Hi gang!



There are a lot of cool properties in GTA online, in fact, there are so many that I know some players actually struggle to decide on what to buy and what not. Especially considering that you won't get a refund and some properties are pure decorative (here's looking at the yacht) while others can actually be useful in some ways.

So I figured I'd share a top 5 of some of my favorite properties which I think are really worth it to have for one way or another. It could be because I think the location is really cool, but even so I will keep functionality in mind as well. Therefor the location really has to have a purpose, which means... no yacht in this guide, even though I really enjoy owning one myself ;)


Maybe just a special mention then? ;)


So just to be clear: I'm only focusing on the property itself and I won't pay attention to its actual location. Although there are definitely some good and "not so good" locations (here's looking at Paleto Bay) I think it doesn't matter too much in the end. Because honestly... even the properties in Paleto Bay can be useful. It won't be easy, sure, but you can make it work for you. This is coming from someone who once owned the Paleto Bay bunker for quite some time before I relocated to Route 68. I would definitely not recommend getting that bunker, but even so.... for me it was still a very useful property to have, despite the unfortunate location.

Properties will be listed in order of preference, going from "meh" to "awesome" :)

It may not be too special anymore these days but it's still home, right? ;)

As we all hopefully know the high-end apartment is a location that comes equipped with a 10 car garage as well as a planning room which you can use to host your own 1st generation heists (Fleeca, Prison Break, Humane Labs, Series A and Pacific Standard).

But honestly though? I wouldn't bother with those heists anymore. They're tedious, most players find them highly annoying (so good luck getting three(!) others to help you), the payout is meh (especially for the host) and in the end it's - in my opinion - a huge waste of time & effort. Don't get me wrong though: If you happen to enjoy these heists then all the more power to you, but it won't be easy.

Despite all that I still think that it's a good thing to own your own apartment even if only for the location itself. Home sweet home, sometimes the view can be pretty cool and there's always the 10 car garage to keep in mind :)

Maybe a tip: if you use your apartment to spawn then you may want to carefully consider your location. See, if you pick a location that's very popular (think about the one in the middle of the city, or maybe the one on the north) then you may end up with a lot of activity around your spawning point, and that could result in a bad start.

Instead, why not settle for a less popular (and maybe cheaper) location? In the end all apartments are roughly the same and if your location is less popular then you also won't risk having a dozen players playing Call of Duty around it ;)

This place is huge...

If you enjoy doing heists then you should definitely consider to get a facility because this will give you access to the Doomsday heist. What makes this "2nd gen" heist so special is the fact that you can do a lot of prep missions solo, and you only need 1 more player to do the actual heist missions.

Of course there's more to enjoy here...



The Facility also gives you access to some specialized vehicles (sold separately) such as the Avenger, the Thruster and the Khanjali tank. And because the Avenger can only be used to customize weaponized vehicles I think the facility is also the perfect location to store all your militarized vehicles (like the Insurgent custom and APC for example).



Another cool area is the office where you can get free snacks (these can help you recover health during missions) as well as a nice selection of free weapons. This area also gives you access to your personal quarters, the weapons room where you can hire commando's to go after other players, the orbital cannon and of course the Doomsday heist planning room. Note that some locations (like your personal quarters) are only available if you purchased the actual expansion.

Getting a fully equipped and customized facility isn't cheap, but it most definitely gives you some bragging rights and well.. I think it's simply a very cool property to have and I honestly never grow tired of seeing this in-game animation from time to time:


Landing the Avenger into the Facility...

The office is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be un-canning ;)

Ok, all pun aside though.. having an office at your disposal can easily become one of the most important things in the game!

Owning an office allows you to become a CEO with all the special perks that come with it. Things like the ability of instantaneously spawning some vehicles (sometimes even for free!) such as the Buzzard. Or getting access to so called VIP jobs; simple freeroam missions which can be quite lucrative.

But in this guide we'll be looking at the property itself. An office comes with an assistant who can help you get through some specific activities such as sourcing vehicles ("Import / Export" missions) or sourcing crates ("Special cargo" missions). He or she can also give you free snacks (useful to quickly restore your health during missions (or freeroam)) or get the mechanic to deliver one of your personal vehicles for your departure.

If you bought the expansions then the office also has a personal quarters; this allows you to spawn in your office if you want to. You can also install a weapons locker so that you can customize your weapons layout and finally there's the option of getting a safe which is pretty much useless but oh well ;)

But wait, there's more...



The office also gives you access to purchase extra garage space: each level can store up to 20 (!) vehicles, and you can have up to 3 levels in total. Thus providing you storage space for 60 (!!) vehicles, not too shabby! It won't be cheap, but it most certainly has some huge advantages.

For example: what to think about having your own private car workshop? Gone are the days where you have to carefully drive your car to an LS Customs before you can customize it. The advantage should be obvious: if you damage your car during your drive then you'll have to repair it before you can customize it, and that costs money.

With your own workshop on the other hand you simply drive your car into your garage (which will also automatically repair it, and for free of course) and then you can hop in and move over to the workshop for further customization. If you enjoy customizing cars then you really owe it to yourself to get this.

The nightclub is a property that's best bought once you already own several other businesses such as the top 3 MC businesses (cocaine, meth & counterfeit cash) as well as the bunker, hanger or a cargo warehouse. The reason for that is because the hired nightclub technicians can haul goods over from those businesses and store them below the nightclub which allows you to eventually sell all that for a nice profit. And fully passive too, you don't have to do anything to make this happen other than waiting it out in freeroam (or while doing missions of course).

Another fun aspect, but less interesting, is that the (npc) nightclub visitors will also bring in some cash; their entrance fees get stored in your office safe, up to 70k in total. The more popular your club is, the quicker this amount will pile up. Like I said it's fun, but nothing too special.

So, the main reason(s) why I think so highly of the nightclub are twofold...



First the delivery vehicles; you can fully customize these and equip them as you deem fit. I think that's an awesome change in comparison to other vehicles (like those used when you sell crates or MC supplies) because then you simply get "a vehicle" which usually doesn't have any special features.

But here you can fully customize your setup. And if you unlocked some specific researches in your bunker then you'll be able to benefit from those as well. Things like proximity mines can come in extremely handy for getting rid of hostile NPC's which are pursuing you.



And second; the nightclub also gives you the option to get a Terrorbyte, which is simply the #1 grinder tool in the entire game. It gives you access to client missions, business resupply missions, and all of that "on the road". This can be extremely useful, provided that you don't park it like this ;)

In my opinion R* did an excellent job when they added the arcade to the game because this property can easily change your game entirely.

At first it doesn't look like much... simply a bunch of old arcade gaming machines which are often used (?) by kids who apparently enjoy playing games. Or so it seems, because although I see plenty of people in the arcade I never saw someone actually playing on of the machines just yet.

But just as with the nightclub the whole setup is actually a facade; a front-end to cover up for what's really going on... Once you open the secret door in your office you'll gain access to the basement, and this is where the real fun begins!



The basement provides access to several interesting features...


This is an area which you don't have to purchase and which becomes available no matter what. I like to refer to this as the 3rd generation heist because it allows you to customize just about everything about it. Do you want to use a stealth approach, or maybe you want to try and fool everyone using disguises or maybe you'd like to pack up all your weaponry and go knocking on their doorstep with guns (and more!) ablazin'? You decide; it's all possible.

Of course each approach requires different preparations and thus gives you different set up missions to undertake. Most of them are optional and will make the game a little easier if you successfully complete them while others are mandatory. There's always some equipment which you really need no matter what.

The best thing about all this is that you're in full control of everything. Do you want to do the setup missions on your own? You can! Better yet: every setup mission has a clear description which tells you what's expected of you and how many players the game would recommend. But even if you have a "2+ type" mission on your hands no one will be forcing you to get more players involved if you don't want to. In the end it's only a recommendation.

Of course you do need a minimum of 1 extra player to do the heist missions themselves.




Unrelated to the heist but a huge addition to the game (especially for grinders) is the workstation. It won't be cheap to buy (nearly 1 million GTA$!) but it can seriously change the way you play the game entirely. This really is a game changer.

See, this workstation gives you full access to all your businesses, it can do a lot more than the Terrorbyte. Remember how I mentioned nightclub popularity in the previous section? One way to get more popularity is to switch your DJ's or do a popularity mission. Well... you no longer have to be in the nightclub to make that happen: this workstation can also be used for that.

If you use your MC businesses then buying supplies is usually a good idea so that the business can produce while you get to do other things (usually making even more money). Even with the Terrorbyte around you'd still have to go to the individual businesses before you could purchase any resupplies. Well, not anymore!

Purchasing or selling crates or sourcing vehicles? You can start all those activities right from behind the workstation as wel now.

And the best part of it all is that you can access the arcade basement directly from behind the building. So you can access the building, run over to the workstation and sort out your businesses and/or activities as needed. If you want to see how many supplies are left in your MC businesses then you don't have to go over to your clubhouse, become an MC pres. and then check the Open Roads computer. Instead you can simply stay on as a CEO, go sit behind the workstation and the main screen will show you everything you need to know. This is huge. Why? Ever heard of raids? They happen randomly and can get triggered as soon as you become an MC president. Which is why it's usually best not to remain one any longer than you have to.

First thing I do when I complete an MC delivery mission is to disband the MC a.s.a.p.. This has stopped plenty of raids before they could even happen. But every time I wanted to check up on my supplies (but without visiting the individual businesses) I had to log on again. But not anymore!

If you're a grinder then you really should consider getting an arcade which is close to one of your main activities. For example: my favorite freeroam CEO activity is to collect special cargo. Therefor my arcade sits right next to one of my warehouses. This allows me to quickly hop over after delivering crates and start the next mission right away, yet without having to go back all the way to the office or having to get the Terrorbyte.




If you look closely you can see a small drone hover in front of my avatar; it's somewhere in the middle of the screenshot in front of her head. It may not look like much but don't let the simple appearances fool you young grasshopper! This setup could easily be one of best things that happened to GTAO, and not just for grinders.

Nano drones as they are called are small drones which are roughly similar to those launched from the Terrorbyte. The big difference though is that you don't need a drone station to control them; you can even do this using your phone! Meaning? Simple: this means that you can launch a nano drone from pretty much any location you'd like!


Here a I launched a nano drone while on my yacht....

If you launch a drone your avatar will be busy with their phone (as seen in the screenshot) and that can leave you wide open to attacks. So make sure you select a safe location to do this. But once you launched one then the drone can scope out a rather large area around you to check what's happening. This allows you to spy on other players or NPC's without them even realizing you're there!

And it gets better... nano drones are also armed with a stun gun which will incapacitate someone for a few seconds. Are you trying to reach a building and there's a sniper on top? Why not sent in a drone to take them out?

If you need more firepower then you can also instruct the drone to detonate itself. There's a short cooldown as it builds up the overload, but the explosion is more than enough to kill someone, it will even easily explode a car.

Why this is such a huge deal you wonder? Look at that above screenshot again... would you have quickly spotted the nano drone if I hadn't told you where it was? I've used this a lot of times in freeroam and really: most players don't even realize that the drone is there, even if I'm flying right in front of their faces!

Which is also the best part: if you launch a drone while standing behind the drone station in the arcade then you can cover the entire map of Los Santos!


Here I'm spying on another player in Sandy Shores, yet my arcade is located in La Mesa...

Can this get any better you wonder? Why yes it can, thanks for asking! Did I already mention that nano drones can also be launched while playing contact missions? So if you're in a tight spot and can't seem to find a way out then.. maybe this could provide some help.

And there you go... five locations which I think everyone should own in the game. Some simply give you a lot of bragging rights (such as the Facility) while others might be a lot more useful than you may realize (like the arcade with its drone station).

One way or the other you can't really go wrong with any of these.

Thanks for reading, if you have comments or additions then please leave a message and I hope you enjoyed!