I believe Houses SHOULD be sellable/tradable, otherwise what's the point of Gil?

[Terin]

First, how is giving everyone the same chance at owning a house a "negative idea"? Is this just another thinly veiled effort to improve the chances of people like yourself, at the expense of others, of getting a house? Second, this "buy and sell houses" idea PREDOMINANTLY helps those who are engaged in RMT. Most house owners in this game are NOT inclined to just dump their houses. These houses are too precious to them for that. There are a few people who have downsized to apartments to avoid the hassle of having to log in every so often but these people are few and far between. Housing in this game was NEVER meant to be a Gil-making enterprise. It was meant to be a money sink and a feature that would add additional entertainment value to players who are in to housing. There is so much wrong with your post that I am seriously wondering what your real intent is.

I think skepticism is totally fair.

Here's the thing, though; Houses are clearly extremely limited. I certainly hope they can continue to add Wards, and it would be AWESOME if there were enough Houses to give everyone their choice of plot. That is sadly not going to happen any time soon (especially when the Devs just recently talked about the difficulties of acquiring additional servers).

That makes Housing a commodity, both desirable and limited. That gives it value, regardless of anyone's thoughts on the matter.

By letting people at least TRADE houses, it would immediately open up a lot of options. For example, I have one of the beachfront Smalls in The Mist, which I think many consider pretty desirable. However, my sister has a small in Lavender beds. I would totally trade my house for one in her same ward, because I feel like that would just be a lot of fun.

With the current rules in place, I will likely NEVER have an opportunity to become "neighbors" with any of my friends. Because how astronomical is that chance, really? You'd have to hope that specific person just quits the game, and then go to the placard and click like hell for anywhere from, what, 2-to-16 hours? Something like that? Which I have a job, so that ALSO needs to all happen over the weekend. And I have probably, literally a 1-second window (at best) to purchase the relocation, because there are going to be others there doing the same thing.

OR...

I could whisper the owner when I saw them, say "hey how would you like to trade houses?", maybe I even pay an in-game fee as a gil-sink, and BAM! Both parties are super happy.

Now taking this further, I honestly believe Buying and Selling should be possible. Because if you REALLY want to make Gil, it's actually remarkably easy. Again, just work up crafting skills and start selling stuff. That gives YOU, the Player, complete agency in whether or not you can get a house. Because otherwise, it's LITERALLY a lottery. It's "fair" in that everyone gets the same chance, but I would argue it's NOT fair to those who are really willing to work towards a goal. If you don't already have a house, it is very likely that you will NEVER get a house as-is. Buy enabling the buying and selling of houses, ANYONE would be able to get a house -- you just have to earn some gil.

And again, throw a sizable fee on top, and it doubles as a gil-sink. Make it like a 25% "tax". So if a guy wants 75m for his house, it might actually cost 100m. But then that's 25m taken out of the economy, meaning that over time, it would drive prices down. Again, probably CRAZY expensive at the start, but over time things would level out.

That's not to say there isn't a place for the Lottery system. I do think it's a great idea for a newly-opened location, and if a house is relinquished or demolished, I think the lottery's great, especially for people who work. I think we would all agree, it's a massive improvement over the current system. But I think we'll just run into the same issue, where the housing market is completely static. At the VERY least, allowing people to Trade plots opens up some level of flexibility.

[Jojoya]

And again, throw a sizable fee on top, and it doubles as a gil-sink. Make it like a 25% "tax". So if a guy wants 75m for his house, it might actually cost 100m. But then that's 25m taken out of the economy, meaning that over time, it would drive prices down. Again, probably CRAZY expensive at the start, but over time things would level out.

It's not going to have any impact on prices because 25 million gil removed from a server economy is nothing if you do the math and compare it to how much is generated through normal game play.

For your proposed tax to make a noticeable dent in the overall player economy and get prices to lower, your tax would have to be collected several dozens if not hundreds of times a day on each server. We don't have enough desirable housing for that to happen.

All player to player trading would accomplish is giving RMT more solid control over the housing market. It would be simple for them to meet your gil price then resell at the same gil price +25% (to cover your tax) plus several hundred dollars real money.

Control over housing availability needs to be taken out of player and RMT hands. It is not good for the game. Those who want to make gil have plenty of other options to pursue. The lottery is a step in the right direction but it is not enough.

If the concern is creating a better gil sink, then having an instanced housing system where every character (not just player) could buy the most desired housing location they can afford with their personal wealth would do a far better job, or even multiple locations.