How to get a free house on The Sims 3 (no cheats!)

[Minty]

The problem with that is of course anyone else can stay there as well!

If you do want to use cheats solely for the acquisition of a set house,
type CTRL + SHIFT + C, type TestingCheatsEnabled True, then type FamilyFunds X Y,
where X= name of family and Y= monetary amount.

Simply add the cost of the house to whatever is the current funds the family has, and bingo, they have enough to buy the house and nothing else - which feels a lot less like cheating than Motherlode does!