Is it common to grieve for your dead parent again when you’re in the process of selling their home?

I completely relate to what you’ve written. My dad loved his home, did constant improvements, kept it clean and in perfect repair. I cleaned it out, mostly on my own, and prepared it for sale in the weeks after he died. My only advice is let those tears flow, they are healing. It’s a sad task, but one that I believe our parents would be proud of us for accomplishing. Side note, it also made me do a load of ongoing cleaning out at my own home as I’m more aware of paring it down for the next generation. I wish you healing and peace in this, knowing it’s so very hard

This is all part of the grieving process, and yes quite common. Allow yourself to feel the loss of not only your dad, but the house where both he and your mom lived and enjoyed life.
Tears are healing, so let them flow and quit holding them back.

First. There is no time limit on grief.
Second. I am sure you really did not grieve as you were busy caring for mom, getting things sorted out along with all the detail that go with a death of a loved one. (were you actually able to sit down and have time for yourself let alone actually grieve the loss of your dad since 2021?)
Third. Every time you turn a corner in the house you are hit with memories. And to realize that there will not be another Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Birthday party, Anniversary party there hurts.
Fifth. This is what mom and dad called home. This is a chapter that is closing.
Endings are hard no matter the reason.
What you are feeling is normal and if you were not sad, were not having a difficult time that is when you might want to worry.
Take the memories. Cherish them.
Know that another family will be happy in a home that was filled with love and care.

Grief, as others have said, has no timetable. Many do not have happy memories left. I was trying to help myself with the death of my wonderful honey - my strength - my life. On the 1st anniversary of his stepping into heaven, the word celebrate came to my mind.

I still have times when his loss overwhelms me. That's okay. I then take the word celebrate and my memories go back to things in our lives to celebrate. At first I felt guilt - guilt I wasn't a 100% perfect caregiver. In my heart - I gave all I could just as he would have. My most precious memories are those we made by being creative the last six years of his life. He demonstrated his love to me in the most tender ways - although the disease would poke it's ugly head and we had to go through this together - I would never want to lose those cherished moments.

I have donated most of his things to those who needed them. I kept his old jacket he didn't want to part with, his shirts he wore repeatedly though he had new ones. My husband and I believed that if you can make someone's life easier - then do so. I was happy to donate to others the clothes I bought to make his life easier with dementia, the tools and activities that we did during the disease - all donated to help others.

When I have to fix something or arrange for someone else to do it - I get overwhelmed because he took care of it in the past. Now, I am celebrating life and all we did together and apart from each other. Memories are a special gift God gives to us. I am planning on writing down my memories which I understand is a great way to go through the grief. I'm so thankful that he is happy in heaven. Celebrate your blessings.

Grief doesn't come in one big wave. It's a lifetime of little heartbreaks and stirred-up memories.

I didn't grieve for my dad almost at all in the beginning, because overnight I became responsible for my mother's care, arranging his funeral, her nursing home placement and all their affairs, and that was a full-time job. (Theirs was the classic case of the caregiver dying first.)

For me, a terrible dread settled on me as the first anniversary of his death approached. (Very odd, as I don't "do" death anniversaries.) I think I feared for my mother's broken heart mostly, but as it turned out she had no concept of the date by then nor did she even remember Dad anymore, so that great heavy weight in my chest was all my own. Somehow when that date passed, I was OK from then on. It never happened after my mom died, because it was very much her time, and I'd been grieving her loss for years as dementia stripped away everything but the shell.

We sold their house last July a year after my mother's death, and after the Realtor's people did all the "lipstick on the pig" work to make it appealing to buyers, it was unrecognizable as my parents' house or the home I grew up in. Oddly, it didn't affect me in the slightest, and I haven't given the house another thought.

I haven’t been able to read responses, your post was already too emotional for me. First I don’t think it’s just your father your grieving, you are “loosing” the house and grieving that loss, you are likely grieving the loss of your mom as well and going through family possessions, the memories always bring up good memories that can also be sad when associated with a loved one that has passed or a time gone by. I would urge you to go ahead and feel it, take the time to have a good cry when it comes over you instead of holding it back. We grieve the loss of loved ones, especially parents, siblings, spouses, children for ever. Over time that space that feels like a black hole fills back up with love but there is always a scar just like there is always a piece of them with you but that takes time and each journey is different, there is nothing wrong with feeling overwhelming sadness just as there is nothing wrong with feeling a warm smile when memories flood in. I have little special momentous of important people in my life and still stop to both experience the happiness they bring as well as the sadness that my great grandmother, for instance, is no longer with us, her house has been sold and my son never got the chance to experience the special things I did as a child. She has been gone for 40 years. I also grieve the loss of my mother at certain moments when it really hits me and she is still alive, it’s an ever evolving process life and we are both blessed and cursed with the memories it offers.

Be kind to yourself, let yourself grieve and don’t do it all alone. Find and allow people, family, friends to help you go through the house and experience the memories with you.

Yes, but once it’s gone you’ll probably feel much better. I had the feeling that selling it was a job well done. I was glad it was over. I hope you will be too.

Sometimes I wish that I had something tangible from my parents home. Everything was destroyed in hurricane Katrina. Even the house itself was demolished. The house had nine feet of water and nothing was salvageable.

This was my childhood home. Sometimes, I drive past where I grew up and see a brand new house standing on the property. It affected me very deeply at first. I felt like my life there had been erased altogether. It’s kind of hard to explain.

Anyway, as I said in an earlier post, everyone grieves in their own way. Wishing you peace and healing in your journey of grieving for your parents.

I am in the process of doing the same thing. It was their home of 45+ years and my childhood home. I am so ready not to have to deal with all the bills, upkeep etc that comes with it and cleaning it out took 10 months because of borderline hoarding and I am exhausted but I know right before closing when I walk thru it for the last time I will be sad. It is sad to see it empty but at the same time a relief to get this huge task behind me. Mixed emotions for sure.

Absolutely. ❤. Dad died in 2020, mom died in October. My sister and I have been so busy scrambling we haven't had a minute to grieve. Yesterday we listed the only home they lived in/the only home we ever lived in as kids in a neighborhood where all of us had lifelong friends. Turns out that will be the hardest piece of all of this. ❤