R|E 0.2.0 - Quarterly Testing

Update History

04/23/2022

• Alpha Release

Mod Summary

This mod revamps the real estate market in the Sims 4 and expands upon the buy/sell process to later connect with the Sims 4 Financial Center.

Summary of Changes

We added/changed the following:

• Improved R|E UI: Some changes in the aesthetic look of the R|E phone menu. UI, and notification system to assist in the process of buying and selling homes.
• Improved Buying Process: Updates to include a more robust selling system to handle multiple property ownership as well as make the process more efficient for Simmers.
• Multiple Properties Management: The main attraction of the 0.2.0 update is the ability to purchase multiple properties even while having a rental as the main residence. This also includes the ability to manage all your Sim's properties from their phone.
• SNB - Bills Update: We wouldn't add the ability to own multiple properties without first also updating Bills to make sure your Sim's are properly taxed and Billed. Be sure you have the 0.5.0 version of Bills in order for R|E 0.2.0 to function properly! Download this update here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65523628.
  
• Additional Small Enhancements and Fixes

Meet the Lewis Family! Dr. and Mrs. Lewis successfully saved a good amount of money for a down payment on a second home for their daughter, Olivia, to stay at during her time at University. She'll be able to get roommates while staying there to then cover the cost of living and hopefully leave school completely debt-free!

To get started, they will need to first find a Realtor to guide them through the buying process.

The Initial Process

When you first log in to a new game, everything will appear normal. You can buy or rent your Sim's first place as normal with EA prices. Existing saves will also have the same experience. R|E doesn't step onto the scene until you actively engage the mod with its very own phone menu. This menu will allow you to only Hire a Realtor or Request an Appraisal for Home Lot at the beginning.

A Realtor will be on call to handle all your Real Estate Needs, whether that be to buy/sell a home or manage rental properties. Be careful which Realtor you choose. The better their Rating, the better the service expected. So if your Sim(s) can afford a good Realtor, I suggest you take the plunge and invest in one. They may actually save you money in the long run.

From there, you will want to set up your first Realtor appointment to set your House Wish List or Request an Appraisal of your Sim's current residence.

The House Listings Process

Once your Sim sets their House List during their initial appointment with their Realtor, the Realtor will respond with a potential list of houses/lots based on the set criteria. The follow-up call occurs according to the Realtor's rating (about 24 hours for Realtors with 3-5 stars and about 48 hours for 1-2 stars). Two options will be made available after this call, Check House Listings and Request an Appraisal for Home Lot. These two options are critical if you plan on buying a new dwelling for your Sim.

Within the Check House Listings option, you will have the opportunity to do the below interactions that will lead to a closing of a new dwelling/residence.

UPDATED CLOSING PROCESS

With version 0.2.0, you can now Split a Household with R|E through the Buy Process or Exchange Properties as additional Multiple Property Management functions. Exchanging Properties will allow your Sim(s) to purchase a new main residence or additional properties with the sale proceeds from the property no longer owned when selected.

There is no longer a need to use EA's Move Household system with this update. It is still available if needed, but to get the dynamic experience that R|E offers we recommend you use only R|E. Especially if you have multiple properties, it is best to keep the management of acquiring and selling property an R|E function to avoid future issues or confusion.

Now that the Lewis Family choose their Realtor and had their initial appointment, they are off to visit the only property available to purchase in Britechester. Not super expensive but with the amount saved, Olivia could remodel or build a new house to fit her needs and have enough space to take on one or two roommates. This one is getting added to the Short List for sure! And since this is the only property that meets their criteria, the Lewis family is going to go ahead and put a bid in to secure the house.

Dr. Lewis takes the lead in the Negotiation Battle due to his previous experience in the process. He felt he will get the best deal for his family and have money left over for a remodel and University expenses. It also looks like the Seller's Realtor might not be as experienced as the Lewis family's Realtor. That's also in Dr. Lewis's favor.

With help from his Realtor, Dr. Lewis successfully negotiated the sale price to §16,900 as opposed to the appraised value of §18,447. That's a difference of §1,547 that could go into making this place a second home for Oliva! With great excitement, Dr. Lewis heads back home to tell his family the good news over dinner!

Since the Lewis family already had enough to purchase this property within their Household account, Dr. Lewis was ready to complete Closing after he got the final ok from Olivia.

With Closing complete, the Lewis family are now proud owners of a second home where Olivia can stay while in college.

Now it's time to get the lot to fit all of Olivia's wants and needs...basically the fun part. She can't wait to get a new valuation on the appraised value when it is all done!

Appraisal System

Previously the "Request an Appraisal for Home Lot" interaction was needed before you can sell a property with R|E. This is now a part of the Closing processing. However, you can still complete this task at any time the Appraiser's office is open. This option will be available to you Monday - Friday from 8 am - 5 pm. Once you select this option you will get a pop-up confirming that an Appraiser will be out to assess your Sim's property.

The Appraiser will go around your Sim's property taking pictures and notes (sound familiar? 😂). Once done, you will get a pop-up showing the assessed value you could sell your Sim's property for (in the future, it will be used to allow your Sim to set up a line of credit at an SNB - Financial Center), and the elements that affected that value.

At this moment, only Lot Traits, World, and Lot Size affect the appraised value. The next feature update for this mod will include additional factors that can make your value higher or lower to create a truly dynamic market system.

After a lot has been appraised, you can always go back and check the value again in the same phone menu with the option "Check Home Lot Appraised Value."

Olivia decided against a remodel and went with a company to design a small 2-bedroom home that fits her style and needs. The neighbors might not be happy with it since it doesn't match the architecture in the area, but Olivia sure does. Her property updates cost the Lewis family about §49,000. After an R|E valuation, Olivia's new home is worth §53,061. She immediately gained equity of about §4,061!

Now to wait for her college application status. She is getting anxious now that her parents helped pay for all of these nice things. If she doesn't get into college, she'll have to take a lower-ranking job in order to handle the expenses of homeownership.

Multiple Property Management

With version 0.2.0, you can now own multiple homes as shown thus far. This addition allows you to not only own multiple homes outside of EA's business property menu, but you can apply certain home services to each lot and get property taxes for each non-active lot. If you haven't guessed, things are about to get a little more expensive than they already are with this mod.

In addition to multi-Bills support, you can switch out which home you want to be the main dwelling for each Household and also exchange properties for others. KEEP IN MIND THAT WHEN EXCHANGING PROPERTIES, ANY LEFTOVER FUNDS WILL NOT BE REFUNDED BACK! This means Olivia could exchange this property for another home purchase. The house she is currently in is worth more than the house she is buying so any Simoleons left from the house sale will be dispersed as "fees" to the Llama Gods as tribute. 😂Your Sim will basically not see a refund for those "fees."

You can also sell properties without selling a Sim's main residence or any other properties held by your Sim.

*PLAY TIP: If you want to start a small business of flipping (or buying, renovating, and then selling) for profit, this is a way to do this.  Especially when we add in additional factors that adjust the value according to curb appeal.

Conflicts/Issues/Notable Items Observed:

• You can still bypass the R|E system with EA's Move system as normal. You just won't be able to see the adjusted property value.
• The storyline showcased here talks about the EA roommate system. You can still use this system as a means to provide additional income to your Sims but you will need to make sure the main residence is the place you want the roommates to stay for them to show properly.
• If you have MCCC's Free Build setting enabled, it will make buildbuy purchases on your Sim's secondary lots FREE! Turn this MCCC setting off to make it not so with R|E in play.

Compatible With:

Patch 05/24/2022 PC: 1.88.213.1030 / Mac: 1.88.213.1230

Credits

• Victor Andrade: SR Mod Developer
• Nichole: SR Mod Producer
• scripthoge (Mod The Sims) for assistance in the development of these additions
• "VS" image (Negotiation Battle) from GUI PRO Kit by Layer Lab

TOOLS USED:

• Zerbu: Mod Constructor (V4)
• Sims 4 Studio
• Blender

Download:

R|E is currently only available for patrons. Become a patron to get access to the download.

DOWNLOAD NOW OR SEE ATTACHED

R|E will be publicly available for non-patrons on June 25th.

Mod Support/Assistance:

If you are experiencing an issue with this mod, please head over to our Discord server channel: #patreon-mod-support (https://discord.gg/97hyxrM). DO NOT PUT SUPPORT QUESTIONS IN THE BELOW COMMENT SECTION! The Comment Section is more for feedback.

To connect your Patronage to Discord, please follow these instructions: https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212052266-Get-my-Discord-role