Buying and Selling Land

This sim is there because I paid for it and continue paying as long as I am landowner. That people can play there for free while it is set for sale is one contribution I make to the community. My unsold land is open to the public, not creating lag and usually provides nice open spaces appreciated by many residents for building, driving or just hanging around on it.

Please stop whining about other people's builds on land that you don't own. My current contribution to community is 10 servers worth of lag free landscape plus 3 servers worth of retail space and low price malls plus 2 full size snow villages with lovely builds plus my share of one of most successful community sims in Second Life. For all of this I pay the bill, except for mall area that retailers help me finance.

If tomorrow my "land baron" friends and I would leave SL, release our land to Linden Labs and let it revert back to auction, you would not see any new land added to Second Life for at least one month, maybe event two months, since that would be about the time it would take for Linden Labs to find new buyer to pay for all those servers.

Mmmm, this sound arrogant? Well, I did not want bring this up, but you push me. We "land barons" have a great deal to do with the fact that so many people can play this game for free or almost for free.

Yeah. I get the same over simplistic and totally stupid argument from other people too. But this really isn't the time or place to discuss it. If you make a 'Why Britain Sucks' thread, I might chime in.

How exactly do you have anything to do whatsoever with anyone playing SL for free? Mmmm, back up your grandiose hyperbole.

BTW, you consider a sim filled with for sale signs to be some desireable playground for players? Yeah, I often see your sims filled with people playing in them, that one is really funny, Anshe. You play for free on the profits you make off of selling land, well above and beyond any tier you are paying for all those sims. So it appears to me the only player you are allowing to play the game for free is Anshe Chung. What was that you were lecturing Viola about selflessness again?

Oh please....

If I was as articulate as Cris I would say something clever. But I am not.

So I just laugh

BWAHAHA

No no. Let's be fair. It's all swings and roundabouts... what with Anshe responsible for us playing for free and BJ propping up Linden Labs and being responsible for SL's continued existence, we should be thankful.

I am thankful that my sides haven't split.

Have you considered moving to another country?

well specifically in the US it would technically fall under either self employment funds (1099) or short term capital gains, which i don't remember exactly but would be even messier.

Though if declared as a self business chances are you would be able to declare the tier fee as a loss to offset gains at least.. it would get very very messy.

chances are pretty good no one will notice if ya occasioanlly sell out $100 in lindens here or there.. when yer clearinghouse doin $10-20k a month us in lindens (even tho alot of that is being cycled *BACK* into auctions and tier fees)... chances are very *VERY* good alarm bells will ring somewhere.. and you are in for one very very messy audit (cause thats a monetary movement profile *very* similar to drug cartel laundering or other illegal high cash volume activity)

I just deleted my answer - because it too was 'over(ly) simplistic and totally stupid' - gee wiz - it seemed obvious to me!

Kris, To me a statement like 'And there is no community' is a simplistic and a totally stupid argument. If this isnt the time or place after your original commentary, what is. The idea that you actually take a step back outside your real life bubble long enough to relize what the rest of the world is like - and how lucky you are to be a citizen of one of the most arguably powerful, productive, and educated (if not the most homogenous) nations in the world - is a valid one. I love my country; which also (i might add) is based on a regulated free-market economy which seems to have served us quite well. The same could be true in SL if the powers that be resist the natural urge toward socialism by those who feel they are entitled to something for nothing (ie - land for super cheap). Compitition drives innovation. Not everyone can be #1, but at least everyone can try under the current auction system. These amazingly inept conclusions being drawn about restricting the auctions in my opinion would do nothing more than destroy the value of the L$ even further as more and more people either lose confidence in the validity of the system or choose to game the more and more obvious flaws that exist in it. I don't think however it ca be said any better than it has been previously in this thread, so I will leave with the words of Davy Crockett, "You can go to hell -- I'm going to Texas!"

There is no spoon, either. I wasn't arguing. Merely stating a point of view. Mine.



Whilst I am very into derailing threads as you may have noticed, this one is about something far more juicy than my personal dislike of my country.



How very presumptuous of you. Since I don't know you at all, how come you know me so well?



Oh yes. Lucky me. I'll repent immediately.



That's nice for you. I don't like mine. You like yours. Good. Glad we got that sorted.

Don't worry, Maxx. Anshe's s signs are MAGIC. They are scripted to detect ownership change, so that they die almost immediately on purchase of the land. Mind you, there is no event that occurs when land ownership changes, which means all those little signs are on a timer cycling over and over and over checking to see if the land is still owned by Anshe's real estate group(s). Now think for a moment about a sim chopped up into little 512 m bite sized plots, all with those signs scanning every few seconds to make sure. Food for thought.

Cristiano, you mean something you're saying contradicts what she says?

My world is FALLING APART!

Interesting though.

rofl, I was simply responding to your claim that your country had no community, as well as your hatred toward your government and its history. Was that not clear?

No. Thanks for clarifying.

Originally Posted by Anshe Chung
"Mmmm, yes. THIS is your problem, Lisse. My margin is lower than that of other realtors before me, including you. When I entered land game, I found your land for sale and set my own land next to it for sale at lower price. Mine was moving, yours not. At auctions I overbid you. In world I underbid you. Before I started trade land, people had margin of 50% and more. You were one of them.

I destroyed this paradise of little competition and high margins for people like you. "

Well you got me there, I agree you did distroy my paradise.

-------
Originally Posted by Anshe Chung

"Please stop whining about other people's builds on land that you don't own. My current contribution to community is 10 servers worth of lag free landscape plus 3 servers worth of retail space and low price malls plus 2 full size snow villages with lovely builds plus my share of one of most successful community sims in Second Life. For all of this I pay the bill, except for mall area that retailers help me finance."

You have 15 sims worth of land and you consider that a contribution?
15x 195.00 per month = $2925 per month in land use fees. Are you seriously paying that every month or did you find a loop hole?
Your contributing to LL's pockets that much is for sure.
----
Originally Posted by Anshe Chung

"Mmmm, this sound arrogant? Well, I did not want bring this up, but you push me. We "land barons" have a great deal to do with the fact that so many people can play this game for free or almost for free."

I'm not getting anything for free and neither is anyone I know.
-----
*shakes head

The weird thing is, Anshe somehow believes I'm in this for the money.



I'm only a month older than Anshe. When I first bought land to resell, I was just following what appeared to be common practice. I very soon altered my ways. His Grace (now Stoneself Karuna) and I had a very heated forum discussion on my practices, way back when, which was very educational. I certainly don't remember any land bought at auction and then marked up by as much as 50%!!!

I have never traded land in anything like the volumes it would take for a blanket statement such as "mine was moving, yours was not". That would have to be refering to a single piece of land somewhere.

On the few occasions when I have bought Anshe-owned land, it was because it was next to land I was already using for a long-term purpose, and wanted to expand.

On the few occasions when Anshe has bought land I owned, she has immediately set it for resale, with my original photo and description, and of course an extra markup put on for good measure. (These lots are still on the market, BTW).

Anshe, I am not in the least concerned about whether my land is "moving" or not. My margins, prices relative to others and turn-over rates are the least of my worries. The amount I "make" in Second Life is not a factor in the health and well-being of my mother across the ocean. I'm sorry that you need to make a RL income out of Second Life. I do not.

Oh, on the subject of conflict of interest.

Have any of these people complaining ever attended one of my Land Ownership 101 classes to hear what I say? I do not mention at any time the business that I am in. In fact, most of my students aren't in need of anything I have to offer - they are either people in the market for First Land, or people who want to try the auctions, or people who need to know the ins and outs of how Groups and land work together. I have nothing to "sell" these people.

I teach these classes because I had to find out the answers the hard way - by experimentation. I would rather others find out before making expensive mistakes. I do not tell people who to buy from, or who to stay away from. I tell them objective methods to find the right land at the best price. If that turns out to be Dreamland or Snowland land, well so be it.

I don't believe anyone who has attended any of my classes has bought land from me. The only time I have ever sold anything to a student was when I did a surprise land raffle at the end of class, and later sold a house to the winner of the 512m2 lot I gave away. She's still a very good friend.

And with that - I am done with the defensive behavior, and we can get back to the discussion in hand.

I've dropped in on one of your classes Lisse, and you are correct. I didn't hear anything about you personally promoting your business. Its a shame that others would accuse you of this, but perhaps its just their line of thought that makes them think others would do the same.

You presented clear topics and answered all questions, really all you can expect from a class like that. I thought it was well done.

You know? I didn't really want to get into this, but I've lived equal amounts of time in the US and the UK during my adult life, and I've reached the following conclusion:

1) The British do not have a sense of patriotism in general.

2) The Americans have a strong sense of patriotism in general.

3) Standards of living are similar in both countries, with the UK having the edge due to a nationalized health care system.

4) Americans have to feel proud of their country, because they (their ancestors) built it.

5) The British do not have to feel proud of their country because it evolved naturally.

It's a difference in culture. I have American citizenship, but I'm not proud of America. It's a collection of people, governments and laws which are a mixture of good and bad. It is far too vast and loosely controlled to be something which I could be proud or ashamed of. I might be proud of myself, or my family, or something my local city did - but not a whole country!

I often wonder if my feelings would be different if I'd been brought up American, and then moved to the UK instead of the other way around....

Here is an example of what I am talking about;

Current Bid: L$46,019
Time Left: 7 hours 13 mins
Ends: 2004-10-27 19:00:00
History: 4 bids (Place Bid)
High Bidder: Identity Protected


Parcel Info:

Location: Ross (96,142)

Size: 13360 sq. meters

Object Max.: 3052

Rating: PG


Identity Protected L$46,019 Oct-27-04 04:38:09 PDT
Identity Protected L$44,010 Oct-25-04 22:20:45 PDT
Identity Protected L$44,000 Oct-27-04 04:37:42 PDT
Identity Protected L$13,360 Oct-25-04 22:20:45 PDT

Notice how the land jumped in price from a reasonable L$13,360 right to L$44,000. A normal bidding process would have at least 2 bids in between those two figures.

When the 2nd bid is $40,000 that knocks 1/2 the ppl out of the bidding immediatly.

*edit*
I would also like to note based on the last bid of $L46,019 for 3052m2 of land in a PG sim that land now would have to be resold at: $15L per m2 just to break even.

$L10,000 is going for about $US 50.00
$46,019 is aprox = $200.00US

So a 512m2 plot of that land is going to cost aprox $L7680 before any mark up.

Which is aprox $33.00 US for a 512m2 plot of land in a pg sim. Just for the seller to break even.
Cat

No, 3052 prims... it's actually 13360m2 of land & is going for about 3.44 per m2 not too bad in my opinion.

catherine, i believe in your absence, you weren't informed of the proxy bid system. the first bid was not for 13360, but for either 46009 or 46018. The second bidder bid 44000 but that revieled there was a much higher proxy bid, making the high bid 44010. The third bidder bid higher than the proxy bid. if the initial proxy bid was 46009, then there is no way of telling what the new proxy bid is.

so anyone who was hoping to get land in a telehub sim for under 3.0 L$/m2 was knocked out of the auction several days ago.