Welcome to the bane of my existence, trying to purchase a house in FFXIV. Well, I guess that’s not completely true since I do have a small house in the game but I’m terribly greedy and want at least a Medium House.
While housing is not an essential component of FFXIV it is one of the most desired things in the game. Whether it’s purely for players who want to Roleplay or players who want to make tons of Gil, the hard truth is that there isn’t enough Housing in FFXIV to keep up with the demand of the player base.
It’s safe to assume that the purpose of housing is simply for appearance, providing players with the opportunity to design a house to their liking as they would in the Sims. Still, one of the biggest reasons housing is so wanted in FFXIV is because it is the only way a player can garden in the game, thus being one of the only ways to obtain rare resources such as Chocobo Feed, certain Minions and much more.
As you may know, I’ve gone full-tilt into Crafting and Gathering in FFXIV. Though I always levelled up these side Jobs in previous expansions I mostly focussed on Custom Deliveries and Tribal Quests. Since becoming essentially a full-time Crafter I’ve burned through an ungodly number of Shards and Crystals and I’m genuinely a bit upset at myself for how many I’ve sold over the years, especially for obscenely low prices. Initially, I thought of hiring two Gathering Retainers to lighten the burden of farming Crystals and Shards, but as I’m sure you know, levelling up Retainers can be quite a long process.
Quite frankly, even when I had both of my Retainers up to their maximum level the sheer quantities of Crystals I was consuming were so obnoxious that they couldn’t keep up, so I turned to housing.
Now, as there are several resources a player can obtain by Gardening, I often found myself struggling to decide what was more important to plant… Should I plant the resources I need? Should I plant the shards I’m burning through or should I try to plant the highest-selling resources and try to make the most Gil I can? Truthfully, this is why I want to expand to a larger house as players are limited to how many gardening plots they can have based on the size of their house.
So, when you thought that you simply had to make your decision based on the view from your house or the location of how far away it is from a Marketboard or Aetheryte there are certainly many more factors to the decision than one would expect. Luckily for you, I’m going to cover not only how you can purchase a house, but many of the other questions you may have about housing in general in FFXIV.
Note: If you have any questions about FFXIV that you want me to cover feel free to leave them in a comment below, you can also ask me while I am streaming on Twitch, YouTube or in our community discord.
HOW DO YOU UNLOCK HOUSING IN FFXIV?
As I was a player who completed as many quests as I could without taking note of what they were unlocking, I actually didn’t know that a player even had to unlock housing.
I did remember quests that took me into the housing districts, but I genuinely believed that these quests weren’t to unlock housing, but to simply show off the differences between each of the housing wards.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago when a community member asked my husband how to purchase a house that I discovered I only had it unlocked because I’m obsessive about completing quests and that the process isn’t actually as simple as I thought. Quite frankly that’s the reason I ended up wanting to write about it since if it’s consuing to one player it will be confusing others.
When I discovered the way housing is unlocked, I was genuinely surprised. I should have assumed that you would have to complete quests with your Grand Company since a lot of side content like Dungeons, Squadrons and Frontlines are unlocked by completing these quests, but as I had been a cutscene skipper, I didn’t make a connection with housing.
There are a few requirements for a player before they can access these quests and free trial players will not be able to purchase a house.
The following are the steps you must take to buy housing in FFXIV:
You must first reach level 50 on a Combat Job to accept the quest which allows you to rank up with your Grand Company.
Players must then become a Second Lieutenant with their Grand Company. To do this players must complete the quest “Gilding the Biliouswhich” which is provided by one of the leaders of the Grand Company and will require players to complete the Dungeon Aurum Vale. Players will also need to complete the 2nd Rank of their Grand Company’s Hunting Log and while tedious, it can be useful for helping to level up your side jobs.
As I’m sure you know by now, you need Grand Company Seals to Rank up. Depending on where you are in the game, this may be more or less difficult, but if you need some help check out my husband’s guide on Seal Farming.
Now, though this unlocks player housing, if you are hoping to purchase a House for your Free Company you will have to take a couple more steps. A Free Company must reach at least Rank 6 before they can Acquire Land. Though this can take a while, it limits the number of players trying to beat the system by creating a Free Company to purchase a Large House as it’s easier for Grand Companies to acquire housing due to there being housing specifically for Free Companies.
Once players have completed these steps all they have to do is wait for a house to be on the Market and head to the Placard to deposit their down payment.
HOW DOES THE HOUSING LOTTERY SYSTEM WORK IN FFXIV?
The Housing System has two phases that each last 5 days, this is the Lottery Phase and the Results Phase. Each phase will last 5 days and can be tracked by using the Timers Tab.
To access the Timers Tab players must hit Control + U. Players can also go into the Duty Menu and select Timers. When in the Timers Menu players must navigate to the Estate Tab to view what period is in progress, players can also utilize this tab to remind themselves of which house they have bid on during the results period.
When players make a bid on a House they will have to pay the full cost of the House upfront. Players are then put into a lottery where a random number is selected. All players will be required to head back to the Placard to check the results and those who did not win the lottery will have their Gil returned to them.
Players will only be able to bid on a single house per week, but there is no limit to how often a player can bid, meaning that a player should bid on a house each time the lottery phase is open to raise their chances of getting the house they want. Though not financially advisable, players can keep house swapping until they find the perfect size and location, however, as players will only get a percentage of their investment back it tends to be a bad idea.
I suggest having one focus for your house purchase. I, for example, only care about having a Medium House. At first, I wanted a good location and a large house, but the additional Garden Plot wasn’t worth the number of players I was going to be up against and since the primary focus of my house is to garden, the location/area is less of a priority. Having fleshed-out priorities can help a player secure a house more easily as the less picky you are the more likely you are to locate a home with fewer bidders.
I BOUGHT A PLOT BUT IT HAS NO HOUSE, WHAT DO I DO?
When players purchase a plot of land they are ultimately buying it with no house and will need to grab a Permit from their Housing menu to begin construction. The style you choose doesn’t matter as you will always be able to customize your house later.
The Housing menu can be accessed from the Actions & Traits menu under the Social section, though players can also access it directly from the Social Menu if they still have their HUD set to default.
All permits are bought from the Estate Hall and players will need to familiarize themselves with the Housing Menu as this is the only way players can add, remove or move objects around their home. Though nothing is permanent in a home and players will be able to modify their house however often they please, players should note that whenever they place an object in their household they will no longer be able to sell it on the Market Board.
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