Real estate question in Minnesota (Minneapolis, Rochester: for sale, rentals, new home)

[oconnorcm3]

Hi,

I've posted before, asked questions, read responses, done research and am still undecided. I would love advice from folks who are 'in the know'.

We own, free and clear, a home in Northern Virginia (Herndon). It has increased in value while we've owned it (19 years) and we have depreciated it, as a rental, for nearly 18 of those years. We would have to pay BIG capital gain taxes if we sell it. While we don't mind paying taxes, we prefer to do it the smart way. The home would currently sell for around $350, - to $400,000. We would be willing to put in another $50, - $100,000. bringing the price of a replacement home in Minnesota, that we'd be willing to spend, to around $450, - $500,000.

We are considering two options (and would love advice/suggestions on any options that we are missing):
1. Living in the N.Virginia home for 2 years to free up the capital (we currently live overseas) and then purchasing our dream-home in Minnesota to retire to (taking around 6 months to live in Minnesota and research the area).
Or:
2. Selling the Herndon home and doing a Starker Exchange for a rental home in Minnesota. This new purchase (in Minnesota) would have to remain a rental for at least one year, from my understanding. We would then, ideally, retire and move in to this Starker Exchange rental home in Minnesota. Since we don't really know where we want to live in Minnesota , we would need to purchase a home in a strong resale market so that, after living in the new home in Minnesota for 2 or 3 years, we could sell it if it wasn't all that we had hoped, freeing up our capital gains (finely) and purchasing our 'dream retirement home'. Obviously, we'd prefer to purchase our dream retirement home via a Starker Exchange, rent it out for one or two years and then move in to it, living our twilight years out and never moving again.

For any home that we move in to, we need/want some basic things:
- Good resale in case it isn't the dream that we had hoped
- Good special education school district (severely-disabled teen son, who will need support services for life, will live some of those twilight years with us)
- Good adult special education services available
- Adult special ed group homes available within reasonable distance
- Near a lake/river (but not on one, for safety reasons) where one can jet ski, row crew and perhaps sail
- Not too far from Winona, my home town (about 2 hours would be fine)
- Not too far (1 hour) from an airport (Minneapolis, Rochester, LaCrosse?)
- a bit of land and space
- The beautiful bluffs of Minnesota would be a bonus

If anyone has any ideas of where we should look, I'd love to hear it. I've already heard (and researched) Stillwater, Afton, Red Wing, Lake City but wonder how the resale market is for those areas and the adult special ed services. The latter is not an easy question to find information on. I suspect that it will require an extended visit.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to respond.

Mari

[golfgal]

I know Stillwater has had good special education programs for years, including adult education. Afton is part of the Stillwater school district so services would be the same. I don't know anything about Red Wing's special education.

Since you are interested in Stillwater and Red Wing you might want to consider Northfield. They have very good adult special education as well as the Laura Baker school for special needs adults.

Hastings would be another option as well.

Resale in all these towns, it is hard to say what will happen in 5 years but for the most part Stillwater area, Hastings and Northfield are all going to be ok. One bonus with Northfield is it is home to 2 colleges and many professors looking for rentals while teaching there temporarily. Stillwater tends to attract many professors as well for some reason. If you do end up going the rental route, advertise at the colleges.

[molochai2580]

ABC - Ability Building Center

Here is a link for the Ability Building Center for Southeastern MN.

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for or not.

Here is another link:
PossAbilities of Southern Minnesota -

and here is a link for some info on the Rochester education:

RochesterMN.com: K-12 Education in Rochester, MN (http://www.rochestermn.com/k12/education/cat-14.html - broken link)

Hope this helps some.

[oconnorcm3]

Thank you for that information, molochai2580. I had found one of those sites but two are new. I'll read over them and call for further information.

Mari

[taw1955]

Hi I am from Minnesota. Minnesota is a great state for disability services. In the twin cities metro area they have many many providers for kids and adults for disabilities. I work in a group home myself. I know my son who is autistic is graduating next week from high school. The Bloomington school system has been wonderful for my kids and if it werent for their good care of my son I can honestly say I would have been lost. Minnesota has a great school system can't beat its just like the disability services. I would call the local social services department in the counties where you are thinking of living and check out the disability info. As for real estate I dont know much cuz I rent. I know Bloomington has tons of beautiful houses for sale. Best of luch to you.

[oconnorcm3]

Hi,

I'm curious what your son will do once he graduates from high school. What types of day programs do they have for adults with autism? Will he eventually live in a group home and how long of a wait will he have before getting a spot? Does he have a medicare waiver that will pay for these services? How long did it take for him to get his waiver?

So many questions, sorry. Thanks for any answers that you can give me.

Mari