There should be a way for players to TRADE Housing Plots with one another

[Terin]

I'm not talking about Buying/Selling, although I don't personally have a problem with that idea, either.

Rather, what I'd like to discuss is adding the ability for two players who ALREADY OWN Plots, to trade plots with one another.

For one, I believe it would alleviate a LOT of stress that comes with Housing. Right now, Housing is mostly a case of "take what you can get". But if we were able to Trade our Plots with one another, it opens up this almost secondary market, where you can try to get an even *better* house!

Second -- and much more importantly, IMO -- is it would finally allow players to coordinate where we live. For example, I play FFXIV with my dad, and also my sister and her husband. Even though I live half a world away from them, it would be AMAZING to be in-game neighbors with them! Even as much as I love my current beach-side Small in the Mist, I could totally see Trading with someone so I could be next to my dad's place in the Goblem, or my sister's place in Lavender Beds.

Now, as for the literal MECHANICS of this?

My personal solution would be to give us a "Deed" to our Plot, and allow us to use that to trade with another players. Or maybe it would be an option activated via Placard. In addition to trading houses, I would also allow either side to include gil, since one Plot is usually going to be more desirable than another.

So if I'm "trading-down" so I can get a house near my friends or fam, then maybe both sides are happy. But if I had a Plot I didn't really like, and wanted someone else's plot, I could offer to pay them; they'd still have a house, but have made some gil to compensate for moving to maybe a less desirable location.

Similarly, for those of us truly invested in trying to attain a Large house at some point, this would finally give us SOME avenue of that, beyond pure blind luck. And for players who can't afford to Trade for a Large? Well, you can STILL rely on pure blind luck, but for those of us willing to actively accrue gil, we can at least make an offer to trade Plots with those Large-owners. And who knows; once someone's had a Large for a while, they may be more inclined to trade-down (especially since I'd argue Mediums are probably the most "flexible", in terms of really playing around with different looks; Larges tend to look very "same-y" on top floor.

I sincerely hope the Devs give this some consideration. And if additional stipulations need to be added, such as the gil traded needing to be taxed, just whatever it takes for the option to feel "fair". And like I said, because these Trades would only occur between people who already own Plots, there's no real argument of it affecting the Housing market, other than just making it a WHOLE lot more realistic to get the plots you want.

[Drkdays]

That might work, but ONLY if they attached some suitably painful time-gate to it so players don't snipe houses simply to sell them immediately as they did in the past.

For example, being able to trade the plot to a player who has been a shared housing member of the plot in question for, say, six months seems reasonable.

[Bearded]

Seriously against this unless it is time gated - unable to trade house for at least six months.
Also subject to a major tax in order to compensate for the Dev time needed to code it.

Opening up plots for direct sale is a slippery slope to even more hyper inflation on the prices.

[Krotoan]

there's no real argument of it affecting the Housing market, other than just making it a WHOLE lot more realistic to get the plots you want.

As long as someone can move houses from one character to another and we have this insane competition for housing (as long as we don't have infinite housing and things are locked behind having a house) scalpers will exist and run a "black market". Put as much time gating on it as you want, they have dozens of accounts to shuffle houses and move them around for "storage" till the timer wears off. People WILL make accounts and level them until they can make house mules and squatters, creating even more housing shortages.


I can't really stand behind a system to make this any easier for them.

[Snorky]

This would only make it easier for the people who buy up houses and resell making millions. The housing system is screwed up. Everyone who wants a house should be able to get one. Those that have more than one on different accounts are just being greedy. If they could stop the gil sellers it would be fine. If they cracked down on the buyers it would help. Just what are people doing with all those millions of gil, I mean there is only so much you can buy with gil. Being able to trade a house to someone would also circumvent the new lottery system. It's a no go for me on trading houses.

[Terin]

Here's the thing; the current implementation makes it COMPLETELY impossible for people to coordinate houses, let alone get plots they actually want. Gil exists, and for people willing to actually USE their tradeskills to interact with the game economy, is there really anything so diabolical about the idea that "I spent a bunch of time selling crafted gear, so I could buy a cool plot next to my dad?".

Now I fully agree, there is a housing shortage. I would like to see more Wards opened up, whenever possible, it's a Win-Win for everybody. But without a means of being able to *trade* Plots, it creates a really unsatisfying barrier where I basically have to hope that people quit the game, just to have a SHOT at buying a Plot I like. By allowing players to trade, there are no fewer Plots on the market, simply that they are able to change ownership.

The fact is, in-game houses are a commodity. They're a thing that players want, and spend gil on. The fact that we *cannot* trade in any capacity is only more frustrating, because it removed ANY sort of agency on the players' part.

Truth be told, I would think people able to buy houses from other players would make the market more accessible to players who DON'T already own a house. Although a lottery system is certainly an improvement, too (I just don't see the need to make them mutually exclusive).

As far as the idea of having a timer... that's honestly not something I've considered, and has some merit. I think requiring the person to OWN a house for six months seems a little excessive, but there's potential for the idea all the same. Maybe owning the house for 1 full month, and you can only "trade" a plot once every 3-6 months? Or heck, maybe even have it as part of some kind of "petition" system, where a GM reviews each request, and can reject if they suspect any funny business?

As long as there's a solid enough gil-sink/tax, it should ensure that OVER TIME, the costs get lower and lower. Even if trading two properties required a minimum amount of cost, and took a percentage for anything traded beyond that, it might be an expensive endeavor, but at least it would make it POSSIBLE.

[kaynide]

I feel this; I have a sweet spot on the beach in Mist, and would like to move my second large house also to mist, same zone. Would exchange it for my current beachfront large in Shirogane.

Basically would be nice to get both in the same zone. And maybe get my friends to be neighbors, etc.

[Likethewind]

Hot Take: There should be some housing wards that are pay2win. We already have the mogstation for a bunch of stuff, why not housing?

[Nishira]

I may be wrong but I’d guess it could/would be used for RMT. In that sense I think the system as it is now, is at least partially designed to combat potential abuse that way. But I know very little of the exact reasons and history of the housing market in FF14 From the little I do know, houses are valuable because of dearth, and being able to get specific plots would make it even more tempting. I think effectively it could drive prices up in game even further as a result.

I understand your wish, and it’s almost comical in a sense that FF14’s housing market reflects the state in the real world in many places. I think only ample supply, and only then potentially the option to trade, would work. But maybe I’m overlooking very obvious stuff!

[RitsukoSonoda]

I feel like this is something that has well enough intentions in it's thought process, however opens doors to so many potential problems it's probably not worth trying to do because of the headaches it's going to cause later.