Help from a Mayo student

Howdy from Rochester everyone!
I know that I've already talked with some of you over e-mail but since Andrew Calvin has made us a great blog I figured that I'd post it here as well.
First off, a little background. I'm from Minneapolis orginally and am just finishing medical school here at Mayo. We bought a home when we moved here for medical school and sold it last week. We've now purchased another home here in Rochester. Since we've been through the process twice, hopefully I can at least help with home buying questions.

HOUSING
As per the post below, check out Mayo's resident housing website at http://mayoresidenthousing.org/
Probably the best MLS search engine for Rochester is found at http://www.edinarealty.com/
Keep in mind, though, that there are a good deal of For Sale By Owner (FSBO) homes around (thus it may be helpful to drive around on your own).
Our first Realtor experience was lackluster. Our second one with Therese Dutton (507.529.5165 ThereseDutton@edinarealty.com) was much better and we'd recommend her. We've used the same loan officer for both homes and he is a godsend. His name is Bill Kenny (763.560.0334 mailto:prim-mtg@attbi.com) - he's based out of Minneapolis but is very easy to work with over the phone and e-mail.
The layout of Rochester is in quadrants. In general, SW has the older, nicer homes. NE and NW have lots of new homes and growth. SE is not the nicest neighborhood but is cheaper and OK as you get farther away from "downtown".
"Rochester Towers" is a great set of condos downtown. "Avalon Cove" is a nice set of townhomes near downtown.

TRANSPORTATION
If you're looking at cars, 4 wheel drive is nice, but definitely not a "must". Front wheel drive is something to look for. City bus passes are free for Mayo employees, but public transportation is not the greatest. There is, of course, a free shuttle every 5 minutes that runs between St Mary's hospital and downtown. More below on winter driving. Parking in downtown garages is free on nights (after 5 pm) and weekends. If you want to get a Minnesota driver's license you will need to take a written test at the driving center (507.285.7412).

WINTER SURVIVAL
While I'm used to the winter, here's some tips from some of my classmates.
Preparation
1. Buy all your winter clothes here in Minnesota, as there is no sales tax on clothing and better selection and quality.
2. Buy a decent winter coat. Brands like Columbia and The North Face are popular in the deep freeze, because they are WARM. Be prepared to spend $200, and be confident that it is money well spent. (Depending on your tastes, you may spend more or less than this, but do not sacrifice warmth for cost and end up with a coat that will leave you wet and cold.)
3. Buy something to keep your ears covered. Hats, headbands, earmuffs all work. Your ears will thank you.
4. Have something to cover your hands. Note that mittens are really the best in terms of warmth even though gloves seem more functional.
5. Have shoes that will keep your feet dry. Some wear big boots, but not many. Buy some socks if you are from a no-sock area of the world. I recommend wool socks (i.e. Smartwool) for the winter months.
6. Buy a big bottle of lotion as well as lotion-soap (Dove), because you will notice your skin is drier.
7. Have an ice scraper and brush in your car.
8. Make friends with people who own jumper cables.
9. Don’t be freaked out! The cold isn’t as bad as many thought it would be. With a little preparation, it’s fun to go out and enjoy the outdoors.
Survival
1. Wear your winter clothes, and pack shorts and skirts in a big box for the season. It is better to be warm than cold. Sacrifice fashion for function. Dress in layers so you can strip down in lecture in case the room is overheated.
2. Leave yourself a few extra minutes to get bundled up before you go out. If you need to drive somewhere, leave yourself a few extra minutes to get your car warmed up and scraped off. Drive slowly (ice is more slippery than you would think, and even 4x drive and snow tires won’t help that much). NOTE: Don’t leave your car warming up, unaccompanied with the keys in the ignition. Such cars tend to disappear.
3. FEAR NOT the cold! Get outside and ski, run, sled, fish, or whatever turns your crank. If you keep moving, you will stay pretty warm in your new winter coat! If you stay inside, you will get depressed and cranky.
4. Keep your gas tank more than ¼ full to prevent your gas line from freezing. Use HEET or high-grade gasoline in your gas tank. Winterize your car by getting an oil change and having them check your antifreeze (should be 100% and not dilute for winter). You can wait until you get to Minnesota to do this, as the garages here know how to do it. Finally, some parking lots have plug-ins on posts in front of the parking spaces, and some cars have cords sticking out of the grill so you can plug them in. These cars have block heaters which make your car easier to start and quicker to spit out warm air from the heater.
5. **Tell your landlord if you are going to be gone for an extended period of time.** Your return to your Rochester home will be a bust if you don’t keep a faucet dripping water, and this will make you pipin’ mad.
6. Driving may take some time to adjust - if you have a rear-wheel drive car, you'll likely need to throw some bags of sand in the trunk. Beware of bridges though - even if there's no ice anywhere else, the cold air currents under bridges make them freeze sooner!

LEISURE
Mayo provides discount tickets for a lot of stuff:
-Mall of American Discount Book
-Camp Snoopy
-Imation IMAX Theatre
-Minnesota Children’s Museum
-Minnesota Science Museum
-Minnesota Zoo
-Rochester Royals and Rochester Honkers (baseball teams)
-Simoniz Car Wash
-Six Flags
-ValleyFair Amusement Park
Mayo has it's own health club facilities, and the downtown one is nearly done with renovations. Hold off on joining a club until you decide if they're good enough for you (they're cheap...like ~$10 a month).
If you're a runner, check out http://www.rochestertrackclub.com/

CONTACT INFO
Feel free to contact me with questions about anything.

Jeff Geske