Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to footer

I feel like I'm betraying my parents by selling their house.

Answered by Chris Deutsch, Founder & Editor
Licensed Minnesota Realtor #20382264 ·

The short answer

That feeling has a name — the second goodbye. It's real, it's almost universal among the households I've walked through this, and it does not mean you're doing the wrong thing.

On stage The 60-second answer

Captions on · Transcript below

The stage is set.

Chris's video answer is on its way. Until then, the short answer above says the same thing.

Read the transcript

The transcript posts with the video.

The longer answer

A few true things. The house held your parents' lives; it was never the container of them, and selling it doesn't undo a single Sunday dinner that happened inside. The memories move with you. And your parents' hope was never that the house would become a weight their children carried out of guilt — a home kept as a museum nobody can afford to visit honors no one. Most households tell me the same thing a few months after closing: the grief stayed, the dread lifted, and they could finally remember the house instead of managing it.

There's no clock on this, and nobody should hand you one. When you're ready — even if ready is a year away — just call. The first conversation is only a conversation.

The next department over

What people in this spot usually ask next.

From the editor's desk

“As Founder and Editor, I review, correct, and stand behind every answer.”
— Chris Deutsch

Is your situation more specific than the market? That's the one worth talking through.