Time on House removal/reclaming is way to short! (private houseing)

[MikeWW]

I only read the original post and the last few posts. I think a way to prolong the timer for demolition by stuffing gil into a "prolong timer fund/demolition timer insurance" could be a good solution.

For example, a person has a small private house. He can put up to 1 million gil into a demolition timer insurance policy, in increments of 5k gil. If he does not enter his house for over 45 days, each day past 45 will deduct 5k gil from his insurance policy. If his insurance policy funds run out, his house will be demolished.

This solution will still allow people who quit, ragequit, take a break but don't come back, etc., to lose their homes in the normal 45 day timeframe.

While at the same time the solution will allow people who are willing to sacrifice gil to protect themselves from unforeseen and foreseen circumstances that could or would otherwise result in house demolition.

Damn, am I good or what.

[Snugglebutt]

Insurance policy is just another way of saying a housing tax. I do not support that idea.

The best solution in my opinion to the issue of people sitting on houses they no longer want is expand the relinquish option to the same as the reclamation in that when relinquish it refunds only 80% of the cost (people should not be allowed to profit from relinquish or reclamation), then the game puts the plot back on the market. In terms of the 45 days aspect, the amount of time is fine. SE does not want people who no longer play taking up plots that they are not using and no matter what timer SE puts on it some people will always complain whether it is 45 days, 60 days or 120 days. In as far as a time period goes, 45 days is a reasonable amount.

[Niwashi]

I say if they must, turn on the limit the first month of the year to rid of houses that have been inactive for ages, much like they did this time, then turn it off. This way you still free up plots but don't prevent people who need to be away from the game to be away from the game.

That would mean that whether you can take a break or not depends on which month it is when you need that break. If the goal is simply to allow breaks from the game but still reclaim the long-term abandoned plots, just lengthening the timeframe would do that in a more balanced way.

I'm not convinced it would be needed if other fixes were in place, though. It's the plots that are limited, not furnishings. So just make the caretaker's storage permanent once a plot has been reclaimed, and get rid of the rule about items that are destroyed on removal. That way, if you either need or want to take a break, you know that your items and 80% of your purchase cost are safe until you can come back. It protects your investment while still freeing up plots that may (or may not) be permanently abandoned by their prior owners.

Insurance policy is just another way of saying a housing tax. I do not support that idea.

Not the version MikeWW described, because it's completely optional. So long as you're available to enter your house every month, you'd never need to pay it, as the funds are only deducted if you're absent for over 45 days. It's basically a way of telling the game that you plan to come back after an extended absence and being able to purchase a longer timeframe in which to do so. Seems like it could be helpful for a lot of people.