What Selling a House Reminded Me about Value

Recently I sold a house, which created an moment to reflect on how people recognise value and seek what is valuable to them.

Anyone who has sold property will recognise the early conversation with a real estate agent about price. The discussion usually centres on two questions: what price you hope to achieve and what the market might pay. We settled on a number that felt reasonable based on comparable sales and the agent’s experience.

Shortly afterwards, a house around the corner sold for roughly that same amount. That house had noticeably fewer features than ours, including less space and fewer improvements. Seeing that result changed our expectations about what the market currently valued.

Then something surprising happened during the sales campaign. We received fifteen offers for the property, and they varied across roughly a $100,000 range. That spread made me curious about what the highest bidder had seen as so valuable. More on that in a moment.

Considering the value already contributed (by us)

Preparing the house for sale was a time for reflecting on what value we had already contributed to it. When we bought the property four years earlier, the house had good bones and needed attention. Over time we invested in CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS that we believed would make the house more functional and enjoyable.

[Side note: The upper case convention is to call out VALUE ELEMENTS.]

Some of the major capital improvements were installing ducted heating, adding solar panels, and painting the roof. Those changes required contributing MONEY to pay for professional SERVICES. Other improvements came directly from our own EFFORTS. We invested LABOUR, TIME, and CREATIVE VISION to make the house work better as a place to live.

Some changes improved everyday FUNCTIONALITY, while others increased our REPUTATION as careful and caring homeowners. Living in the house created an exchange of value for us during those years. The improvements supported COMFORT, CONVENIENCE, and SATISFACTION in our daily life.

However, the moment of sale introduced another consideration. We wanted the sale price to recognise what we had contributed over those four years. At the very least we hoped the outcome would reflect a reasonable RETURN ON INVESTMENT. That expectation formed part of how we thought about the value of the property before it went to market.

This thinking reflected our perspective as sellers, yet buyers can reveal a very different lens on what’s valuable value, because value always sits with the person experiencing or expecting it.

What buyers actually talked about

Our real estate agent shared the feedback people offered when they walked through the house. Several buyers mentioned the cul-de-sac location, the fenced yard, and the renovated kitchen. Those remarks sounded like people describing what they valued in the property. Yet those statements were not actually describing value. They were describing features. Features matter, and they are often the first thing people notice about a house. However, features rarely reveal what is valuable to someone. Features usually act as a proxy for value rather than explaining it directly.

The difference between features and value

Take the cul-de-sac as an example. Two buyers might appreciate that feature while valuing completely different outcomes. One person might see the cul-de-sac as a source of PRIVACY because fewer strangers pass the house. Another person might value the same feature because it creates a QUIET ENVIRONMENT with less traffic. The physical feature is identical, yet the value people see in it can differ greatly. Value really does sit in the eye of the beholder!

How value can flow

The fenced yard offers an illustration of how value emerges from interpretation. Some buyers might immediately associate a fenced yard with SAFETY for children or pets. A contained space allows play without worrying about wandering beyond the property boundary. That sense of SAFETY can then lead to something deeper. For many parents it creates PEACE OF MIND, especially during unsupervised play outside. In this situation SAFETY acts as an instrumental value that enables a terminal value. PEACE OF MIND becomes the outcome that they truly care about.

The kitchen example

The renovated kitchen sparked similar reactions among buyers. Several people liked that the kitchen had already been updated and was ready to use. Again, the feature itself does not fully explain the value behind the comment.

For some buyers the renovation represents FUNCTIONALITY, because the kitchen supports everyday living well. For others it represents EASE OF USE, since they can start living in the house with food preparation being something that doesn’t cause friction. Another buyer may see the renovation as CONVENIENCE, because family life will not be disrupted by the need to do renovations to achieve the necessary FUNCTIONALITY and EASE OF USE. The same kitchen can therefore produce very different value experiences for different people.

The skill of discerning value

This experience reminded me that people rarely speak in the language of value. Most people describe the features they notice rather than the value those features represent. Their descriptions still provide clues, but it often takes discernment to unpack what they really mean. Listening carefully to what people say, and noticing what they leave unsaid, can reveal possible value elements. However, that interpretation should always be checked rather than assumed. Otherwise it becomes easy to project your own understanding of value onto someone else.

When value conversations almost happen

Another moment during this selling process reinforced how important value literacy can be.

When we interviewed the real estate agents, they asked what we wanted from the relationship. I do not recall them using the word value, yet the question clearly pointed in that direction. Because I am literate in value thinking, I responded in a particular way. I described a feature of the working relationship and then shared a short story explaining why it mattered. The story illustrated what was valuable to us in practice.

Someone fluent in value thinking would have heard both layers in that answer. They would have recognised the feature and the value it was meant to create. From there they could have connected their behaviour and decisions to that value. Instead the question felt more like something learned in a sales training exercise. It did not seem connected to how they actually intended to work with us, and in fact our experience of working with them. This reminded me how rare value literacy still is.

Why value literacy matters

Many people talk about features, services, and offers. Far fewer people can clearly articulate what value those things create, or the contribution they make in being valuable. Even fewer people can listen carefully and discern what others actually value. Yet this capability matters in many parts of life.

It matters in home life, where people shape environments and decisions around what is valuable for them and their loved ones. It matters in workscapes, where individuals contribute, claim and create personal value through work-like activity. It matters in business, where owners decide what value their organisation is to create for them.

It matters in marketplaces, where people decide what is worth paying attention to or paying for. Learning to recognise and articulate value strengthens conversations in all these contexts.

An invitation to become value-literate

Selling a house turned out to be a fortuitous object lesson in value literacy. Fifteen buyers saw the same house, yet they saw different possibilities of value. Each offer reflected a slightly different interpretation of what that value might be.

This article touches on many aspects of value-literacy: value elements; value exchange; contributing, creating or claiming value; instrumental and terminal value in a value flow …

If these reflections and explanations resonate with you, there is more to support your value-literacy learning adventure, right here in the value(x)™ hub. There are articles, card decks, and methods for exploring value and having value-based conversations. These resources help people recognise value, articulate it clearly, and design actions around it. Developing value literacy helps people navigate work, business, and everyday life with meaningful intention.

Author
Helen Palmer, Founder of value(x) hub, has been intentional about developing value-literacy to use across multiple contexts over past decades. Being mindful of the various value-centric concepts, helps her navigate her choices and expectations.

Photo by Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash