Introduction

So you’re interested in owning a ThereHouse! Or perhaps you’re already a ThereHouse owner and want to learn more about how to customize your house. In either case, this document offers a single resource for helpful step-by-step instructions and tips for everything you’ll need to know to get up and running with your own House in There.

Basics

ThereHouses (also known as There Rental Homes) are pre-fabricated homes created by There with a limited style of houses. They are pre-placed stationary homes that cannot be moved to other locations in-world. Rent is taken from the holder of the deed automatically every thirty days. There Rental Homes are available on the following islands; Caldera, Motu Motu, Ootay and Tyr.

There Rental Homes allow interior decorating only, which means there is not outside yard available for decorating. You may change the interior walls, floor, door, ceiling, windows and hearth decorations in addition to the 30 drops you can use for placing furniture and other items within the home.

There Rental Homes are private, which means members standing outside of your Rental Home cannot read your text bubbles or hear Voice Chat.

Real Estate Deed

Each house in There has a deed associated with it. A deed is a document that shows ownership of the property. Whoever owns the deed is the primary renter and must pay for all rental fees associated with the ThereHouse.

You can acquire a ThereHouse rental deed through the housing listings on the Places Search page or auctions.  You can also acquire a deed by trading with another member for it, or accepting it as a gift from another member.

Rent on a ThereHouse is collected every thirty days. Rental periods are NOT reset when housing deeds are transferred between members. Depending on when the rent was last paid by the previous owner, this means you could have up to 30 days before the next rental cycle begins.  Here’s an example of how this would work.  A deed owner paid rent on the first of the month. On the tenth day of the rental cycle the member auctioned off the deed. Another member purchased the deed from auctions. There are twenty remaining days on the rental cycle. The new deed owner will have to begin paying rent in twenty days.  If a member purchases a deed directly from There via the housing listings on the Places Search page the thirty day rental cycle starts the day they purchased the deed.

When you purchase a ThereHouse, the deed will show up in your My Things menu. In your My Things drop down menu, the deed will have the following information and actions:

Auction: Allows the deed owner to auction their house.
Give: Allows the deed owner to give their housing deed to another member.
Trade: Allows the deed owner to trade their housing deed with another member.
Configure: Launches the House details page where you can change the description and permissions of your home.

Renting a ThereHouse

You can find an available ThereHouse to rent on the Places Search Page or purchase a housing deed from another member in the Auctions.

On your toolbar go to Places>Find a Place>Search Listings. Check the box “Include only places you can rent”. Click on the House tab to find available houses.

You can narrow your search by region, location, description or cost of rent.

If you see a ThereHouse listed that you are interested in click Visit to view the location. It is a good idea to check out the house and its location before you rent it.

When you visit a ThereHouse location you will teleport to the outside of the front door. You will need to click on the action tag on the door to enter the ThereHouse.

Once inside if it feels like home, on your toolbar click This Place>Info about “For Rent”.
The House Detail Page will appear. Click Rent It to begin the rental process.

Make sure to read the Rental Agreement and click I Agree to rent the ThereHouse. Click Set Up Your Place to get started.

Changing Your ThereHouse Settings

The ThereHouse owner can change or update the House Details, Permissions,Weather and Environment at any time.

The House Description and Permissions can be changed by going to the menu bar, choose This Place>Info about “Your” House.

In the Description tab, you can change the Name for your place and add a brief description of your house under the Sign for your place. This will update the information displayed on the 3-D sign outside of your house.

Under the Description tab, you can extend your ThereHouse rental. Extend Rental>Rent It>I agree.

You can change the Environment Override to New Dawn, High Noon, Romantic Sunset, or Moonlit Night.

You can change the Weather Override to Rain, Snow or Thunderstorm.

Check the Megaphone box if you would like your ThereHouse Zone to display a group IM window.

Click the Permissions tab to change your ThereHouse Permissions.

On this page you can:

• Control who can enter your ThereHouse.
• Set the activities permitted in your ThereHouse.
• Change the capacity level (number of avatars who can enter).
• Allow or restrict Third Party Event Hosting

Please note, if you allow other members to host third-party events in your House they will have the right to drop any item they wish. They will also be able to remove items within the House. If you do not want others to have the ability to decorate in your House, it’s best to turn the third-party event options off. If you want to allow a select number of trusted members to run events and help decorate your House, you can select Only members I select may host and enter the names of these members.

Remember to click Update to save any changes you have made.

Decorating Your ThereHouse

Now for the fun part! Now that you’ve gone through the process of renting and setting up your ThereHouse, you can decorate the home with items from the Home and Garden category in Shop Central or in Auctions.

Transform the interior of your home by changing the walls, ceiling, floor, panels, hearth and windows. You can purchase these items in the Home Improvement category in Shop Central or in Auctions.

Home Improvement items are custom made just for ThereHouses.   The walls, ceilings, floors, panels, hearths and windows in this category do not contribute to the 30-limit drop count in your home.

To change the look and feel of your home go to This Place on your menu bar and click Show Action Tags. Run your mouse over the action tag on the wall, ceiling, floor, panel, hearth or windows of your home to change the object. Click Show Choices to view your options. You can always purchase additional Home Improvement items for a wider selection of options.

Items such as furniture, decorations, ornaments and group seating deduct from your 30-limit drop count. Because ThereHouses have a drop count limit, it is a good idea to budget the amount of items you drop in your home. For example, you can purchase a refrigerator (1 drop), a stove (1 drop), and kitchen cabinets (1 drop), which would add up to an amount of 3 drops. Some developers offer “1-drop” sets to help with drop budgeting, so you can purchase a “1-drop kitchen set” that contains all 3 items, saving yourself 2 drops. The drops you save can be used to furnish your home with additional ornaments or knick-knacks.

There keeps track of your drop count automatically. To check how many drops you have left at any given time, visit your Zone and go to your Menu Bar > This Place > Gear. The amount of remaining drops will be displayed in the Gear menu.

Placing Items In Your Home

There’s home decorating tools let you find just the right place to put your items. The Take One Out command allows you to view the item and move it around to get a good idea of what it will look like in the space before you actually place or “drop” the item.

To Take One Out in your House go to your Menu Bar and click:
This Place > Gear > Structures > (Item Name) > Take One Out

When you have positioned your item just where you want it, you can “drop” in place by moving your mouse cursor over the decorating action tag and click Place Here.

It might take a few tries to find the right location for you item. Try dropping the item and then stand back to look at it to see if you like its position.

If you have already dropped the item and need to change the position you must Pick Up the item to make necessary changes.

Go to your tool bar and click: This Place > Gear > Structures > (Item Name) > Pick Up

Once the item has been picked up you can raise and lower the item with the (+) and (-) key on your desktop’s numerical keypad. To raise the item click +. To lower the item click -. On a laptop hold the blue text “Fn” key down while pressing the blue text “+” key aka “?” key to budge the object up. Hold the blue text “Fn” key down while pressing the blue text “-“ aka “ ;” key. You can adjust the positioning with these small “nudges” until you’re satisfied with its location. When you’ve got the item exactly where you want it, click Place Here.

Removing Items from Your Home

You can Put Away an item after you have dropped it and replace it into your inventory. Go to your Menu Bar and click: This Place > Gear > Item>Pick Up > Put Away
Repeat the easy drop process for all items you would like to include in your ThereHouse.

During the decorating phase it is best to keep the Decorating Tags turned on so that you can move or remove items at will. To turn the Decorating Tags on go to your Menu Bar and click: This Place > Show Decorate Tags

Layout Options gives you the freedom to save and drop your placed items easily. Go to your Menu Bar and click: This Place > Layout Option

♦ Clear Layout allows you to remove all dropped objects in your House all at once. A pop up menu will ask you to verify if you want to clear the entire layout of your Zone.
♦ Freeze Layout lets you freeze (save) items in a particular spot. For example if you have an item hovering in the air, you can choose the Freeze option to save it in that location.
♦ Remove Foreign Object allows you to remove items such as scrolls or books left in your House by other members.
♦ Load Layout allows you to choose from your saved options. A pop up menu will ask you if you would like to load pieces to their original locations or to a position relative to where you are standing. The existing layout will be cleared if you choose one of the two options.
♦ Save Layout gives you the option to save the position of dropped items in your ThereHouse. You are allowed 50 empty saved options, which you will need to rename.

Scheduling Events in Your Home

When your Home is up and running, it’s time to plan and schedule some events! When you were setting up your House details, you may have noticed that the House Details Page includes an Event Schedule interface on the right hand side of the page.

To schedule a new event in your Home, click the Add New Event button. This will open the Schedule an Event page. Choose the date, time and length of the event. You can also choose to include “prep time” if necessary.

Click the Schedule Event button.

Listing Your Event

When you schedule an event in your Event Schedule interface it will automatically list your event in the activities page on your toolbar. Members can find your event by going to the Find Activities link.

♦ List Activity allows you to create a 3-D flag to advertise your event. You will need to enter your event title, event type and event description. The flag will appear wherever you are standing in world so be sure to find an ideal spot for your flag before you begin the List Activity process.
♦ Find Activities enables members to search for monthly There promotional events, weekly events, happening now events and also provides an event search engine.
♦ Schedule Events is a link to a list of FunZones and Houses that allow event hosting.
♦ Happening Now allows you to browse events by category.
♦ My Schedule lists all of the events you are currently signed up for as an attendee or host. It also shows you which events you’ve been invited to.

Removing Troublemakers from Your Event

Unfortunately sometimes troublemakers also known as “griefers” may show up to disrupt an event. The good news is that there is a quick and easy way to remove them from your House.

Control who can enter your House. This Place>Info About “Your” House>Description Page>Permissions Tab>Control Who Can Enter>Anyone but My Ignores
Ignore a Member

To ignore a troublemaker click on their nametag and choose Ignore. If you ignore a member you will not be able to communicate in any manner. You can stop ignoring a member by clicking on their nametag and choosing Stop Ignoring.

Keeping Track of Your House Rental Period

To view your Rental Period information Page, make sure you are within the boundaries of your House, then go to your Menu Bar and choose This Place > Info About “Your” House> Description Page. At the bottom of the Description Page you will see information regarding your rental period for the amount due on a thirty-day basis.

Extend Rental

You can pay a month of House rent in advance with our Extend Rental feature. The pre-paid rental period will start at the end of your current 30-day rental period.

On your Menu Bar choose This Place>Info about "Your" Lot> Extend Rental>Rent It>I Agree

Please note that you cannot extend your rental on the very first day of your initial rental period. Wait a few days into the first 30-day rental cycle before you extend your rent.

Cancel Rental

If you wish to cancel your ThereHouse rental, you may do so by going to your House Details page.

This Place>Info About “Your” House>Cancel Rental>I agree

You must confirm the cancellation of your rental house. No refunds are available. If you have been charged for the current month’s rent you will not receive a partial refund.