Housing Housing Housing

.
.. UO Stratics - Counselor Blues ..

Posted by Counselor Damsel on May 07, 1999 at 15:12:30:

Hail again fellow players :D

Housing placement, reimbursement and trading has got to be one of, if not the hottest, topic for counselor calls on Atlantic. I have been seeking a way to securely trade a house while we wait for the up and coming auction system that is currently in development. Recently, I was pointed toward a solution that could work for the time being :).

If you find a legitimate seller (or at least they seem legit) and you strike a deal, you can now find a broker (a neutral third party) to use as go between to make the trade secure. The website to find the �Housing trade Broker� as I will call them is www.uomarket.com. I have also been assured they are guaranteed but you might want to investigate this further. I have not used them, but plan to as soon as I find a legit seller. The site is well respected, long established and I have not gotten any negative feedback on them. Here is how I was told it would work:

Buyer and seller meet the broker at a bank.
The buyer pays the broker for the house and the broker banks the cash.
All three recall or travel to the house and the seller transfers the house.
All three recall or travel back to the bank and the broker then pays the seller.
As far as I know, no fee is required for the broker but you should make sure of that beforehand.

This is obviously not the be all and end all as an answer to house trading. In the long run the auction system is needed and will be most welcome but I thought you all might appreciate knowing about this option as much as I do. (The wonderful things you learn at UOHOC :P)

Now, just to review what most players already know:

Architects, usually found in town halls, sell deeds to houses. Remember they are newbified now, they will not leave your corpse, cannot be stolen and most importantly, will decay rapidly if dropped.

Real Estate Brokers, usually found around the carpenter�s shops in towns, buy them back at full price. You would need to go to the Broker and say � appraise� and target the deed, which must be in your main pack. The broker will then offer a price for the deed and if it is acceptable to you, just drop the deed on them and the money will appear in your bank box.

Housing placement is rough right now. OSI has commented on it at www.owo.com so check that out. You need five extra spaces in the front and back and one extra on each side from all things you can target and get an identity on (this is my rule of thumb, I don�t think its official). So if you see some tall grass and you target it and it says grasses its an item you need to be away from. Logs, other houses, mushrooms, roads, caves, mountains, trees, etc all count. If you manage to plop a house down on any of the above, bully for you. ;) Count your blessings and enjoy your new home. If you see houses placed on or very near to any of the above, remember that homes placed prior to the ownership patch are sort of grandfathered in. They don�t guarantee that if they decay another house can be placed where they were. Uneven ground is also bad, uhnkay? :P As a counselor, I can come and look at a spot you find if it meets all the requirements and let you know my opinion or help you figure out why it cant be placed but other than that, I cannot do much else :)

Some new ownership tips:

To lock items down: say �I wish to lock this down� (Owner only)
To unlock them: say �I wish to release this� (Owner only)
To place a trashcan: say �I wish to place a trash barrel� (Owner only)
To ban or eject you can use the gui on the house sign or you can say �I ban thee� or �Remove thyself� (Owners and friends)

Anything in your house that you have placed and you now want to get rid of you can lock down and then (owner) use an axe on to destroy it. Items like house add-ons are perm unless destroyed, in other words, you can�t redeed them or move them.

Vendors in public houses:
You want to move your vendor? Ok, here is how that works. If the owner of the house or any of the other characters on that account placed the vendor the only way to move it is to �dismiss� it (this will kill the vendor so get your stock and monies off first). That command is �vendor name� dismiss.
If you are a friend of the house (listed as a friend on the house sign) you can be removed from the friend list by the house owner (you can check this by trying to access the house sign features) and the next time you ask for status from your vendor it will �pack up� intact and you can place it elsewhere.

Well, I think I have babbled on long enough for now on this subject  You might want to put a bookmark here for a night when you are having trouble sleeping, the you can read this so be assured of a good night�s rest ;).

Have fun!

Blows Kisses

Counselor Damsel
Atlantic

.