GTA 5 Story Mode has 21 named locations that can be purchased and 25 possible property purchases across a complete save. The difference exists because Michael, Franklin and Trevor can each buy their own berth at Puerto Del Sol Marina, while Michael and Franklin can separately purchase the Vespucci Helipad and Los Santos International Hangar.
The properties fall into two main groups. Businesses produce weekly income, pay for specific activities or unlock side missions; vehicle-storage properties provide garages, aircraft spaces or boat berths but generate no money. Two additional locations, Sandy Shores Airfield and the Vanilla Unicorn, are obtained automatically during the story rather than purchased.
In this guide:
Most businesses become available after completing Nervous Ron in Trevor's storyline, while the three character garages unlock earlier after Father/Son. Once a property is available, its house-and-dollar icon appears on the map. Visit the location with an eligible protagonist, approach the For Sale sign and use the button shown on screen.
The price is deducted from that protagonist's personal balance. A business that can be bought by any character may still have only one owner: once Michael, Franklin or Trevor buys it, the other two cannot purchase another copy. The marina is different because each character can buy a separate berth, and Michael and Franklin can each buy their own helipad and LSIA hangar.
Several properties have additional requirements:
The first table contains all 15 purchasable businesses. For fixed weekly income, the payback figure is the number of complete weekly deposits required to recover the listed purchase price. Activity-based businesses are calculated separately and should not be mistaken for passive income.
| Property | Eligible owner | Unlocked after | Price | Income or reward | Break-even point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Hen House Paleto Bay | Michael, Franklin or Trevor | Nervous Ron | $80,000 | $920 per week | 87 weekly payments |
| LSPD Auto Impound Davis | Franklin | Nervous Ron and Pulling One Last Favor | $150,000 | Up to $500 per vehicle towed | 300 perfect tows |
| McKenzie Field Hangar Grapeseed | Trevor | Nervous Ron | $150,000 | $5,000 per ground mission; $7,000 per air mission | 30 ground or 22 air missions |
| Downtown Cab Co. East Vinewood | Franklin | Friends Reunited | $200,000 | $2,000 per week | 100 weekly payments |
| Smoke on the Water La Puerta | Franklin | Nervous Ron | $204,000 | $9,300 per week | 22 weekly payments |
| Sonar Collections Dock Paleto Cove | Michael, Franklin or Trevor | The Merryweather Heist | $250,000 | $23,000 per Nuclear Waste barrel, plus $250,000 after all 30 | 11 barrels; finite activity |
| Car Scrapyard El Burro Heights | Michael, Franklin or Trevor | Nervous Ron | $275,000 | $150 per qualifying vehicle destroyed, paid weekly | 1,834 vehicles; at least 55 weeks where the reported $5,000 weekly cap applies |
| Los Santos Customs Route 68 | Franklin | Nervous Ron | $349,000 | $1,600 per week | 219 weekly payments |
| Hookies North Chumash | Michael or Franklin | Nervous Ron | $600,000 | $4,700 per week | 128 weekly payments |
| Pitchers Downtown Vinewood | Michael, Franklin or Trevor | Nervous Ron | $750,000 | $7,100 per week | 106 weekly payments |
| Tequi-la-la West Vinewood | Michael, Franklin or Trevor | Vinewood Souvenirs - Willie | $2,000,000 | $16,500 per week | 122 weekly payments |
| Cinema Doppler Downtown Vinewood | Michael | Nervous Ron | $10,000,000 | $132,200 per week | 76 weekly payments |
| Ten Cent Theater Textile City | Michael | Nervous Ron | $20,000,000 | $264,000 per week | 76 weekly payments |
| Tivoli Cinema Morningwood | Michael | Nervous Ron | $30,000,000 | $142,300 per week | 211 weekly payments |
| Los Santos Golf Club Richman | Michael, Franklin or Trevor | Nervous Ron | $150,000,000 | $264,500 per week | 568 weekly payments |
The 15 businesses cost a combined $215,008,000. The 11 businesses with a fixed weekly payment can generate up to $845,120 per week before any reduction caused by an unresolved Property Management incident. That figure excludes activity-based payments from the scrapyard, impound, hangar and dock.
| Storage property | Eligible owner | Unlocked after | Price per owner | Possible purchases | Main use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinewood Garage | Michael | Father/Son | $30,000 | 1 | Stores up to four cars |
| Grove Street Garage | Franklin | Father/Son | $30,000 | 1 | Stores up to four cars |
| Pillbox Hill Garage | Trevor | Father/Son | $30,000 | 1 | Stores up to four cars |
| Puerto Del Sol Marina | Michael, Franklin and Trevor separately | Nervous Ron | $75,000 | 3 | Stores purchased boats |
| Vespucci Helipad | Michael and Franklin separately | Nervous Ron | $419,850 | 2 | Stores purchased helicopters |
| Los Santos International Hangar | Michael and Franklin separately | Nervous Ron | $1,378,600 | 2 | Stores purchased aircraft and grants airport-tarmac access without an automatic Wanted Level |
Buying every possible business and every separate storage slot costs $218,919,900. Storage properties provide no weekly income, so they have no financial break-even point.
The property with the largest weekly payment is not necessarily the best investment. Price, payback time, exclusive perks and one-time rewards matter more than the headline income.
| Goal | Best choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fastest passive payback | Smoke on the Water | Its $9,300 weekly income recovers the $204,000 price in 22 payments. |
| Best finite profit | Sonar Collections Dock | All 30 Nuclear Waste barrels and the completion bonus produce $940,000 gross, leaving $690,000 after the purchase price. |
| Best vehicle perk | Los Santos Customs | Franklin receives free repairs and modifications at the Route 68 branch he owns. |
| Best travel and side-mission perk | Downtown Cab Co. | Franklin gains free taxi rides and access to Private Taxi Fares. |
| Best activity property for Trevor | McKenzie Field Hangar | It unlocks five ground and five air Arms Trafficking missions. |
| Highest weekly payment | Los Santos Golf Club | It pays $264,500 per week, but its $150 million price requires 568 payments to recover. |
| Best high-end cinema | Ten Cent Theater | It pays only $500 less per week than the Golf Club while costing $130 million less. |
Smoke on the Water is the clear choice if you want conventional passive income. Sonar Collections Dock is more profitable in absolute terms once you are willing to collect all 30 barrels, but that payout is finite. Los Santos Customs has a poor passive payback time, yet its free-upgrade perk can save Franklin far more than its weekly income suggests.
The Golf Club is primarily a late-game completionist purchase. Ten Cent Theater delivers almost the same weekly income for less than one-seventh of the price, while Tivoli Cinema is also a weak investment: it costs $10 million more than Ten Cent Theater and pays $121,700 less each week.
For much larger late-game returns, use our GTA 5 Story Mode money guide and stock market and Lester investment guide before spending heavily on property.
These six businesses may be purchased by Michael, Franklin or Trevor. Only the character who completes the purchase becomes the owner.
The vehicle does not need to be delivered to the scrapyard. The payment is based on vehicles destroyed around the world, although not every mission vehicle or destruction necessarily qualifies. Many versions and community tests report a $5,000 weekly earnings cap, while some modern databases omit it; treat the cap as version-dependent rather than expecting to recover the full price in one week. This is activity-based income, not an automatic $150 weekly payment.
This has the highest fixed weekly payment, but it is also by far the slowest conventional business to recover its price. Buy it after the main money-making opportunities, not as an early investment.
Pitchers is a mid-priced bar with no unique player perk beyond its income and occasional management work. It takes more than 100 full payments to recover its price.
Collecting all 30 barrels produces $690,000, and the final bonus brings the gross reward to $940,000. After subtracting the dock's price, the complete activity leaves a net profit of $690,000. The income is finite: there are 30 barrels, not 50, and they do not become a permanent weekly revenue source.
Tequi-la-la has the highest weekly payment among the bars, but its large purchase price makes its return slower than Pitchers or The Hen House.
The Hen House is the cheapest income-generating property in Story Mode. Its payment is small, but the low price makes it useful when buying five qualifying businesses for 100% completion.
The special calls are Private Taxi Fares, not ordinary repeatable taxi work. Completing at least one unlocks the All's Fare in Love and War achievement or trophy.
Finish all five of Tonya's Strangers and Freaks missions to make the impound available. Its payout is earned per successful tow; it is not a passive $500 weekly income.
The free-upgrade perk does not apply to Michael or Trevor and does not make every Los Santos Customs branch free. For vehicle prices and acquisition methods, see our GTA 5 cars list.
Smoke on the Water has the fastest fixed-income payback in the game. Its inexpensive purchase price and unusually strong weekly payment make it Franklin's best conventional business investment.
Cinema Doppler is the least expensive of Michael's three cinemas and has almost the same payback time as Ten Cent Theater.
Ten Cent Theater is the strongest expensive passive property. It nearly matches the Golf Club's weekly income at a fraction of its price.
Tivoli Cinema is substantially less efficient than Michael's other two cinemas. It is best treated as a late-game purchase for players who already have more cash than they need.
Completing all ten unique trafficking missions unlocks the TP Industries Arms Race achievement or trophy. The activities are optional for the game's 100% completion percentage.
Hookies can be owned by Michael or Franklin, but not Trevor, and only one of the two eligible characters can buy it in a save. Its low weekly return makes it a weaker investment than Smoke on the Water or The Hen House.
Storage properties do not produce income and do not recover their purchase price. Buy them when you need a reliable place for vehicles acquired through the in-game websites or the Special Vehicles menu.
Each protagonist has one character-specific four-car garage available for $30,000 after Father/Son:
Each garage also includes a Special Vehicles menu. Its contents vary by platform, edition and account entitlements, so older claims that every DLC vehicle will appear should not be treated as universal. Vehicles must be parked properly and saved carefully: Story Mode storage is less forgiving than GTA Online insurance.
Each protagonist can buy a separate berth, so the marina accounts for three possible purchases and a combined cost of $225,000.
Michael and Franklin can purchase their own spaces separately, creating two possible purchases at a combined cost of $839,700.
Michael and Franklin can each purchase a hangar, for two possible transactions and a combined price of $2,757,200.
These locations function as properties but are not bought from a For Sale sign. They are therefore not part of the 25 purchases and do not count toward the five-property requirement for 100%.
The Vanilla Unicorn is automatically taken over during the story. Its free acquisition means it has an immediate positive return, but it does not satisfy the purchased-property requirement for 100% completion.
A fixed-income business normally sends its payment to the owner's bank account after seven in-game days. Car Scrapyard earnings are also reported weekly, while the LSPD Auto Impound, McKenzie Field Hangar and Sonar Collections Dock pay for specific actions or collectibles instead.
After buying certain businesses, the manager may call or message the owner about a time-sensitive problem. A P marker then appears on the map. These Property Management incidents can involve making a delivery, recovering stolen takings, defending the business or dealing with attackers.
Buying five qualifying properties completes one of the Miscellaneous requirements for 100% completion in GTA 5. You do not need to buy every property.
Only purchased businesses count. The automatically acquired Vanilla Unicorn and vehicle-storage properties such as garages, helipads, hangars and marina berths do not count.
The cheapest five-business combination costs $784,000:
This route requires completing Tonya's towing chain for the LSPD Auto Impound. If you prefer to skip that unlock, replace it with Sonar Collections Dock for a total of $884,000.
| Achievement or trophy | Property requirement |
|---|---|
| All's Fare in Love and War | Buy Downtown Cab Co. as Franklin and complete one Private Taxi Fare. |
| TP Industries Arms Race | Buy McKenzie Field Hangar as Trevor and complete all five ground and five air Arms Trafficking missions. |
| Waste Management | Buy Sonar Collections Dock and collect all 30 Nuclear Waste barrels. |
No. Michael, Franklin and Trevor cannot buy additional residential houses or apartments in Story Mode. Their safehouses are unlocked automatically as the campaign progresses:
| Safehouse | Character | Unlocked after | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| De Santa Residence | Michael | Complications | Michael's family home and main safehouse. |
| Clinton Residence | Franklin | Franklin and Lamar | Franklin's first safehouse at his aunt's house. |
| 3671 Whispymound Drive | Franklin | The Hotel Assassination | Becomes Franklin's main house later in the story. |
| Trevor's Trailer | Trevor | Mr. Philips | Trevor's original Sandy Shores safehouse. |
| Floyd's Apartment | Trevor | Friends Reunited | Temporary; replaced by the Vanilla Unicorn after Hang Ten. |
| Vanilla Unicorn | Trevor | Hang Ten | Free safehouse and business paying $5,000 per week. |
GTA Online is different: it has apartments, garages and many business categories purchased through in-game websites. Online prices, capacities and ownership limits should not be applied to Story Mode, and Story Mode businesses do not transfer to an Online character.
There are 21 named purchasable locations and 25 possible transactions across a save. The higher number counts three separate marina berths, two separate Vespucci Helipads and two separate LSIA Hangars for their eligible protagonists.
Smoke on the Water has the fastest conventional passive payback at 22 weeks. Sonar Collections Dock produces the largest clear short-term profit if you collect all 30 Nuclear Waste barrels.
Los Santos Golf Club pays the highest fixed amount at $264,500 per week, only $500 more than Ten Cent Theater. Because the Golf Club costs $150 million, it is not the best return on investment.
No. Some businesses accept any protagonist, but several are restricted to Franklin, Michael or Trevor. Hookies can be bought by Michael or Franklin. Shared storage locations may allow eligible characters to purchase separate spaces.
No. Story Mode does not provide a normal system for selling, trading or transferring a purchased business or storage property, so choose the owner carefully before confirming a purchase.
You need to buy five qualifying businesses. Storage properties and the free Vanilla Unicorn do not count toward this requirement.
