How do I find property?

I have been searching for property using the search feature with the Land Sales tab and I am unable to find anything that looks good for a residence. It seems that there are stores everywhere. Is there a better way to find residental land around other residential homes? I would like to find something that is the 512m and as little money as possible (of course).

I also want to know if there are specific dimensions to a plot that is 512m, or does each plot differ? What is the best way to make sure a house will fit? Is there a trick to finding the dimensions if they are all different?

Once I buy land and add a house to the land - can I remove the house if I decide I want a different one later?

Thanks

On the Mainland you can never really guarantee that a business won't be build there at some point, but your safest bet is to Search for a PG parcel. There tend to be fewer businesses in the PGs.

(You could rent from a private estate in which the owner won't permit businesses in a particular area. But there are additional considerations there, such as how much power you'd be permitted to shape the land, and what would happen if the owner up and leaves. You get more stability from Mainland, but stronger controls over your neighbors with a well-run private estate. Kind of a trade-off, really.)

You can remove a house by right-clicking on it, then choosing "Take". Simple as can be, really (if only real life were so simple!)

Dimensions of a 512m tend to be 16m by 32m, but you can find any dimensions that are multiples of 4.

When you do your search, use the fields at the top to qualify it as much as you can and then click on the size column to sort by size and that will at least help you look at the smaller plots. And as someone said, if you do not check the 'mature' box, you'll eliminate a lot of places that have businesses.

Hey there,

I have a private estate sim that's just what you're looking for. It's zoned residential only and designed for first-time renters and those on a budget. Most of the lots are 512 or 1024 sq.m. and priced at 250L$/week and 499L$/week, respectively. You won't have to worry about businesses, clubs, or other lag or eyesores as they're not permitted.

The sim is called Beachcomber Oasis - you can fly around and look at the lots or go to the estate office to see the listings. I have other land also but most of my small plots are on Beachcomber Oasis.

It took me about a month of looking to find my first 512m parcel in mainland. I finally found it in a well established sim and the neighborhood has not changed dramatically in over a year. So keep on looking, you will find somehing.

You can also look for rentals. There are many reputable landlords that rent smaller parcels in mainland or estate land. Look up Cristalle Karami a forum regular that offers affordable rentals and has a great reputation. I am sure htere are others as well...

.d

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I did find a piece of property and found a house to fit. It's very interesting trying to match everything up and figure out how to position the house on the property.

Ayesha, I saw your post after I purchased the land, and now I can't log into SL so I have to wait to log in to look into your sim. I may want to purchase more later and I will definatly look at yours, and I will keep it in mind if any of my friends want to purchase.

The house I have has a fairly deep base and when I lower it into the ground I found that the ground is not totally flat - so some of the base is showing above ground. Is this normal? Does anyone know if there a way to fix this, or should I not worry about it?

Thanks

Buying your first property is so much fun, there's so much to learn, well there was for me.

You can change the land by terraforming it, right click, edit terrain (if the estate owner allows terraforming), it's a little tricky at first, just don't be scared to experiment.

The first time I terraformed, I clicked 'revert' and half my land sunk, I had to call the estate owner to fix it

Also, you can usually look at the info on the house before you buy it, it should tell you what size land it will fit on.

Each plot's size and shape will differ. Unfortunately, there is no nice regular shape for house builders to work with, so often (not always) they will work within the smallest possible dimension (not allowing for the really odd-shaped plots).

To find out the dimensions and size of your parcel, you could rez prims to measure. Turn on View Parcel Lines. Rez one cube, make the length and width 10x10, and then keep repeating it until your plot is filled (either hold down the shift key and drag another 10x10 from your original, or enable Copy Selection and click the side of the prim you want a copy of).

I don't make land-based houses (the homes I create are themed skyboxes) but I do offer 'footprints' of my skyboxes, free of charge. These are just linksets of prims that have the same base shape and size as each skybox, so the customer can take them home, rez them out, and see if the skybox they want will fit within their parcel lines. I wish more house designers would do the same, because although it's easy to get your head around "20m x 30m" it's hard to actually visualise whether that will fit onto your plot of land.