Thoughts on general house prices and lot sizes

[saltpastillen]

I've been spending a lot more time building than playing lately, especially following a budget in the building contest. And that got me thinking about how much houses in the sims should cost when you buy them.


What I'm interested in are your thought on what price range certain types of houses should be in.

For example, a CAS sim starts out with 16,500, should all starters be built so that they can move in? What about a couple with children? Or when you move one of the children from your current sim family out, how much are you willing to spend for a:

a. starter for 1 sim
b. starter for a couple
c. starter for a family who already has a child and might even have one more on the way
d. family home (where you move once your sims has decided to start a family and can afford to move out of their tiny starter/apartment
e. generational home, where grandparents, parents and children all can live together
f. luxury home (we're talking top of the line appliances and so on, with a minimum of 2 bedrooms).

Also, for a simple starter what is more important:

1. small lot and cheep price, you can always move to something bigger when you have enough money.
2. small house but good size lot, so that you can expand the house as the family/skill interests grows.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thought on this subject.

[Chuckles_82]

The best that I can find looking in the code is in the outdoor trashcan rummaging information. The medium networth is 30,000 to 95,000, so I guess a 'starter' home should be under 30,000. If you intend on moving sims into it, then obviously it needs to be affordable with starting funds, but if you want to move other families into it, or have the game move them in, then under 30,000. That's just how I would work it out.

For myself, I would start with a smaller lot so that I could have a better house. A good nights sleep in those early days is vital (although the rocking chair is actually much more efficient than any bed).

[saltpastillen]

That's great information, thanks Chuckles.

[bubbles]

I've been spending a lot more time building than playing lately, especially following a budget in the building contest. And that got me thinking about how much houses in the sims should cost when you buy them.


What I'm interested in are your thought on what price range certain types of houses should be in.

For example, a CAS sim starts out with 16,500, should all starters be built so that they can move in? What about a couple with children? Or when you move one of the children from your current sim family out, how much are you willing to spend for a:

a. starter for 1 sim
b. starter for a couple
c. starter for a family who already has a child and might even have one more on the way
d. family home (where you move once your sims has decided to start a family and can afford to move out of their tiny starter/apartment
e. generational home, where grandparents, parents and children all can live together
f. luxury home (we're talking top of the line appliances and so on, with a minimum of 2 bedrooms).

Also, for a simple starter what is more important:

1. small lot and cheep price, you can always move to something bigger when you have enough money.
2. small house but good size lot, so that you can expand the house as the family/skill interests grows.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thought on this subject.

I would be willing to pay no more than about 11,000 simoleons for a single starter and only about 14,000 for a couple. For a family, I go for 16,000 to 18,000. Depending on jobs, I will move a family up to a house costing between 50,000 and 80,000 simoleons, maybe more depending on budget. I do like having a bit of money left after buying a house for luxuries and upgrades. Generational homes tend to be 80,000 or more for space, luxury and ease of decorating (I hate it when people who share rooms have clashing favourite colours and/or are different genders. For luxury, 150,000 or even more. I prefer having space to expand. That way, they don't have to move for a while. I don't like landscaping right up against a house because I can't easily expand the house without fiddling around. This is a really interesting toic and may help us builders decide what to build!

[saltpastillen]

Thanks for your reply bubbles.

I would be interested in more peoples opinions.

[Turoskel]

Also, for a simple starter what is more important:

1. small lot and cheep price, you can always move to something bigger when you have enough money.
2. small house but good size lot, so that you can expand the house as the family/skill interests grows.

I'm looking forward to hearing your thought on this subject.

Personally I prefer space to grow over moving, I may eventually move but that would usually be to a much bigger more expensive place, that takes time unless you get lucky in the money stakes so a larger plot with a small house suits me better.

As an example of what I consider nice sized starter homes there are two that I use frequently in Riverview if I'm not using the big empty plot.

First is Dogpatch, next door to Roxie and Shirley Lin, it's two bedroom a decent enough size and a nice sized garden for either plants or expanding.

Second and the one I use most often is Pomeranian Hybrid in Dogwood Lane, opposite the Lobos family, it is one bedroom on a 40x30 plot, very basic inside but tons of space to expand or garden, I often covert the garage space into more rooms.

I've just been playing in Starlight Shores and to be honest the starter homes there are very disappointing when it comes to space, hardly any garden space at all and I do like my sims to garden, so I would gladly have a smaller more basic house on a larger plot of land than a starter home with no room to grow.

[Saltypaws]

I am not much of a builder, so I agree, I seem to keep building as my sims get more money.  I have about the same price range though as far as starters, around 15,000, but if my sim already has money and a family, I like to move on up, as they say.  I think 30,000 is reasonable and for a family.  You can actually get a nice home for that price.  I love expanding and anyone that has done a dynasty, can see you can end up with a house worth a fortune.

[LivvieLove]

Something I've always been disappointed in is that "starter" homes are usually bare or inadequate to suit certain Sims.

Under $20,000 is key for me. I always try to build "starters" that can accommodate around 5 sims (or less) with as many luxuries I can afford to make (slightly better stove, shower, maybe nicer beds). The reason I accommodate for 5 is because if you start out with more kids in CAS, it's still very hard to get a house that is suitable for all the kids and your sim parents for a price range between $20,000-$25,000.

It's also hard because most starters I've seen look nice, but when it comes down to it a lot of people skip out on the QUALITY of the things in the house. I try to balance the two as best as I can. I've found bunk beds are my friends (though sometimes I wish they had better sleep-quality), and there's a double bed from an expansion (I can't recall which) that has the best stats for the price (under $1000).

I prefer it this way because, in my play-style, when my Sims move somewhere, they are most likely rooted there forever; the starter home must have room, or the ability to have room for expansion of any kind.

You've gotten me in the mood to build!

[Korva]

My #1 priority when it comes to starters and lower-class homes is that they must give the biggest bang for the buck. Looking at many of the pre-built starter homes in the official worlds just boggles my mind as to how impractical and money-wasting they are. Probably the worst example is the Hydrangea House in Appaloosa Plains: a TINY house on a 30x40 lot, with barely any space inside the house for even the basic necessities, but a load of the budget wasted on foundations, friezes and a balcony that isn't even accessible. Sure it looks fancy from the outside, but as an actual home it's worthless even for a single person.

I'm also not keen on impractical floor plans and houses that are too frugal with space and/or crammed full of so much stuff that there's barely any room for Sims to move around and avoid the "someone is blocking my way!" tantrums.

Lastly, I like even low-budget homes to not have the very cheapest beds, showers, fridges and stoves. It's just a quality of life issue for the inhabitants, and I agree with Chuckles that a good bed is probably the best investment in the beginning.

One can definitely accomplish that within the starting budget for one or two Sims. For a stereotypical family of 3-4 plus maybe a pet or two, I think the budget for a decent little "permanent" house as opposed to a cramped or squalid starter starts at about 30k-35k.

On the issue of room to expand versus using a smaller and thus cheaper lot, I'm in favor of the latter -- when I build or look for pre-built houses, especially starters, I do so with NPCs in mind, and they don't expand. So it's more important to me to have some decent-as-is houses for various price levels and household sizes.

[saltpastillen]

Great to have so many new points of view.

@Korva - I totally agree with you about that starter in Appaloosa, what a waste of money!

[Andy_555224]

I think that for starter homes, apartments are the way to go. Obviously this won't be your Sim's permanent home, unless you're playing a single Sim, but some can be dirt-cheap. There's one in Bridgeport that's only §4,237(or around that), which is quite nice. If you make your own apartments, you could pay practically nothing for it by putting most of the facilities outside the apartment.

As far as middle income houses go, I think that §35,000 is a good base price, whereas §80,000 would be about as high as I would be willing to go.

I would think that §80,000 is a bit low for a high income house, so I think that there's another wealth level inbetween them. I call it the top end of the middle income area. These are slightly better than the middle income houses, not in terms of furniture but space. These would top off at about §150,000.

High income houses start at §150,000, with noticeable features being more space and better furniture. There isn't really a cap on the price, but realistically, the most that it should be is §500,000, unless it's for a multi-generational game or a collection museum or some other such thing.

Well, there's my thoughts on house pricings.