Where is the breaking point on holding land? When do you just fold 'em and walk away?

With the current LL-caused land glut, many land owners like myself are faced with a nasty decision. We have land for sale, nice land that we are trying to sell for a reasonable price. But there is so much land out there at insanely low prices that no one even looks our way. Even though the land at those low prices is nowere near as good. So what is the breaking point? When do you say, "I can't go any lower"? Or "I may as well abandon the damned land, it's cost me more in maintenance than I could sell it for, and is costing me more every blasted month!".

I have an 8192 M2 waterfront parcel that just won't move, even though I have marked it down to L$9 per M2. Next week will mark the second month I've had to pay maintenance on it while I haven't used that parcel for anything at all. Months ago I moved to a bigger parcel in an even better sim, bought and fixed up what I want there... but now what?

I'm not asking any more than the sim owner does for any other lot, anywhere in that estate. And it's a better parcel than 3/4 of his holdings offer. But the way I figure it, if I have to hold it a total of more than 5 months and it doesnt sell, then I've paid more to hold it than I am asking to sell it for right now.

So now what? Drop to garbage land price rates, hoping for a quick sale, and be glad I got anything at all? Hold it forever and pray that land values skyrocket and I can sell it later? Take it off the market and sub-let it to 4 or 5 renters, in hopes that I can make the maintenance fees from them each month? (It's in a private sim, and I can't carve it up and sell it in smaller chunks.)

I'm getting really discouraged. Right now, the only value it has for me is to toss a sky platform way above it, to use as a large-scale building sandbox. But I already have a sky platform in my new home sim where I can freely play with hundreds of prims to spare.

I have placed ads on SLX, and in the land for sale in the forums, and it's listed in Search, but no takers. *sigh* Anybody want to take a look and make me a reasonable offer? I might just say yes, so I can move on.

I am not sure what you paid for the land, but on my estates it's never more than 5l per meter, often times much less...
I'd say , abandon it or lower it to make SOME money back, we all know the longer you have it, the more you pay, especially if you aren't making use of it.

IMNSHO, yes.

Sunk costs are sunk and the land market is so capricious that I wouldn't even think of trying to predict medium-term trends.

Perhaps try lowering the price by a little each day and watch at what point you start getting visitors to the land to check it out. Then once you get to a price point that generates traffic, leave it there... you will sell soon enough. You shouldn't have to go rock bottom to sell if you have quality land.

As LL has stated their intention to keep the land supply rate high -- and consequently, the price of land down -- for at least a few more months, it would not be reasonable to count on prices going up significantly any time soon. It is likely your tier payment will eat up any additional money you might get by waiting for a better selling price.

Or even worse (for you), and I think most probable, land prices could stay about the same or go down. If that happens you will have paid months of tier for nothing... basically the same as now, but worse.

I know it's hard to accept that your land just isn't worth what it once was. My own neighbor put his 8192 up for nearly triple the current base price, and he thought he would sell it immediately because he didn't realize that land prices had gone down since December. In the end he sold to me for much less than he thought it was worth (and much MORE than I know it is worth on the general market, but it's worth more to me because it's my home sim).

So... I guess it's a question of how much you are bothered by it not selling and by the possibility of your loss becoming greater than it already is. In your place I would take the loss and sell at the lower price, but that's just me... when I'm done with something, I'm done and want it out of my life.

I didn't buy it planning on reselling, I slowly worked my way up to that parcel as I expanded what I needed to live on in SL. I paid L$7 or so for 3/4 of it, and a hideous amount for 2048 of it that had, at the time, been right next to my first 4096 when I desperately needed more prim count. I'm not so much worried about 'getting back what I paid for them', as I am about getting back anything at all. Right now what was once my dream parcel has been turned into a money pit, by LL's massive land dumping.

Guess I'll try the "gradually lower the price" option.

Ceera,

I am sorry to say this, but considering we have different views (following our other posts today) with regards to PI/PE versus Mainland, isn't this the big disadvantage with buying land on a PE/PI.

As you have already said, you cannot carve it up and sell it in smaller plots, (you could on mainland), but given your situation as a fellow texturer/artist I do sympathise with you, so I won't rub salt in an open wound.

But, my advice would be, subject to prims etc, theme it and rent it out, I no its only 8192 thats 6-8x1024 plots, not sure if your prim allowance is higher than mainland, but 6 or 8 good houses, and something a little different, a bit of marketing and you could most probably get your money back for the maintenance.

In situations like this you need to look around and ask yourself, what can I do or offer that no-one else can, these times are hard and this is the time when individuals like yourself need to be constructive, ask yourself what do people want, there are still many more opportunities in SL, you just have to find them and be a little more creative.

So good luck.

Rent it out if the covenant allows that.

One option that I do have, and am considering, is to swap it with the sim owner for several smaller parcels in the same Estate. I obtained the 8192 parcel by trading a 4096 and two 2048's for it. My initial fee per month would go higher if I split it up, but I might be able to sell the smaller parcels faster. (The sims are set up so the fees are based per-parcel by size, with breaks for the larger contiguous parcels).

All told, I don't think subletting would work, unless I was getting friends to move in as my tenants. I don't want to be a landlord. I just want my own little piece of Sl, and no waste in what I am paying for.

And right now, it likely wouldn't matter if it was PI or Mainland - I'd still have to drop to something like L$5.5 per M2 to match what LL is selling their mainland trash lots for.

Place ads in the land for sale sections of as many forums as you can. I would give it one more month. NEVER abandon land. Contact Sarah Nerd and she will always pay you a fair price for it. No need to give it back to LL.

It matters a great deal: if someone is looking for mainland, they may very well pay substantially more than the current market value if for whatever reason they feel the plot is worth it.

For private island land on the other hand there isn't really any compelling reason to ever buy any, there are more than enough true rentals for plots of all shapes and sizes.

As you're finding out, the person who looses when buying private land is you. You could always try and appeal to the sim owner's sense of decency as well: if they're any bit honest, they'd refund you the cost of the parcel.

Now, I tried to be sympathetic, and there you go again, referring to mainland as trash.

On average from what I see mainland non trash (and your plot is non trash by a long way) is still going at reasonably good prices.

Reasonable 512's are still going at 8.5-10sqm and 2048 are still at 10-14sqm, it depends on how your ratings of trash are.

Ceera's ratings of trash;
1=5L$
2=6L$
3=7L$
4=8L$
5=9L$
6=10L$
7=11L$
8=12L$
9=13L$
10=14L$ and above.

Don't forget, that if the trash is so bad you can advertise the land like this;

To appreciatte the full glory and beauty of this land and its wonderful location, it is advised that your draw distance in preferences should be set to 28.

That way the land would sell really quickly cause their draw distance is set so low the adjacent ad boards and trash wouldn't show up.

LOL

Abandoning the land is a foolish choice, IF the land is salable.
Holding on to the land in hopes of selling it at an inflated price can be even more foolish, as you stand a chance of loosing more money than you are selling the land for.

You want $73,728 for the parcel. Assuming you pay $10,000L per month tier for it, and have tried to sell it for 2 months, you have already lost $20,000L. You would have been better off selling it 2 months ago at $55,000L. The longer you hold it the worse it will get. I suggest selling it cheap, getting what you can, and moving on.

BTW, what does your estate owner collect in tier for your land?

on mainland, just north of me someone paid 12m for a 1024.

and then put ban lines all around it.

So, it's their land, they bought it, they can do what they want, its their entitlement.

3Ring didn't say anything about land rights... they grimaced at what a pain in the butt banlines are to have in the neighborhood. When I have neighbors that put up banlines I in turn put them on my own banlist, I have a very large open park so if they try to walk or fly thru they can see what a PITA the lines are.)

As it is estate land, the best advice so far is to go back to the estate owner and hope to get a refund of the purchase price or somewhere in that vicinity. This is since you don't want to repurpose the land and be a landlady.

Thank you for stating the obvious.

I feel keeping ban lines on when you are offline is a crime to your fellow residents. And many people don't even realize they have them on.

I am riding this out, and slowly recouping my, errrr..ahem, "investment".

it has forced me to make my land holdings more productive, rather than sweeping the lot clean, some minor terraforming and adding a sign. I now have a store set up through an Alt and rent land to basic account holders.

I have no plans to sell below 15 per m, tier be dammed.

I would never just abandon the land, but if you are, PLEASE let me know...ill take it...(not joking)

While I was very upset at first, i have made the adjustment, you just need to be a little more creative.

As a note, RL land prices have taken a huge hit in my area, so no flipping in either RL or SL for me for a while

Hi Ceera, I am in this exact same situation.. the only solution I have thought of is to generate enough money to cover tier costs off the parcel of land.

You might consider opening another TRU texture outlet or something... a dollar a day kind of sales would go a long way to covering the tier until land prices pick up a bit.

-whyroc

or when some #@%^ just bought the land and doesn't have anything on it but ban lines are up.
WTF are they protecting?!?

I'm in the same boat, trying to sell land and struggling with the dump vs keep paying tier question.

GL Ceera

Read my blog article from a year ago:

http://sl.infomyth.com/Guides/land_bubble.htm

The bubble burst. It was predicted and predictable. It is unlikely that land prices will ever climb back to what they were six months ago. Don't speculate on land -- you will only make money with fast turnover, holding land will never be profitable. Finally, invest in RL versus SL -- banks, good stock on the stock market, and your education all will produce a higher return with lower risk.

many people are in that boat. Not only does LL get potentially more new premium members when they flood the market with cheap land, they force current residents who paid high prices to keep paying tier in the hopes that the market turns around. I personally think it's crappy business and they went to far. A base of L$8.0 would have been more fair to all concerned, including Island owners.

LL has stated that they want land prices around 6-8L per sm several months ago.

Did people think that they wouldn't achieve their goal?

They have done a wonderful job with the value of the linden. There is no reason to believe they can't do the same with land prices.

I've been trying to think of a good answer for this thread. Having seen the same thing all the time myself.

* * * * *

First point, if the estate is expanding, or there are open lots, it's going to be tricky.

Expanding estates tend to suppress the attractiveness factor of existing lots due to 'new sim smell' - everyone wants the *new* sim.

Which baffles me - wouldn't they rather know who they are next to, and what they are like? But for rule of thumb, 'new' is about twice as valuable as 'existing.'

* * * * *

Second, hit the sim owner up for some names.

Usually there were people interested in the past, but couldn't get in. That's what I try to do for people. It's not my responsibility to find them a customer, but I'll help if I can certainly. Ask for a few names, not the whole list. Often the sim owner doesn't want every party who was ever remotely interested to be spammed by tenants repeatedly.

* * * * *

Pretty up the place - LOTS of vegetation. Break sight lines.

A flat slab of ground looks small and lonely compared to an active parcel. A parcel with a complex environment looks huge. Leave one patch of flat for a home, or put a small home there. Small intimate nooks with campfires or caves can be nice. Worst thing you can do is clear the land.

* * * * *

Neighbours. If anyone is wavering on the decision to get more land, it's them. Land in the same sim is a limited commodity, and you have it. Just make sure they know of your plans.

* * * * *

Last, well, to be honest $L 9/m is really high for private estate land these days. If the sim owner has open parcels for $L 9/m for any length of time, obviously there would be a problem selling for that.


Good luck, and let us know how it goes.