For example, a relative of mine died some years ago. She had a house full of expensive furniture. You couldn't give that furniture away, even though it was in perfect condition. It had no value.
The average estate value, excluding land, houses, and cars, is about $900. I have friends who ran an estate liquidation service. You'd net something like 5 cents on the dollar.
This is one reason why I buy stuff at the thrift store. I bought a perfectly good chainsaw there for $10.
You are thinking of worth and value only in the monetary sense, and the person you are responding to is referring to a house's ability to be valuable to individuals, even if nobody else will pay for it, because it provides them shelter, satisfying a basic necessity.
This is most of where its monetary value comes from (obviously not universally true, many properties have simply become investments), and its monetary value would probably only completely evaporate if the house were so degraded that it could not function as a shelter.
The monetary value of most houses is rooted in their ability fulfill a basic human need, as opposed to the monetary value of some other things, like gold or bitcoin, which are valuable primarily because of what they are worth to other people. Even if you disagree with using terms like 'worth' and 'value', you must agree that a house has utility that is not affected by its market price.
If that is how you define it then by definition that is true. It is not the only possible definition though.
In my world I prefer to sleep in a place where the rain doesn’t fall on me. Having a place with a roof over me is value to me. If this meaning of the word “value” does not work for you then simply we are talking different languages.
Perhaps try thinking about “how much would i need to pay to provide the same neccesity if I
wouldn’t own this place”. Maybe that puts it into economic terms what we are talking here.
That's furniture and not a house though. I'd guess that the average estate being that low value is not including outright-owned property/land. It's old people with a 20 year old car they've nursed through retirement, antiques that aren't in fashion, and bric a brac.
At least where I live, there would be a gulf between the estates of people who bought into the property market and those that rented their entire lives. Latter will have some furniture no one wants and scraps. The owners will have a $2m property and then investment property that get split up between their kids.
It's value is only what people will pay for it.
For example, a relative of mine died some years ago. She had a house full of expensive furniture. You couldn't give that furniture away, even though it was in perfect condition. It had no value.
The average estate value, excluding land, houses, and cars, is about $900. I have friends who ran an estate liquidation service. You'd net something like 5 cents on the dollar.
This is one reason why I buy stuff at the thrift store. I bought a perfectly good chainsaw there for $10.