Linden Dollars continue to fall! GOM take away the new "Sell at best Price" option.

Folks-

The drop in Linden $ has nothing to do with GOM changing this or that. Linden dollar was simply overvalued and being corrected by the market.

If there was an actual currency control by Lindens, the value of 1000 Linden $ would equal $2.9 US dollar. How did I come up with this? Simple, divide the amount you pay for a yearly subscription ($72) + 1 year interest for this (at 5% around $3.6) with the amount of Linden dollar you get for it (26,000 lindens/year).

If Lindens were to open a bank they would sell you 26,000 lindens for 2.9-3.0 bucks per block. However, actual value wold be a bit above that, since most would purchase smaller amounts. So add give or take 10-20% above the minimum price I would say fair value of Linden $ is between $3.2 - $3.5, so market is simply correcting to this number.

If that was the case I'd remove the adjustment for buying less. I don't think anyone here would scream about 26k L$ for 3 or even 4 bucks concidering the circumstance. On the otherhand I agree with the idea that the L$ seems a bit high in price.

3.57 and still falling.

Oh dear, we're all so excited we've got three threads running at once. This looks the most uptodate.

Oh no - I only just noticed - this one is in the wrong place - the other two are in the Land & Economy forum, where strictly they should be

Watch the rental market move over to US$ rents!

There is no way landlords can continue to accept rent in L$ while the value continues to drop like this - the only other alternatives are:

The L$ stabilises - some chance!

or: LL allows tier to be paid for in monopoly money - er, sorry - L$...

Given both of those alternatives are about as likely as ariel pigs - US$ rent payments are coming.

In some regards, US$ payments of rent are already here. For payment of tier in Dreamland, Anshe uses PayPal. I don't know if this current devaluation necessarily demands that landlords begin demanding hard currency for rent, but it may foretell an increase in rent and other "tangible" goods or services being sold in SL.

Enough of housekeeping - the reasons for the drop........

Well my guess is lots of people are doing what I'm doing. I've lost confidence in the value of land. I've noted that recent changes mean I can rent (not purchase leases, but rent) with little disadvantage and no risk of further capital loss. So I'm heading that way before it's too late. Sold a chunk of land and cashed out the Lindens yesterday, just in time it seems.

Since they won't even tell us how many private sims they are selling, we are all working blind. But even the mainland auctions alone show us. More land available, price drops.

And what makes renting so competitive? The huge tier discounts available to the landlord.

Not that I'm complaining. Hiro here I come.

Personally, I began renting a couple of months ago because of a RL desire to reduce expenses. I can rent a comfortable parcel with just my stipend, which means I can get by with only 9.95 a month. Renting in Dreamland is almost the same as owning my own land, so long as I abide by the standards of the community. Though these community standards have become rather fickle as of late, I still consider the benefits of renting to outweigh the detriments. For me, it had nothing to do with concern over land policies in world.

Is that "renting" renting, Ardith? Ie no upfront capital or "purchase price" being risked ? Not "buying" renting ?

Fickle ? Can you say more ? Dare you say more ?

This is gonna be sweet. The first $L crash. Not a burp, not a stumble, a crash.

This will continue until the currency sellers buck up and keep firm on their prices. Put all your "for sale" orders to something "normal" (3.95-4.02), and resist the urge to cash out early.

Otherwise, this time next week, the Linden dollar will be trading at $3.00 or below

Patience is a virtue, especially in currency markets.

LF

Renting-renting. I never really bought into that whole semantic argument about "buying" renting that went on. As for the volatility of the community zoning rules, there was a flurry of policy change early last week. The community response seems to have been largely negative, and Anshe has backed off on most of the changes. Though the concern is not enough to make me stop renting right now, it does make me concerned that the rules to which I am subject may be changed so readily. If I begin to feel that the community has more control over my rental than I do, I will leave. Until then, I'm happy at Dreamland. Especially in our quiet neighborhood.

But maybe, Lordfly you could argue it the other way. Urge the currency buyers that the blood is on the floor. Stick your "buy" orders in at 3.00, and resist the urge to weaken before it reaches you.
In fact, of course, no urging will make any difference either way. We all make our own personal judgements on what will happen, and what we risk, and act accordingly. That's the market.

Indeed. People tend to not change their habits until it affects them directly.

So when the 30-40 rental sims start being deleted due to the weak linden dollar... thus making a couple hundred people homeless, people will start to change their tune.

Betcha $L1.



LF

LL allows payment of tier in L$ I think it is currently...8 times the going rate of GOM...or something like that.

Though you've got a point, I can't help but wonder how many of these potentially-homeless renters actually use GOM et al on a regular basis.

That hasn't been a used feature since 1.2. I don't think anyone even used it.

LF

Well, if they're basic account holders (which I'd wager is true, otherwise they'd just hold tier), they have to get upwards of several thousands lindens per week... hint: it doesn't come from tringo and stipends alone.

I am truly fascinated by this... I want to see the economy collapse, weed out the weaker folks, restructure itself, then rise again.

Seeing as I'm here for life, I can ride it out.

LF

I'm not betting. I'm not arguing, LF. looks like boom and bust is now our destiny. Might be a sawtooth rather than a sinewave though. Confidence once lost is slow to build.

Maybe LL plan to break our few(one?) megarich friend(s) ?

As a rough guess, I would say a good 75% minimum of my tenants are premium account holders.

Do you guys see this drop (if sustained) affecting content pricing?

LLab has nothing to do with this except the slow, inflationary devaluation of the Linden dollar. The ensuing crash is, just like everything else in our world, 100% user created.

It depends where they're renting and how much, really. My rent for a 2048 parcel is 800 a week. If the rental sims are mostly filled with large-parcel owners, then you're definitely going to see a lot of GOM use. If most of these rental sims are filled with smaller parcels, then GOM usage is probably pretty low. I don't have any knowledge of sims outside my own particular neighborhood, so I'll have to refrain from drawing any conclusion either way.

Couldn't disagree more.

LL can do anything they like, and similarly refrain if they wish. Only they can create L$, only they destroy . Ditto with land.
The recent release of land from any supply control was their deliberate choice, and they could easily reverse it. As they can do as they wish with the money supply.

Unless they are very stupid, they foresaw this, or at very least have decided to let it continue. The moment they want to stop it, they can, and will.

This "we are in control" stuff is in my opinion a mere illusion in anything but the very short term.

Are the sheep in control of the shepherd because they can dart about left and right as they move in his chosen direction ?

You've jumped the gun. You assume that this devaluation is a direct result of the change in land policy. I don't think you've sufficiently proven this point, and so your assumption that it's easily correctable is premature.

Edit: I take that back. I see you're not arguing that the devaluation is caused by the land change, but that you're merely citing the land change as proof of their control over the world. Unfortunately, I still don't agree. The economy is a complex beast, and there's only so much you can do to influence it. A good example would be the US economy, which is heavily influenced by the Federal Reserve but is not controlled. There is no way to maintain total control over the swirling, chaotic mess of a market. It's like wrestling with the ocean.

The amount of L$ on GOM at any one time is not *that* much. I mean we don't have a figure for the amount of L$ in circulation, but I doubt anyone can argue that the amount on GOM is any serious percentage. That being the case, can you really take much from a crash (if it is a crash) on GOM?

I actually cut my pricing of vehicles roughly by half a month or two before this recent spate of market misfortune. Since I try to price with the premium stipend in mind (L$200-500 for most items), I don't think I'll be adjusting anything immediately. If the changes appear to be longlived and widespread, I may consider adjusting prices to be inline with other developers. If I can't afford the stuff others are creating, then I take it as a sign that I might need to up my own prices.