What even is real estate?

I’m a fortunate Millennial in that I do own a home. What’s my secret? Luck. I got some academic scholarships to college and my parents covered the rest, so I don’t have any student loans to pay off.* Then I lucked into a random corporate job which allowed me to save up for a down payment. I had to move to Kentucky to make it happen—couldn’t afford Chicago—but I like it here.

My homebuying experience was also very lucky. I was visiting Louisville for Thanksgiving, I saw the perfect place, I clicked a button on Zillow, I put in an offer for $2k less than asking price, and they immediately accepted. I’m convinced it was fate. The stars were aligned.

But the wheel of fortune always turns—my dad was diagnosed with cancer right after I moved in, so I spent the next 9 months driving back north every two weeks.

This is all to say: my homebuying luck did not prepare me for selling my parents’ property after they died. I knew that clicking a button on Zillow wouldn’t help me sell their condos or their cars. Getting through it has taken me the better part of this year—and I still have one car left to deal with!

Once again, I’ve learned how to do this the hard way—and I’m pleased to present the latest addition to this website: My parents are dead and now I need a realtor.

Is it a fully comprehensive guide to selling your parents’ big-ticket items? No!! That would take an entire separate website at best and several weighty tomes at worst. But it’s a place to start. It covers the basics.

As always, I’m open to suggestions. If I missed something important, hit me up!

*This is why we need to cancel all student loans, for the record. The majority of my generation shouldn’t be shut out of home ownership because of luck.