I have one family that I have not bought any house upgrades and only buy groceries when they need them and the magazines to advance their career. I am trying this as a test family to get the one of the rooms upgraded to the third level. Interestingly, the less I don't buy the store items to fix the house the less they come up. It's been 3 days (real) and I have yet to have anything come up. Am I ruining it by not buying them? Once I start fixing stuff up will they show up quicker? I'd hate to have a family with lots of money but a banged up house!

it should update every four hours regardless unless the game is paused

I realize that it updates every four hours but I have not been getting any items to fix the house with, i.e. the concrete or the tape, etc. Is not buying these things when they come up making them appear less frequently?

Hi Suzicube! You can always buy the floor and wall fixes, etc. and keep them in your tooltray until you're ready to use them.

I think it might just be your families bad luck. I had one family that had a fixing item in the line up just about every time the store refreshed. Another was in their 2nd generation before any of the items showed up. Don't worry, they will eventually show up.