So lately there's been a ton of ideas to fix the economy, so I decided to put in my two cents.
Honestly, a lot of these ideas would even make a dent into a lot of peoples’ wealth. Receiving $20 less each paycheck or paying $75 more to warp is nothing, especially when you consider that you can earn $300 every so often simply for being online or $500 when someone votes.
The housing market is the real problem right now. Houses are being listed for way too much money and, even worse, people are buying them and reselling them for more. Older players (6+ months) have a huge advantage because they were able to buy plots for a decent price, hold onto them, and now sell them for a bunch of money.
One solution would be to stabilize house pricing. There are a few steps to this:
1) Empty plots. Just as in real life, the area of the plot should be evaluated for a fair price. There would be a few factors for this, including how good the location is and what the terrain is (hilly, flat, sandy, mountainous). The price per block wouldn’t change much plot-to-plot, just enough to compensate for the location. An example would be $300 a block for a 10x10 plot in the heart of the city, so the empty plot would be worth $30,000. Once the price per block is calculated, the actual house would be priced.
2) House pricing. Houses are a bit more tricky to price because of quality (appearance, color coordination, use of space, etc) and size. The size would be easy to standardize, like $20 a square block of floor space (not plot space, the area of the actual house) excluding basements (each basement could add $1,000 or something not too OP). Then, the quality would be evaluated by a realtor or arch. I realize that quality is subjective, so 1-3 opinions would be necessary. The realtor could rate the house quality 0-100, each point being worth like $500.
So as an example, there’s a 25x25 plot on Bunny Island in a nice neighborhood. It would be worth $250 a block, based off location and terrain, so it would be $156,250 for the plot itself. Now say that someone put a house in that plot. The square blockage of the 2-story house is 920 blocks at $20 a block to be $18,400. Then the quality is assessed; the house scores well at 90, so an additional $45,000 would be added to the price. In total, this house would be worth $219,650, which seems a lot more fair than someone selling it for $400,000.
It would take a lot of effort to value all of the plots currently reselling, but it could still be implemented for the sellers that want to fix the problem or the buyers that don’t want to be scammed.
Still, it wouldn’t be fair to force plot owners to sell their houses for a set amount of money. This pricing model would only be a suggestion for the seller, not the amount they have to sell it for. However, to prevent players from selling overpriced plots to newbies, the suggested value of the plot/house could be put on a sign in front of the plot so the buyers can see it.
A new position could be created to run this program, or the Minister P could even oversee it. It doesn’t have to be a staff member; it could be a Sr Arch or even a realtor (side note, the realtor job needs to be changed so the realtors can actually price houses, not just inflate prices to get a higher commission). There’s like 3-4 realtor groups, too; they could implement this idea.
Standardizing the housing market would allow buyers and sellers to know a fair price for their houses. In real life, similarly sized houses of comparative quality are all worth pretty much the same amount. This would help stabilize the economy because players wouldn’t have to grind for money to buy a house, and plot sellers wouldn’t become insanely rich by simply holding onto a house until the value goes up.
Honestly, a lot of these ideas would even make a dent into a lot of peoples’ wealth. Receiving $20 less each paycheck or paying $75 more to warp is nothing, especially when you consider that you can earn $300 every so often simply for being online or $500 when someone votes.
The housing market is the real problem right now. Houses are being listed for way too much money and, even worse, people are buying them and reselling them for more. Older players (6+ months) have a huge advantage because they were able to buy plots for a decent price, hold onto them, and now sell them for a bunch of money.
One solution would be to stabilize house pricing. There are a few steps to this:
1) Empty plots. Just as in real life, the area of the plot should be evaluated for a fair price. There would be a few factors for this, including how good the location is and what the terrain is (hilly, flat, sandy, mountainous). The price per block wouldn’t change much plot-to-plot, just enough to compensate for the location. An example would be $300 a block for a 10x10 plot in the heart of the city, so the empty plot would be worth $30,000. Once the price per block is calculated, the actual house would be priced.
2) House pricing. Houses are a bit more tricky to price because of quality (appearance, color coordination, use of space, etc) and size. The size would be easy to standardize, like $20 a square block of floor space (not plot space, the area of the actual house) excluding basements (each basement could add $1,000 or something not too OP). Then, the quality would be evaluated by a realtor or arch. I realize that quality is subjective, so 1-3 opinions would be necessary. The realtor could rate the house quality 0-100, each point being worth like $500.
So as an example, there’s a 25x25 plot on Bunny Island in a nice neighborhood. It would be worth $250 a block, based off location and terrain, so it would be $156,250 for the plot itself. Now say that someone put a house in that plot. The square blockage of the 2-story house is 920 blocks at $20 a block to be $18,400. Then the quality is assessed; the house scores well at 90, so an additional $45,000 would be added to the price. In total, this house would be worth $219,650, which seems a lot more fair than someone selling it for $400,000.
It would take a lot of effort to value all of the plots currently reselling, but it could still be implemented for the sellers that want to fix the problem or the buyers that don’t want to be scammed.
Still, it wouldn’t be fair to force plot owners to sell their houses for a set amount of money. This pricing model would only be a suggestion for the seller, not the amount they have to sell it for. However, to prevent players from selling overpriced plots to newbies, the suggested value of the plot/house could be put on a sign in front of the plot so the buyers can see it.
A new position could be created to run this program, or the Minister P could even oversee it. It doesn’t have to be a staff member; it could be a Sr Arch or even a realtor (side note, the realtor job needs to be changed so the realtors can actually price houses, not just inflate prices to get a higher commission). There’s like 3-4 realtor groups, too; they could implement this idea.
Standardizing the housing market would allow buyers and sellers to know a fair price for their houses. In real life, similarly sized houses of comparative quality are all worth pretty much the same amount. This would help stabilize the economy because players wouldn’t have to grind for money to buy a house, and plot sellers wouldn’t become insanely rich by simply holding onto a house until the value goes up.
