About Cousin JK
Hey cuz--I’m JK.
I’m a Korean returnee based in Seoul.
For 18 years I lived abroad (Indiana, California, Bali) before life brought me back home with a wife, twin baby girls, and a backpack full of stories.
When I came back, I thought I understood Korea.
I didn’t.
The housing system caught me off guard.
Jeonse, wolse, deposit rules, and 2-year contracts.
I had to stop mid-signing once--
step outside and google,
“2 year lease in Korea normal??” kk
That moment stayed with me.
Not the mistake, but the feeling.
“Is this normal?”
“Am I getting played?”
The kind of feeling you only confess to someone you trust.
I stayed in it long enough to understand how it actually works.
Got licensed. Ran deals.
Helped people move through the process without guessing.
Somewhere along the way I became “the cousin who figured it out.”
People send me screenshots, contracts, strange listings, weird landlord texts.
Sometimes they just need help understanding what they’re actually looking at.
That became Letters from Cousin JK.
A place where I try to make the Korean housing world feel a little less slippery.
And if you need help getting your footing inside it too,
the line’s open.
--JK
