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.

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 type has always existed or Prestige Housing for a newer type of housing that is obtained by various means and that is (in many ways) very different from Standard Housing.

Overview
Each character you create in Everquest 2 can own multiple homes. As of 2014 the maximum you can own on a character is 25 houses. Every character you create can get at least one house for free (described on the Benefits of Owning a house section).

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 (when required by specific housing) status points.

Easily Confused User Interface (UI) Names Described Here There are two major UI windows described in this article in many places. To avoid confusion later in the article, both are shown here first (to the right) to help you understand which are being referred to later.
 * A UI window you will see in-game primarily while outside is the Housing & Leaderboards window and, while it has many uses, only uses tied to functions like buying a Prestige House at the external portal (portal = an unusual door), moving to furniture to a new house, and using it to travel to a house you own are addressed.
 * A UI window you will see in-game only while inside is the Housing window. It also has many functions inside all housing, but only uses tied to functions like setting access for other characters are addressed here.

The Benefits of Owning a House
Every character can have at least one house by "buying" it at no cost. See the Buying a House section for details.

Sales and Extra Storage:
 * 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. Limitations on buying and selling via the broker may apply based on your (free or paid) membership level
 * 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.
 * Housing is also an excellent way to unclog the limited space in the bank, by displaying house items like those awarded when you complete Lore and Legend quests, Heritage Quests, and Book Quests.

Additional Travel Options:
 * The Housing & Leaderboards now allows you to enter any house from any location within a (major) city that has player-housing. You must have a minimum of Visitor access (described below). The process of doing this is described on the Housing & Leaderboards page. An occasional software bug that can affect this feature is described on the Leaderboards page too.
 * Many players use House Portals to turn one or more houses they own into a centralized "hub" for travel, allowing them to travel between cities (including those of the opposite alignment), to travel all of the world using a variety of house items for travel. The most popular house-related travel item is Magic Door to the Guild Hall, that allows you to instantly return to your guild hall without using the (spell) normally used to do so.

Housing as Gameplay

 * Only the general topic of furniture and decorating is touched on in this article, because this article is an on the general topic of housing.

There are numerous reasons players may choose to own a house, but many do because the robust housing in EQ2 has unleashed the creativity of players of who enjoy all types of game-play. Over the years owning a house has gone well beyond the concept of "making a nice home" and grown into an activity enjoyed by those who need a break from the everyday "grind" that can occur with constant adventure quests or working on a tradeskill.

Housing as form of gameplay is primarily tied to the concept of "publishing" a house using the Ratings tab in the Housing & Leaderboards window. Published houses may be simple homes that have been artfully decorated, while others may be complex structures built from scratch, like pyramids or spaceships.

Publishing a house is covered on the page about decorating houses.

Housing is a popular space for gameplay with players who enjoy roleplaying (RP), because it can be customized to suit RP interests and needs. While RP can occur in any location throughout the larger game world of EQ2, housing used to this purpose allows player to create spaces that suit a specific purpose, like restaurants, bars, barracks, and more.

Housing Types
Housing has changed radically since launch. '''Editor is working on this section with coming changes to categories in mind. Be patient while wording, etc. is worked out.'''

At one time the key distinguishing factors were tied to the costs to buy a house, the number of slots in granted on the broker and number of house vault slots, and the cost paid for upkeep (a concept like "rent", described as upkeep because it can comprise both coin an status). These factors used to be determined by the location and number of rooms a house had. All of those differences have been equalized to some degree by the addition of a new type of housing; for this reason it can be said that Everquest 2 has main two types of housing.

Major Changes Since 2010 Include:
 * The major factor that makes each type different is that one is housing with upkeep costs, while the other is housing without upkeep costs.
 * All houses now grant each character that owns at least one (of any type, size, or location) a maximum of 6 slots on the broker and 6 slots in a house vault.
 * A new means to travel to them and interact with them was also added, known as the Housing & Leaderboards. In addition to adding a news means of travel, the Housing & Leaderboards rendered the concept of counting rooms obsolete to a large degree; while Standard housing still has rooms, new rooms and (in some locations) balconies were added.
 * The Leaderboard (linked above) organizes housing by its relative size in comparison to all other housing, rather than by the number of rooms.

Choosing a house to buy may be the most difficult thing about housing, but the two most notable differences of each are:

Standard 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.
 * Standard Housing is primarily distinguished by the fact that it is housing with upkeep costs.
 * The advantage is that it's easy for any player to buy or obtain, because you buy it with standard in-game currencies, like coin (gold, silver) and (in some cases) with status points. It requires upkeep (like "rent") but it's a nominal cost that you can pay only when you want to enter the house or allow others to do so.

Prestige Housing

 * Prestige housing is obtained by various means, but is distinguished by the fact that it is is housing without upkeep costs. After you obtains a deed and buy the house, you never have to pay any upkeep in coin or status points.

As a result, it can be entered at any time by the owner or those who've been granted access by the owner. It can be more complicated to obtain than Standard Housing; some are sold on the Marketplace, but there are many other ways to obtain it (covered on the page about it).

This type of housing also allows players to use a house portal to "link" multiple houses together.

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
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.

Every character you create can "buy" a house for free The quest First Time Buyer directs you to the door of a small (2 room) house and it gives you some starter furniture as a reward. The upkeep for it is a mere  per week when (and if) you choose to pay it. Details on upkeep and how to get additional quests for small houses is covered in the Standard Housing article.

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. In order to buy any house, you need to travel to the entrance and right click on the door or, in the case of Prestige housing, a column shown on the page about that housing type that acts like a 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

 * See also: Housing: Availability by City or List of Houses

Standard housing exists in all cities throughout Norrath in EQ2.

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.


 * The walls and flooring in Freeport and Qeynos houses can be changed after you purchase them by clicking on the walls and floors; Examples can be found on the Standard Housing page.

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 standard coin currency (gold, silver, etc.) 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 own 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 roleplaying 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. The new, fast and easy way uses the Housing & Leaderboards window.

If you are in any major city:
 * You can access any home you own by pressing C to open the Character window and
 * clicking on the side-tab for Housing allows you to (view the list of and) instantly enter any home you own.
 * 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.

Because it is housing with upkeep costs, you may need to pay upkeep before you can enter any Standard Housing you own or have been granted access to before entering by any of the methods described above.

Furniture and Decorating

 * See also: List of House Items

Due to the robust housing features and functions, housing has become quite popular since launch. While several furniture items may be purely decorative, quite a few are also highly functional.


 * If you own housing with status upkeep costs it can be used to reduce or completely eliminates the status upkeep cost. This feature of furniture is known as Rent Status Reduction and only applies to Standard Housing.
 * You can open the examine window to see the amount of status reduction furniture may offer. To examine an item, right click on it in the broker window or while it is in your inventory.

For more detailed info on how to decorate a house, see Decorating Houses

'''Editors note: info previously below here moved to Standard Housing for now. May be rewritten and returned after edits are complete. For now, see Decorating Houses'''

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.
 * This is a change from the older system in which the size of a house determined the number of slots allotted for storage using the house vault.
 * Owning multiple houses does not grant a character additional house vault storage.

Broker Slots
All houses have give the owner 6 broker (vendor) slot on the broker. As special container-type that functions much like furniture can be placed in player housing to allow other to visit the house and buy without paying a broker fee. For an overview of how this works see, the information on the page about the broker. If you are already familiar with the concept, you can read up on various sales displays that have different advantages and disadvantages (like how many items they hold).
 * The freedom to sell items on the broker is tied to your membership level. Gold players have full access to sell (and buy from) the broker, while Silver members can only buy and must use special tokens. See the page about Free-To-Play for details if you're unfamiliar or in case anything changes.
 * This is a change from the older system in which the size of a house determined the number of slots allotted for broker slots tied to housing.
 * Owning multiple houses does not grant a character additional house broker slots.

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.

Related Articles
For your convenience, a list of related links is provided below. Many were linked above, but this list will make them easy to find later.
 * Housing & Leaderboards provides details about the UI window you will use the most when interacting with housing and it offers additional options to travel between cities.
 * Standard Housing and Prestige Housing are the two major categories of housing.
 * Owning a house grants 6 slots on the broker and allows you to use a special container, called a Sales Display. The sales displays gives you an edge over the competition you may face on the market by reducing listing prices and allowing other players to save coin when they buy from inside your house. (Though restrictions may apply for Free-To-Play members).
 * Owning a house provides extra storage in a House Vault.
 * Decorating Houses will help you learn to place and move things in your house, if you want to show of the spoils of your adventure (like displaying Lore and Legend rewards), have any interest in Roleplay, or want to show off your creative skills by inviting other players to visit and rate it or see the creative skills/rate the work other players who time and effort into making their houses unique.