I can't bring myself to go inside my parents' house yet. Is that normal — and is the house okay sitting empty?

The house, though, needs a little care while you're not ready — not from you, from someone. Three things protect it. Tell the insurance company it's unoccupied — standard homeowner policies get thin on empty houses. Keep the heat on through a Minnesota winter so the pipes survive. And have someone — a neighbor, a cousin, me — walk through every week or two so small problems stay small. Mail gets forwarded, the lawn gets mowed, and from the street the house just looks lived in.

Handle those three and the house will wait for you without penalty. There's no deadline on the doorstep. And when you're ready to walk through it, you don't have to do it alone — that's an offer, not a pitch.