My sims usually have...

As much as I hate building, I still spend a lot of time in Build Mode because I simply can't play in a home that I don't like. Note that "beautiful home" can also mean "beautifully chaotic", like the Masons' house in Evergreen Harbour. It's haunted, polluted, plagued by all kinds of natural disasters, and it looks the part, too. But that's exactly what I wanted for this particular family, so it's okay.

Next would be problems. I always try to create challenging gameplay somehow, for which the Masons are probably the best example yet again.