Rave about starter homes and 20k? Loan, we need loans!
Zazazu:
Quote from: Count Four on 2008 April 21, 03:01:55
I seem to have a different play style. Making Sims more realistic isn't really my aim. I think of it in terms of "This is how things work in Simland." My sims often start with a 10k trailer, where they live until they have too many kids. Then, they get moved to a new, empty lot. Their house evolves a room at a time, as they have the money. I like this style--I get to play the career game, and have little building sessions, too.
And sometimes I get really interesting houses that I wouldn't have built that way otherwise.
It annoys me to be able to see in my mind how I want a house to look, yet not be able to make it. Plus, I rarely add on. I've been playing Teardrop Isle lately and I have three playable lots.
One is the beach shack, which is a...well, no bedroom/bathroom description sounds right. 5x10 top floor with kitchen/bed/"table"/tv and 4x5 bottom floor with bed/itty bath only made possible by Targa's ladder. It will never be built further. They are barely making it now, what with private school fees (no public school in the 'hood yet), loan payments, and income/property taxes. Until the next generation, taxes are at 10%/rotation which is $2,100 a season, and the single parent fishes for a living (when he gets off his ass or isn't kicking his brother the Mayor's trash can). Oldest kid wants college, so she's going to have to work her ass off to get scholarships. Occupied by a child, teen, and adult.Mayor's mansion. Three story monstrosity with a fair bit of unused space as there is an atrium ceiling from the living area, and the second floor is all bathrooms and game area. One huge bedroom for seven kids on the third floor, big nursery (constant twins), master bedroom, eat-in kitchen, and living area on the first floor, with this weird reading nook above the 1st floor bath. They'd be rolling in it if it weren't for the private school fees on all those kids, plus any overages on community lot builds that aren't covered by taxes come out of the Mayor's funds. Occupied by twin toddlers, four children (two sets of twins), a teen, and two adults.Farm Lot. 32-plot greenhouse run mostly by my immortal sim. There is a tight but functional house towards the back, and a large pond taking up about half the lot that is crossed by a curved diagonal bridge (pain in the nether regions to make). House has three bedrooms (two tiny ones and a master), nursery, two bathrooms, and a "great" room (which isn't great, it's really small). Taxes are about $7,000, but two sims are at the top of their career levels and they only have three kids to pay private school fees for. Occupied by twin toddlers, child, two adults, and a perpetual elder.
This current generation has twelve children (gah!). Even if I kill one off, which I think I will, that's 8 more households. My building fetish is definitely going to be sated.
Ellatrue:
I think it would be more realistic to have the sims start off with something more like 10,000, and then have to use the mortgage shrubs. You can actually build something pretty decent for under 20k, if you have the building skills.
My main objection with the game is actually with how quickly the house depreciates. Once you move them into their starter home, they are pretty much stuck there because of how much the home drops in value.
jolrei:
Quote from: Ellatrue on 2008 April 21, 19:25:08
My main objection with the game is actually with how quickly the house depreciates. Once you move them into their starter home, they are pretty much stuck there because of how much the home drops in value.
That's a good point. Even with the current downturn in real estate markets in the US and Canada, latest projections I have heard is that the housing market is merely "slowing down" not crashing, and houses are still appreciating in value, not depreciating. Only on the sims can you end up invariably losing money on your house.
Zazazu:
A partial solution is to use the magic wand before you move the sim in. I've somehow lost that (again) since installing FreeTime. I always use it on student apartments. A couple hundred bucks makes a huge difference.
Kyna:
The main problem I have with starter houses is that I hate having to move my sims once they're in a lot.
I'm not particularly fond of building, furnishing or decorating lots. If I put sims in a starter lot then I'm going to have to either build on to it to accommodate offspring, or move them on to a bigger lot. When I do move them out, I need to refurnish the starter lot so it can be reused (yes, I know I could mess about with replacing the lot file, or use Inge's stay things shrub).
It just seems simpler to start out the sim in a house that's big enough for their later needs, rather than messing about with moving them later. This is one reason why I like multi-generational houses with 2 master bedrooms, a couple of bedrooms for the kids and a nursery. One of the offspring can return to the family home post-graduation, take up residence in the 2nd master bedroom, and I know it will be big enough for their family.
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