America's Best Affordable Places to Retire

US News & World Report
America's Best Affordable Places to Retire
Soon-to-be retirees are resetting their expectations for their golden years
By Emily Brandon

Posted: September 28, 2009


Retirement is definitely not ho-hum for the Murphys, who hold cooking classes in their home. They teach slicing-and-dicing skills and sessions on making holiday dinners, using leftovers, and grilling. The classes are offered through the local North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement, which runs a sort of "college for seniors" in which members pay $115 for two months of unlimited classes. They're held at the center, members' homes, and on campus at the University of North Carolina-Asheville.

On Saturdays, you'll find Jan Moran—who recently came out of retirement and works as a marketing consultant—at one of Asheville's farmers' markets stocking up on veggies and grass-fed local beef. "It's the best-quality food, and it's also a social experience," says Moran, who moved to Asheville from Tucson, Ariz., more than two years ago after her husband, Paul Rollins, revealed a "secret desire to return to North Carolina," where he had grown up. (Jan was sold on the area after a visit.) The market's organic produce is often more expensive than at the local grocery, "but the meat I buy comes farm to market, and the people charge less than at the store," she says.

As visitors have discovered, a trip to Asheville's extravagant Biltmore Estate comes at an extravagant price: $55, and no senior discount. But if it's absorbing architecture you're after, the city is dotted with unique buildings, including the Art Deco city hall, the breathtaking Spanish Baroque Basilica of St. Lawrence, and the Jackson Building, a gargoyle-flanked, neo-Gothic masterpiece. Admission, of course, is gratis.

Real estate in this mountain enclave is pricier than in many cities of its size, but a drive down the winding Blue Ridge Parkway, a frozen custard at the Grove Arcade, or a lazy afternoon spent listening to drummers in Pritchard Park are reminders that everyday life in this laid-back town is easy on the wallet. The secret about Asheville may be out, with more and more retired people flocking to the city, but as retiree Fred Teach puts it, "Asheville's still a gem. It's magnificent."

For more information on Asheville Real Estate call Private Mountain Communities PMC at 888-517-3322.

As the trusted authority on Asheville, PMC offers a real estate advisory service and cost free buyers resource center that showcases the areas real estate offerings in their state of the art Real Estate Studio in downtown Asheville. The showroom is staffed with independent community advisors who have done extensive on-site research to understand the unique attributes of each community so their knowledge of the market and unbiased recomendations streamline the process of finding the community that's right for you.