GTA Online’s A Safehouse in the Hills update finally lets your Online character share a neighborhood with Michael De Santa — and even run a mission with him. Unlocking that content is not obvious, though. Nothing appears on the map labeled “Michael”, and the game quietly hides the requirements behind a new contact and a short mission chain.
This walkthrough focuses on one goal: getting you from zero to the Michael-centric mission Home Sweet Home as efficiently as possible.
Requirement 1: Buy one of the new mansions
Michael only shows up for players who own a mansion from Prix Luxury Real Estate. These are the three new Safehouse in the Hills properties:
| Mansion | Approximate base price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tongva Estate | $11,500,000 | Reworked version of Devon Weston’s house in Tongva Hills |
| Richmond Villa | $12,800,000 | Neighbor to Madrazo’s place, classic Vinewood Hills mansion |
| Vinewood Residence | $12,200,000 | Overlooks the Vinewood sign and the Vinewood Bowl |
All three work for Michael’s content. The game does not require a specific address; the mission adapts to whichever mansion you own.
Step 1: Open the in-game internet on your phone, go to the prixluxuryrealestate.com listing, and pick one of the three mansion properties. Customize it as you like; decor and upgrades do not affect mission access.
Step 2: Complete the purchase and travel to your new mansion. Use the front gate marker rather than the garage so you get the full arrival sequence.
On your first entry, you’ll see a dedicated cutscene. Your AI assistant introduces the property and Michael and Amanda De Santa drop by as “neighbors”, with some nods to the Diamond Casino Heist and Michael’s current life in Vinewood. After this scene plays once, Michael’s mission path becomes available in the background, but you still have to unlock it through Avi.
Requirement 2: Unlock Avi Schwartzman’s KnoWay missions
The main story thread in A Safehouse in the Hills centers on KnoWay, a driverless taxi company and the mass-surveillance tech behind it. Your way into that story is a returning character from the original Heists update: Avi Schwartzman.
Step 1: Load into GTA Online after the update and open your map. Look for a new white A icon. This marks Avi’s location for the KnoWay work.
Step 2: Travel to the A marker. When you arrive, you’ll find a ringing payphone rather than a standard mission corona. Walk up and interact with the phone using the d-pad prompt. Avi briefs you on KnoWay and gives you your first job.
These missions function like a mini-heist chain with small setups rather than a single replayable heist. You must complete all five KnoWay jobs once.
| Mission order | Mission name | Role in the chain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Negative Press | Kick-off job where you sabotage KnoWay’s image, including destroying taxis |
| 2 | Inside Job | Follow-up operation using intel from the first mission |
| 3 | Trash Talking | Further pressure on KnoWay’s operations |
| 4 | Tunnel Vision | Action-heavy job that escalates the conflict |
| 5 | A Clean Break | Final job that wraps Avi’s initial KnoWay arc |
Step 3: After finishing each job, open your map again. The A icon will have moved to a different payphone. Repeat the process: answer the phone, listen to Avi, and complete the mission.
Step 4: Continue until all five named missions in the table above are complete at least once on your character. Along the way you earn standard payouts and set up the trigger condition for Michael.
Triggering Home Sweet Home with Michael
Once you own a mansion and have cleared the full KnoWay set for Avi, the game quietly queues the Michael mission. It does not appear as a map icon; it arrives as a phone call.
Step 1: Stay in a Freemode session after completing A Clean Break. Do not immediately switch characters or leave Online.
Step 2: Wait for Avi to ring your in-game phone. The delay is inconsistent — it can be a few minutes or a bit longer — but you do not need to meet him at another phone at this stage. Just remain active (or idle) in the world.
Step 3: When Avi calls, answer the phone and listen. He will invite you to a new job that involves your mansion. This invite is the start of the mission Home Sweet Home.
Step 4: Accept the invite from your phone. You’ll load into a mission instance that plays out in and around your owned mansion, with Michael heavily involved in the story and combat.
Players report Home Sweet Home as effectively the “Michael mission” teased in trailers: you defend your property from KnoWay forces with Michael fighting alongside you. The mission setup and some beats vary slightly based on which mansion you own, but the structure and rewards are the same.
On a first-time clear, the payout is $500,000, making it one of the better one-off cash injections in the update. You also get a narrative tease pointing toward potential future work with Michael.
What changes if you own multiple mansions
A Safehouse in the Hills quietly loosens one of GTA Online’s oldest limits: you can own more than one of the new mansions at the same time. Players have successfully purchased two and expect that all three can be held concurrently.
For Michael’s content, only two things matter:
- You must own at least one Prix Luxury mansion when you trigger the introductory cutscene and later when you accept Avi’s Home Sweet Home invite.
- The mission’s visuals and some staging adapt to the mansion that is treated as the location for that run.
You do not unlock extra Michael missions by buying multiple mansions, and there is no evidence of separate story branches tied to specific addresses. The main advantage of stacking properties is lifestyle: more garages, more decor to play with, and more fast-travel anchor points from your mansion tablets.
How the KnoWay and Michael missions fit into the wider update
A Safehouse in the Hills is more than a property pack. Alongside mansions and Michael’s return, the update layers in tools that matter for day-to-day grinding:
- Business production boosts: From mansion tablets, you can temporarily speed up production at key businesses like the bunker and Acid Lab. This stacks with existing speed upgrades purchased at those locations, making the mansion a remote control center for your empire.
- Private Security: A mansion upgrade hires a security detail described as capable of reducing or even removing raid risks against your businesses.
- Fast travel: Mansion services include direct teleport options to owned properties, warehouses, and MC businesses, cutting down travel time between setups and sales.
Michael’s mission chain sits on top of that infrastructure rather than replacing it. The KnoWay jobs pay solid money on the way to Home Sweet Home, and once you’re done, you still have the mansion perks for ongoing use.
To summarize the unlock path in one line: buy a mansion, complete all five Avi KnoWay missions from the A icons, then wait in Freemode for Avi’s call and accept the Home Sweet Home invite. Once that’s done, your Online character has finally shared a firefight with Michael De Santa — a small epilogue to a decade of Los Santos.
