Confused About Those Empty Households

[kazulty]

Hey everyone!
It's my first post here on forum, and I wish to say hello to everyone out there who enjoys SIM3 as much as I do. It's really a lot of fun to be here  

Here's a little question that lingers me for a while. Can we purchase those empty households in town?
Apparently there’re dozens of empty houses there, and some of them are rather attempting to live inside. As the game progresses, I didn’t find any way to interact with those empty households, other than a grayed-out “ring bell” button. I really want to purchase a new household to replace the current forlorn home that is assigned at the beginning of game. I’ve also tried to find somewhere in the map that can bring me to a “real-estate agency” or something like that. Maybe there’s simply no household market at all? Then it leaves me with only two options to upgrade the building, either use the “edit town” to abuse the game, or use the build mode to painfully do it myself in every building block.

Is there anyone having the same curiosity, or better, knows an answer to this?

[Pam]

Hi kazulty!  Welcome to our Forum! 

Yes, you can purchase any of the empty houses.  Just use your Sim's cell phone or a computer.  Select "Move" and it will take you to a map screen that shows you the empty houses and which ones you can afford to buy with your current household funds.  It will walk you through the process, including whether you want to sell or keep your furniture.  We even have a challenge coming up pretty soon that's all about buying and selling as many houses as you can in a certain period of time.  If you have any problems making this work, let us know and help will come!