Buying or selling a House You can buy and sell houses to other players using secure trades. There are a few things to watch out for though! To buy a place from someone, go stand under the house sign (within two tiles distance) and let the house owner initiate the trade. To sell a house, ask the buyer to go stand under the house sign, go stand next to him, and select Trade House from the house sign menu under Ownership. The buyer will first receive a message explaining how the house trade will take place. When the buyer confirms the message, the trade is initiated through the normal trade window. The house is represented by a distinctive blue deed, which shows the house name, owner and coordinates when clicked: After the buyer places his end of the bargain into the trade window and both players click the blue diamonds, the trade is concluded and ownership is transferred. Note that when you buy a house, the 7-day rule applies, and you cannot place or acquire another house for a week! Also, any homes that you already own will become condemned. See the Important rules in the Homeowner's Guide. Watch out for scams! Usually a good deal of gold is involved in real estate deals, so you should be careful of scams and con artists! Here's a few tips that will help you avoid these: In order for a house trade to be initiated, both the buyer and the seller must stand within 2 tiles of the house sign. When the trade is initiated, you can be sure that you're buying the house you are standing next to, not some other house on the same screen. When the trade is initiated, you'll see an ice-blue deed representing the house ownership, with some important information such as the name, owner and location of the house to be traded. You can use UO Automap or a sextant to verify the location, to ensure you're about to receive the correct house. Do not accept a trade if a buyer places a bag with checks into the trade window, rather than the individual checks themselves. There have been a few known bugs involving bags in trade windows, and you could end up transferring your house away without receiving the checks. Carefully check all checks! A common scam is to short-change a seller by offering several checks for a million gold, and mixing in a few checks for only a hundred thousand. An imprudent seller will not notice the missing 0. And lastly, the age-old wisdom concerning any deal: if a deal seems too good to be true, it usually is!