Month: November 2025

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US News named its top 250 best places to retire. How did Greenville rank?

Greenville, SC

U.S. News World & Report issued its latest 250 Best Places to Retire list. They are always doing a “Best of Something” report, (one day I want to see a “Worst Of” list from them) and they often don’t mean a lot except to the people who read these kinds of things.

And a lot of people do read these things.

So where did Greenville rank on the list?

60.

Wait, 60. That seems really low. At least, we did better than last year, right?

Wait, what, we were 30th last year. We dropped 30 places in one year. I know Clemson football is bad this year, but they are like two counties over from Greenville. Did I miss something else? Did the Liberty Bridge fall down?

According to the Post & Courier:

U.S. News overhauled its criteria for the 2026 rankings, leveraging entirely new data and expanding its list from 150 to 250. This year, the report analyzed more than 850 primary cities from metropolitan and micropolitan areas across the country, instead of the broader metro areas as it did last year.

“We do not recommend year-over-year comparisons for that reason,” said Tim Smart, retirement expert for U.S. News. “New cities were added, some had never been evaluated before and scored highly in quality of life and affordability and other factors that retirees say they consider most important.”

People looking to relocate for retirement should consider using the rankings as a starting point, Smart said. They can filter by factors including average rent, housing prices and population size.

Whew, I feel a little bit better right now.

It wasn’t all bad news for Greenville. We were ranked the third-highest of places in the Southeast outside of Florida, and we were the highest-ranked in South Carolina. Other South Carolina cities included in the overall rankings were No. 123 Rock Hill, No. 160 Spartanburg, No. 211 Sumter and No. 244 Florence.

So, what is the message today? 

Greenville is a great place to retire. Way above average, actually. And Greenville does normally perform really great on these rankings. We love to talk about them and share. However, it’s also sometimes good to get some not so great news from these reports.

Greenville, SC best places to live
Greenville, SC
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Herlong Sotheby’s International Realty shines huge light on the Upstate with CNE

Herlong Sotheby's International Joan Herlong blog

GREENVILLE, SC — About 250 Sotheby’s International Realty agents from more than 40 affiliates across the country plus the Grand Caymans saw the best the Upstate has to offer during the inaugural Carolinas Networking Event.

“The response from SIR agents everywhere was almost overwhelming,” said Joan Herlong, CEO and founder of the agency. “The feedback we’re still receiving has been uniformly positive — about greater Greenville, the incredible range of properties within our market and especially our magnetic downtown. Every aspect of this event delivered a wow factor.”

The Carolinas Networking Event (CNE) was held October 12-14 in downtown Greenville.

Felicia Delope, a real estate professional with Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Washington, said this was the first time visiting the region and Greenville exceeded her expectations.

“The city feels vibrant and welcoming, with a strong sense of pride in its growth and quality of life. Getting to experience the fall festival while we were there was the perfect glimpse into the community. You could see how much people love living here. I left with a deeper understanding of why the Upstate is such a desirable place to call home and I am excited to share that with clients who can truly choose anywhere,” she said.

Kathleen Faulkner-Goldin with Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty in New York also lauded Greenville.

“What a wonderful city! I enjoyed every minute of my visit. So beautiful, so clean, so safe,” she said. “Each night, I walked several blocks to my hotel and enjoyed seeing all the people out and about enjoying their city.”

The concept for the CNE came after the Herlong Sotheby’s International Realty team attended the  “Global Networking Event” in Nashville, said Jackson Herlong, Chief Strategy Officer for the agency.

“The CNE was Joan’s brainchild. She envisioned a ‘fun-sized, bite-sized’ Sotheby’s Networking Event, but it’s a pretty daunting project when you invite 250 people to anything,” Jack Herlong said. “We each thought that there must be a way to gather the SIR agents / affiliates from the Southeast region, where most of the companies are of a similar size to us to come together.”

As the CNE began to take shape, Sotheby’s International Realty took a personal, supportive interest in helping the Herlong affiliate, which is a hallmark of the Sotheby’s brand in residential real estate.

“Sotheby’s International Realty has kept every promise they’ve made to me as an owner, and then some,” Joan Herlong said. “I regard their execs as a brain trust, a personally supportive resource that I call on whenever we need help, or just a sounding board. They’re the leading luxury brand in real estate for all the right reasons.”

The breakout sessions featured experts in risk mitigation, artificial intelligence, luxury lifestyle marketing and mastering social media. While several Upstate realty firms are many times larger, Herlong Sotheby’s International Realty is the leader in social media reach, followers and impact.

This first CNE exceeded Herlong’s goals and met or exceeded the expectations of fellow SIR agents.

“We’re exhausted but exhilarated, and already strategizing to make the next CNE even better,” Joan Herlong said. “We brought the Upstate to the world’s attention and they loved it.”