My apartments show up as buy, not rent

[She]

Well the title says it all. I tried building 4 apartments on a beach lot in belladonna cove. I gave each apartment their own separator door, the one the expansion pack brings, and the apartments are spaced out so theres no conflict in separation. However, I go into the neighborhood view and it gives me the option to buy, not rent. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the single mailbox that was left in it (I couldn't find the multi mailbox). I don't know if I have to delete that one and then it's replaced or what. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

[Kyna]

You need to change the lotzoning to an apartment once you're done editing the lot.  The cheat is changelotzoning apartmentbase

Then go back into the lot and you'll see the standard letterbox has changed to the apartment letterbox, and you'll be prompted to save again when you exit the lot (even though you've made no changes, it apparently needs to be saved again due to the letterbox changing into the apartment state).

[She]

Well I went in and did that. A message popped up saying that one of the apartments might be invalid, however when I go into the neighborhood view, it shows the green apartment sign on top. So I go back in and the right mailbox is there. Then I try to move someone in and it says "There are no apartments eligible to rent". I'm not sure what could possibly be wrong with it or the construction of the apartments. Should I package it and upload to see if anyone wants to give it a try?

[Kyna]

I just re-read your initial post, and saw that you were trying to make a beach lot into an apartment lot.  You shouldn't try to do this.  The readme file (on the CD/DVD under the help directory) says that beach lots are not compatible with apartment lots.

An invalid lot could be one of several things.  Here are two I know of, there are probably more:
- More than one exit to the common area.
- Driveway/garage door issues.  I had that message when I was trying to rezone a lot with a driveway & garage.  I ended up taking out the garage door & the driveway pieces to get the lot to work.

[J. M. Pescado]

Cars are obsolete in AL. Sims can walk to work and school and need no cars at all.

[Kyna]

I wanted the driveway for a tinkerer, to be able to place the junk car from FT.

[Surelyfunke]

The "invalid apartment" error also occurs when doors are placed inside out, eg. doormat inside the apartment instead of outside.

But yeah, build elsewhere. Beach lots and apartments don't mix.

[Chain_Reaction]

Well I went in and did that. A message popped up saying that one of the apartments might be invalid, however when I go into the neighborhood view, it shows the green apartment sign on top. So I go back in and the right mailbox is there. Then I try to move someone in and it says "There are no apartments eligible to rent". I'm not sure what could possibly be wrong with it or the construction of the apartments. Should I package it and upload to see if anyone wants to give it a try?

Do any of them have back doors? Those cause drama. You can't have back yards on foundations without some hop skip and jump. If not, make sure the doors are placed with the welcome mat facing outside and that the apartments are fully enclosed on all 4 corners by walls. Common areas with doors also seem to be causing issue, kill the door.

- Driveway/garage door issues.  I had that message when I was trying to rezone a lot with a driveway & garage.  I ended up taking out the garage door & the driveway pieces to get the lot to work.

Apparently the garage doors that came with AL work but not the NL ones. A BBS user reported that you can have the driveway pieces outside of the apartment standing alone and if you put cars on them BEFORE moving sims in, you can still use the cars. I'm unaware if you can actually connect the extender piece to a piece inside a garage causing the garage to be owned and the extender to be property of the common areas, my guess would be no... but isn't that how a couple of the EAxis lots are setup?

[missaaliyah]

Dont build beach lots and apartments, because it can become bugged.  Something to do with the beachfront water of something.  Perhaps EA will fix it in a patch, or mess it even worse, since thats what happened with Free Time.      

[Zazazu]

- Driveway/garage door issues.  I had that message when I was trying to rezone a lot with a driveway & garage.  I ended up taking out the garage door & the driveway pieces to get the lot to work.

Apparently the garage doors that came with AL work but not the NL ones. A BBS user reported that you can have the driveway pieces outside of the apartment standing alone and if you put cars on them BEFORE moving sims in, you can still use the cars. I'm unaware if you can actually connect the extender piece to a piece inside a garage causing the garage to be owned and the extender to be property of the common areas, my guess would be no... but isn't that how a couple of the EAxis lots are setup?

I posted this in the Podium, but the secret to attached carports in any configuration, just like with attached yards on lots with foundations, is the use of an invisible wall/fence. Make sure the carport is completely enclosed by fencing/invisible walls with the only entrance being to the apartment. You then have free use of the space.