Let's think of the scenario. Joe the elf buys a house from Galadon. Bob the orc walks in, bashes Joe the elf to the ground, loots the house key from his dead corpse and voilá! Bob has gotten himself a new house. Don't see how this would work.

The shopkeepers could work, although they could take a substancial profit for themselves from the sale and items decay profitless after certain amount of time in sale.