Going rate of Mainland?

Hey guys!

Whats the going rate of mainland per square foot? I realize some is more expensive that others.

Or rather, whats the purchase price for a full main land sim?

Exactly this much

Depends upon the sim and location, if it's next to protected water it's worth more. There won't be many full sims for sale.

Thanks...I'm at work, working on the paper and couldn't log on to do the Search. Thanks for the help.


MUCH cheaper than private land.

Why wouldn't someone buy a mainland sim instead a private one? Am I missing something?

Its cheaper all around...

When you can "buy" a private estate parcel for 1 L? I'm wanting to know why anyone would buy mainland [seriously].

I'm thinking bigger....I mean, the tier fees on a full sim on mainland are $100 USD cheaper..

Is there a serious quality difference in mainland and private estates?

I 'own' land on both and mainland isn't terrible.

Really that much difference in tier fees? Thank you, I did not know that. Having looked at mainland and found it overpriced, [and you need a premium account to own?], always sent me to look for private estates. I usually live high in the sky, so what is on the ground is of little consequence.

Tier is cheaper, I'll be surprised if upfront cost is cheaper, you can buy second hand estate sims for USD$500 and less. Estate sims come with water on four sides.

If you can get hold of a grandfathered class 4 estate sim then tier is USD195 a month, the upfront cost will probably be over USD$1000, but the tier rate is the same as a mainland sim.

One day I'd imagine LL will change the tier rate and being LL they probably won't do it sensibly but in rather a short time period, but currently that's probably the best value sim.

So. Much. Confusion!

Where to start? Where to start? It's just too much.

Some quick points. Estates generally have far higher recurring fees than mainland and generally have 0 resale value.

Mainland will probably always have a good resale value, it fluctuates but it will always be something. Recurring fees are generally much lower, by about a third.

To buy and /own/ an estate sim costs $1000. To buy and own a mainland sim, as you can see from my post above costs closer to $1300. So much more expensive. But the tier fee is $100 a month less so it doesn't take long to get your money back

But, with estates you get a fuller ability to terraform, more privacy and control over the sim. It's more convenient if you want to sublet it (i.e. be a mini land baron)

With mainland you're part of a larger continent with history and residents and vibrancy that no estate will ever match plus if you want to own less than a full sim you can do so and not take the risk of your landlord absconding because your landlord is literally LL.

Plus, plus, plus, there are a million differences. They serve the different needs of different people and the fact that demand is good for both mainland and estates shows that they each have their benefits. Obviously though, mainland is best.

Hah, I didn't know that...About the grandfathered thing. Good deal.

Thank you for your explanation, Elanthius. Mainland does seem more "stable" as estate owners come and go. Guess my partiality lies with a particular theme and more control over a sim [though now I have a teeny tiny place due to economic factors].

Class 4 sims also have serious performance issues. There is a reason why they are cheaper. As an owner of a class 4 sim, I recently upgraded to a class 5 because of these performance issues. We had serious script lag, that was basically preventing anyone from using couples dances at my jazz club. Twice a week the sim crashed and would take over 30 minutes to restart, due to "known issues that are effecting SOME class four sims." (There is a JIRA on it, but I don't expect they will act on it soon as "some class four sims" is not a large percentage for them to make a priority.)

Since the upgrade, it has been night and day. I went to all residents and discussed this and we agreed, together, to move ahead and upgrade. And all residents now are thrilled with the results and are happy to pay a bit more in rent to help foot this cost.

In other words, you get what you pay for.

Note: Everything about land is usually measured in Square Meters, not Feet. Including the prices.

Grandfathered does not necessarily mean class 4.

All of the sims purchased during the buy rush in November 06' were already class 5 and are still grandfathered.

Bunni,

I agree with all Elanthius said; I'll just add some:

Before the Lindens cracked down on ad-farmers: griefer extortionists who deliberately ruined mainland views to try to ransom money from neighbors, mainland was a garbage dump. It was truly a bad risk to spend much money on it, if your business depended on aesthetic value. That problem has for the most part gone away. (Even if they're sometimes slow to act, the offense is at least officially against Linden law) The Lindens are now also cracking down on land-cutters, further cleaning up the mainland and bringing up its value.

I bought one estate island to add to my 5 mainland sim holdings, to have a getaway from all that, where I could create at will for my tenants never worrying about extortionist neighbors. At the time, it was worth the $100 extra a month, thinking I would just retreat there entirely if the mainland further descended into the toilet. Now, for me personally, I'm getting very little value for my extra $100. I'm only keeping it because I "live" there, my loyal tenants like it, and it pays for itself more or less.

There are other reasons you would have no choice but to buy private estates: Estate land can handle a higher avatar load (100 vs 40 I think). You can combine estates into "supercontinents," like Desmond Shang does. It would be too expensive or just impossible to try to assemble that much mainland, buying them at auction. I have 3 continuous mainland sims, but I was lucky my neighbors wanted to sell them whole; that rarely happens. So as Elanthius says, there are valid reasons you might need one land type over the other.

--Avion

Not sure I'd agree with that.

Forgot about that, yes there are some grandfathered class 5 sims, ironically the one I saw for sale was being sold for the same price as a class 4, surely these are even greater value.

The USD$100 difference in tier is not good value in my opinion, but the problem lies in the fact that the difference between mainland and estate to LL isn't a straight USD$100 difference, I'm sure there are some mainland sims that generate more than USD$295 and plenty that generate around USD$295.

lol good point well made Desmond.

Desmond,

You're our favorite outlier; the exception to every generality

--Avion

I'm still waiting for indications that they have really cracked down on them. The worst ad towers have gone, but there's still "creative" non-ads and microparcel landcutting all over the place.

Yes, in some ways it was more a psychological victory. Evil always finds a new loophole.

But enough real change happened to make me stop worrying about it, and start buying mainland again.

--Avion

The difference to me is full control on an estate and no control of surrounding areas on mainland. I own a good bit of mainland because i love it. But since ive been there ive had a highway built about 10m up in front of my front door, boulders stacked at the entrance to my store, another store that opened to mine as if it was an extension of my store but selling porn and crap, a nudist beach open abutting my land and all manner of odd things including lots of ban lines, lots of screens etc. Even if you own an entire mainland sim it is physically connected to the surrounding land and anyone on your borders can do anything they like including things that cause your mainland parcels to lag etc.

To me the trade off is that on mainland you can do whatever you please, but so can everyone else. On estates, you can do what is allowed in the covenants if you dont own the sim and those rules are usually there for the good of all. I think they both have their pluses and minuses which is why im on both.

As for price, I just bought some water lots for around 4-6K L and that is pretty standard for good land that is in a nice spot on mainland. Beware land that says it is on linden protected water because often it really isnt. unless the land abutting those lots actually is owned by lindens, it is not on protected water. I found the best way to learn about land was to just go and visit LOTS of places for sale. Estate land tends to either cost more up front with a lower tier or cost less up front with a higher tier so you have to kinda do the math to be able to compare two diff deals over time. The other good thing about mainland, once you own it the tier stays the same and its yours until you sell it.

I tend to have a lot of fun with my mainland plots, perhaps more so than with my work on the island.

Me too, Mari,

I love fly-by explorers and visitors. And the challenges and rewards in having neighbors all around makes the island feel sort of sterile, and too easy!

--Avion