TheoTown

every time I build a city it seems that it always goes negative how do I keep it positive without over building?

You need to expand very, very slowly at the beginning.

No coal power plant at the start, only wind- or solar power.

No long roads, start with some industrial areas, then build some road pices and set some residental and some commercial areas.

The industry will generate a demand for workers, so residental houses will be build soon.

Do not forget to give some water to the people.
A single water tower will be enough for a small settlement.

No need for schools, doctors, fire fighters or police during the starting phase.

You have to be patient, after a while your income will move from negative to positive.

With some more cash you can expand very slowly and after a while you can try to archieve a higher level for your residents. For this you need a town hall and later parks, hospitals and some more public services.

Please always keep in mind not to place industrial areas near the residental ones. No one wants to live near dirty factories


Btw.:
You can play the Sandboxmode also. In this mode there is no money restriction and you can build the city you want

just build a School for low education and your city will become rich.
I'm playing even in the hardest difficulty and now I'm on 70k monthly, education is the thing that unlocks the $$ buildings that give you a lot of money.
Ask loans for building something big, never if you want to build for example a road or something that won't give any benefit to the city.

I was having trouble getting money as well but I got enough to buy a high school and everyone started upgrading and ended making alot more money