“We thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives in Asheville,” Ms. Silverman said. “Everyone said, ‘Why don’t you retire where your kids are?’ But I wanted a place where they could come visit and get away.”
Their home had beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the couple enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, kayaking, and fly fishing. Mrs. Silverman, 72, a former teacher, was an active volunteer. Dr. Silverman, 73, gardened and tended beehives. After taking a course in handmade ceramics, he started crafting vintage tools and cameras from clay. “It’s like woodworking, but instead of pieces of wood, you roll clay into slabs and build things,” he said.
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Shortly after arriving in Asheville, Ms. Silverman developed macular degeneration, and her vision became increasingly blurred and distorted. She stopped driving during the pandemic, making life in Asheville untenable. She felt trapped in the house.
“We went to lunch with a friend who said, ‘You need to get out now while you still have things to do,’ and we went home and put the house up for sale,” Ms. Silverman said.
Both Silverman children were in New York – their daughter in Chelsea and their son, with his wife and 6-year-old, in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Brooklyn reminded the Silvermans of Boston, where both are from. (They met as camp counselors in New Hampshire.) So they decided to move within walking distance of their son’s family.
Priced up to about $2 million, the couple sought a relatively new condominium with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and private outdoor space. They preferred a quiet street with close proximity to subways and plenty of natural light to help with Ms. Silverman’s low vision. And they wanted to be near a gym, although their son reminded them that having a gym in the building was both possible and better.
They also realized the value of a third place of sorts. “The thought of being in the apartment or finding a place outside, such as a coffee shop, would be a very limited and binary decision that would not be enjoyable, especially in bad weather,” said Dr. Silverman. “When we discovered that some buildings had a common area, that became a priority.”
There were few options within walking distance of their son’s family. “Most of the larger, better-equipped buildings are in downtown Brooklyn,” says their agent, Tamara Abir, a salesperson at Compass.
The apartments the Silvermans considered were similar inside, with about 1,200 square feet, private outdoor space, large living/dining areas with open kitchens (always with a dishwasher and an island or peninsula) and a stacked washer-dryer. They also offered thoughtful extras like walk-in closets, five-burner stoves and double sinks in the bathroom.
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