Don’t fire me, but I might know the province of Skyrim better than I know the Bay Area.
I’m not sure the circles of “my blog readers” and “Bethesda game players” even approach a Venn diagram, but to the three of you who occupy that special center, boy do I have a treat for you. (And for those of you who aren’t yet acquainted with that beautiful and eponymous game region but are in need of something to do for several hundred hours, give Skyrim a shot. …speaking of Venn diagrams).
When I was first conceptualizing this weekly blog, I considered which elements of real estate would be both worthwhile to write about and interesting to read—as well as what I simply find personally compelling in an industry whose scope is wildly far-reaching.
Around that same time, over a dinner at Monk’s Kettle scheduled with my friend Matthew specifically to talk Cyberpunk 2077 and traveling in Japan—two topics in which I’m aggressively well-versed—Matthew brought up the game’s purchasable Japantown apartment and remarked that of course I would be obsessed with in-game houses, because houses are my job.
A therapist distilling my life into a profound and obvious thought that’d never occurred to me, Matthew had, with the verbal equivalent of an unthinking shrug, undone a narrative I’d been spinning for some time.
I’d said frequently I wasn’t ever “passionate” about real estate before I got into this business, but as it turns out I’ve been very passionate about real estate and for a long time, it's just that for a while that wasn’t...in real life.
So here we are now, wherein I have a realty career, a blog, and a PS5 (oh my), all of which I spend too much time on.
I've put out a few legitimate posts so I feel fully justified today in formally introducing what will 1000% be my favorite forthcoming sub-series of this blog:
Once a month this blog will focus on a particular piece of property I own—in a video game.
See the subtitle of this piece for a few examples of games whose not-necessarily-humble abodes I’ll likely feature. Within those I'll get into the pros and considerations of neighborhoods, floor plans for various lodgings, costs and steps to obtain, and options for really "making it your own,” as we say (I don’t say that, but we the industry do).
The Pitch for Non-Gamers…and Also Gamers
For the uninitiated, you can often buy and/or build homes in video games. (…and/or commandeer them, be gifted them, occupy them, etc but I hear you: let go of the caveats). Particularly in the open-world (or adjacent) variety, developing a spot to store your permanent stash and/or show off gear and/or sleep is a fun part of character and plot development…and a practical one, if you’re a loot hoarder like I am.
Virtual property is of course easy to like because you get it all: fake money, fantastical locations, and zero stakes (unless you alienate the locals in Markarth which definitely isn’t something I know about from personal experience).
Picture it: you’re in a towering home with insane views, a home that is yours but on which you will never owe principal, interest, taxes, or insurance (or PITI as we say in the ’biz; there you go, hit my educational quota for this issue).
That incredible home you’re in is perched on a sweeping lot whose property lines are indiscernible and irrelevant, whose formidable foliage you bear no responsibility for maintaining, and sure it’s on a hillside but that hillside is never at risk of experiencing natural disaster so it’s pure pretty.
The neighbors may seem suspiciously on script and want to engage in the occasional battle—with you, no less!—but you’re over-leveled so it’s a nonissue and maybe even a little fun.
To top it all off, you get to choose between adding a library or greenhouse or place to go about your alchemy, and show off your extremely cool and iconic weapons (although these days we do NOT encourage violence okay), and your adopted erstwhile-street-urchin daughter might just be downstairs with her pet fox, throwing knives at a target while waiting for you to greet her with an apple or something else random you lifted from a spare barrel in town.
A dream, no?
An Arrow to the Knee: Say Hi to Skyrim Property
I was going to kick off next month with a Cyberpunk apartment because I was replaying that at the time this series was conceived, but in revisiting my prolific portfolio in Skyrim for the sake of *research,* I realized it simply has to be Skyrim that sends us off to the races.
That game not only has six houses you can buy, there are also three you can build—plus a slew of additional private lodgings you can lay claim to if you work your way up to the top of a particular faction. See: the Arch-Mage’s quarters at the College of Winterhold, or the Harbinger’s room at Jorrvaskr.
There are reasons I love each and every one of Skyrim’s principal properties, especially the ones you can full-on build or buy: Vlindrel Hall is moody but has a ton of bookshelves; the natural views from Windstad Manor are stunning; the architecture of Severin Manor (and all of Raven Rock, really) is structurally and visually unparalleled in my humble opinion.
All this to say I used to be an adventurer like you, so I look forward to taking my professional lens to virtual locales, and sharing the fun with you.
Keep an eye out if you’re interested in becoming a property owner in your second life. If you’re not, at least now you’ll know what the f*** is going on in subsequent issues when my before & afters look a little low-res compared to what you see on Redfin.
See you in February for whichever Skyrim spot I’m feeling most attached to.
And please don’t tell my favorite title officer that I put up my map of Skyrim to study at home instead of the Oakland one she gave me.
