Creating a House

A Sim’s home is his castle—and in the case of The Sims 3, that can be quite literal. You have unparalleled freedom to create a dream house for your Sim household out of brick or mortar, stone or wood and then fill it with the things your Sims need...and perhaps a few things they don’t really need, but that are cool to have anyway.

As with sculpting an individual Sim in Create a Sim, you have very few limits when building a home, save for your initial bank account when you first move in.

Once you start gathering Simoleons with a steady job or lucrative hobby (or maybe even luck into a major payday), you can add on to your house or move into a new one, working your way up to the proverbial castle.

(Seriously. You can build a castle in The Sims 3. With a moat.)

However, if you don’t want to construct a house right away, or just prefer a lived-in home, you can choose from a vast number of pre-built lots to buy.

Some of these lots might be a touch expensive from the get-go, though. And if you want to try out not just a pre-owned house, but a pre-owned life, you can assume control of a host of families and individuals.

Each pre-set household has a different scenario that offers some structure to your narrative, as well as a pre-built house. Use these scenarios as inspiration for when you decide to build your new life from the ground up.

Moving Day

So, it’s time to move into your new neighborhood and begin life in Sunset Valley. You have two options when it comes to housing your Sims: buy a furnished lot or build a brand new house on an empty lot.

Buying a furnished lot is the quickest way to get started, and you can always move to your own digs after you’ve advanced your career and built up a bank account.

But if you feel like getting your hands dirty by laying concrete and tacking up drywall, then read on. We’ll take you through the essentials of building a house from scratch and filling it with the objects you will need for a contented Sim.