How does buying a house work?

[Telanore]

I'm saving up for one, I managed to get one last time I played, but lost interest in the game and it got auto-demolished apparently... But when I bought it, I was apparently supposed to pay much more than I ended up doing (the guy was really nice about it and just let me off easy with what I'd saved up), so I figured I'd ask how it really works this time. I'm on Ragnaros-EU, which I gather is a fairly well-populated server, so how much would a small house cost me?

[Melsiren]

So there is two things to mention here when it comes down to housing. The way housing is supposed to work, and the way some players abused/abuse the system to scalp houses and sell them for a heavily marked up price. The latter is actually not really okay in the books of SE.

So from the sounds of it you purchesed a housing plot in the past from another player which as I mentioned above is not supposed to be allowed but does happen. Now as of right now it is harder to sell plots to other players for two reasons. One they changed the amount of plots you can own per server per account, and two when you relinquish a plot for another player the plot is now locked and advertised for a period of time so everyone who wants a house is aware it will open up soon.

So I should real quick clarify when you "buy" a plot for a player it is less buying the plot and more of paying it's ransom. You pay the player to give up the plot, after they do that you have to buy the plot the proper way which is stated below.

The intended way, you run up to the plot and purchase from the placard. Now there the prices very based on two factors: location and size of the plot. Any ways you buy the desired plot and congratulations you now own land, but you now own an empty plot. You have to purchase a housing permit (using the housing menu) which also has a set price based on plot size. You then use that permit construct your house which will also cost Gil and congratulations you own a house.

To answer the question, it would cost you about couple Mil about 4ish to buy a small the intended way. Now from another player I honestly could not tell you. My friend sold his plot in the mists for 64 million and it was small. This is also Balmung.

[Telanore]

Oh, I had no idea that was why he wanted me to pay him more. But isn't this the normal way people get houses, despite it not being technically approved by SE? I used to check the wards every day for an available plot, but there never was one, I don't see how I'll ever get another without paying that ransom

- - - Updated - - -

Wow scratch that, found 2 free plots! Anyone know how long the hidden timer for resale is? Just rough estimate?

[Melsiren]

First things first, check to see if you can buy, one of the freed up plots.

Right now they've added a ton of plots since 4.0's launch so there is a good chance you might be able to just buy it outright.

Sadly I've not seen solid confirmation on how long plots are locked from sale, if I had to guess 6ish hours. I cannot imagine it would be any longer than a day max.

Just know if you do not manage to get a plot, they will add more someday. Right now on the US servers we have a server called Balmung that always has a housing crisis, to it's pretty much inevitable that they will add more plots in the future. They have also talked about improving apartments, but exact details on that have not been disclosed fully.

[Telanore]

Sadly I've not seen solid confirmation on how long plots are locked from sale, if I had to guess 6ish hours. I cannot imagine it would be any longer than a day max.

Unfortunately, I can confirm the timer can be longer than 6 hours I found those two plots between 11-12 today, camped one for 5 hours before I had to leave for work, came home roughly 4 hours later to find one of them sold, and now I'm camping out the other one which is still not ready for purchase. I'll be sitting here all night if need be though, good thing I happened to have several energy drinks stocked up!

EDIT: I was up until 3 before I decided I value sleep over ingame goodies, but woke up at 6 and 9 to check if it was available yet (yay for having computer right next to the bed), answer was no both times. Woke up again at 10:15, and was finally able to buy the plot! So I'd wager, like Ralqadar above me, that the timer is a maximum of 24h, though this is guesswork at best

Now I just have to make gil quick so I'll be able to afford the actual house...

[Kazgrel]

Housing is a server by server case. I can't speak on behalf of your server, but on one hand there's servers like Balmung, which pretty much has a dozen or more people camping each plot any time new ones become available, then on the other, there's servers like Zalera, where there are literally entire wards that are basically empty:



Other than the furnishings in my yard, all those plots are still open...and this pic's from 2-3 weeks ago.

If you find there's no places to pick up a house on your current server, you might want to make alts just to scope out some of the other server's housing districts. Sure, you wouldn't be able to check Shirogane on a level 1, but that place has pretty much had 95% to all of it's plots taken up, even where I'm at.

[Melsiren]

I was up until 3 before I decided I value sleep over ingame goodies, but woke up at 6 and 9 to check if it was available yet (yay for having computer right next to the bed), answer was no both times. Woke up again at 10:15, and was finally able to buy the plot! So I'd wager, like Ralqadar above me, that the timer is a maximum of 24h, though this is guesswork at best

Now I just have to make gil quick so I'll be able to afford the actual house...

Congratulations! I wish you the best of luck in making your gil quick and enjoy your home

PS:
Something I forgot to mention that comes with being a homeowner, you do need to enter your property at least once every 45 days to make sure it is not demolished and freed up. At 30 days you will get an email from Square letting you know the plot will be made free soon if you do not enter it.

[The Stormbringer]

Housing is a server by server case. I can't speak on behalf of your server, but on one hand there's servers like Balmung, which pretty much has a dozen or more people camping each plot any time new ones become available, then on the other, there's servers like Zalera, where there are literally entire wards that are basically empty:

As a new Balmung player, I have come to accept I'll likely never get a house. ;~; But I can probably get an apartment, at least.

[Melsiren]

As a new Balmung player, I have come to accept I'll likely never get a house. ;~; But I can probably get an apartment, at least.

Keep in mind they also plan on offering ways to expand apartments in the future.

What it will be or how it will work is unknown.

[Kazgrel]

As a new Balmung player, I have come to accept I'll likely never get a house. ;~; But I can probably get an apartment, at least.

Good luck, and I mean that sincerely. Hopefully either more wards become a thing (but I doubt it seeing that the pic I posted almost 3 months ago hasn’t changed) or apartments become more robust.

[therealbowser]

Small houses cost 5,000,000ish gil. Houses auto-demolish after 45 days if they are not visited (IE physically enter the house); you can then visit an npc to get back ~80% of the gil you put into it and all furnishings but this opportunity will go away as well if you do not act on it quickly.

You can also buy an apartment (in addition to a house, or instead of one) for 500,000 gil. Keep in mind that apartments do not auto demolish; if you play sporadically and don't plan on keeping your house up, this is your best bet. But if you play actively, there isn't really a reason not to have one.

Likewise, a free company house will refresh if anyone enters at all within 45 days, but free company house rooms cost 300,000 and provided the house is not demolished or you kicked out or whatever, they will stay forever and will not be removed. They are entirely your room and no one can take anything from them; they can only remove you from the company or demolish the room.

[Florena]

If you're on a high pop server like Balmung all I can say is good luck getting one outside of getting new plots when they add new wards.

An apartment may be better to start with. Unless I'm mistaken, apartments don't lock for a random amount of time when relinquished so you can reliably buy one from another player. If you join a FC with a FC house, you can also get a private room in one and have both the apartment and that room.

DO NOT BUY A PLOT from another player though, because there is no guarantee you'll be the one who actually gets it when the random timer goes off. You'd be paying someone millions of gold basically for a lottery ticket. YOu might be able to get the plot, but there's a very good chance several other people will swarm in like locusts trying to get the plot. And since buying plots from other players is against the TOS anyway, you can't really fault them for trying to get a house the legit way.

[Eleccybubb]

Housing is a server by server case. I can't speak on behalf of your server, but on one hand there's servers like Balmung, which pretty much has a dozen or more people camping each plot any time new ones become available, then on the other, there's servers like Zalera, where there are literally entire wards that are basically empty:



Other than the furnishings in my yard, all those plots are still open...and this pic's from 2-3 weeks ago.

If you find there's no places to pick up a house on your current server, you might want to make alts just to scope out some of the other server's housing districts. Sure, you wouldn't be able to check Shirogane on a level 1, but that place has pretty much had 95% to all of it's plots taken up, even where I'm at.

I kinda feel so bad now I wanna make an alt on Zalera and keep you company.

[The Stormbringer]

Good luck, and I mean that sincerely. Hopefully either more wards become a thing (but I doubt it seeing that the pic I posted almost 3 months ago hasn’t changed) or apartments become more robust.

Keep in mind they also plan on offering ways to expand apartments in the future.

What it will be or how it will work is unknown.

I got an apartment! My friend bought me one in the Lavender Beds, as well as one at the Free Company HQ. Just thought I'd let you know.

[Katchii]

If you do end up in a house and you are one of those players that sometimes takes breaks....remember to at least log in every 30 days to keep your house. I made an oops and ended up losing my house because I forgot to log in because I wasn't playing it anyway in the between path lull. Not a big deal in and of itself obviously since I wasn't online enough to use it...but now I have a houseful of items that I either have to store or just toss because they're unsellable after being placed in the home. That's a LOT of items.

Oh well....I at least know now that I shouldn't worry about or stress over finding a new house in the sweet new housing districts they release in the future.

[Eleccybubb]

If you do end up in a house and you are one of those players that sometimes takes breaks....remember to at least log in every 30 days to keep your house. I made an oops and ended up losing my house because I forgot to log in because I wasn't playing it anyway in the between path lull. Not a big deal in and of itself obviously since I wasn't online enough to use it...but now I have a houseful of items that I either have to store or just toss because they're unsellable after being placed in the home. That's a LOT of items.

Oh well....I at least know now that I shouldn't worry about or stress over finding a new house in the sweet new housing districts they release in the future.

Yeah if you are on a big server gl getting one now dude.

Issue is the random timer.

Moved back to Phoenix recently to be with friends and there were like 6 plots open at most.

[Katchii]

Yeah if you are on a big server gl getting one now dude.

Issue is the random timer.

Moved back to Phoenix recently to be with friends and there were like 6 plots open at most.

After losing this one and being more upset over having to find someplace to put all the stuff I had in it rather than not having a house anymore, I realized I don't need one and don't want the extra thing to think about. I take breaks, so I don't want to worry about losing a house because i forget to log in and just keeping a sub just to keep the house.

[Kazgrel]

I kinda feel so bad now I wanna make an alt on Zalera and keep you company.

Well in the past 3 weeks at least 2 of the plots right near my house have become occupied!

There's still plenty of housing here, though. Total opposite problem of most other servers.