Rita Danielle Steele

In theory, I have always been a big advocate for serving refreshments at my open houses. A touch of class, an extra incentive to lure in potential buyers. In practice, however, I have found the serving of refreshments at my open houses to be nothing but a calorie-loaded inconvenience.

Take this evening, for example. I was having an evening "event" of sorts, a Thursday night open house geared towards young professionals (my target market for the loft I am selling). I decided that refreshments were a must for such an event, so I posted invitations stating that said refreshments would be served all over Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist - you name it - leading up to my open house.

By my open house start time, signs were up, lights were on, soft music was playing, and I was standing with a welcoming smile at the front door. Too good to be true. I should have known that I had forgotten something. I am never that punctual. And I did realize, fifteen minutes too late, that I had overlooked picking up the damn refreshments.

My more typical refreshment scenario involves me, a poor turnout buyer-wise, and a plate of cookies that somebody (me) is "forced" to eat so that they do not go to waste. A scene in the recently popular movie "I love you man," comes to mind. Note here - if you are a realtor and you haven't seen this movie yet - rent it! Then you will know which scene I am talking about. And another note to all you potential buyers and other open house attendees out there - we realtors do not poison our refreshments! We actually intend for you to enjoy them! They are there for you, not me!

This Sunday I plan to host an open house at a high-end home in Providence's East Side. Refreshments will be served, of course. But I think I am learning, because I have already decided that my "refreshments," purchased well in advance, are going to consist primarily of some good bottles of wine. I figure, if I am going to be the only one enjoying them anyway...

To those of us who consider Providence the best thing to happen since sliced bread, it can come as a bit of a blow to the ego when one's response to "where do you live?" is met with puzzled looks and reactions such as "Huh? Where? Is that near New York or Miami? Rhode Island is a STATE?"

Those are just the sort of responses George, Gia and I had to respond to during our travels through Cyprus, one of the Mediterranean's largest islands and European who's-who hotspot. Our somewhat impractical goal: to show the rest of the world why Providence is the best place on earth, and that everyone would be wise to invest there, right now. Our back-up plan: to show the rest of the world how close Providence is to New York and Boston, and that, therefore, everyone should invest there, right now.

I am proud to report that our approach landed somewhere in the middle of the two plans. If one spends enough time with us, our passion for our city tends to have an irresistibly contagious effect. This is quite beneficial, in circumstances such as mine, when the only way I could effectively communicate in a foreign language I only knew about 5 words of, was through enthusiastic gestures and big smiles. George and Gia were, thankfully, able to communicate our ideas in a much more sophisticated manner.

The best part about our plan was that Providence, in its small glory, legitimately presently presents itself as both an affordable, culturally rich urban mecca, and as one of the United State's best investor dark horse hotspots in our current opportunistic market.

International economists know that the resurrection of the market will begin in the United States, in cities like ours. To those with the financial stability to wait patiently for the eventual re-growth of our economy, their investments will be well rewarded. Here at Geo, our commitment to exposing the potential of our little city to the world goes on, and we will continue to spread the word about the current opportunities that exist here. And, in an effort to contribute more than my two cents in via clumsy broken sentences in a foreign tongue, I am also committed to refreshing my overseas language skills.

~Rita