Buying land

My wife and I are new to SL and are both premium members. We have found a nice 1024 in Seerial that we'd like to buy but before we commit to a sale we would like to get some questions answered. I have read several forum threads and i think i have a pretty good rudimentary understnanding of what needs to be done so we can live rent free and get the most out of our property. SO FAR, what I think I understand is:

a) We should create a Land group and each grant our free 512 to the group.

b) Purchase the land and then Deed it to the group.

c) Land usage fees may still apply to us if I buy land on the islands.

d) By deeding the land to the group we will get a 10% bump in our allowed Prim count. I got that from thread on how to Transfer Land. Is that correct? I would really like someone from Linden to confirm that.

e) I would like to avoid any unecessary maintainence feels (ISLANDS & COVENANTS) and since I'm posting from work right now I can't tell if Seerial is a mainland property, i'm not even sure how I would check that in-world.


DOING THE MATH:
-----------------------
Tier allowances:
Since we are both premium each recieve a 'free' 512 teir allowance.
512 x 2 = 1024 (rent free)

Prim Limits:
You NORMALLY have 117 Prims allowed per 1/64 (512).

If my comments in D) are correct then I should have:
(117p x 2) + Group bonus (10%) = 257 prims


Regrding the deed transfer to the group. Should I Grant my 512 to the group first and then transfer the deed, or the other way around. I'm trying to avoid having to pay the extra 512 tier for the first month. Or should I just accept that I'm going to have to shell out that extra money for the first month?

I'm sorry if I've rambled and made no sense. LL could definitley make this entire process easier.

Thank you all for your assistance!

~Maxxofor & Alexus

if you are both already premium members, then each of you taking a 512m for purchase will cost you zero in tier fees, monthly. if you each donate your 512m to the group, you will be able to purchase an additional 10% at not additional tier costs so definitely create the group first, donate all your tiers to it, and buy the land with the group tier donations in place.

when you initiate the purchse, windows will pop up telling you what your new tier will be, which should read $0US. you can practice and cancel wihtout actually commiting to see this, just be careful to cancel and not buy if it's not what you are ready to do. harder to sell than buy.

i am speaking of mainland, which seems a better deal for you since you are premium, and you will then have TOTAL control over the land settings. i would not get involved in estate land because the estate owner can pull the land out from under you, and since you don't need to 'rent', you don't need to go that route.

best of luck.

Here is my understanding.

Each of you donate your 512 tier to the group and with the group 10% benefit, this gives you a bonus of 10% more TIER - so an extra 102m of tier is available to the group.

When you buy the land, I think you can say 'buy for group'. I think you want to use this option if you are buying a parcel larger than the 512 to avoid any tier charges.

The prim count is always based upon Land owned - if you own 1024m, you get 234 prims. The Group can buy the additional 10% of land (another 102m) and if it does, then it would get the additional prims that 102m would allow - math gives me an estimate of an additional 23 prims.

The 10% group bonus you are referring to is for tier. So a 10% bonus on a 1024sqm would be 102sqm available to purchase within the group.

If you don't want covenants, don't rent on an island. The only possible way to to buy your land (NOT RENT IT) on the mainland, which consists of all the large continents on the map.

To know if you're buying or renting, find out how you will be paying your monthly fee. Will it be coming from your account, in USD, and going straight to LL? That is buying. Your tier goes to LL. Will you be paying in L$, to another avatar? Paying via PayPal to another avatar? That is renting. Like someone else mentioned, you probably will want to buy since you're both premium members.

And yes, Seerial is mainland.

Seerial is on a mainland continent so no covenant.

Easiest thing is to create your group, both of you donate your free 512 using the Group Info > Land & L$ tab then, with the group active, go to the plot in question, right click and choose About Land (or click the land name at the top of the screen) and choose the Buy for group button.

If you just use the Buy button then you will be charged $5 USD for owning the full 1024 even if you then deed it immediately.

When I bought land for the first time, I joined the group "SL Land Answers Unlimited" and then got in Group IM and had someone walk me step by step thru what I wanted to do in order to get the land bought and properly deeded to my group with tier. That group is a wealth of answers and a fabulous inworld resource.

Others have mentioned it, but as you are unsure, lets reinforce it.

You wrote "b) Purchase the land and then Deed it to the group."

Nope!
You Buy for Group.
The option is not obvious in the purchase dialog.

If you Right-Click the land, you see a "Buy Land" option in the pie menu.
Don't got there!
Click the About Land option in the menu.
You then get a window with both "Buy Land" and "Buy for Group".

Use "Buy for Group"

After you deed your respective 512 of free tier to the group, any land that you buy in your own name will increase your tier.


edit:
Kathy types faster, but it bears repeating.

a. Yes.

b. No. Purchase the land for the group, as Sling and Kathy have said.

c. Not exactly. The island owner will charge you tier fees instead of LL. As far as LL is concerned, you won't own any land at all if you "own" land on someone's island. Your premium membership tier would be wasted.

d. No. Deeding the land to the group gives you a 10% bonus on the amount of land your group can hold tier-free. You can buy (for the group) another 102 sqm *within the same sim* , which will effectively give you that many more prims to work with. (Well, you can buy it anywhere you want, but you can't share prims unless both plots are in the same sim.)

e. In-world, go to the top of the screen and click on the parcel name, or right-click the land and choose "about land". The covenants tab should say something about there being no covenant for that land. You can also look on the map and make sure you're surrounded by continent instead of water.

Good luck!