Djsaw, No one has talked about 'lifestyle and money'... Jkom put it in a very technical way. I am putting a bit of a human story behind it.... but saying the same thing. The fact that you are not working right now and living off the dividends is a big red flag for your future. You have kids and your living expenses will only grow not lessen. Unless there is enough money to meet all your future needs, ie college, mortgage, new car, travel etc, you need either a job that pays well enough or an investment strategy that will give you enough to live on without eroding the principle. There may or may not be enough money for that as is. (I have no idea from your post.) This is where you need to talk to someone that can really figure out what you want for yourself and your kids with the money that is there. Most people with a young family need about $5mil to $10mil nest egg to have an upper middle class lifestyle without needing to work for life AND risking the principle. "Not risking the principle" is a very important concept because you do not have the earning power to bring it back up if you lost it. (If your wage was a $1/2 mil to $1mil a year then no big deal but you are not there...) People like Donald Trump and Ted Turner can pull themselves out of near bankruptcy but most of us cannot recoup the lost principle. I have seen multigenrationally wealthy families have this happen to them due to risky investments. If I had your money, I would want to have certain things that money can buy; a house in a good school district, enrichment for my kids, good after school care for my kids if I was working, nice vacations etc. Notice I did not list designer handbags or fancy cars. One of the joys of having money is that you can have some opportunities that enable you to enjoy life more fully and perhaps get your kids a small head start with good education and opportunities that may help them in life. We are all driven by Darwinian instinct to put our kids ahead of someone else's kids. This does not mean materially owning more things. However, there are things money can buy you to achieve that. As an example, I have piano lessons for myself and music lessons for my kids that cost about 6 to 8K per year. I get a great deal of joy out of my music. I budget about 10K to 20K for travel every year because I want to see the world and I want my kids to see the world. These items add up to a significant amount of money and I could not do these things if my salary was 50K a year, a median salary for a family of 4 in the USA. For example, if there is $1 to 2 mil in you portfolio and you have 50K to 75K before taxes to live on, then that is not a 'great income' to have a nice life style. However, if you supplmented that by having $50k salary, then you may be able to do things that you thought not possible with either the income alone or just the earnings from the inheritance alone. This is why you talk to the financial advisor/planner to help you achieve your lifestyle goals, whatever they maybe.... You are extremely lucky. I wish you the best.

A "Starker exchange" was codified by the IRS. You may be looking to TIC exchange (Tenants in Common) governed by some fairly strict IRS regulations (although no SEC oversight as they are real estate investments not securities). You need to find a registered-rep to hook you up with a TIC Facilitator. This is the TICA website. Maybe you get in touch with them through the contact page and they can recommend a qualified intermediary (accommodator) or you can learn more about TIC exchanges? Hopefully the TICA association can direct you to someone in your general area and more information concerning your questions. If you decide to take the cash because you are wary, the tax rate is currently only 15%. Deferring tax on the gains by reinvesting may not be a wise move for you.

In my area the property owners taxes lock upon reaching retirement age and the school district taxes are removed from the appraisal list when tallying the total tax due. I experienced a similar situation with my Grandmothers house. The county overvalued her older home due to square footage based on the sale price per square for homes in her area. What were once large tracts of farm/ranch land with farm houses out in the country 40 miles from Houston ended up becoming subdivided neighborhoods and what were once nice homes on smaller tracts of land became McMansions after bulldozing the original home. The property taxes quadrupled after her passing. I was forced to raise the rent so high on a tenant of 10+ years that they bailed. If we had a break in the taxation we could have kept the place in the family. Unfortunately we couldn't and had to sell. It was heartbreaking. What we found out was that the county undervalued the land and way overvalued the home. I'm not calling anyone here right or wrong. But, it would have been unfair to her new neighbors if I'd of kept MeMa's place at her taxes which were locked in in the mid 70's. Having said that, I can assure you that if I could have got the break I'd of taken full advantage of it regardless of how it affected everyone else. After all it's LAW regardless of how fair/unfair it may be to other property owners. Good Luck with your situation. See ya, Kelly

Talk to a nearby 1031 Accommodator, they will give you good advice in minutes when they know the details of the reverse transaction you are contemplating.