Housing
General Information
Players can purchase a house of their own or together with members of their Free Company. Players can place various items in the house.They can also use the house for a number of in-game activities such as Gardening. Free Company estates also house a crafting workshop where players can build airships and other special projects. In order to acquire a house, players must first raise the rank of their free company to 6 and obtain a Land Acquisition entitlement.
- Free Company housing was released in patch 2.1. Personal Rooms for Free Company houses were released in patch 2.3. Personal Housing was introduced in patch 2.38.
4 Residential districts are available: The Mist in Limsa Lominsa, Lavender Beds in Gridania, The Goblet in Ul'dah, and Shirogane in Kugane.
Note that after patch 3.1, claimed land and houses that become inactive (not accessed by its owner(s)) for an extended period of time will be reclaimed by the game (owner(s) will lose the land and house).
Housing Items
Gardening
Gardening, released in Patch 2.2, allows the player to set up a garden and cultivate various plants.
Orchestrion
Jukebox, released in patch 3.2, that can be placed in houses, rooms and inns to play various songs from the game.
Personal Housing and Room
Personal Housing - a house solely owned by the player.
Personal Room - a room (instance) in the Free Company house that is owned by the player.
Apartments
Aquarium and Paintings
Aquariums are fish tanks released in patch 3.4.
Paintings are framed pictures released in patch 3.5.
Residential Districts
Players can get a house anywhere regardless of their Grand Company allegiance. There are no difference between the 3 housing wards aside from looks.
The Mist
The Mist is the housing area in Limsa Lominsa. Its entrance is located at Red Rooster Stead (x34,y19) in Cedarwood of Lower La Noscea. Players can also access the area by selecting Residental District Aethernet in Limsa Lominsa Aetheryte Plaza's main aetheryte or taking the Lominsan Ferry Docks near the Fishermen's Guild in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks (x7,y15).
Lavender Beds
Lavender Beds is the housing area in Gridania. Its entrance is located at Mirror Planks Docks (x27,y26) in Bentbranch of Central Shroud. Players can also access the area by selecting Residental District Aethernet in Gridania Aetheryte Plaza's main aetheryte or by talking to Ferry Skipper in Westshore Pier near the Lancer's Guild, Old Gridania (x14,y6).
The Goblet
The Goblet is the housing area in Ul'dah. Its entrance is located at The Eighty Sins of Sasamo (x25,y27) in Hammerlea of Western Thanalan. Players can also access the area by selecting Residental District Aethernet in Ul'dah Aetheryte Plaza's main aetheryte or talking to Ivory Sparrow in Ul'dah - Steps of Thal near the Miner's Guild (x11,y14).
Shirogane
Shirogane is the housing area in Doma. Released in Stormblood (4.0), players can teleport to Shirogane through an Aethernet in Kugane after completing the quest I Dream of Shirogane.
Estate Types
All estate types can have:
- Chocobo Stables, Miniature Aetheryte for easy teleportation, mailbox, summoning bell, armoire etc
- the same number of Private Chambers (only applies to Free Company Housing)
- Free Company Airships (only applies to FC housing)
Small: Cottage
- 2 floors with relatively small rooms
- 100 pieces of furniture inside / 20 in the yard max
- can have 3 vendors at most
- can have 4 crafting facilities at most
- can only have 1 garden patch (up to 8 beds)
Medium: House
- 3 floors, the house is approximately twice the size of a cottage
- 150 pieces of furniture inside / 30 in the yard max
- can have 4 vendors at most
- can have 6 crafting facilities at most
- can have 2 garden patches (up to 16 beds)
Large: Mansion
- really, really huge
- 3 floors but they are massive
- 200 pieces of furniture inside / 40 in the yard max
- can have 5 vendors at most
- can have 8 crafting facilities at most
- can have 3 garden patches (up to 24 beds)
Differences Between Free Company and Personal Housing
Free Company Housing
- Private Chambers are available for members for 300,000 gil each (with the limit of 512 chambers)
- Company Workshop for Free Company Airship construction. Airship of certain rank unlocks The Diadem (Hard), which can't be accessed otherwise.
- If offered free Krakka Roots for members, they can feed the stabled chocobos, and they can potentially save the plants in the garden in case they are about to wither and die. While a personal house can have stable and a garden, it's only up to the owner and the tenants to take care of them
- If no member enters the Free Company house in 45 days, it’ll be automatically demolished.
Personal Housing
- No Private Chamers
- No Company Workshops or Airships
- You can share your estate with up to 3 friends through the tenant system. You can allow them to use your stables, garden, or move and place furniture.
- If the owner doesn’t enter the house in 45 days, it’ll be automatically demolished.
Acquiring a House
Requirements
- Character with level 50 in 1 of the classes.
- Second Lieutenant in 1 of the Grand Companies for Personal Housing. Rank 6 or higher Free Company for Free Company Housing.
- A player and a Free Company can only have 1 house each. If a person wants to have two houses, they need to create/lead a Free Company and then buy one for themselves and one for their Free Company. Private chambers in Free Company houses don't count.
Purchasing Land
You can check if there are any plots available by speaking to the NPC who takes you to or out of the wards or using the capital city’s main aetheryte in Aetheryte Plaza and selecting “Go to specified ward” (after selecting “Residental District Aethernet”, if using the main aetheryte — you need to have done the Where the Heart Is quest for this to be an option). Taken plots have the owner's name or the Free Company tag on them while available plots show their price instead. Small plots go for 2-5 mil while mediums go for 15-37 mil and larges for 35-87 mil. Prices depend on the current server economy, the location of the plot and how long the it's been on the market; the price goes down the longer it's for sale. Waiting too long in hopes of getting it cheaper is risky, though, since there are limited amount of plots and, you guessed it, the demand is high.
The hardest part of getting a house (aside from saving enough Gil) is finding an available plot of the wanted size. It got a lot easier after the introduction of reclamation of inactive housing in patch 3.1, however, so now free plots show up every now and then. It's a good idea to check out the plots daily (multiple times a day, even, if you really want that house). Smalls and mediums go especially fast.
If you are not patient, you could try to find another player willing to give up their house. Just remember you can't buy a plot from another player directly; instead, you pay for them to relinquish their land and then you can buy the plot for the regular price. This means you could end up paying twice the Gil for the land compared to the regular way of spotting a free plot and going for it. This was pretty much the only way to get a house pre-3.1 when all plots were taken and most were inactive. (It is, however, against the game’s Terms of Service and may results in actions taken against your account, so it’s risky.)
After finding an available plot you want to buy, select the ward it's in and go there. Check out the number of the plot and locate it on the map; it's either in the original area or in the subdivision. Teleport to the nearest aetheryte, go to the plot and examine the placard in front of it; select buy. If you're a Free Company leader or of high enough rank in your Free Company, you must choose whether to buy the plot for yourself or the FC.
Plot Pricing
The cost of a plot is based on size and 'grade' of the plot itself. After a ward is added (or a plot is relinquished), the costs are set at default. Over time the price will lower to entice a buyer. The costs are:
Default pricing:
Fifth-class Plot | Fourth-class Plot | Third-class Plot | Second-class Plot | First-class Plot | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Small | 3,000,000 | 3,187,500 | 3,375,000 | 3,562,500 | 3,750,000 |
Medium | 16,000,000 | 17,000,000 | 18,000,000 | 19,000,000 | 20,000,000 |
Large | 40,000,000 | 42,500,000 | 45,000,000 | 47,500,000 | 50,000,000 |
Minimum pricing:
Fifth-class Plot | Fourth-class Plot | Third-class Plot | Second-class Plot | First-class Plot | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Small | 1,488,000 | 1,581,060 | 1,674,000 | 1,767,060 | 1,860,000 |
Medium | 7,936,000 | 8,432,000 | 8,928,000 | 9,424,000 | 9,920,000 |
Large | 19,840,000 | 21,080,000 | 22,320,000 | 23,560,000 | 24,800,000 |
Building House
After you've bought the land, you need to buy the Housing permit from a vendor NPC to actually get a house on the plot you just bought. You have 45 days for this (if you don't build in this time, you will lose the land due to reclamation of inactive housing). Examine the placard again and choose to get it for
- 450,000 Gil for a small cottage
- 1,000,000 Gil for a medium house
- 3,000,000 Gil for a large mansion
Small, medium and large houses can only be built on small, medium and large plots respectively. This also means that after buying the plot you're settled on the size, and if you want to get a house of different size, you must relinquish the land and get another plot. (You can't even build a smaller house on a bigger plot.)
While building the house you have to make a choice between three exterior types: wood, composite or stone. You can change the exterior components afterwards if you like, but choose the one you like the most.
Customizing House
Exterior
A house is comprised of four mandatory parts—roof, exterior wall, windows, and door—along with up to four optional parts: roof decoration, exterior wall decoration, placard, and fence.
A number of furnishings can be placed in the garden outside of your house. The following three options will be available to adjust their position:
- Move: Change the position of selected furnishing.
- Rotate: Rotate the selected furnishing
- Remove: Remove the selected furnishing from the garden.
- The number of furnishings that can be placed in your garden will depend on the size of your land.
- Once a furnishing has been placed in the garden, it can no longer be traded. Furthermore, certain furnishings will be lost upon placing them in or removing them from the garden.
Interior
A number of parts including the wallpaper, flooring, and lighting of the interior can be changed.
A wide range of furnishings will be available to decorate the interior of your estate including tables, lamps, plants, wall mountings, carpets, and more. Certain furnishings can be placed on top of others, such as lamps atop tables or desks.
- The positioning of furnishings inside a house can be adjusted using an interface similar to the one used for the exterior.
- Once a furnishing has been placed in the house, it can no longer be traded. Furthermore, certain furnishings will be lost upon placing them in or removing them from the garden.
Player Housing NPC's
Relocation and Storeroom
Relocation allows the player to move their estate.
Storeroom is the inventory for only Housing Items.
Released in patch 4.1.
Demolishing Your House
If you want to get rid of your house for any reason (going to switch servers, don't really use your house, plan on quitting the game) you can demolish it. You won't get back any of the Gil you paid for it and you will lose the “cannot be retrieved once placed” furniture (like all the cool and expensive primal stuff), but, if you're patient, you may be able to “sell” the plot to someone else if they're willing to buy it. (In other words: you get paid for relinquishing the plot.) This, however, is against the game’s Terms of Service and may result in you getting suspended for a period of time, so it’s not advised.
You could also wait for the automatic reclamation and then get 80% of your Gil back. In this case, you cannot enter your house in 45 days, but you can keep playing normally otherwise.
You can demolish your house and get rid of the plot by choosing Housing > Estate Settings > Private/Free Company Estate > Relinquish Land. (Or, in private room's case, “Vacate Chambers”.)
Reclamation of Inactive Housing
To ensure that plots of land are not claimed and left unused, estates not accessed for extended periods of time will be automatically demolished, and the plots of land will be put back up for sale.
- Reclamation of Inactive Housing was released in patch 3.1.
Estates Subject to Demolishing
- Free company housing that has not been accessed by at least one member within 45 days.
- Private housing that has not been accessed by the owner within 45 days.
- Purchased plots of land upon which an estate has not been built within 45 days.
Steps Prior to Demolishing
- 30 days of inactivity: A notification indicating that the estate is being prepared for auto-demolition will appear in the Timers interface in the Duty tab of the Main Menu.
- 35 days of inactivity: An e-mail will be delivered to the registered e-mail addresses of all free company members, or the owner of a private estate, indicating the estate is being prepared for auto-demolition.
- 42 days of inactivity: An e-mail will be delivered to the registered e-mail addresses of all free company members, or the owner of a private estate, indicating that the estate will be demolished automatically in three days.
- 45 days of inactivity: The estate will be automatically demolished.
Halting Demolition
Any free company member or private housing owner entering the estate at any time prior to demolition will cancel the demolition process.
After Demolition
When an estate has been demolished, or the rights to an empty plot have been relinquished, said plot will be made available for purchase to all players on that World. The price will decrease every six hours from the time at which it is made available for purchase.
Reclaiming Gil and Items
When an estate has been demolished, gil and certain furnishings will be placed in the care of the resident caretaker for a fixed period of time.
Redeemable from the Resident Caretaker:
- 80% of the price paid for the estate grounds.
- Indoor and outdoor furnishings that are not destroyed upon removal.
Not Redeemable from the Resident Caretaker:
- The construction permit required to build an estate.
- Furnishings destroyed upon removal.
- Housing exteriors.
- Private chambers.
- Company workshops and any registered airships in the workshop.
Players will have thirty-five days to redeem items from the resident caretaker before they are made irredeemable. Items belonging to a free company estate can only be retrieved by members with the authorization to purchase or relinquish land. Items belonging to a private estate can only be retrieved by the owner.
Housing Key
A yellow house on the map indicates the house is locked, and can not be viewed by the public. A blue house is open to the public. Houses marked with an (i) are owned by an individual, while houses with no letter are owned by a free company.
When choosing to teleport to a district: plots that appear in red are either locked or do not yet have a house. Plots that appear in green are open to visitors. If a lot is for sale, its price will be listed in white text.