If you or someone you know are having trouble making house payments, or are facing a foreclosure situation, HELP is available. The Colorado Foreclosure Hotline can be reached at 1-877-601-HOPE (4673).

This is a FREE counseling line provided by the State of Colorado's Foreclosure Prevention Taskforce to help residents who are in need. A highly trained team of counselors is available to offer guidance and help.

If you are not late on your payments, but feel you may be in the near future, this is a good place to start to seek acvice on how to handle the situation.

If you are behind on your payments and are not sure what to do, call the hotline.

If you  have received a notice of foreclosure for your property, it might not be too late.

If you are having difficulty communicating with your mortgage company, the counselors can help.

Please contact the counselors at the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline. The counselors will give guidance and in some cases, work with the mortgage companies to come to a resolution so you can keep your home.

                           COLORADO FORECLOSURE HOTLINE                1-877-601-HOPE

Good News for City of Longmont Residents.

The City Council of Longmont has extended an invitation to the public for an open forum session with the council.

This will give residents the opportunity to have their voices heard regarding issues, concerns and questions about the community.

While every city council meeting has a public comments section, there is often not enough time to hear all concerns. By opening the entire meeting to public comments, the residents of Longmont will have ample time to be heard and responded to.

The council will host a reception beginning at 6pm on Tuesday January 15th, 2008 in the City Council chambers at 350 Kimbark St. 

Refreshments will be provided. 

According to the city website, "This is an opportunity for Longmont residents to engage in a positive, informal dialogue with members of the City Council about any current issues or future opportunities they see for Longmont." (City of Longmont, 1/8/08)

Visit the City of Longmont Website for more information. Click HERE to go to the webpage.

Dont' miss this great opportunity to meet with your elected officials.

Greetings and Happy New Year!                                                         

I hope you enjoyed a restful and joyful holiday season. 2008 is shaping up to be a great year. Inevitably over the past year you have heard the media's negative portrayal of the housing market. The truth is, the market has always experienced highs and lows and we have been in a period of market correction in Boulder County.

Over the past few years we have experienced the lows of a typical 7-year market cycle. We are at the end of the 7 year cycle and we are excited about the prospects of an improving market in 2008. What does that mean for you? It's a great time to think about investing in the real estate market while inventory is high and interest rates and sales prices are low.

As a quick example, there are currently 52 homes with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2 car garages for sale in the City of Longmont under $200,000. If you've ever thought of investing in an income property, now is the time to do it. The rental market is strong with properties typically renting within 1-2 weeks of listing. Current rental rates on a single-family home in Longmont are averaging $1,250.00/month.

With mortgage rates currently below 6% (as of 1/9/08), there are many financing options available to investors which do not require a large down payment.

I am excited about the investment market. I would like to share my ideas about this opportune time in the Boulder County real estate market with you. If this is not the time for you, please think of who you know that would benefit from this amazing time in the market as I would be happy to compensate you for the referral.  I look forward to hearing from you so we can speak further about these exciting opportunities.

With best wishes for a prosperous 2008,

Christiane "Chrissy" Harrison
ERA Tradewind Real Estate
601 S. Bowen St.                 4999 Pearl East Circle Suite 101
Longmont, CO 80501          Boulder, CO 80303
(303) 684-7734

Recognized as a sculptor of Cowboys and the American West,  Frederic Remington helped bring the West to life through his sculptures and paintings. Now, the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center in Longmont Colorado will be featuring an exhibit with artwork from this talented man.

Frederic Remington Makes Tracks...Adventures and Artistic Impressions
from the Frederic Remington Art Museum
is now in residence at the Longmont Museum from Nov. 10, 2007 - January 6, 2008.
Admission is FREE

According to the Longmont City Line, the exhibit "shows Remington's achievements as an illustrator, printmaker, and sculptor through original prints and silver recasts of original sculpture". (Nov. 2007 Vol. 18 No. 11)

Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity to see the artwork in person.
Museum hours are:
Tues - Sat. 9am - 5pm
Weds. 9am - 8pm
Sun - 1pm - 5pm
Closed Mondays

The Museum and Cultural Center is located at 400 Quail Road near the Longmont Recreation Center. For more information, click here, or call 303-651-8374.

For other information about Longmont Colorado, please contact the author, Chrissy Harrison at (720) 205-7546 or chris.harrison@eratradewind.com.

It's a happy winter here in Longmont! The community will come together Dec. 7th & 8th for some family friendly, fun community activities! This is a perfect time to get to know your neighbors, community leaders, local businesses and to have fun. Two great events will take place. Longmont Lights and Hometown Holiday Parade.

The Longmont Lights celebration will be located at Roosevelt Park (8th & Coffman). Visitors will explore holiday huts, music performances, fire pits, carolers and will be treated to free cookies and hot chocolate at the Senior Center Patio.

The Hometown Holiday Parade is fun for the whole family. Winter characters, floats, bands will parade through old downtown Longmont. The parade is followed by a fireworks spectacular - what a great way to kick-off the holiday season!

Carriage rides will take visitors from the Memorial Building through the old downtown area to view window art in the Main Street shops.

Santa's Workshop will be open to children 8 & under on Friday Dec. 7th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. This is an opportunity to make toys and crafts with your child while visiting with Santa! Pre-register by calling Rec. Services at (303) 651-8404.

The Schedule is:
Friday, December 7th
5:00-9:00p.m.                         Park Lights, Holiday Huts, Fire Pits, Carolers, 
                                                    Mini-Train Rides, Reindeer, Hot Cocoa, Movies
5:00-8:30 p.m.                 Carriage Rides from the Memorial Building
6:00p.m. - 8:00 p.m.         Drop -in    Santa's Workshop - Memorial Building
6:30p.m. -  9:30 p.m.        Dance (Live Band) - Senior Center

Saturday, December 8th
5:00-9:00p.m.                         Park Lights, Holiday Huts, Bon Fires, Carolers, Mini-Train Rides, Reindeer, Hot  
                                                    Cocoa, Movies

                    ******5:00 p.m.     Parade of Lights - Main Street & Coffman Street********

5:00-8:30 p.m.                 Dancers from Around the World - Memorial Building  
6:30p.m                           Fireworks at Memorial Building

Watch for the ERA Tradewind moving truck to be transformed into a magical holiday parade float. We'll have carolers and surprises for all our friends in Longmont!  Come see what the truck will look like on Saturday evening along the parade route...... (remember, you can use this truck for free if you buy or sell with Chrissy Harrison at ERA Tradewind Real Estate)

                 Come on out and take part in this Longmont tradition - hope to see you there!

The Nutcracker Ballet will be performed in two locations this weekend in the Longmont Area. Tickets are advanced purchase, so call today to reserve yours! This is a wonderful family tradition you won't want to miss.

The Longmont Symphony Orchestra will be performing with the Boulder Ballet this coming Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd. The performance times are:
Saturday Dec. 1st. at 4:00 p.m. and Sunday Dec. 2nd at 2:00 p.m.
The performances will be held at the Vance Brand Civic Auditorium  located at 600 E. Mountain View Ave. in Longmont. (Skyline High School)

Come watch Clara journey through the magical Land of Sweets with her Nutcracker Prince. The sets are amazing and the performance is top notch! Click Here for a slide show of last year's performance. 

• All seats are reserved. Get your tickets by:
  1.  calling the LSO office at 303-772-5796
  2.  emailing a ticket request to:  symphony@qwest.net
  3.  mailing in a ticket request to: 
          Longmont Symphony
          PO Box 74
          Longmont, CO  80502
  4.  stopping by the LSO office, located at 519 Main Street, in the breezeway next to the Longmont Theatre Company.

The Timberline Symphony Orchestra will be performing with the Longmont Dance Theatre also this coming Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd. The performance times are: Saturday, Dec 1st at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 2nd at 2:00 p.m.

The performances will be held at the Niwot High School Auditorium located at 8989 E. Niwot Rd. in Niwot Colorado.

This performance features the talents of the students of Longmont Dance Theatre! Children as young as 6 years will be performing under the direction of Kristin St. John.
Featured Performers for this production are Stella Abrera and Sascha Radetsky from New York City's American Ballet Theatre.

All Tickets to be purchased through Longmont Dance Theatre:
1. Call the office at (303) 772-1335

I'm so excited this afternoon. I just went out to show homes to a first time buyer and boy was it exciting! This buyer is ready, willing and able to buy in this great buyer's market. I can't wait to help him find his dream home!

Why am I so excited? Because this is the type of homebuyer every Realtor hopes for and every Seller looks forward to receiving an offer from. He's ready because he did his homework! Here's what he did and here's what I would love to see most buyers doing before racing to buy a home. He:

Worked on building his credit by paying credit cards on time.

Saved up enough for a down-payment and moving expenses.

Got pre-approved with a mortgage professional who helped him understand all different loan programs available and guided him to finding one that is well within the monthly budget for payments.

Searched online to find out what the differences in price ranges are for different cities.

Chose a professional Realtor (Me!) to help educate and guide him through the process.

Doing the homework is great. The even better part is seeing his face as we walk through homes. I can see his eyes light up in different areas, or get excited talking about how his furniture would fit so well in the living room. I can't wait to see which home ends up becoming his. It's so cool to help people realize their dreams of homeownership and I am grateful to be a part of that.

If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about buying a home, please feel free to contact me at www.ChrissyREALTOR.com.