The way into business, step by step:
From the first monthly due date (after 7 days) the rent is joined by 90 € utilities per game month (see “Running costs”). An established studio still brings about 75–110 € surplus per day after all fixed costs. The first days bring less: reputation and word of mouth start at 0, early requests come almost entirely via the portals (18 % commission), and with reputation 0 your market price sits roughly a quarter below that of an established house. That is exactly what the goodwill month and the deposit starter help are for — the fixed costs of the first weeks are deliberately small, so the slow ramp-up is affordable.
On every free house slot you have two options. Prices are calibrated against the real Leverkusen housing market — what counts is the size (furnished warm rent per m²) and the location of the house. Values for the Ahornweg town house (location ×1.00):
| Apartment | People | Size | Rent / month | Utilities / month | Move-in (renting) | Purchase price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 2 | approx. 30 m² | 650 € (≈ 21.70 €/m²) | 90 € | 1,950 € (1,300 + 650) | 95,000 € |
| 2-room | 4 | approx. 55 m² | 950 € (≈ 17.30 €/m²) | 130 € | 2,850 € (1,900 + 950) | 220,000 € |
| 3-room (from level 9) | 6 | approx. 85 m² | 1,400 € (≈ 16.50 €/m²) | 170 € | 4,200 € (2,800 + 1,400) | 350,000 € |
The utilities (internet, power, heating) run as a fixed amount per game month for every apartment — even while it stands empty and even when you own it (buying only removes the rent). Details in the “Running costs” section.
Small furnished flats are the most expensive per m² — just like on the real market. In better houses everything scales with the location: in the Hafen loft house (×1.30) the studio costs 850 € rent and 123,500 € to buy — but nightly prices are higher there too.
🤝 Landlord’s goodwill: Your very first rented apartment costs only half the rent in month 1 — once per save, after that and for all further apartments the regular rate applies.
🤝 Deposit starter help: Only for the studio as your very first rented apartment the deposit is not due at move-in — together with the goodwill, the studio move-in costs only 325 €. Instead you pay the deposit off in 50 € instalments per game month, collected automatically together with the rent until it is complete (1,300 € for the studio = 26 game months — a deliberately small long-running instalment so the start stays easy). If the money is not there for an instalment, it simply stays outstanding and runs along with the next month — this creates no rent arrears and no termination. If you move out or the landlord terminates, only the part already paid in counts (refunded or lost) — the outstanding rest lapses without replacement, nothing is claimed back. Buying out likewise credits only the part paid in. Every further rented apartment costs the full deposit at move-in.
Renting is the way in: deposit (2 months of rent) + first month of rent, after that the rent runs every 7 days — even while the flat stands empty. Buying is the savings goal: it costs real money once, but after that only running costs apply and nobody can give you notice. Careful: every further purchase gets more expensive by a factor of 1.45 — per apartment you already have (rented ones count too). So the second purchase costs 1.45 times, the third 2.1 times the base price.
Buying out: Buying out means: buying the apartment you are renting — the only purchase path without the 1.45 mark-up. You can take over a rented apartment at any time for the purchase price of its location minus your deposit (studio at Ahornweg: 93,700 €) — without the 1.45 mark-up, but only with no rent arrears. That equals roughly 144 months of rent: buying out is no bargain but the long-term savings goal — and at the same time the cheapest path to ownership, because only here the 1.45 mark-up does not apply.
⏱️ The game runs in fast-forward: 7 real days are 1 game month. That is why the monthly rent comes every 7 days — it is not four times the rent, because your overnight earnings come in just as fast: one game month of rent faces one game month of earnings.
A rental month therefore lasts 7 real days. What is collected is one combined monthly debit: rent + utilities (650 + 90 € for the studio), plus the 50 € deposit instalment and the caretaker subscription where applicable — the message itemises all parts. This runs automatically, even while the flat is empty and even while you are not playing, but never pushes your account below zero: if the money is not there, rent arrears build up (over rent AND utilities). For perspective: rent plus utilities for the studio equal about 106 € per real day — two and a half occupied nights a day cover them, so one running 3-night booking is almost enough.
While the deposit starter help is still running on your first rented apartment, the 50 € instalment is collected together with the rent — the message lists it (“+ 50 € deposit”), and the apartment card and the Numbers tab show the outstanding rest until it reaches 0.
Since 30 Jul 2026 every apartment has two kinds of costs — just like in real life. Keep the fast-forward in mind: 7 real days = 1 game month, so all monthly amounts come every 7 days (and a month of earnings comes in just as fast).
How is it collected? Rented flats pay rent + utilities in one monthly debit on the rent due date (itemised in the message). Owned flats have their own monthly due date from the purchase or buy-out — buying only removes the rent, the utilities keep running.
If the money is not there: for rented flats the familiar rent arrears build up (two unpaid months → termination). Owned flats cannot be terminated — but from two unpaid months of utilities the power is cut off: no new requests come in for that apartment until you pay the arrears at the room card. You never lose the apartment itself.
🔧 Caretaker subscription (from level 4, switch right on the room card, per apartment): 100 € per game month. In return — for that apartment only — half the chance of faults, automatic repairs (10 instead of 15 minutes, 40 % cheaper) and automatic furniture replacement 20 % cheaper (see furniture wear). When you switch it on, the first month is due immediately; afterwards the subscription runs with the apartment’s monthly debit. If the till is short on the due date, the subscription pauses itself (message) — no debt, switch it back on any time. Note for existing players: the old 2,600 € one-off purchase was replaced on 30 Jul 2026 — anyone who had it got the subscription activated on all apartments (switch off any time, no refund).
Does the caretaker pay off? Roughly from 2–3 fully booked apartments, or when you rarely look in: he saves ~40 % per fault (typically 60–110 €), replaces furniture 20 % cheaper (56–140 € per replacement) and prevents star losses because broken things never linger. For a single, actively managed apartment, doing it yourself is cheaper.
Five areas with two levels each. Every level permanently raises the nightly price and brings stars. Level 1 of the beds is mandatory: without a bed the apartment is not ready to occupy and receives no requests.
| Area | Level 1 | Level 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Beds & mattresses | 280 € · +5 €/night · +0.10 ★ | 700 € · +9 €/night · +0.18 ★ |
| Bathroom & towels | 260 € · +5 €/night · +0.10 ★ | 680 € · +9 €/night · +0.18 ★ |
| Kitchen & coffee | 320 € · +6 €/night · +0.09 ★ | 800 € · +10 €/night · +0.16 ★ |
| Wi-Fi & tech | 200 € · +4 €/night · +0.11 ★ | 540 € · +8 €/night · +0.20 ★ |
| Décor & homeliness | 230 € · +4 €/night · +0.12 ★ | 560 € · +7 €/night · +0.22 ★ |
Full upgrade: 4,570 € for +67 €/night and +1.46 stars. Each level pays for itself after about 50–80 rented nights — the star gain comes on top. Keep in mind for rented flats: on termination all upgrades are lost.
Since 30 Jul 2026 three pieces of furniture wear out and break eventually — not on a fixed counter, but by chance: with every guest night the probability rises a little. A bed can die after 750 nights or last 3,000; on average:
| Furniture | belongs to | average lifetime | replacement price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🛏️ Bed | Beds level 1/2 | ~1,500 guest nights | 280 / 700 € (per level) |
| 🛋️ Sofa | Décor level 2 (designer furniture) | ~1,000 guest nights | 560 € |
| 📺 TV | Wi-Fi & tech level 2 (smart TV) | ~2,000 guest nights | 540 € |
One night takes 35 minutes of real time, and you are paid night by night — not up front. The nightly price is built like this: (base price + amenities) × house location × reputation factor × guest type × your price mark-up. From that, 🌐 portal bookings pay 18 % commission to Booking & co. — direct bookings are commission-free (distribution under Upgrades raises the direct share). Plus running costs per night: 7 € (studio), 10 € (2-room), 13 € (3-room).
👥 Per-person surcharge: Every additional guest from the second one adds +10 € per night — just like in a real apartment complex. Example: studio base price 59 €, 2 people → 69 € per night; a family of four in the 2-room flat pays +30 €. The surcharge is shown on request and guest (“incl. +10 € for 2 people”) and scares nobody away: demand and reviews keep calculating on the base price — higher occupancy is simply more profitable.
The guest mix is calibrated against Marco’s real complex (as of 31 Jul 2026): about half of all requests come from companies — 🔧 fitters (×0.95, from level 2, 1–2 people, 3–7 nights, want a kitchen to cook for themselves) and 💼 business travellers (×1.25, from 3, want Wi-Fi). Roughly a third are 1-2-person private guests: bargain hunter ×0.85 · late sleeper ×1.05 · long-stay guest ×0.88 (from 5, stays 7–12 nights). Families (×1.00, from level 2, 3–5 people) are the exception at ~12–15 % — they need the larger flats. Plus, rarely: fault-finder ×1.10 (from 6, strict) · influencer ×0.90 (from 8, only from 3.8 stars) · party guest ×1.30 (from 13, breaks things 4 times as often).
Tip: In the studio (2 people), two-man crews sleep just like in the real business — 1 in the bed, 1 on the couch (the request shows this once the flat has a couch, i.e. décor level 2).
You set your own prices: a mark-up or discount of −30 % to +80 % on the market price. Demand reacts noticeably — towards +85 % it drops to zero and your rooms stand completely empty.
The key rule: it depends on whether your rooms are full. While beds stand empty, every discount brings in more than it costs — an occupied night at 45 € beats an empty one at 60 €. Only once you regularly have to turn requests away because you are fully booked does a mark-up pay off.
Early on that almost always means: price on the cheap side. Later, with a good reputation and several apartments, the best point moves up — measured over 30 game days with a well-occupied business (final wealth): −20 % → 48,972 € · normal → 93,581 € · +20 % → 77,957 € · +60 % → 16,097 €.
Do not let the first days fool you: with sky-high prices the daily net looks good at first, because the starter requests sell dearly. The slump comes once no new ones follow. Too cheap is wrong as well: a full house for little money.
👥 Per-person surcharge (since 31 Jul 2026): On top of the finished nightly price come +10 € per additional person from the second one — example: a 59 € studio with 2 people = 69 €/night, 3 people in the 2-room flat = +20 €. Important for your pricing: the surcharge is independent of the price dial and costs you no demand — elasticity and reviews only use the base price. Fully occupied rooms are pure profit: the studio with 2 people earns +10 €/night over a single guest, at zero risk.
At the start nobody knows your place — just like Marco experienced in real life. Word of mouth grows with every completed stay (portal guests count too) on a square-root curve: 0 % → 100 % after 30 stays, fastest at the beginning — about 41 % after 5 stays, about 71 % after 15. The price card shows the progress (“📣 Word of mouth”) until it is full.
🌐 Portals: toggled per house (Upgrades tab). Listed, you have full reach from day 1 — the portals bring 75 % of the maximum requests without any word of mouth. In return they take 18 % commission on the overnight earnings of every portal booking (🌐 mark on request and guest). Direct bookings are commission-free.
Strategy: stay listed at the start (nothing works without it) and build word of mouth and reputation on the side. At full word of mouth you can delist if your rooms fill up anyway — or stay on and book the 18 % as rent for reach.
Your reputation starts at 0 stars — a new host has nothing to show yet and has to offer cheaper (at reputation 0 the price factor sits roughly a quarter below an established house). The base is the average of your last 20 reviews, dampened at the start: reputation = average × n / (n + 3), n = reviewed stays. With straight 4.5-star reviews that means: after 1 review 1.1 · after 10 3.5 · after 30 4.1. So both count: the number of stays and their quality — good amenities bring better scores and lift the reputation faster. Reputation steers both how many requests come in and how much you can charge per night.
Guests make requests with a deadline of 20 minutes. Fulfilling them costs 0–6 €: extra towels 4 € · water 6 € · coffee capsules 5 € · explaining the Wi-Fi 0 € · a parking tip 0 €. Given the +0.08/−0.15 stars, these are the cheapest stars in the game — always fulfill them. The guest host (4,200 €, from level 8) does it automatically.
After every checkout the room has to be cleaned, otherwise nobody can move in. Three options:
After about 3 % of bookings something breaks (4 times as often with the party guest) — from a dripping tap (180 €) to a heating on strike (280 €). While the fault persists, it costs stars. Repairing yourself takes 15 minutes at full price. The caretaker subscription (100 € per apartment and game month, from level 4, switch on the room card) repairs automatically in 10 minutes, 40 % cheaper — and halves the fault rate for that apartment. Details in the “Running costs” section.
Events move almost only the demand, hardly the market price. You only earn from them if you turn the price dial yourself beforehand — which is why they are announced hours to days in advance.
Long stays automatically get a discount: from 4 nights −10 %, from 7 −20 %, from 14 −30 % per night. In return you save cleanings and have no vacancy — long-stay guests are solid, but no longer automatically the best deal.
The house price does not buy the building — it opens up the room slots in it (a contract with the housing company); you then rent or buy each apartment individually. A better location adds to every nightly price, but also makes rent, deposit and purchase price more expensive:
| House | From level | Opening up | Slots | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahornweg Town House | 1 | — | 4 | ×1.00 |
| Lindenplatz Period Building | 5 | 25,000 € | 4 | ×1.08 |
| Villa Sonnenhang | 10 | 75,000 € | 5 | ×1.18 |
| Hafen Loft House | 16 | 220,000 € | 5 | ×1.30 |
18 room slots in total; opening up all houses costs 320,000 €. Buying every apartment on top lands you in the millions with the 1.45 curve — realistically you mix renting and selected purchases. Full ownership is a long-term goal for months, not for a weekend.
Since 30 Jul 2026 you can offer breakfast per building (Upgrades tab, 🥐 card) — strictly optional: without breakfast everything plays exactly as before.