Profit in buying and selling land?

Is it really possible to make $ buying and selling land without spending thousands of US $?

It seems to me that any profit I would make by selling a 1024 sq here and there would be small compared to land fee I would incur over time before selling.

Are there any real estate gurus out there that have made this work? If so, HOW?

Yes.


Buy low, sell high. Learn to manage your tier.

OK. Fair enough. What do ou mean by "manage your tier"

Keep it reasonable.

No, Anshe's got it cornered!

At one time I made a small profit with very little $US investment. Last November when the market was rising and there were no land bots on the scene.

Now land bot runners get all the low priced parcels before I have a chance to get there first and buy them. Since you make your money when you buy not when you sell, and I was no longer finding those occasional bargains, it was no longer worth my while.

I have 4000 meters in available land tier but I'd rather just sit on it or rent it to someone who needs it right now than do any land flipping. I could make a few bucks but it's not worth the time and aggrevation now that the profit margins are so slim.

tier is where your profit gets lost. in addition to the upfront cost of the land, you are also responsible for a monthly maintanence fee. because there are ascending levels (tiers) dependant upon how much land you own over all, this is refered to as 'tier'.
managing tier would be the art of buying, holding, and selling land while minimising tier costs, either by having a quick turnover or using multiple groups donating and retracting tier donations and so on. different people have different methods of managing thier tier.
in any case, you need to work in bulk to really make it finacially viable.

Thanks for than answer, Nina. That was pretty much what was on my mind. I just couldn't see how to make a profit when the tier takes a huge chunck unless somehow you turn it around very quickly for a huge profit. It seemed to me that the risk is pretty big considering, let's say 3 months go by and you've payed tier 3 times.At that point, forget profit even if you get the price you wanted. Yet, somehow, it looks like some people are doing it.

Maybe the only people making money in SL real estate are the big players who are in first, buy the whole sim and sell off little pieces at a huge markup.

I might me a newbie, but am I wrong?

If you have paid tier 3 times and are still holding the same land for sale, you set it too high and probably bought it too high too.
Don't buy land you could not flip in a week for a bit of profit.

yes, holding land for 3 months is a money sink. as raymond has stated, one week is the maximum amount of time you want to hold onto land.
lets look at this on a small level and assume you are spending $8.00/mo for tier. $8 buys you maintenence on 1024/m of land.
if you buy a 1024 for L$7000 and hold it for one month you will have to sell it for L$9000 to break even. why? because to recover the $8usd tier you spent you must add $8usd (roughly L$2000) to the asking price of the 1024.
with that in mind, if you bought and sold four 1024's in that month you could split that L$2000 tier charge over the four parcels (you cannot own them at the same time though!!!). so each of the four could be sold at $7500 to break even. so fast turnover is essential.
bear in mind that we havent taken ll's 3% 'cash out fee' into consideration. the above example assumes you will pay your tier to ll by credit card every month and you will keep your L$ in-world to keep buying land. but eventually you will have to give 3% of whatever money you cash out to ll.
the above example does not take your free 512/m 'premium allotment' into mind. we are assuming you will use that 512 for your own personal use.
also look at the tier page* an notice that the higher tier you are paying the better tier:land ratio you achieve. play with that calculator a bit. use it to determine where to price your land to sell at a profit while still posting a competitive price.

* https://secure-web9.secondlife.com/account/landfees.php