Housing


 * For a categorical listing of all housing-related articles, see Category:Housing.
 * For information on Guild Halls, see Guild Halls.
 * For information on decorating, see Decorating Houses.

Overview
Each character you create in Everquest 2 have multiple homes. As of 2011, each character can own a maximum of 25 houses.

Terminology in this article includes:
 * "Style" to refer to the look and layout of a house, while "type" refers to how a house is purchased or claimed.
 * "Buy" is used to describe the the in-game action of obtaining the actual house, while "purchase" refers to the exchange of real-world money with SOE using Station Cash
 * "Upkeep" (or maintenance) refers to rent that is paid using in-game currency and status points.
 * There are two major UI windows described in this article in many places.
 * One is the Housing & Leaderboard window and, while it has many uses, only uses tied to functions like buying a Prestige House at the external "door", moving to furniture to a new house, and using it to travel to a house you own are addressed.
 * In contrast, a different window, called the Housing window is also described; it can only be opened while inside a house of any type. The functions described here relate to changing the name of a house and setting access for other characters.

'''This article covers the general information that applies to ALL housing, rather than details about each type. Each type now has its own page.'''

See Standard Housing for the original housing has always existed, or Prestige Housing for details and a list of housing purchased with Station Cash from the Marketplace.

The benefits of owning a house:
 * Housing serves as a place from which a player can sell their goods to other players via the broker.
 * Owning any inn room or house grants a character a maximum of 6 slots on the broker. No matter how many homes a character owns that number can not be exceeded.
 * Special containers called Sales Displays can be placed in a house as furniture so other players can shop in your home. Sales Displays offer an advantage on the broker market: other players can shop from them and avoid the broker fee they would normally pay outside of your home.
 * Home ownership grants a character a house vault with 6 storage slots. Like the broker, owning multiple homes on one character will not increase the number of house vault slots that character has.

Every Character Gets a House!
Every character you create can "buy" (at least) one free house and upkeep is a mere  per week. Every character you create will get the quest First Time Buyer, allowing you to "buy" your first standard home for free.

Housing Types
Everquest 2 has main two types of housing:
 * Standard Housing which is purchased with a mix of coin (plat, gold, etc) and, in some cases Status points. All require weekly upkeep (or "rent") to access over time, though you will never owe bank rent or loose the items inside if you skip paying "rent". Standard housing is typically styled like a real-world home, with a mix of rooms and (in large homes) a balcony. Standard Housing can be found in all of the major cities in Norrath, the world of EQ2.
 * Prestige Housing, which is obtained by various means and does not require any upkeep. Most prestige houses are based on zones found in the world that have been modified. They vary greatly in style and size.

Buying a House
To buy a house in a city of good or evil alignment, the player must be a citizen in a city of the same alignment.

An overview of buying, owning, and relinquishing each type of housing is covered here, rather than every detail about each type. This is because both types have seen numerous changes over the years and the details and options for both types grew exponentially. If you want more details about each type (Standard or Prestige) click on the links in this article at any time.

In order to buy any house, you need to travel to the entrance and right click on the door. Before you buy any house, you can tour it to get a sense of the floorplan and the other details that might interest you, like any windows it may have or what (if any) access to an outdoor area it may have.

Buying Standard Housing
'''Editor is consolidating the basic act of buying both types of homes with specific about each (status vs needing a deed). Pardon the mess.'''


 * See also: List of Houses

Standard housing exists in all cities throughout Norrath in EQ2.


 * The walls and flooring in Freeport and Qeynos houses can be changed after you purchase them by clicking on the walls and floors.

Some housing is available for purchase in two versions: one with a pure coin cost and one with a mixed coin/status cost. For example, an apartment in Irontoe's East has two price options:


 * Non-status version: to buy +  per week in upkeep.
 * Status version: to buy +  per week in upkeep.

The weekly status cost for the status version of this housing can be reduced further if you buy or quest for furniture and house items.

Standard Housing Upkeep

All standard houses require the payment of weekly (real-time) upkeep. This is normally a fraction of the cost of the house. Up to 12 weeks can be paid in advance. Upkeep can consist of coin only or coin and status points.

Failing to pay upkeep has two effects.
 * 1) No one, including your character, will be able to enter the house.
 * 2) Items in sales displays will no longer list your address on the broker because shoppers can not enter it.

You never have to pay "back rent" if you miss an upkeep payment. Once upkeep is paid you will have access to the house again. Once you own a house it will belong to that character unless you Relinquish it. Houses do not depreciate or vanish over time like they did in Star Wars Galaxies.

Buying a Prestige Housing
To buy a house in a city of good or evil alignment, the player must be a citizen in a city of the same alignment. This is a process is carried out in three steps:
 * 1) You must have a deed in your inventory.
 * 2) You will right click on the deed to redeem (or activate) access to the house before you can buy it.
 * 3) You must go to a portal location in South Freeport or South Qeynos to buy the house, buy locating it on a list. It will have the same name that was on the deed (eg. Everfrost Summer Home).

How to get a deed:
 * If you bought a Collector's Edition of EQ2, attended Fan Faire, or you qualify for a veteran's reward, you must type /claim to open the Veteran's Reward interface and choose to claim a deed so it will appear in your character's inventory.
 * If you have a loot card for a Tax-Free House and you have redeemed it in the Legends of Norrath interface, you must type /claim so it will appear in your inventory.
 * If you purchased a prestige house using Station Cash from Station Marketplace, the deed will be in your character's inventory.

For a list of available styles see Prestige Housing. You can also check the Marketplace while you are logged into the game, since new ones are often added. In some cases, new housing of this type might be released when there is a holiday event, like Frostfell or Nights of the Dead.

Locating Your House
With the addition of multiple house ownership, the potential to forget where you owned a house or houses was a problem. Don't worry if you forget where you own a house. You can look at a listing of all of the houses you own by pressing C to open the Character equipment and information window. After the window is open click on the Housing Tab and you will see a list of all of the houses that character owns.

Renaming Your House
Any house you can be renamed. This feature is both functional and fun. As shown in the image above, renaming makes it easy to remember what you may be using a house for and common reasons you may do this include using it for storage or placing a sales display for broker sales.

You may also choose to rename your house purely for the sake of fun. This is common with players who Roleplay. In many cases, housing is used to host events for role playing and may be renamed to make it suit the purpose. Common themes include bars and restaurants.

When other players travel to the house to visit it, they will still need to go to the door and find it under the name of the character that owns it, but once they enter, text shows on their screen that announces the renamed the location.

To do this, open the House window by typing /house or right clicking on the inner door. Before it is renamed, it will have your character's name, followed by the generic name of the house. To the right of that info, you'll see an Edit button. In the example image on the right the edit button has already been clicked and the words, "Type House Name Here" have been typed into the field you'll use to rename your house. Click the Save button (in the same place as Edit was prior) and your new house name will be saved. If the example shown here had been saved, anyone entering would see the words Type Your Name Here as a part of the message when they zone in.

Traveling to Homes You Own
There are numerous way to get to homes you own. The "old fashioned way" is to go to the city the house is in, go to the door, right click the door and choose enter from the options.

You can access any home you own by pressing C to open the Character window while in a you can instantly enter any home you own if your are already in any major, player inhabitable city. The image of the Character window above (with an example of a renamed house on the list) shows the shortcut button, labeled Access that opens the Housing and Leaderboard window, so you can enter instantly. The cities you can do this from are The City of Freeport, The City of Qeynos, Neriak, Kelethin, Gorowyn, or New Halas.

If you are in a guild that has all hall and that has purchased the Portal to Housing amenity, you can click on it to open a list of all homes you own or homes you have been granted access (described below) to by the owners.

Furniture

 * See also: List of House Items

Furniture is both functional in Standard Housing if the have a status up keep cost, decorating has risen as a very popular aspect of the game. For more detailed info on how to decorate a house, see Decorating Houses.

Furniture not only personalizes to your house, it also reduces or completely eliminates the status upkeep cost if a home requires a payment in status points. This feature of furniture is known as Rent Status Reduction and only applies to Standard Housing.

There are several varieties of furniture and you can open the examine window to see the amount of status reduction they offer. To examine an item, right click on it in the Broker window or while it is in your inventory.

Ways of obtaining furniture:
 * The majority of furniture in EQ2 can be made by a player who has taken up the profession of carpenter. You can make your own furniture or go to the broker to get it from other players.
 * You can get it from a city merchant by spending status points and coin.
 * Most faction merchants sell at least a few furniture items.
 * You can get some furniture at special merchants located near the standard housing in cities for a low coin cost.
 * Holiday and city-themed furniture and house items like plants and tress can be obtained at a variety of Live Events
 * Some regular quests will give you furniture as a reward.
 * Most heritage quests will give a reward that can be turned into a furniture item by right clicking on it and examining it in your inventory. This should be done only if you no longer have a use for the item if it is equitable.
 * Some collections have a furniture reward that can be placed in your house.
 * Some furniture is offered by opening the /claim window.
 * Some furniture can only be purchased using Station Cash (for real-world money).

There are several types of furniture, each with a different function:


 * Decorative items come from quests, or city merchants. These items are purely functional and do not offer status reduction.
 * Rent Status Reduction items will reduce the number of status points required to pay weekly upkeep on a standard house with a status coin and status cost. Players can make a wide variety of items that reduce status. The more carpentry skill created to make the item, the more status reduction it offers. Items that take a rare material to craft have a greater status reduction effect.
 * Building Blocks include floor tiles, room dividers (walls), stairs, railings, columns, and actual (cubed) blocks are used to alter the surfaces of homes or build free-style structures. As of November 2013 these items have a separate item count from other furniture and decor items when placed in a house. They are primarily player-made, but many are from city festivals. Some come from Live Events and others can be purchased using Station Cash. Status reduction is uncommon or extremely low for these items.
 * Pets can come from a pet merchant, quest rewards, collection rewards, or come from fighting in the Arena. Some pets can be claimed as a veteran's reward. Pets will wander around the house and typically have several interaction options (such as play dead, dance, etc) when you right click on them after they are placed in a house. Most of the interactions include an animation.
 * Tradeskill stations can be purchased from city merchants. The quality of these tables varies, but only the Elaborate quality can be used for crafting in your house. The lower qualities of tradekill stations are best suited as decorative items only.
 * Sales displays can be placed in a house like furniture, allowing other players to come to your house to shop. Doing so eliminates the broker fee for shoppers. If you place a sales display in your house and it has items for sale in it, your address will appear on the broker.

Storage
All houses have 6-slot vaults. This is a bank-like storage option you can only access inside of a house you own. Once you are in your house, right click on the door of the house. The vaults can be filled with Strong Boxes or Backpacks in the same way as a Bank slot.

Owning multiple houses does not grant a character additional house vault storage.

Access
There are several levels of access to a player house, each level governs the actions of a visiting player. With the exception of the Owner Access level, there is no limit on the number of characters (or players) that you can set access for in your house. Access levels can only be set from inside the house by right-clicking on the door or typing /house.House_Access.png


 * Owner: Your character, the owner of the house. Only the character that owns the house can relinquish the ownership of the house or move all of its contents to a new house.
 * Trustee: Trustees have almost the same access as the owner. Trustees can place items, move items, and interact in alter the house like the owner with the exception of picking up No-Trade items specific to the owner (such as rewards from heritage quests). This level of access also prevents Trustees from removing No-Trade from the house entirely. Trustees can also pay your upkeep.
 * Friend: Friends may enter your house, view your decorations, and interact with some of your items (they may take food from your Frostfell servings, for instance). They can also move items around in your house, but they cannot place new items or take items out of your house.
 * Visitor: Visitors may enter your house, view your decorations, and interact with some of your items (they may take food Frostfell servings, for instance). They can not pick items up or move them. You have the option to set this as the general status for all players that want to visit your house. If you place a sales display in your house this is the automatic setting for all players.
 * None: This prevents players from entering your house. You have the option to set this as the general status for the house so that no one can visit your home.

Relinquishing the Ownership of a House
Prior to 2011 players could only own one house per character. To allow players to move from one house to a new house, they had to relinquish the one they currently owned. With the addition of multiple (25 total) house ownership on each character, this is no longer necessary when you want to move.

In some cases you may decide that you no longer want to own a house. In such situations, you can relinquish ownership by going to the (outside) front door and right-clicking on it, selecting the Access option, and clicking on the Relinquish House button. Doing so will open a new window in which you must type the name of the character who owns the house. You are the only one who can relinquish a house owned by one of your characters and you must be logged onto the character who owns the house to do so.

Moving to a New House
EQ2 has a system that allows you to move all of the contents of a house very easily. Instead of picking up all of your items individually and transporting to a new location, everything can be packed and moved automatically. Before you can do this you must own at least one more house. How to Move to a New House


 * 1) Go to the outside of the door to the house that you want to move furniture out of, to start the process.
 * 2) Right click on the door and choose the Access option from the list. Doing so will open the Housing and Leaderboard window (shown in the image to the right).
 * 3) Click on the Move Items button and a new window will open that lists all of the houses you own (This step is also shown in the image to the right).
 * 4) Choose the house you want to automatically send your furniture to by clicking on its address in the list.
 * 5) Click OK to complete the process and send your furniture to the new house.

When this process is complete you can then travel to the house you've moved everything to and enter it. You will see a box in your house called a "Moving Crate". The Moving Crate will hold all of the furniture you moved until you click on it and remove each item to place it again.

Note: Things get a bit complicated when you want to move furniture from a house that you don't own! If, for instance, a friend or guild member is the owner of a house you are using because of alignment, you will have the Move Items button, but it does not seem to work.

A workaround is to set Trustee rights for your friend in your new home and have him/her perform the Move Items process for you.

Edited 06 Jan 2013