I am an ex-player (Played for years before quitting) who was debating rejoining ultima but I was curious about the availability of house placement is it all used up or is it possible for a new player to place a house?

any feedback on this would be great thanks guys

On most shards (except Asian shards) it's possible to place small houses, especially if you want to live in Fel. If you search diligently, you might find a spot for a medium house. There are a few shards with very low populations where house placement is freely available anywhere. Of course the housing advantage of a small shard might be outweighed by the disadvantages of low population. I'd suggest making a few trial characters on shards which appeal to you and do a little looking around.

Thanks for the quick response!

Any chance you would be willing to break down a couple shards for me which have high, medium, and low populations?

I am not terribly worried about population I was always more or less a lonewolf but I do like to interact and walking around for hours with no one around could get boring I suppose.

I may not be totally accurate here, so others may have more to add, but the following are shards with high population:
Atlantic
Great Lakes
Lake Superior
Others with good numbers of people
Pacific
Chessy
Cats
Mediumish populations
Napa
Sonoma
Baja
Small populations
Legends
Lake Austin
Practically deserted
Seige
Origin

As I say, this is based on no accurate figures, so shard residents, don't flame me, just correct as needed.

Atlantic is the most populated, hands down. Europa is 2nd. GL and LS are tied for third. Pacific is the most populated west coast shard. Chessy and Cats have an alright amount. All the other shards hardly have any people on them anymore. Brit bank is like a ghost town on these shards, it's ridiculous.

Also remember that since the new 30 day decay rule was put in, houses are dropping like flies. In the last week, I have found like 5 or 6 houses in Malas outside of Umbra on Baja that have fallen, and like 3 or 4 Fel houses. That is just where I am aware of, I am sure there are tons more out there that are falling daily. I know there is plenty of room on Baja, thats all I can speak for, cause its the only shard I play. I know of a spot that can house an 18x18 or large tower at this very moment, north of the orc camp west of umbra.

What's this 30 day rule? People who have inactive accounts or just in general?

well it used to be once your acct goes inactive for 90 days your house fell, so as long as you renewed it every 89 days your house was safe, well they changed it to 30 days. Now alot of houses are falling due to the change, I think it started Aug 1. So the next week should be very interesting....

Great Lakes is pretty busy but I know of quite a few places you can place at least 9x12's. It's pretty easy to find in Tram or Malas. Never been back to Fel since the split so I can't say about thier space.

Basicly the system had a flaw that too many were expoiting... pay for 1 mo fee for 90 days of house time.... so they changed it... good show....

Can't have these disgruntalled UO players taking up space... need to roll out the next expansion quick....

PS: I know of a 11x13, 11x9, 14x11 maybe on Baja Brit swamps...I think all the large spots are taken(tram) but who knows about (Fel)