questions about buying land vs renting

Hello all, I have a bit of debate with myself. Dont worry dont do it often. Anyways, when you buy land do you pay a tier fee(which I have seen in land search) to the owner of the sim and then pay tier fee to Linden. I want to own land but I am also leaning to renting apt or something like that. Any advice would be appreciated. tks!

If you buy mainland 'Land' you pay tier to the Lindens only.

If you buy private 'Land' you paid tier to the Estate owner only. The Estate owner is responsible to all payments made to the Lindens.

I'll chime in with the advice that it's a great idea to rent before you buy. It lets you get a feel for what you might want in a home, without committing you to something that might turn out to be not quite right for you.

for me there is no difference between renting or buying land at private islands...
but i know that ppl like to "buy" land and somehow think that that land is in their own hands...

anyway , the imoprtant thing is .land permissions.. so if those rights are ok then its up on u to decide in which case u will pay lower rate

of course buying land on mainland is different story ..

I just did it this weekend. I can't give you the big picture... But I'll tell you about my fun little 5 minutes. (^_^)

I went annual premium, because I am enjoying SL very much and I don't see myself on the way to burnout very soon. That $75 gives me an entire year to NOT worry about payments to LL. (^_^)

I found a 512M parcel I liked... Actually, it found me, it's in a really cute area and surrounded by a friend's build... Over priced, but hey, I'm having fun. Bought the L$ on-the-spot inworld to pay for the mess. (=_=)

That's it........ The 512M plot is tier free because that's the base tier which comes with a premium account. It gives me 117 prims to play with and my land - my rules. (^_^)

So... By spending something around $100... I get a weekly $L300 stipend, a chunk of V-land, and 117 prims to make my hangout/store/photo studio. And I won't have to worry about spending another real $ until next year with I have to pay up my premium fee again. I can live with that. (^_^)y

As for renting? ..... I had more fun in open and free sandboxes. (=_=)

There is always monthly tier to pay, either to Linden or an Estate owner..... or weekly or monthly rent to pay to a owner.

Decide what you can afford to spend a month. A nice mainland lot large enough for a nice sized house or building and garden etc. is usually between 40-75USD a month. For that money you can get a larger piece on an island in usually a much more desirable location. The down payment is also usually less on an island lot.

Two things to know is ....first of all, not all Estate owners are the same. Some are conscientious and have great sims and provide good service and some are fly by night or even predatory, who could take your money then kick you out and ban you the next day and not return the money and there is nothing you can do other then try to sue them, with a attorney. Complaining to LL as it is now, if that happens.....does no good.

So check out the Estate owner first and find out what their reputation is. Even a great landlord, could die in RL or suddenly have to sell their sim for some reason and the new owner may or may not keep you as a tenant. They may buy the place to have a mall or whatever they want.

Secondly.....you should know, is that if you "buy" on a Estate Island from a sim(s) owner---you are really just renting, (not even leasing) even though the misleading word, "buy" gets involved and often there is a down payment. However if you "buy" on an island, you usually get some rights you may not get if you just rent, such as being able to terraform.

Mainland costs more but you pay Linden direct rather then an estate owner. Terraforming on mainland is more limited then on a island sim, can have drawbacks because Mainland can be crowded. On the Mainland, since there are usually no covenents you could buy today and end up having a adjacent piece of land turn into something you think is undesirable. or even block your view entirely.

It depends what you want to do. If you just want to play with a big piece of land and have total rights then buy a sim from Linden or buy from a estate owner who is selling all rights to it, or rent part of one from an estate owner who gives most of the important rights. Or just rent a piece for a home or just an apartment, and still be able to explore the sim if it has a theme and common areas.

A premium subscriber gets a free 512 m piece of land--although finding them is hard.

If you don't want to own a sim. decide how much you can afford to pay up front and per month then find out who the best landlords are and look around to see what environment what you really like best for your purposes. If you want to set up a business then you can't get a place with a "covenenet" that demands residential only. If you buy mainland you can do business or residential, or in the sky, but so can anyone around you, so it can be an eyesore. Other factors are mature vs. non mature areas and what class sim it is-----ie. how much lag there is.

I'll second the rent before you buy, you have nothing to lose but a couple of weeks rent if you don't like a sim or the owner sells out from under you or you just find the block too small or too big. Also look for a Landlord who's been in SL for more than just a few months.
And dond hand over big lump sums to "buy" island/estate land from a landlord. Mainland is 100% safe to buy as long as you keep paying Linden Labs their monthly fee.
Shop around a lot, there's stacks of cheap land about, some of it pretty good value at the moment.

I do both. My partner and I have 16,000 m mainland which we pay monthly tier for (it is like taxes) and we rent an island. The big difference for me is the convenant on the island, telling you the rules and what you can and cannot do) Also get references on landlords. I have a really good one right now.

I can do whatever I want to my "own" land which I bought, but I have are restricted at our cottage island.

Rent for a bit, get used to it..setting up house and all that. Most places are weekly rent so that if you decide to buy you won't have to wait out a month.

I have both land to buy and to rent on my estate, the only difference between them is that with buying you pay an upfront fee, have a lower weekly payment and can resell your land when you don't need it anymore.
To make it more confusing I offer my tennents the option to pay the upfront fee in 12 weeks (wel confusing to those not used to buying estate land on spread out over time).
With my prices (1024sqm 6 L$/sqm buy 500 L$/week tier 700 L$/week rent) it becomes cheaper to buy then to rent when you plan to stay for more then 30 weeks without taking into account that you can resell your land, if you resell the land at 3 L$/sqm afterwards it becomes cheaper after 16 weeks.

I have the same inner debate frequently. But I have found that I prefer renting a house on a 2048m2 lot with 460 prims that I really love for L$600/week than dealing with finding something that I like and can afford...plus no long term commitment, a lot less expensive, just as much fun.

Ive went from owning 3/4 of a mainland sim and owning an island to owning no land now. I pay yearly for a premium acct is all I pay now. I realized I have no burning need to own land in SL anymore. I own RL land where I need shelter, which I dont need in SL. I dont need to throw RL money at LL any longer. All I will say is be absolutely certain you NEED the land in SL. There's a huge difference between needing and wanting.

This depends largely on how much you want to spend. Renting can often work out cheaper than buying. You don't need a premium account to rent, you don't need to pay an upfront fee if you rent, you don't need to be concerned with the fluctuating land prices if you rent.

If you rent on a private estate you'll often have all the rights of ownership with regards to permissions, but you'll have to abide by the covenant. Many islands offer you weekly rentals, so even if you bump into the biggest rat from ratsville in the form of an estate owner, your risks are low.

The big question is: what do you want the land for?

If you just want somewhere to 'live' and find an island community that you like, that's probably your best bet. If you like to build and maybe want to set up a shop/club/art gallery, the mainland may bet a better bet.

In the end, everybody pays LL and everybody answers to LL's law. The difference between islands and mainland is if there's another layer between you and LL. Depending on what you want the land for, this can be a good thing or a not-so-good thing.

If you have a premium account you might as well buy 512 of mainland land since you dont have to pay tier on that amount as your premium account already covers it.

I will give you the usual warning about buying land from estate owners (ie land on private islands):
"Buying land" on a private estate should be thought of as leasing land not buying it, as bad estate owners can and do steal the land back from you and linden labs wont do anything about that since according to them its owned by the estate owner.
So if you do wish to "buy" ie lease land from an estate owner its very important to choose one of the repectable ones (there are many good ones).

Buying land on the mainland is much safer as the land is yours and noone can take it from you (providing you keep up your tier payments to linden labs obviously)

hi all,
hmmm ... so it doesn't really make a difference if one buys or rents ... ???
but i noticed there is a great deal of lag on the mainland, how can one find 32thousandandsome square meters on the mainland for instance, without having to fear the big lag?? and how would one know if an estate owner is respectable or not?? and how could one find a suitable place that matches ones own motto (sex related places seem to be the majority, but what about other themes, i.e. pirate, adventure, knights, fairy, etc.??)
thanx in advance

Buying mainland and renting from a private estate is verry verry different!

Lots of pro's and cons. I'm sure you can guess the big ones.

Lag - well, any area with a lot of textures, avatars and scripts has potential for lag. It's not a mainland-specific thing. Either competent mainland owners or a good private estate manager can act to mitigate the effects, though.

As for what sort of place you are looking for - ask here on Resident Answers! If you are looking for something specific like say Firefighting Ferrets in Space (purely hypothetical example) there's a good chance someone here is already quite into it.

Reputations of other residents can be tricky to nail down - but it counts for a lot. Among 100 residents there are 110 different opinions - even the evil have their minions to speak well of them. Gotta have minions... grin

So take your time, form your own opinions, and watch out for those evil land bar0nz!

<.<

>.>

Never know when one might sneak up, all ninja-like!

OK, my two cents is renting is a rip off. I waited thirty days and went straight to an annual premium membership and buying. A trip to the calculator decided me.

An annual premium membership is $6.00. The 512m land I bought was 1,999 L or about $8.00 Averaged out over a year, I pay $6.75/month for my land. That's about $1.70/week or about 30-35L. You can't rent for anywhere near as cheaply.

I did do lots of walking around before I bought. I waited about thirty days which was good. The walking was priceless. I studied maps of SL geography. I spent time in sandboxes and built my first house. I later took it down and built a better one (with higher ceilings). I found I needed garden space more than I needed indoor space, so I have just one room, but it is furnished. I still have 40 prims left over.

I have decided I don't want to spend more on SL than I can explain and justify to a person sitting next to me in a Subway or a coffee shop. In my mind the conversation goes like this:

Random Person: "You actually pay to play a game online!"

Me: Yes, but Second Life only costs $6.75/month. That's a bit more than the cost of a combo at Subway and less than the price of a first run movie ticket.

It's also a week's worth of sodas from a typical vending machine or two or three DVR rentals. In other words, buying passes a kind of rationality test.

Even if you are not concerned about how far off the deep end you are going financially, buying is still much cheaper than renting. As for neighbors, Ad-farms are a thing of the past. I do live on the frontier in Gaeta. I've watched several businesses in my neighborhood fail. My neighborhood is mixed use.

I think much of what is sold with a rental is not rational. How else can landlords charge and obtain fees that are so far in excess of what I am paying. Having a house ready made may be convenience. Having the right kind of house, a pretty one in a pretty place someone else built may give one a feeling of quality.

I don't think most landlords can deliver on promises of community or living in the right kind of neighborhood though I could be wrong. There are themed communities and maybe these come with stiff covenants and landlords of such places ask their prospective tennants a long list of questions and screen them thoroughly. On the other hand, if a landlord just takes you when you sign the lease, he's also taking your neighbors the same way and who knows what will move in next to you.

Main difference between renting/buying would probably be in price, and also, probably easier to move on from a rental if you didn't like the sim, or it lagged too much there, etc.

If you rent first shop around for prices and places. I pay $800L a week for a double story apartment with two very large rooms, in a nice sim, the only problem is, for some reason management won't let tenants have a security system. So I can't ban or eject anyone from my apartment. I can see potential for abuse there but I think most people aren't gonna ban the landlord or anything. Lol

SO that's why I'm shopping around for my 512 plot of land now. I began a thread about finding a 512 & people gave lots of really great advice, you may wish to read that thread also.

Eventually IF I can begin making $L in SL I'd like to buy a private parcel myself but paying that much when I'm not even on all that often seems daffy at this point...I look forward to it someday though.

Rent and/or premium membership with a 512, is my advice.

I reasoned it out in virtually the same way.

Which is not to say that renting doesn't have its plusses, too. You're going to pay more if you rent, because there's a middleman to be paid. But there are other features that some might consider to be a worthwhile trade-off for the higher price.

Surely the chief plusses of renting on an estate come into play when:
1) you're really not sure about how enthusiastic you are about SL and don't see yourself committing to a full year, and/or
2) you want to live in a themed community (as you mentioned, 'nicer' doesn't really matter as much anymore, now that LL is cracking down on the big ads on the Mainland).

For both those reasons, a person might well be willing to pay a higher per-week and per-month price of an estate parcel (at least until they've made up their minds about the value SL has for them. And even then, the theming aspect might keep them happily living the tenant lifestyle).