a question about buying land

Hello. I do have a parcel and all, but I want to buy a quarter or half region. How do I go about doing that? the only thing from Linden Labs, to my understanding, is buying an entire sim. I only want half or a quarter.

Any ideas?

I would really want to buy from someone reliable. [naturally]

Thanks

Two ways you can do this. 'Buying' from a private island owner or by checking out the Auction site and bidding for land on the mainland.

However, it would probably be cheaper in the long run actually buying a full SIM and renting the other half out yourself, than buying half a SIM from a private island owner.

You can just buy as much as you want on the Mainland.
There are many full, half and quarter sized plots on the market.

Right now, I'm seeing a lot of very good places coming on the market, and the prices are not all outlandish.
I think a combination of the USA economy woes combined with nervousness caused by the peak in grid problems has people cashing out.

There are plenty of quarter and half sims listed on the market. Just set the desired parameters on the land search inworld. If you want mainland, be sure to specify in the search choices, otherwise you'll get a bunch of random estate results. And sort by L$/sqm.

I'll break off halves or quarters of the Sanchon or Jinsil sims I just got. Prime waterfront, full sims listed at 16L/sqm, will do halves or quarters for 17.5L/sqm.

See http://foo.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2008/03/adv-two-prime-m.html

Hi, Sucha!

You have two options. You can lease land from a resident landlord on a private island, or you can buy land outright on the mainland.

If you buy land outright on the mainland, you might pay more, and your monthly tier will go to Linden Labs. The advantage is that you do not need to worry about "buying from someone reliable" because once you have bought mainland from someone, that other person's interest in the land is gone, and you are dealing directly with Linden Lab.

If you lease or "buy" land on a private island (some private landlords use the word "buy" to describe the transaction, but in fact it is a lease), it may be cheaper, but you will be depending on the integrity of the landlord.

Bear in mind that if you buy half a sim on the mainland (paying your monthly fee to Linden Lab), you will become a Concierge user, with various privileges including access to the Concierge groups and live chat support. This does not apply if you buy a quarter sim, nor if you lease the land from a private landlord.

Those are very well-located sims. Wish I had the cash to buy part or all of one.

Thank you for this information. I think buying from Linden sounds better then and more reliable.
Now from Linden it is only in the Mainland? and if so, is the Mainland an advantage or disadvantage or does it matter at all?
And where do I go to buy from Linden on the Mainland?

Inworld, click Search. Then go to the Land Sales tab. Set your desired search parameters and make sure to select mainland only (as opposed to mainland and estates). What you will get is a list of parcels on sale by residents. Once you buy one of those, it will be deeded to you, and you will be responsible to Linden for monthly tier payments.

Just to clarify - you won't be actually buying the land from Linden Labs. You'll be buying it from another resident, most probably - but the landlord who collects the tier will be Linden Labs.

To buy on the Mainland, look at the Land Sales tab on Search, but make sure that you view only mainland parcels. You can find out for sure if a region is Mainland or not by selecting World -> Region/Estate while on it, clicking the "Covenant" tab, and ensuring that the region owner is listed as "Governor Linden".

The Mainland is a slight advantage because you are dealing directly with LL, and it's slightly cheaper. The disadvantage is that there's no zoning - anyone could move in next to you, including land griefers.

Also, mainland is MUCH more liquid than estate land, and has higher resale value.

No, no!

On the mainland, there are two ways to buy land.
1. At auction, from LL. Go to the Auction page on this website.
2. From a resident. This type of transaction is perfectly safe, IF you follow the rules.

Either way, you will pay monthly tier directly to LL, the safest way to own land in SL.

You can also buy an entire private island from LL. The price is fixed, $1,695 US, and tier is $295 US per month. You may subdivide and rent out parcels on your island, but you may not sell off bits permanently. Ultimately, you are responsible to pay tier on the entire island.

If you want a half or 1/4 of a private island, you must rent it from the estate owner. You may pay an up-front "purchase" fee; that depends on the owner's policy. You may be evicted by the owner, for nonpayment of tier, or for any other reason, or even for no reason at all. So if you go this route, research the estate owner and make sure he or she is reputable.

Before you buy land anywhere, carefully read the sticky in this forum on the subject, and check the wiki for information as well.

Only if the land has been abandoned or reclaimed when it is less than a 65536sqm. As and when they are released and available you can bid on whole sims of 65536sqm.


In addition there is a group called 'SL Land Answers Unlimited', it has many experienced members that have volunteered their time to give you unbiased answers should you have any doubts about land related questions. Just search this group and join, then use the group IM to ask a question.

Ok this is great info. Thanks.

So when somebody emails me now and says that they have land and could sell it to me based on my post here [which they did], how do I research how reputable they are? and what are the 'if you follow the rules'? the rules in the sticky? which rules would guarantee I am not scammed?

[and I will join that group on SL to see what people have to say. I seriously need to buy land right away].

If they were very successful, they would not have to solicit your business from this forum post. Find your own mainland in search or find reputable estate owner through friends/associates. Remember, you need to clearly choose mainland or estate, and know the differences.

Honorable Land Dealers Association is another good group to if you have further questions.

Sucha,

There is another way of checking what you are buying but before I give you the answer can someone confirm what happens when you buy land from a Private Estate or Island?

Having never made this kind of purchase does the buyer go through the same procedure as if they were buying mainland?

If I can clarify, when you select 'Buy Land' on mainland you are given a new menu, in this menu before you finalise your purchase or cancel, it will explain 3 things;

Buying this Land will:

1) Not change your membership
2) Increase your monthly tier (subject to the amount of land you are buying)
3) Pay xyz, abc amount

Then in the Top right corner are the details of the land,
Region
Estate
Estate Owners


Having written this post I think I answered my first question that buying either or is the same procedure.

But can someone still confirm because if it is the same then this would be most probably good advice to check who owns what land prior to purchasing.

Note: If you do not want to purchase you can either close the menu or select cancel.

On estate land, you also need to click a check box below the covenant confirming that you agree with what it states. But remember, the estate owner is free to change the covenant at will (or not honor it whatsoever).

which is why I don't want to purchase from anyone 'at will' who can change the covenant or evict me for no reason. This is quite a bit of an investment in terms of money and time and I dont need anyone to act funny.

Ok. I will try and see what I find. I may come back to you for more advice when I find something.

Thanks again for all your answers.

Oh and Rockwell Ginsberg I wanted to thank you for the land suggestion. I will go check it out for sure.

Not quite and I think they should change point 2. The buyer is told their tier payments won't change, because, well they won't change for payments to Linden Lab, but generally of course you have to pay tier to the estate owner, so a little warning on estate land purchases there would A give the buyer more information and B highlight the fact that this is a different sort of purchase than mainland.

If buing or renting from an estate owner, check their rep before handing over a wad of cash, make sure they have been in SL for a decent stint, too many people have lost money to estate owners who use disposable alts to sell island land then skip their tier and run with the cash.

Now why is it that whether at auction or when I buy from estate owners that the price is much higher than from Linden? I mean why would I go for either of those if they are more expensive than just ordering land from Linden?

I don't understand! why go through the hassle and uncertainty?

Estate owners (private islands) pay $295.00 US (more with vat) a month to SL, mainland is just $195.00 US a month. Also private island owners try to recoup the initial $1650 outlay for a island.

The main advantage with having to pay more for 'private' is that there is more control, by looking at island covenants you can work out if there's any chance someone will build a strip club next door or not and certainly you will never get a 'ad farm'.

Also islands come with more water front parcels,seeing its usually surrounded with it.