We had a 3-point system of value for each part of the house "1=low, 2=moderate, 3=high" and the same for use, with use averaged year-round.
So for the backyard example: the backyard for house 170 was high value, 3, and high use for half of the year, so 1.5. Its total value was 4.5. The backyard for house 450 was moderate value, 2, and high use for half of the year, so 1.5. Its total value was 3.
Save your calculations - you can go back later and judge how well you modelled your future selves.
My wife and I did something very similar 7 years ago when deciding between 3 flats, and recently came across our backs-of-multiple-envelopes calculations. We only considered the one we actually chose and estimated our current weightings for the different spaces. In our initial judgments we had vastly overrated our future use/value of the outdoor space, substantially underrated the kitchen and lounge rooms, and entirely ignored hall and loft storage space wh...
My wife and I have been going to Ohio Rationality Dojo for a few months now, started by Raelifin, who has substantial expertise in probabilistic thinking and Bayesian reasoning, and I wanted to share about how the dojo helped us make a rational decision about house shopping. We were comparing two houses. We had an intuitive favorite house (170 on the image) but decided to compare it to our second favorite (450) by actually shutting up and multiplying, based on exercises we did as part of the dojo.
What we did was compare mathematically each part of the house by comparing the value of that part of the house multiplied by the use of that part of the house, and had separate values for the two of us (A for my wife, Agnes Vishnevkin, and G for me, Gleb Tsipursky, on the image). By comparing it mathematically, 450 came out way ahead. Hard to update our beliefs, but we did it, and are now orienting toward that one as our primary choice. Rationality for the win!
Here is the image of our back-of-the-napkin calculations.