Due to its massive popularity, the world of The Elder Scrolls Online has continued to expand ever since it first came out in 2014. As of today, the continent of Tamriel is one big gigantic, and immersive space, offering players various aspects of gameplay. And one such aspect which has caught the attention of thousands of players is the ability to own houses in ESO.
Although buying houses in ESO costs a hefty sum of gold and Crowns, you can get your first house for free by completing the Room to Spare side quest. As for the remaining houses, however, they need to be purchased.
Each house you own is considered a collectible unlock and is thus connected to your account, every character you have in the game will have access to it.
In this article, we provide everything you need to know about houses in ESO. So, please stick with us till the end as we explain every aspect in detail. Now, without further ado, let us begin!
What Is ESO Housing?
ESO housing is a unique and exciting gameplay feature that allows players to create their very own personal space within the continent of Tamriel. It first came out with the Homestead patch as part of the free ESO base game Update 13, launched in February 2017.
The Homestead patch not only provided the option to buy houses but also introduced an array of customization options that enabled players to completely tailor their homes according to their preferences. Houses in ESO vary in size, and each size offers a different amount of space and customization options.
Besides acting as a cosmetic item, owning a house have its own perks as well. First and foremost, it provides players with a sense of ownership and belonging in Tamriel. In addition, players get access to various benefits such as a crafting station, storage space, as well as fast travel options between the houses they own.
The Quest for the Free ESO House
Ebony Flask Inn Room
Back in the day, the quest to get your first free house in ESO was called A Friend in Need. However, with the Clockwork City update, this was replaced by the Room to Spare quest.
If, for some reason, your quest journal is showing you the A Friend in Need quest, you need to abandon it. Otherwise, you will get stuck at the “Check INTERACTABLE” step. To obtain and start the Room to Spare quest, go to the Crown Store, and under the Quest Starters section, find and select the “Room to Spare” quest.
However, if there is no A Friend in Need quest option, you can proceed the normal way. To start the quest, you need to interact with and read the Housing Brochure, which can be found in banks throughout Tamriel. Upon reading the Housing Brochure, it will direct you to your local inn, where you will find Felande Demarie, a female property broker. Another way to start the quest is to talk directly to Felande Demarie.
Depending on your alliance, Felande Demarie will be available in:
• The Rosy Lion in Daggerfall if you joined the Daggerfall Covenant
• The Ebony Flask in Ebonheart if you joined the Ebonheart Pact
• Mara’s Kiss Public House in Vulkhel Guard if you joined the Almeri Dominion
However, after the addition of Online: Morrowind, Summerset, Elsweyr, and Greymoor, Felande Demarie can also be found in:
• The Golden Gryphon in Alinor
• Saint Delyn’s Inn in Vivec City
• The Sugar Bowl in Rimmen
• Snowmelt Suite in The Lonely Troll
As you can see above, if it is your first time buying an ESO house, you have plenty of options to choose from!
After you talk to Felande Demarie, it will be revealed that she is looking for someone to live in the inn room she owns. As such, since all the previous tenants have left, she will offer you a deal. If you promise to live in her inn room and improve its reputation, she will give it to you for free!
After you accept her offer, you can now visit your new inn room and lay claim to it. Your quest is now completed, and you will also earn a handful of gold. Apart from it, you will also receive a book called the Anthology of Abodes Available for Acquisition. This book contains a list of all the homes that you can buy in Tamriel.
How to Buy More Houses in ESO
There are generally three ways to buy more ESO houses:
The first way is a clever one as this gets you more houses for free but requires a bit of grind. You start by reading the Housing Brochure pinned in banks or on billboards. After you have completed the Room to Spare quest and got your first free house, you can repeat the quest again but not with the same character. Creating or already having another character and completing the Room to Spare quest again gets you one more inn room for free. These inn rooms are shared by all the characters associated with the same account. If you want to get all seven inn rooms for free, you need to have seven different characters and complete the Room to Spare quest with all 7 of them and choose a different inn room each time. This way, you will get access to all seven inn rooms per character in the game.
The other way saves you the above-mentioned grind by making your grind in a completely different way. Here you start by visiting houses for sale in the game. When you complete your first Room to Spare quest, your map will be updated and marked with home icons representing purchasable houses. Upon reaching the door of a house for sale, you can enter inside and preview it, both furnished and unfurnished. In case you like it, you can purchase it on the spot. However, do note that buying certain houses in ESO this way has some prerequisites that need to be completed. For example, to purchase the Daggerfall Covenant Manor, you must have previously completed the Hero of the Daggerfall Covenant achievement. Another example is the Amaya Lake Lodge estate in Vvanderfell which can only be purchased for coins after you earn the Savior of Morrowind achievement.
Lastly, if you do not want to grind through in order to buy houses in ESO, there is another easy way out. Via the Crown Store, you can buy any house you like, and there is no need to fulfill any pre-requirement. Just go to the House tab in the Crown Store and preview any house in either a furnished or unfurnished way. When you are ready, click on the purchase button to buy the unfurnished house with either gold or Crowns, or buy it fully furnished with gold or Crowns.
In The Elder Scrolls Online, there is no limit to the number of houses you can own. Practically, you can buy every single of them as long as you have the funds with you. However, do note that some of the houses are exclusive Crown Store items and can only be bought with Crowns. Moreover, as stated above, houses cost a big chunk of a fortune.
Types of Houses in ESO
Types of ESO Houses
With the launch of Update 13 and the Homestead patch in 2017, ZeniMax debuted about 40 unique houses in ESO. It soon proved to be a very popular gameplay feature, which is still popular today.
As of 2023, there are about 100 unique houses available all across Tamriel that come in various shapes and sizes. The size of a house determines the number of furnishings and other collectibles it can hold, with bigger houses facilitating a larger number of furnishings and collectibles. Moreover, houses in ESO also have racial themes and are styled after the ten races of the game: Altmer (High Elf), Argonian, Bosmer (Wood Elf), Breton, Dunmer (Dark Elf), Imperial, Khajiit, Nord, Orc (Orsimer), and Redguard.
Note: For Imperial-themed houses only, you need to own the Imperial Edition of ESO to buy them.
As such, there are six types of houses which, in turn, are divided into three groups according to their exclusivity:
• Staple Homes
• Classic Homes
• Notable Homes
Staple homes are the cheapest of all and include inns and apartments. Classic homes, on the other hand, include houses of varying sizes: small, medium, and large, and cost average. Lastly, Notable homes include Manors as well as Crown Exclusive houses. These are the most expensive of all, with costs running into millions of gold! When you buy a house in ESO, you have the option to either purchase it with gold or Crowns.
Here is an overview of all the types of ESO houses.
• Inn Rooms are the smallest and cheapest of all available ESO houses. They are usually located in taverns and accommodate up to 15 furnishings, two visitors, one trophy bust, and one mount, pet, or assistant. You can buy inn rooms for 3000 gold each or 600 Crowns. A furnished inn room costs 800 Crowns.
• Apartments are bigger than inn rooms but are still considered as a place of a small dwelling. Located inside buildings, apartments accommodate up to 30 furnishings, two visitors, one trophy bust, and one mount, pet, or assistant. An unfurnished apartment costs 11K gold, while a furnished one costs 13K gold. In terms of Crowns, it is 660 for an unfurnished apartment and 800 for a furnished apartment.
• Small Houses are standalone houses ranging between 54K – 73K gold coins or 2250 – 3200 Crowns for both unfurnished and furnished houses. They accommodate up to 100 furnishings, 6 visitors, 5 trophy busts, and 2 mounts, pets, or assistants.
• Medium Houses are bigger standalone houses that range anywhere between 190K – 345K gold coins or 3500 – 5500 Crowns for both unfurnished and furnished houses. They accommodate up to 200 furnishings, 12 visitors, 10 trophy busts, and 3 mounts, pets, or assistants.
• Large Houses are spacious standalone houses that range anywhere between 760K – 1.35M gold coins or 5250 – 8800 Crowns for both unfurnished and furnished houses. They accommodate up to 300 furnishings, 24 visitors, 20 trophy busts, and 4 mounts, pets, or assistants.
• Manors are the biggest of all standalone houses that range anywhere between 3.78M – 4.65M gold coins or 9600 – 18750 Crowns for both unfurnished and furnished houses. They accommodate up to 700 furnishings, 24 visitors, 40 trophy busts, and 5 mounts, pets, or assistants.
• Crown Exclusive Houses are just like Manor houses but are limited-time editions and can only be purchased via Crowns. Their prices range anywhere between 4000 – 20000+ Crowns. They accommodate up to 700 furnishings, 24 visitors, 40 trophy busts, and 5 mounts, pets, or assistants.
Note that if you have an active ESO Plus subscription, the cap limits are twice as much!
Lastly, before we move into the next section, know that you can also set permissions for your houses. Since The Elder Scrolls Online is an MMORPG and revolves around socializing and playing together, your ESO friends can visit your houses and take part in decorating them. Therefore, depending on your preferences, you can set permissions for your ESO houses and can set them to public or private at will.
How to Decorate a House in ESO
ESO House Decoration
Thanks to the large collection of 6000+ furniture items, no two fully decorated ESO house interiors will be identical. From the large collection of tables, chairs, books, and plants, to pets, mounts, crafting stations, and target skeletons, players can fully customize their ESO houses to their heart’s content!
Whether you want to create a cozy retreat, a lavish palace, or a creative masterpiece, you have plenty of options to express your personality and style. To start decorating your house, you need to enter it and select the Housing Editor option from the menu. This will allow you to place, move, and rotate any furnishings that you own. Even from the outside of your house, you can access the Housing Editor by selecting the Edit option from the door.
Here is an overview of the Housing Editor’s basic functions.
- • Place Tab: When you craft or buy furnishings in The Elder Scrolls Online, these are initially stored in your inventory and don’t get placed in your house immediately. The Place Tab is then used to place items in your house from your furnishings list.
- • Purchase Tab: It acts as a mini Crown Store place where you can buy furnishing items with Crowns. Note that the majority of items available in the Purchase Tab can be obtained by playing the game. However, some furnishings are exclusive and need to be purchased.
- • Retrieve Tab: It is used to remove placed items in your house and place them back in the inventory. Retrieve Tab saves players the hustle of rummaging through their collection of placed items in their house just to find a furnishing and remove it. Moreover, it is also helpful when you accidentally place an item below the base structure and have no way of getting it back.
- • Settings Tab: It is mainly used to set permissions for your house.
- • Search Tab: It is used to find the item quickly.
By using the Housing Editor, players can place furnishings virtually anywhere in their house as long as they fit within the limits of the house size. Each house supports a certain maximum number of furnishing that can be placed in it. You can check anytime the current and maximum number of furnishings in your house under the Info tab of the Housing Editor.
Furnishings are obtained from various sources, such as crafting, buying, looting, questing, or earning achievements. You can see all the furnishings that you own under the Collections tab of the Housing Editor. Apart from furnishings, you can also place collectibles in your house, such as pets, mounts, trophies, assistants, and storage containers.
Lastly, before we conclude the article, there is one last thing left to mention. The advent of the housing system has also given rise to furniture crafting. Essentially, furniture crafting enables players to craft furniture item and then sell it to earn money or keep it for themselves. It is yet another interesting gameplay feature that has caught the attention of many ESO players.
Conclusion
Decorating a house in ESO is a fun and rewarding activity that allows you to express yourself and create a home away from home. With so many options and possibilities, you can unleash your creativity and imagination and make your house truly yours.
The housing system has now become an integral part of the game world. Although it might not be the first thing that comes to mind in a massively multiplayer online game that revolves around socializing and collecting items, having a space to call your own can be a satisfying experience that brings everything together. Being able to settle down, gather, and display the rewards of your hard work is a meaningful way to tie everything in the game together.
The vast variety of homes, decorations, and both existing and craftable furnishings all combine to give players limitless combinations to try out! What do you think of the housing system in ESO? Share your thoughts with us, and let us know in the comments below!
