Buying and Renovating houses not profitable enough

[Satori]

Topic. I just bought two separate houses and spent 2 hours or so on each.

First house profit: $-140 loss

Second house profit: $3,400ish.

If I'd spent that time grinding lame missions in the story mode I'd have made exponentially more. Like $30,000+.

At present renovating houses feels like a slap in the face for how little you get.

There should be two toggles that don't currently exist in the game: More profitable renovations and tips for what needs to be done to the house to make it sell for a lot more money.

Buying and renovating houses should be MORE profitable than grinding missions, not less.

The effort vs the reward is just not there.

If you want a freeform, no-instructions-given blank do-what-you-will mode in renovating houses, fine. But be sure to reward the users time for using that mode. As it stands I'm about to quit this game entirely.

I have no interest in doing renovations for the pay of less than a third world day laborer or endlessly grinding pseudo-tutorial on-rails missions.

[Iceman]

I've been experimenting a bit to better understand how the value of houses is calculated. I suspected it wasn't very complex, but it's also not as simple as filling the house with the most expensive objects. To receive good offers, the house must cover the basics. These were my findings.

Regardless of the state of the house, you will always have at least one buyer.

If the house is in poor condition (full of garbage, and stains), and has few or no furniture, there is a man who will buy it with a small loss.

If the house is in poor condition, but has some good rooms and furniture, a second "mysterious" buyer will be added, with a better offer.

If the house is in good condition, but lacks furniture, or doesn't meet all the needs of a house, you will receive a single offer from a woman.

These three are named characters and are always the same.

If the house is in good condition and covers all the needs, you will receive the maximum number of offers allowed by perks. In these cases, the pool of potential buyers is much wider. The price will depend on the original price and the furniture. Avoid over-saturating the property with expensive items, as this will not significantly improve the profits.

If you're not concerned about creating a functional/realistic property, use the remaining space of the land to build 5 - 6 rooms and fill them with sofas. I had a similar result with 5 and with 20 rooms, so don't overdo it. For this to work, the rest of the needs must be covered (bathrooms, kitchen, bedroom, etc.). The maximum profit I have obtained with this method has been 250k.

Paint and lighting seem to have little weight in improving offers, you can completely ignore these aspects.

An important thing to note is that if you demolish walls and floors before cleaning them, the house will still be considered dirty, so you will only receive offers from the first 2 characters I mentioned. Make sure to clean it completely before starting deep renovations.

I would have liked to test more systematically and take more notes, but I assumed that the calculation system was much simpler than it actually is. Maybe I'll do it later.

[mapperkids]

Publicado originalmente por Iceman:

I've been experimenting a bit to better understand how the value of houses is calculated. I suspected it wasn't very complex, but it's also not as simple as filling the house with the most expensive objects. To receive good offers, the house must cover the basics. These were my findings.

Regardless of the state of the house, you will always have at least one buyer.

If the house is in poor condition (full of garbage, and stains), and has few or no furniture, there is a man who will buy it with a small loss.

If the house is in poor condition, but has some good rooms and furniture, a second "mysterious" buyer will be added, with a better offer.

If the house is in good condition, but lacks furniture, or doesn't meet all the needs of a house, you will receive a single offer from a woman.

These three are named characters and are always the same.

If the house is in good condition and covers all the needs, you will receive the maximum number of offers allowed by perks. In these cases, the pool of potential buyers is much wider. The price will depend on the original price and the furniture. Avoid over-saturating the property with expensive items, as this will not significantly improve the profits.

If you're not concerned about creating a functional/realistic property, use the remaining space of the land to build 5 - 6 rooms and fill them with sofas. I had a similar result with 5 and with 20 rooms, so don't overdo it. For this to work, the rest of the needs must be covered (bathrooms, kitchen, bedroom, etc.). The maximum profit I have obtained with this method has been 250k.

Paint and lighting seem to have little weight in improving offers, you can completely ignore these aspects.

An important thing to note is that if you demolish walls and floors before cleaning them, the house will still be considered dirty, so you will only receive offers from the first 2 characters I mentioned. Make sure to clean it completely before starting deep renovations.

I would have liked to test more systematically and take more notes, but I assumed that the calculation system was much simpler than it actually is. Maybe I'll do it later.

Wow, thank for the great info. and keep that in mind to testing it again.

[EmilyHunter]

@Iceman Thanks a lot!!! That explains why I only got one buyer for the houseboat I then wasn't in the mood to furnish after cleaning and painting. I made some couple of hundreds Euros for that one, so not much, but at least no loss.

[madlen579]

Für das Lavendel Haus habe ich 89 TEUR bekommen, für das Bungalow Haus 121 TEUR und das Wohnwagen Haus 175 TEUR. Ich habe alles sauber gemacht, verkauft und renoviert. Die Zimmeranordnung durch Wände einreißen geändert. Und neue Räume ans Haus rangebaut. Der Garten wurde dann halt kleiner. Alles gestrichen drinnen und draußen und mit neuen Möbeln eingerichtet. Ob modern oder klassisch war den Käufern egal. Aber je mehr Schlafzimmer und zugehörige Bäder/ WC desto mehr Kohle, denke ich. So 4 Std. pro Haus brauche ich schon. Geld Probleme hatte ich nie.

[EmilyHunter]

Vermute auch, dass mit mehr Schlafzimmern und mehr Bädern auch der Hauswert steigt, ergibt irgendwie Sinn.

[Aleisis]

I'm a bit puzzled by this - admittedly I've been playing a fair bit, but I've sold 14 houses so far and I've got over 2 million credit.
I think it helps to think in terms of ticking boxes for the AI buyers - that's how HF1 worked.
I have a sort of mental checklist, which may be worth a try:

- One or two bathrooms per 2 bedrooms.
- Master bedroom (double bed, at least 1 cabinet, wardrobe, book shelf)
- Kitchen (incl. fridge, cooker, sink)
- Living room (sofa, coffee table, TV cabinet, TV, rug, book shelf)
OR Living room with kitchenette (Same as living room but with fridge, sink, cooker)
- Dining room (dining table and 4 chairs)
- Master bedroom (double bed, at least 1 cabinet, wardrobe, book shelf)
- Children's bedroom (bed, desk, wardrobe, book shelf, rug, picture, at least 3 toys)
If you have a children's room, it may help to include a family room (living room but with toys and cabinet)
Optional rooms:
- Office (desk, chair, rug, book shelf, lamp)
- Laundry room (washing machine with either sink or shelving)
- Home Library (see office but with more shelves)
- Home cinema (see living room but with 4 speakers)
Put a rug, a plant and a picture/decoration in each room. Book shelves are a plus. Make sure everything is clean and preferably redecorated.

Outside:
I doubt it's as complex as Garden Flipper, but I try to include a table and chairs, a parasol, awing or gazebo, a bbq, and some loungers (by the pool if you've added one). Add lights evenly dotted around so everywhere is lit, and try to arrange things so there are no big empty areas.

I hope this is helpful!
Good luck, and happy new year. :)

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3127000596

Sold this for 500K profit. You can see what was done in other screenshots of this house.

[Lilo]

I've only had super low offers when there's been some missed dirt or rubbish somewhere. (Once out in the garden under a shrub!) If the flipper sense thing makes a little di-di noise, that means there's something missed somewhere. Cobwebs are super hard to find.

Definitely don't knock down any walls until it's spotless!

[JJWolf]

Done my first big job for $50k profit (beach house) just by going simple yet appropriate for the house.

[mapperkids]

Publicado originalmente por Aleisis:

I'm a bit puzzled by this - admittedly I've been playing a fair bit, but I've sold 14 houses so far and I've got over 2 million credit.
I think it helps to think in terms of ticking boxes for the AI buyers - that's how HF1 worked.
I have a sort of mental checklist, which may be worth a try:

- One or two bathrooms per 2 bedrooms.
- Master bedroom (double bed, at least 1 cabinet, wardrobe, book shelf)
- Kitchen (incl. fridge, cooker, sink)
- Living room (sofa, coffee table, TV cabinet, TV, rug, book shelf)
OR Living room with kitchenette (Same as living room but with fridge, sink, cooker)
- Dining room (dining table and 4 chairs)
- Master bedroom (double bed, at least 1 cabinet, wardrobe, book shelf)
- Children's bedroom (bed, desk, wardrobe, book shelf, rug, picture, at least 3 toys)
If you have a children's room, it may help to include a family room (living room but with toys and cabinet)
Optional rooms:
- Office (desk, chair, rug, book shelf, lamp)
- Laundry room (washing machine with either sink or shelving)
- Home Library (see office but with more shelves)
- Home cinema (see living room but with 4 speakers)
Put a rug, a plant and a picture/decoration in each room. Book shelves are a plus. Make sure everything is clean and preferably redecorated.

Outside:
I doubt it's as complex as Garden Flipper, but I try to include a table and chairs, a parasol, awing or gazebo, a bbq, and some loungers (by the pool if you've added one). Add lights evenly dotted around so everywhere is lit, and try to arrange things so there are no big empty areas.

I hope this is helpful!
Good luck, and happy new year. :)

Profit two millions? Awesome!

[mapperkids]

Publicado originalmente por Rumpelcrutchskin:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3127000596

Sold this for 500K profit. You can see what was done in other screenshots of this house.

That is impressive, can't see much in your screenshot other than the picture of the house at front?

[CyberDiva]

My first house I sold for a $20,000 profit. My second was a $30,000 profit before raising any selling perks. I did that by refreshing the floors and walls, cleaning, and putting in a nicer kitchen and furniture. I did not touch the yard. Trying to nail down what is bringing in the most profit does not seem to be working at this juncture...which is fine, though sometimes I do wish for the list of things the buyers want... After raising my selling perk to get more for houses I am making $60k+ profits on the first tier.