Land Values?

[Centaur]

Has anyone put any thought or work into determining land values in the D20 system or any of the WotC worlds. For example, what would a small plot of land in the Dock Ward of Water Deep Cost.

The DMG has some basic pricing on buildings on page 151, that's as far as it is discussed.

 

[Drawmack]

I always considered those prices to include an appropriate amount of land. However I modify them like this. A city has four districts:

Poor: House Cost * 0.5
Average: House Cost * 1.0
Rich: House Cost * 1.5
Aristocratic: House Cost * 2.0

In a Large Town the Rich and the Aristocratic are the same class at *1.5

In a Small Town the Poor and average are the same class at 0.5

In a Thorp, Hamlet or Village all houses are average at * 1.0 except the mayors house which is * 1.5.

2 years and the players still haven't figure out the system, *snicker*

 

[Norfleet]

Has anyone put any thought or work into determining land values in the D20 system or any of the WotC worlds. For example, what would a small plot of land in the Dock Ward of Water Deep Cost.

The DMG has some basic pricing on buildings on page 151, that's as far as it is discussed.

You mean just buying the ground, without a building? Well, the obvious cost of the land depends on whether anybody owns it. If nobody actually OWNS the piece of land, anybody can go ahead and squat on it, effectively making it theirs. If somebody already owns the land, and has, presumably, built something on it, the player would have to buy the entire land, complete with the building, and tear it down at his own expense. The prices of the actual land would fluctuate widely depending on location and demand. Land in a Japanese city, for instance, is worth a fortune, whereas land in the middle of the desert is nearly worthless.

 

[Centaur]

Re: Re: Land Values?

The prices of the actual land would fluctuate widely depending on location and demand. Land in a Japanese city, for instance, is worth a fortune, whereas land in the middle of the desert is nearly worthless.

This of course makes sense and is obvious. However, inside a city like in my example, most if not all the land will belong to someone.

Land inside a city wall has some sort of implied protection and access to sanitation (assumming the city has sewers). At the very least this should make the land valuable to someone (excluding property tax of course)

 

[JayOmega]

In a medieval society, all land belongs to the crown, and thus can't really be bought by common folk. I don't know about Waterdeep/Realms politics, though, so this may not be the case.

A quick glance through the "lots for sale" and "homes for sale" in the classifieds of today's paper makes me think that city land is worth about 10%-30% of the value of the home sitting on it, assuming a normal plot of land (less than an acre for a single-family home). My last appraisal made my lot (about 1/3 acre in suburban Minneapolis) about 18% of the total value of lot+house.

Of course, in the modern world, "suburban" land is worth more than inner-city land. People prefer big lots and natural surroundings, not crowded high-rise living.

In a medieval world, this might be backwards; the additional protection provided by being nearer the center of the city might have an effect on price. (Though the amount of magic in the Realms means any realistic attack on Waterdeep won't be a "storm the gates with a zillion soldiers" kind.) And, as always, "location location location". Being close to a river, well, guardhouse, city gate, park, etc etc, will have an effect on the price of land.

Also, most pictures and descriptions I've seen of medieval towns have the buildings right next to each other, with very little space around them. Built like that, there would be two-to-three homes on my lot.

So, as a first-order approximation, I'd say that land is worth a minimum of 10% of the value of the building on it, if it's a typical medieval town situation where there's no "yard" around a house. Accepting the DMG prices, this means a lower-class "simple house" is really a 900gp building on 100gp of land.

I would just scale up from that figure; middle-class or upper-class areas would be 200gp or 300gp for an equivalent-sized plot, or more for land in a prime location. A middle-class 'grand house' probably needs 2 to 4 times the area of a simple one, and probably will have a small yard or courtyard equal to another plot, so land for a grand house should be worth 600-1000 gp. An upper-class mansion--with a stable, servants' quarters, guest house, and garden, in addition to some open area--might sit on grounds 20 to 60 times the size of a simple house, costing 6000-18000 gp.

 

[jgbrowning]

In a medieval society, all land belongs to the crown, and thus can't really be bought by common folk. I don't know about Waterdeep/Realms politics, though, so this may not be the case.

Most medieval kingdoms are composed of lands held by a king and lands held by great nobles independant of the king (called allods). Kings were often merely the greatest noble who owned considerably more land than the next greatest noble. Ocassionally the king did not even own the majority of the land.

A quick glance through the "lots for sale" and "homes for sale" in the classifieds of today's paper makes me think that city land is worth about 10%-30% of the value of the home sitting on it, assuming a normal plot of land (less than an acre for a single-family home). My last appraisal made my lot (about 1/3 acre in suburban Minneapolis) about 18% of the total value of lot+house.

Of course, in the modern world, "suburban" land is worth more than inner-city land. People prefer big lots and natural surroundings, not crowded high-rise living.

I believe the typical modern idea (USA) is that the land is worth about 20% of the total of the land + structure value.

As far as the value of medieval land, I don't know. I'd simply reccomend an amount that seems reasonable to you. You really don't have to worry about it as long as you make sure none of your PC's comes up with an utterly unrealistic capitalistic concept and decides to utilize modern business practices that the player knows.

The PC's shouldn't come up with a "revolutionary" business idea unless the DM has a very good reason for it. Also, as a DM, remember that what may appear obvious to we moderns is far from obvious when considered from the common medieval/magical medieval standpoint.

Of course, please ignore me if i'm getting in the way of your fun. Do what you want, even if it is "unrealistic!"

joe b.