Jul-30-2008
Do More in Des Moines
I happened to be surfing YouTube the other day and to my amazement ran across a video with some of my friends in that they had done for a contest for the Greater Des Moines Partnership. According to their website, the “Des Moines. Do More.” marketing program is a regional marketing effort to recruit new businesses and workers to Greater Des Moines and retain and grow those already here. The slogan “Des Moines. Do More.” refers to “Des Moines” as the whole region, recognizing the area would not be what it is without the sum of all the parts.
Here’s my friends’ video entry, called “Hung Up on Des Moines”
You can see other entries on the Greater Des Moines Partnerships Do More page.
By MulderDSM
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It all began with Sophie and her summer lemonade/brownie stand. Sophie wanted to help children with cancer so she set up her stand on the corner of 6th and Grand outside 418 Liberty where she lives in the heart of downtown Des Moines. Her first day she raised $144.00, the next one she set up in the skywalk outside the RE/MAX office and raised $151.96. Sophie’s mother, Tina, a realtor for RE/MAX wanted to help her daughter Sophie make her goal of raising $1,000 by the end of this summer, so she enlisted the help of her fellow Realtors in the RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts skywalk office. RE/MAX has always been more than selling homes. We believe in giving back to the community. Our RE/MAX office consist of full-time realtors, who live, work and give back to the community in which they serve everyday. RE/MAX became Children’s Miracle Network’s exclusive real estate sponsor in 1992 with their associates having raised more than 65 million for the charity. So here we are, RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts Skywalk office teaming up with lil Sophie Opal Johnson to raise as much money as we can by the end of this summer for our Children’s Miracle Network hospital in Iowa City.
As I’ve previous written about, the skywalk system was a major factor in me purchasing at the Liberty Building, so I have a real interest in how the skywalk system looks. When I first traveled to Des Moines in early 2003, I stayed at the downtown Marriott since it was near the Wells Fargo Financial building where my interview was to be conducted. I had to navigate the skywalk system from the Marriott to Wells Fargo Financial, it was a little confusing, but I made it there. I think the hardest part was getting my bearings or knowing which was north, south, east or west. I feel it’s similar to coming up out of a subway tunnel, sometimes its hard to know which way you are facing to know which way you want to go.
Now that I have a chosen a condo, I needed to get myself a realtor. I could have used any of three realtors that I’ve had good luck with before, Georgia Caldwell with Coldwell Bankers; Anne Bickell with Iowa Realty or Kelly Schall with Burnett Realty, but instead I chose Tina Johnson with ReMax Realty due to a couple of reasons. First reason I choose Tina is that she lived in the building I was purchasing and new the ins and outs of the property and what I could do to get a quick acceptance. Secondly, Tina has been selling in the downtown market for the last 10 years and really knows the market which will help in the negotiating process.
