How to be the world's best landlord in Dream House Days - hints, tips, and tricks

'Thanks' to Kairosoft's latest management game on Android, Dream House Days, you may have lost several hours of your life recently.

We forgive you. Your spouse may not.

Dream House Days may, somewhat ironically, leave you in a bit of a daze on account of its numerous menu options and little subtleties here and there.

That's why you've typed "Dream House Days tips and tricks" into Google and ended up at this Pocket Gamer walkthrough, right? I thought as much.

Read on, then, to learn how best to tackle apartment life... Kairosoft style.

(Your spouse will be so delighted.)

Making money in Dream House Days may be a little confusing at the beginning, so let us fill you in.

Each apartment has rent vs upkeep. The rent refers to how much an occupant agreed to pay each season when he first moved in. This goes up slightly each year.

The upkeep, on the other hand, refers to how much the apartment is costing you to run each season. The upkeep rises depending on the amount of furniture in the apartment.

It's worth noting that you can't simply make sure that the rent is higher than the upkeep for an apartment - you also need to take into account a person's salary.

If one of your tenants isn't earning as much as his rental expenses cost him, he simply won't pay enough rent. Make sure you factor this in when you decide whom you'll let move into each of your apartments.

One way in which you can make the rent on an apartment rise without letting the upkeep get too high is to use the "special rooms" feature.

Special rooms are, essentially, a specific combination of furniture and flooring, which causes the statistics for an apartment to rise.

For example, if you put a bed, a lamp, and some wooden flooring in your apartment's bedroom, you'll be granted extra rent simply for making the perfect room.

Go to the 'Info' tab and you'll find a list of the special rooms that you can put together. Every room you'll want in each apartment has a special room arrangement, so you can in effect turn every single room into a special room.

Of course, you'll need to research all the furniture and flooring that you'll need for each combination. Those bits and bobs that you don't currently have are marked in red - you'll know exactly what to research, then.

"Advice" is another element that you'll need to be prepared to tackle, for it really helps you expand your building's population.

Every now and again, your tenants will ask you for advice on topics like "whether I should get married" or "whether I should get a pet".

Remember that before you go to the 'Advice' tab and choose to help your tenant out, though, you have to spend research points to discern the most beneficial advice for your renter.

Hence, before you hit 'go', you'll want to save up around 50 research points. That way, you can choose the best options and get the 'right' result.

Another point to note: when new people / babies / pets move into an apartment, they need extra beds / cribs. Make sure you save space accordingly.

Jobs are a bit confusing in Dream House Days. This is because you have students who don't even work yet, and Job Changes Passes for switching roles.

First off, mind, it's a very good idea to have as many tenants doing as many different jobs as possible. This leads to more jobs levelling-up and earning you more money, and also better jobs being unlocked.

The only way to make people swap jobs is to use Job Change Passes. These cost tickets, however, so you'll want to make sure that you only use them if you know they are going to pay dividends.

If one of your tenants is doing the same job as someone else, select the Job Change Pass and use it on him. You will then be given the success percentage that that person has for each job.

Find a job that you don't currently have and that has a high success rate (80 per cent or higher is best), and go for it. You can make a person better at one of the specific jobs by changing his hobby in accordance with the demands of the role.

Dream House Days has a friends system in it, which you can play around with a bit. The more your "friends" play the game, the more tickets you'll unlock for free.

The best way to use this system is to add five people (five is the maximum), and then get rid of those who aren't playing the game enough. You earn tickets for adding new friends, and if you can get five regular players on board, you can earn 50 tickets per day.

Put down benches in the hallway between apartments. This way, tenants will talk to one another, perhaps fall in love, and then maybe move in together.

This is a good idea for the following reason: people who move in from elsewhere will become homemakers and not earn you any money. People who move in together, however, simply combine their salaries and continue working. This is obviously a better idea.