I do not think houses should store gear at all. I do, however, feel that it probably wouldn't be too difficult to save houses. You buy the house. When you enter your house, you can change the description to be whatever you want. Oh, and the deed isn't an item. It's actually stored on the pfile. We don't really have any room in the Score command, but perhaps down where it says whether your hungry or thirsty, and how much experience you have, you could add another line if you own the deed to a house.
Code:
oOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOo
o [Scores] Ithorim, Rarksil - High Knight of the Blade - Abbot of the Fist o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Status: Grand Master(1) Race: Dwarf Class: Paladin o
o Kingdom: Zhenshi Cabal: Fists of the White Swan (Leader) o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Coins: zero o
o Carrying: 0/14 items Load: 1.3/425.0 pounds o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o Health: Excellent Mental: Pulsating Physical: Fresh o
o Attribute points: 0 Wimpy: 0 percent Mode: Kill/defensive o
o===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===-===o
o You are standing. o
o You have begun the second-half of the journey to the next level. o
o You have played 297 hour(s) so far. o
o You have 0 of 40 loyalty tokens available to spend. o
o Your address is 123 Tenkawa Road. o
oOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOoOOOo
The key to the door, however, is an item. Non-unique. If someone kills you and takes it and finds your house, they then have access to the description of the room and can trash it. Change the description to be whatever they want, maybe add in bright pink text "A giant butterfly is painted over the fireplace." for funsies! Keys are no-save except for on the character that owns the deed. Homeowner's Association came by like thieves in the night and saw you had a key to a house that didn't belong to you, so they took it.
There is a keymaker NPC. He is the maker of keys. If you own a deed to a house, you can be all like "Hey gramps, make me a key." He will make a key for your house. Only people with a deed to a house can get a key made. It costs money. Don't know how much. First key comes with the purchase of the house. If you lose your key, buy another.
So yeah, TL;DR - houses don't save any items on reboot. Players can imitate furniture, even gear ("A pedestal is here with the helm of the gods perched on top"), in the description of the room. Keys are non-unique, and the key to any house can only be made for the deed owner. Deed isn't an item but more of an attribute on the character.