New Housing Scam: Beware.

[SweetestLily]

Just as a general response in addition to Nepentha's more detailed explanation:

In what way is a 30 day wait a deterrent? That's still getting the house on their current home world where their chances of getting a house via the lottery are virtually none and they have no desire to move to a new world to get a house.

There had been hope that maybe SE would finally start enforcing their rule about intent to resell by tracking suspicious FC activity and that held back some of the resellers when the lottery was introduced. Now that it is clear SE is still hands off when it comes to abuses of the housing system, the resellers are back to near full steam with only the need to beat the lottery standing in their way.

The 30 day wait might cut down FC losses due to compromise of member accounts (that had been a serious problem) but in the end it's had the lack of effect on housing resells that some of us predicted prior to the lottery and 30 day wait being implemented. There is something that players want and only a limited number is available. Those who enjoy profits moved in to become the sellers of said item. As long as the system limits access, it's not going to change.

How is it NOT a deterrent ??

[SweetestLily]

The way sellers have adapted is to have the potential buyer join the FC and wait the 30 days out. Payment varies. Some sellers require a down payment of some sort (10 to 50%, some sellers will say it's non refundable if the buyer decides to back out), others don't.

Once the 30 days is up, it's the same as it was before the change. An in game contract is stated and agreed to, payment is made, FC leader passed over to the new owner. Done.

Note: I know this by observation. I do not buy or sell houses.

Edit: So I figured I'd explain how people are being scammed by this discord.

1. There are no channels where public discussion is allowed. You cannot speak to other members of the Discord. (Make new friends they advertise, lol. How? You can't talk to anyone!)
2. You have to interact with their ticket system. Which is not public, no one can see it outside of you and the scammer.
3. They will not give you any information on the location of the house. If you ask for a ward they'll claim they can't because people will report them to get them banned. You will not be invited to an FC. You cannot see the house in person. They will not be able to provide you with any proof there's any house at all. You're expected to just trust them.
4. They will request a down payment. In the case of one person who was scammed, they wanted 175 million as a down payment on a large house.
5. Once they've gotten you this far, they'll have you go to a mannequin and purchase an item for the down payment amount.
6. When the down payment is made in game, they will then remove you from the server. The scam is complete.

Thank you for the response.

[MultihouseHoarder]

Everyone who put in a ticket for the scam also admits to that they are willing to go around SE's system to buy property, and technically in conflict with the ToS.

THERE IS no easy way to get a house.

There you ARE!!! I missed you.

Easy way to get house(s)

1) create alt
2) level alt to 25
3) have friend create 3 alts
4) create FC
4) add those alts to your FC
5) wait 30 days
6) enter lotto where FCs are readily available
7) claim house

VOILA magic - soooo sooooo easy.

How to get house where you specifically want it
8) sell house(s) make gil
9) buy house where you want it

[Jojoya]

How is it NOT a deterrent ??

30 days isn't a long time. The player is unlikely to get a house on their own in that same period of time.

Not a deterrent.

[SweetestLily]

30 days isn't a long time. The player is unlikely to get a house on their own in that same period of time.

Not a deterrent.

The poster who replied to me already broke down why it is a detterent, but I'll let you argue with yourself.

[Silverbane]

30 days isn't a long time. The player is unlikely to get a house on their own in that same period of time.
Not a deterrent.

Not to the buyer, perhaps.

But people generally choose between money-making activates according to the temporal rate of return on investment.
So for the sellers, the slower turn-over, and thus lower temporal rate of return, in selling FC houses may cause them to redirect their efforts to other activities that make money faster for the same level of effort.

Perhaps that really qualifies as "less incentive" rather than a "deterrent," but the practical effect in a free market is typically the same.

[Jojoya]

The poster who replied to me already broke down why it is a detterent, but I'll let you argue with yourself.

Sales occurring at a slower pace doesn't not necessarily mean that the 30 day waiting period was an effective deterrent. The slower rate could be related to the need to either beat the lottery or finding someone willing to sell their FC house cheap enough to be profitable.

It would be interesting to see what state things would be in if the lottery was not implemented while the waiting period still was. Would sales be as slow, or would they be closer to the original speed we saw prior to 6.1?

Regardless, we know that real money sales are continuing. It's evidently not as much of a deterrent as some hoped.

Not to the buyer, perhaps.

But people generally choose between money-making activates according to the temporal rate of return on investment.
So for the sellers, the slower turn-over, and thus lower temporal rate of return, in selling FC houses may cause them to redirect their efforts to other activities that make money faster for the same level of effort.

Perhaps that really qualifies as "less incentive" rather than a "deterrent," but the practical effect in a free market is typically the same.

The 30 day waiting period doesn't lock the seller in stasis, unable to do anything else. They could be engaging in those other money making activities with other currency at their disposal while waiting for the house sale to complete.

What way is there to turn 3-4 million gil into several hundreds dollars in real money faster? I honestly can't think of anything other than selling the gil directly and I doubt the gil seller rates are high enough to be considered a comparable return.

As for the effort required, it's really not significantly different than before the lottery and the 30 day wait. Now it's send the former placard clicking army out to enter the lottery. That's not significantly more time consuming. Either the reseller wins or they don't. If they do, they're putting the same effort into finding a buyer as they used to. The buyer still has to be invited to the FC. They still have to be promoted to FC Master. The only difference is now there's a period of time between the joining and promotion, and all parties involved are free to do other things during that period, including make more money.

[DerpSnake]

Everyone who put in a ticket for the scam also admits to that they are willing to go around SE's system to buy property, and technically in conflict with the ToS.

THERE IS no easy way to get a house.

Oh hey, it's Marvin' Time!

[Nepentha]

The poster who replied to me already broke down why it is a detterent, but I'll let you argue with yourself.

She has a hard time admitting she may not be right, don't worry about it.

The fact is, the lotto + 30 day waiting period have slowed down sales, which was the intention. Because nothing short of making housing plentiful enough to meet demand will actually stop it. I know at least one RMTer threw in the towel when the lotto and 30 wait kicked in. That's a win in my book.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

THERE IS no easy way to get a house.

Well, there is. But its not the solution people want to hear.

Looks at OCE & new EU servers teeming with houses.

Of course, that's not an option for most people since most don't want to skyrocket their ping or leave behind friends to get a house. There'll also be a super easy solution in the form of the new NA DC this November where there'll be tens of thousands of houses across the worlds combined up for grabs. But then you get into everyone hoping someone else will bite the bullet and move there who has a house so they can stay put and bid on the person's now vacant plot, resulting in anyone willing to move getting free pickings at houses without any loss besides maybe leaving their FC (DC travel, world visit & cwls means leaving behind your friends is irrelevant.) while those who stay may see some plots open up but will still be in contest with the hundreds of others also too stubborn to bite the bullet and leave lol.

But it'll be the simple reality. I doubt Square will be releasing or working on instanced housing in any way shape or form in the near future, so those willing to move will get a titanic advantage.