My trader is looking to move into a nice little home. It doesn't have to be freestanding, although she would prefer that. It does, however, need to be no further from Crossing than Arthe, which has no non-halfling housing available. I searched every inch of Temple Hill and absolutely everything else that is marked as a housing area on the Crossing maps, including a few areas that she just wouldn't tolerate living in for IC reasons. I was hoping I'd found something in the Mews, but I think that one's just been claimed and never moved into. My fingers are now sore from spamming 'home claim' in nearly every room in Crossing.
I know it isn't necessarily 100% accurate, but according to Elanthipedia's article on Crossing Housing (https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Crossing_Housing), there are exactly 19 homes of any type available in the Crossing housing areas. Of those, ten are reserved for a specific guild, which excludes her. Six of the others are either in the VIP or thieves' area of Raven's Court. The remaining three are in the sewers. My little trader isn't extremely wealthy, but she does draw an IC line at moving into the sewers. Prydaens have their pride, after all.
Strictly speaking, my trader certainly wouldn't mind living in Raven's Court, but she also wouldn't waste her money on a VIP membership until she is better off financially. Practically speaking, it also means that my other chars would ALSO need VIP membership to use the house, as I was only planning on purchasing one for all of them.
Since I came back to DR and saw that housing was open to every character on a Prem account, I assumed there must have been houses empty left and right. This definitely isn't the case in Crossing, although it may be in other areas. Maybe there either needs to be a few more houses plopped down (I saw several rooms in Temple Hill that had one lone cottage, drop a couple more!) or a reasonable limit put on how many houses each Prem account can have. Also, perhaps folks should move into their claimed houses within a week of claiming them or they go back on the market?
Another thought. When a Prem account is cancelled, does their house automatically become available again, or are there potentially a bunch of houses sitting out there tied down to inactive accounts? If so, it seems like a purge is in order.
For now, it looks like my trader (and my couple other characters for that matter) will remain homeless. If anyone is interested in selling, particularly in Temple Hill or one of the decent neighborhoods, please let me know. Can pay reasonably well for it.
