For nearly two years simmervillians have enjoyed the Mega Starter Home. Due to many requests from other hoods, I asked Mr Montpellier at our real estates agency to tell us more about the house and what should be included in a good home in general.

First of all, I should add that you won't need to have a home as fancy as mine in order to succeed. This article will focus on the small details that will help you through the day. We decided to combine this with a better presentation of the Simmerville Mega Starter house, which has been requested because there is no interior photos available on the Builds & Bills page.

Tips for your home
Not so long ago Simmerville's first Real Estate agency, Builds & Bills, 
opened. Mr Montpellier is rather new to our hood, but many residents have already done business with him. There is also a Builds & Bills section here on Simmerville web (STUFF section) where available houses are up for grab. Is he an expert on how to create a home?

Mr Montpellier, you are our new guru when it comes to builds. How exactly do your background serve your new status?

- Salut! Well, I have been doing different businesses and made a lot of 
money in different ways, I guess that is a good enough background for doing real estate businesses. When it comes to organizing a house, I am more experienced than a regular sim because I have been travelling a lot, seeing many houses and also learnt from what sims did like and did not like in their homes.

So, could you give us a couple ideas on what we should look for when buying or building a new home?

- Of course. Look for a good address, don't think twice about the cost just move in.

I meant more practically, like the house layout, what rooms should be given priority?

- Ah, bien! I think a house is a house, but there are naturally some 
details you should think of. I don't say these details should count much 
when you buy a house, because you can always do some adjustments later on.

Make sure to have a rest room! By that I mean you must have a recliner or coach available in a spot where there is no noise. The point is to be able to rest without going to bed which busy sims think takes too long. If you live in a multi storied home, place the rest room on ground floor. It's convenient for short naps on a busy day and can be used by any mamily member. You could just place a recliner in the kitchen, but I'd prefer a small room for this purpose alone, eventually in your study or library which would normally be a quiet room.

Also place some entertainment in a very central location of your home. Make it easier to have smaller portions of fun, like while waiting for a car pool or while waiting for a guest to arrive. A VR set in the hall way would be perfect. Even the espresso machine could be placed in a busy room like the hallway.

Then, make sure to have at least one toilet per story. If you have guests and just one toilet upstairs, the staircase will soon become a packed problem.

There is also the ideal solution when it comes to the dining room. Make 
sure to have a serving counter in the dining room to avoid your guests to 
storm your kitchen. Actually, your dining room should be larger than your 
kitchen. If you don't have a dining room, just move to a much bigger house, don't mind the costs! There are much more to think of concerning the kitchen and dining location, but I think that subject is covered by the Food Expo lectures.

Also, try adding an extra doorway to the most busy rooms, like the 
living room, dining room and hall. Always pay attention to where the traffic problems occurs, and make changes as needed.

The Simmerville Mega Starter house
You do offer many new houses on your real estate web page. Are all these things you mention included in those houses?

- No, no, no! Then the houses would become too large for the poor starter families who can't afford a swimming pool right away. Especially the Simmerville Mega Starter is a very small house, but with many possibilities.

Interesting. Ho can a small house have many possibilities?

- It can always get bigger, that is the greatest possibility!

Tell us more about the Mega Standard that has been popular in our hood for nearly 2 years already. Local residents are currently allowed to check it out downtown. Why is this house so special?

- The idea is to offer a house with many rooms to a small cost. Who would expect 8 rooms + terrace on 2140 sq.ft. to a cost of only §10.277 - §18.311 [depends on the lot size. Ed.]. The Mega Starter house comes with 4 bedrooms and can serve a family of 5 sims, although I guess it would be better for a couple with 2 kids. The downstairs bedroom is meant to be a study/rest room. The house has a small living room that is combined with a small, open kitchen. It doesn't give you the possibility to serve many guests, but it is possible for 4 sims to dine simultaneously, and 3 sims can watch tv. There are also several ways to organize the kitchen and living room sections. What more can you ask for in such a small house? The house even includes a small 6 tiled hobby room near the main entrance. In there you can either iron your clothes, store things, make preserves or gnomes or you can use it as a rest room or extra toilet. It can even serve as an extra bedroom if you are on a low budget and can't move to a larger house without checking the cost twice. Anyone can merge two rooms or make other small adjustments as they desire. The Mega Starter is the greatest base for any wish.

The Mega Starter home is currently available only for lots 1-10 (any kind of hood), but it will soon be available for a few Old Town addresses, as well.

You just said the Mega Starter house can get bigger?

- Yes. You see the layout on both stories do center around the heart of the house. If you save up a little simoleons, you can move the outer walls on both floors 1 tile out in the garden in one or all directions, and the house layout will remain the same but all rooms will become larger! And we all know the difference 1 tile can make! In this way the Mega Starter house can be a good home even if you can afford a larger home. The compact layout will still be great.

How can Builds & Bills help sims who want to move?

- On Builds & Bills web page, which has become part of Simmerville's STUFF section, there will be posted available houses. Any sim who find something they might like, can order it from there. When a house is taken, it will of course be removed from the page, but I will add the house they no longer use, or even add a new. Just remember to pay me the fee of §500 per 1000 sq.ft. [if you live in Simmerville. Ed.].

How about sims living in other hoods?

- Sims living elsewhere can also order these houses, but they must pay 
their local taxes, if any. I wish I could charge them, too, but I got to focus on the simmervillians first.

Thanx Mr Montpellier.
 

Illustration: This is the Simmerville Mega Starter home. It comes with no furniture, the photos are from the home of the Briggons and you can even see Mrs Anne Briggon watching tv.