STRIKING NATURAL BEAUTY IN LUXURIOUS FAMILY NEIGHBORHOOD

BY MOLLY OVENDEN

Entertain friends with luxury hygge factor? Raise a family in Northland woods?

You can do both in this striking $1.4 million home for sale in Duluth.

At first glance, this flat-roofed stucco house looks out of place: something commercial or from the West Coast.

Inspired by work he did on the Tech Village in downtown Duluth, the late Rob Link, former president of Jamar Roofing Company, with Lee Anderson’s backing, built his home in 1997, and it’s now on the market through Edina Realty.

The luxury residence at 702 Cedar Gate Circle is a home you must experience in person.

Tom Rauscher’s architectural partnership with Link ensured ingenious design with an open-plan kitchen, wet bar, media room with grand living room and overhead catwalk connecting the master wing to the rest of the house.

Simultaneously offering conventions of business and entertainment, partial enclosures of living areas allow private conversation while staying near the fun.

Floor-to-ceiling windows bring the outside in, flooding the entryway with natural light. Moderate tree coverage affords privacy without being isolated. You can’t help but feel peaceful when you’re there.

There’s tranquility amid the modern design without feeling stark.

“It’s small enough, too, that you feel real comfy,” said owner Diane Link-Morley.

Naturally secluded, it’s centrally located in Duluth. A couple minutes off Arrowhead Road and en route to

Hermantown, it’s easy for guests to find and convenient for airport travel. Situated at the end of a family neighborhood culde-sac, this 5,400 square foot, 5-bedroom, 6-bathroom, 5-car garage home sprawls across three lots.

Birds chirp, announcing spring. LinkMorley has seen moose, otters, and even “a mama bear with her three little cubs,” she said.

It is “totally a Northern Minnesotan house,” Link-Morley said.

Light wood in the kitchen and bathrooms echo Scandinavia. Local carpenters were used to build this home. While the floors feature dark, Brazilian hardwood, the countertops boast of locally-sourced granite.

Behind the mysterious turquoise copper door is an Italian style, temperature-controlled wine cellar next to a two-stall garage, perfect for an avid car collector. It’s perfect after a day of snowmobiling to hop in the sauna. A spacious guest apartment with separate stairway entrance sits above.

“He wanted people to have fun,” LinkMorley said of her late husband.

Two golden retrievers “ruled the land,” Link-Morley said, roaming the invisible fenced yard or cozily kennelled at the back.

You can tell a lot about a property by how it feels inside. This one is special. It is light, airy and “feels happy,” said Edina Realty agent Madeline Dusek.

Contact Dusek at 218-390-3839 about the listing, or visit www.edinarealty.com/ homes-for-sale/702-cedar-gate-circleduluth-mn-55811-5734230#%2F.

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BUYING OR SELLING? TIME TO UPDATE YOUR ESTATE PLAN

BY YVONNE NOVAK MICHAUD

Selling a home is one of the most popular options for aging adults looking to finance senior living. In fact, people older than 55 accounted for more than half of all home sellers in 2019, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors.

Many seniors have lived in their homes for 25 or more years. The thought of a sale is frightening because the whole process is unknown. Seniors don’t know what it’s going to be like in their new housing, living away from the home that carries their memories. In addition, they may have questions regarding how to fund the new housing situation.

Making a big move like this should trigger a review of your estate planning documents. At a minimum, updating addresses should be done and it is probably a good time to evaluate if your assets are structured the way that you want them to be.

With an updated estate plan, you can accomplish the following:

► Minimize estate taxes.

► Ensure your family is taken care of.

► Make contributions to charity.

► Leave a legacy.

► Coordinate with retirement and pension plans.

► Nominate a guardian for minor children.

► Nominate an individual to handle estate administration and financial affairs.

► Give your family the health care directives and other legal documents required for medical decisions to be made on your behalf.

► Create postnuptial and antenuptial agreements as they apply to your estate plan.

Estate planning identifies all of these hurdles and minimizes their affect. For example, if it is determined that substantially all of your assets would be subject to a lengthy and costly probate proceeding at death, we may recommend utilizing various “trusts” and other planning techniques to eliminate the need for probate court intervention at death. In addition, we will typically assist you in devising plans empowering your trusted family members to seamlessly retain control of and continue the operation of unique assets — like businesses, farming operations, or even “legacy property” (like the family cabin).

Having an updated estate plan in place is important for you and for your family. By planning ahead, you are making sure that your family has fewer technicalities to deal with in the event of your death.

The information in this article is for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation.