There's a lot of posting on this subject, so I hope you will be patient with me on this. I've gathered I'm going to need a professional but was hoping to get a few general answers to my questions here.

You are ahead of the game by realizing you will need the services of a trained, experienced tax professional.

A real estate agent who would like to sell our lot (for obvious reasons) has said do an exchange. Buy a home in Reno with the proceeds and rent it out for a year, then we can move in and our proceeds will have been shielded from taxes.

I'll cut to the chase of your attempt at a like-kind exchange. In order to achieve a nontaxable exchange, one of the requirements is that the taxpayer's intent be that the property exchange be related to investment, trade, or business. In your example, the IRS can argue that you never intended to use the Reno property as a rental. Thus, your exchange would be deemed unqualified.

Bill