Enhancements to Property Transactions

[__RJ__]

This is a follow on suggestion from what was already done back in 2020 and I presume is what the current house market system is derived from:

The system in its current form is good and my suggestion comes in 2 parts.  Purchasing/Selling Procedures and Property Development

Purchases & Sales

Allow houses to be sold and transferred utilising the same system for the buying and selling of used vehicles, currently we see in demand vehicles achieving a premium in the marketplace and I think the same could be done with sought after properties. An active housing market could add some interesting RP elements to the city - for example, if a particular area has been hit heavily in crime this could cause a drop in value where people move to escape whats happening on their doorstep allowing others to grab a bargain.  Property should be seen as an investment and residents should be rewarded for buying and selling at the correct market price.

It would also allow people to actively trade up if they had the ability to use an intermediary (solicitor) to handle cash and contracts for properties they are selling and buying.  You could effectively have a chain of house sales happening with the same solicitor on the same day as people trade up to a new home securely and safely.  The current system only allows for you to vacate then dash to the empty property you have found and hope someone hasnt got there before you.  

You could also have an active database of all home owners and contact numbers which is secure/confidential and restricted to Emergency Services/Legal Professionals. This could allow citizens to engage a solicitor to try to buy a house currently not on the market on their behalf.  There would have to be strict controls around accessing the data where the client is not privy to the sellers details and any solicitor would have to justify why they left a foot print on a particular home register.  Any illegal activity could be the subject of judiciary or criminal investigations and disbarment/imprisonment (depending on why the database was accessed).  It would also create a new 'job' for solicitors but also create a real estate part to general RP.

You can leave the current choice to vacate at a loss but my suggestion would remove the weird ‘hit’ you take on cash when moving, in my opinion to sell at a loss should be a choice and not a ‘given’. I also believe the current system stagnates peoples options to move where there can be six figure sacrifices just to try somewhere else.  It would also work for people lucky enough to find a property vacated/repossessed under the current system, they could find a house at £450,000.00 but current market conditions could mean a nice profit if they buy it from the Government then sell it through a solicitor.

Property Development

Some of the houses storage limits and garage size are out of sync with purchase prices. Some sub £200k apartments have better storage and garages than properties 3 or 4 times its price.  I would propose a standard base level of storage and car garage size (for example 5k and 2 cars) and allow the owner to upgrade (max) it, like the car system – this would also increase its value on the resale market.  Make the upgrades expensive so people really have to work to get it maxed out.  Another enhancement could be to have the option of selling the house with the furniture intact, adding to the RP of house viewings/sales and ultimately used as part of the negotiation on sale price.

 

[Harlow Mcenzie]

I like the idea, but there could be a problem in terms of EXISTING occupied homes. Many houses with lots of storage and car slots that are cheap have gone beyond the storage and car limits if we're talking about reducing them appropriately to their size and cost.  This could cause issues for people and make them unhappy if they have 5 cars at their small home and update comes with just two car slots  [ possible bug issues with that & storage from 10k to 5k aswell ]

I've noticed some big mansion-style houses that look great on the outside but have interiors that do not match the house style at all. [ beach house small interior for exterior mansion is not the vibes lol ]

I also wish there were real estate agents. They make certain % on closing a sale on a home and great roleplay as it is very boring to go all around the map to look for a house when you could be out there roleplaying and interacting with people instead. It would add depth for people who enjoy roleplay in sales. You could guide customers to houses they like and create friendly interactions while helping them buy their first home or whatever the case and situation they're in. Them having their own little tablet of available homes for sale with maybe pictures of the home and small info on their storage and garage size ect.

I LOVE the idea of purchasing a home that still has furniture in it. But also the fact that we don't have the option to fully remove all furniture from the house could be seen as a negative if you end up buying a home that is not to your taste in terms of decoration but everything else checks the box you know? It's a pain to go in and remove each furniture piece one by one. 

 

[__RJ__]

I like the idea, but there could be a problem in terms of EXISTING occupied homes. Many houses with lots of storage and car slots that are cheap have gone beyond the storage and car limits if we're talking about reducing them appropriately to their size and cost.  This could cause issues for people and make them unhappy if they have 5 cars at their small home and update comes with just two car slots  [ possible bug issues with that & storage from 10k to 5k aswell ]

I've noticed some big mansion-style houses that look great on the outside but have interiors that do not match the house style at all. [ beach house small interior for exterior mansion is not the vibes lol ]

I also wish there were real estate agents. They make certain % on closing a sale on a home and great roleplay as it is very boring to go all around the map to look for a house when you could be out there roleplaying and interacting with people instead. It would add depth for people who enjoy roleplay in sales. You could guide customers to houses they like and create friendly interactions while helping them buy their first home or whatever the case and situation they're in. Them having their own little tablet of available homes for sale with maybe pictures of the home and small info on their storage and garage size ect.

I LOVE the idea of purchasing a home that still has furniture in it. But also the fact that we don't have the option to fully remove all furniture from the house could be seen as a negative if you end up buying a home that is not to your taste in terms of decoration but everything else checks the box you know? It's a pain to go in and remove each furniture piece one by one. 

I am sure there can be some kind of workaround with existing home owners who already have the 10k, 5 car house where it defaults back to the minimum IF they sell/vacate.  I also like the idea of estate agent type roles and my thoughts were Solicitors could specialise in real estate and hook up with people who have your photography expertise to do some marketing shots etc.

I think there is scope to expand on the current system and dont see any downsides but there may not be any kind of dev budget RN given what is going on with cars etc.