Buying houses for your properties in Monopoly is a great way to increase the rent you get when an opponent lands on your property. But buying houses for all your properties can be risky and it can cost you more than the rent is worth. How do you choose which properties to upgrade and which shouldn’t? And more importantly, what are the rules associated with upgrading properties in Monopoly?
Let’s take a more thorough look at the rules of buying houses in Monopoly and what you can and cannot do in the game.
While real-life real estate investments cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, purchasing a house for a property in a game of Monopoly is a relatively cheap investment to make to increase the value of your property.
Just how much does a monopoly house cost?
Well, the cost of a house depends on the property you want to place it on. House prices vary according to the property’s color and its location on the board.
Properties on the first line of the board are cheaper, and buying a house for them will cost you as little as $50. As you move to the next section, the price increases by $50, and so on. The most expensive row of properties is located just before the “Go” square, and properties in this row are considered hot properties with the highest return on rent on your upgrade investment.
Let’s look at the cost of a house by property color:
You can also find the cost of each house on the back of the title deed card of any property you own.
While it might seem like a good idea to buy houses for cheaper properties like brown, pink, and even yellow, the cost of upgrading may be higher than the rent you will receive when an opponent lands on your property. Choose wisely, and rather focus your efforts on increasing the value of your more expensive or valuable properties.
Monopoly boards only contain 32 houses, which can sell out quickly. Consider your investments carefully and purchase wisely.
Before you jump into a game of Monopoly, it is important to understand the rules of play. This includes the rules for when you can buy houses, the maximum number of houses you may place on a single property, and the cost of selling a house if you need cash fast.
Some of the most asked questions about buying houses in Monopoly include:
Let’s look at each question and answer it individually.
Houses can only be placed on a property when the player owns all the properties in a specific color group. Owning one does not mean you can put a house on this property.
Plan your purchases carefully, and buy all the properties of a specific color before placing houses on them.
Consider the total cost of upgrading a property versus the rent charges you can expect from an upgraded property. If the cost of upgrading the property amounts to more than the rental charge, it is not worth the financial risk.
Focus your upgrading efforts on properties that will bring in more in rent than it would cost to upgrade them. You can work this out for yourself by totaling up the cost of the houses and comparing it to the rental fee you are due when an opponent lands on your property.
Houses can be purchased at any point throughout the game, even when it is not your turn. Use the time between a player taking their turn and the next player to roll the dice to purchase, sell, or upgrade your properties. Players can even do this from jail.
Should the next player roll the dice before you have expressed your interest in buying or selling a house, you will have to wait until that player has completed their turn and try again. Monopoly is a game of “you snooze, you lose,” so keep your eye on the board and make your intentions known as quickly as possible.
There is no maximum amount or limit to the number of houses you can buy at any one time. If you have the funds available, there is nothing stopping you from buying twenty houses if you wish to do so.
But, and this is an important rule to remember, the houses must be spread across the properties in a specific color evenly. Each property may only have a maximum of four houses on it before you need to upgrade them to a hotel.
Hotels can only be bought when all the properties for a specific color group have four houses on them.
Houses can be purchased to increase the value of a property and the rent you will receive when an opponent lands on one of your properties. Upgrading property in Monopoly is easy and can bring in the extra costs you need to upgrade any or all of your properties.
This is a big no-no, and there are rules in place to prevent this type of transaction from happening. Buying a hotel for your property requires a cash amount as well as four houses. This ensures that players don’t skip steps that could give them an unfair advantage over the other players.
Houses must be accumulated in stages and cannot be bought all at once. Buying a hotel is a separate step and can only be done when all the properties of a specific color group have the maximum number of houses (four) placed on them.
You most certainly can. You can sell or mortgage any property while you are in jail. The same applies to houses. While you cannot move around the board and won’t collect your $200 for passing “Go,” jail is not the worst place to be when considering the rent you will have to pay if you land on an opponent’s property.
Suddenly jail sounds much more appealing, doesn’t it?
Do, however, keep in mind that a player has a maximum of three attempts to get out of jail before they need to pay a fine for their release. Jail is, unfortunately, not a permanent spot for you to park off to avoid paying rent, as much as a player would like to do that to keep their money safely in their own pockets.
If you are in a bit of a pinch financially and need money quickly, you can sell the houses you have on your properties. This is a quick and easy process, but don’t be alarmed when you only get 50% of the value of your house back when you sell it.
You can sell as many houses back to the bank as you need to. This strategic move can be made at any point during the game, even when you are in jail, or it is not your turn to play. To sell a house when it is not your turn, wait for the player to finish their move and verbally express your intentions to buy a house. Making your intentions clear needs to be done before the next player rolls the dice and takes their turn, so pay attention to what is going on in the game.
To work out the cost of mortgaging a property or selling your houses, simply refer to the back of the title deed card of any property you own to see the mortgage value. Houses and property are sold back to the bank at 50% less than the total value the player paid for them.
One of the trickiest rules for buying houses in Monopoly is the rule that houses may only be bought and placed evenly.
But what does this mean?
You can buy as many Monopoly houses as you want to, but they must be placed evenly across your owned properties. We know that houses can only be purchased for properties when all the properties of a specific color are owned, so how do we space the houses out?
Let’s look at an example to clarify what is meant by buying evenly:
Say you own all the properties for the brown and red color groups and would like to place houses on these properties. You cannot place three houses on two of your properties and then only one on another. They need to be placed evenly, so you would need to put the same number of houses across each property.
There are a few other tips and tricks that are good to know and can increase not only the value of your properties but the value of your bank balance too.
Here are the best tips and tricks from the pros:
Buying a house for any property in a game of Monopoly is a good strategy to increase the overall value of your properties and the amount of rent you can charge an opponent.
Increase the number of upgraded properties and watch as your opponents have to declare bankruptcy just to pay your rental charges.
There are a few more benefits or pros to buying Monopoly houses for your property. Buying houses can:
There are, of course, negatives to owning many houses and properties, and the number one problem is a steady flow of available cash to pay fines and rental charges when you land on another player’s property.
Monopoly is a fantastic strategy game that allows you to trade in the property market as if you were a real estate tycoon. Each move or decision can affect the game’s outcome, where the game’s aim is essentially to be the last player standing when everyone else has filed for bankruptcy.
Rules of the game are important and should be followed to allow fair gameplay for each player. Read more on our rules for buying houses in Monopoly and learn a few tricks to put you ahead and guarantee a win.
