with a net worth of approximately $62 billion — this week held his annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., before a packed house of about 35,000 curious followers.

Aside from being filthy rich, the 77-year-old Buffet has earned a reputation as being one of the world’s most successful investors. His outrageous bank account, of course, helps support that status.

So when he talks people listen. And he did a lot of talking about a lot of things at the most recent “Woodstock of Capitalism.” The national housing market was naturally a topic of discussion.

Here’s what he had to say (via Finance.Yahoo.com):

“In the last few months you’ve seen a real pickup in activity although at much lower prices…. We see something close to stability at these much-reduced prices in the medium to lower part of the market.”

Buffett, according to the article, was citing data from Berkshire’s real-estate brokerage business, HomeServices of America Inc., which is one of the largest in the United States.

It’s not an Earth-shattering report; however, “stability” is certainly a word that most homeowners are happy to hear after the recent rollercoaster ride the market took these folks on over the last few years. And the fact that there has been a noticeable “pick up in activity” at “reduced prices” is certainly good news for buyers looking to score great deals.

Because as Buffet would advise, “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” And the value you can get right now at more than likely a historically low price is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often … so take advantage of it if you can while it lasts.

Remember, you can start that search at no cost with the nation’s top distressed real estate database over at Foreclosure.com.