Curious how people here separate a name they personally like from one someone will actually pay for.
And that's the double-edge sword...
Nearly 2 decades in and these days I just cherry-pick a 50/50. Basically, Instead of leaning too much either direction (Verifiable demand + Personal interest), I just make sure that it's also something that has the potential to generate it's own revenue to cover renewals each year, that way, if it sits, its not a drain and if/when it sells, it remains in the green with a history self sustaining cost. I'm experimenting more these days with a self sustaining portfolio, that doesn't create more overhead (Including hosting, SSL, taxes, fees, subscriptions, etc..). Basically, if a domain can't pull it's own weight by renewal time (12-months), it goes back in swimming pool or moved into someone elses portfolio.
Over the years I've held various types of niche targeted portfolios (Even multiple portfolio sites of my own, including networks of sites with 20k+ pages each). A few did well, most flopped and the rest were torn apart and died due to search engine algorithm updates and PPC options shuttering their doors. I'm looking at the recent portfolio style experiment as a hybrid, since you can customize and monetize a namePros landing page.
I use
namePros landing pages + the new
namePros Portfolio feature to keep costs down while experimenting with that type of portfolio, in addition to
other reasons.
Everyone does it differently, what works for one may not work for another and vice versa.
At the end of the day, a domain name is truly only worth what a buyer and seller agree on.