Land purchase and premium accounts

Hi everyone. Not a newbie really, but certainly new at land purchase. i bought land and am happy with it. It is 4096 sqm. I pay the owners of the sim, and not LL, 30/month tier. Today I decided to actually upgrade on LL to premium account. I wanted bigger land. I chose also the 1/8 land and this brings it to 40/month as tier I believe, with double the size that I have now and also does not include the 519 that I initially get.

So my question is two fold:
1- is this the right thing to do? or did I have a better deal before?
2- do I have to buy land from someone specific to get my 512 sqm? because in private ownership they get the tier themselves in order for them to pay Linden Labs the tier


So.. now what?


Lost in paradise

- to get your 'free' 512sqm in tier, you need to purchase land from the mainland.

- If you intend to buy 1/8 of a region right out, that's fine... but personally I would start at a low amt and gradually increase as needed. You may find that, given the geographic specifics of the land you purchase, you don't need that much.

Thanks Aki very much. But what is considered mainland? as in where? and if I buy it from there, who are the owners? should I look for specific owners - eg. LL? how would it work if I am to buy it from another person?

There's a drop down menu in the land search tab which allows you to search mainland only.

1. Only you can answer this question. Premium membership is only necessary for owning mainland. Depending on your needs, renting on an island might be a better option for you, because you usually have a lot more terraforming flexibility, and your neighbors must follow certain aesthetic and behavioral guidelines, which is not always the case on the mainland. (Also, you might even save money, considering you don't need a premium membership to rent.)
2. The first 512m of mainland you buy is tier-free. If you're in the 1024m tier that means you pay tier for 1024m, but get 512m tier-free, meaning you can own 1536m in the 1024m tier. Took me ages to understand that. =)

When looking for land to purchase, have a look at....(i could be wrong - can't access SL right now - am at work) World>Region and look for a tab that lists info on who owns the region. Additionally, check the land properties>covenant tab. If the land is for sale via an estate, it should list what the costs of tier are and to whom they should be paid. If it is mainland, there shouldn't be a covenant in that tab.

You only need to worry about owners if you're planning to rent. Just use the Land Sales search and you can filter by mainland and island. Make sure you teleport around a bit to get a feel for the differences between the different kinds of environments.

Note that some islands charge you a big fee to acquire the land, and then charge you monthly rent, whereas other islands only charge rent. I'm trying to think of an easy way for you to identify what's an island versus what's mainland, but am unable to think of a sure thing. Just be sure to read the terms and ads closely when searching. Mainland is always attached to other regions, whereas islands are usually standalone, or in smallish clusters on the world map. Mainland listings often say "no covenant" in the land description, because the mainland is very wild-west, in terms of what you can do there. (Which can be good or bad, depending on your perspective.)

ok thanks everyone. Wish I asked before I upgraded and created the account. BUT.. ok.. here again is a request for clarification please: so if I buy land that is from the mainland, from someone, I still have to pay them cost of land, right? but the tier is free?

Wildifre you said this: "The first 512m of mainland you buy is tier-free. If you're in the 1024m tier that means you pay tier for 1024m, but get 512m tier-free, meaning you can own 1536m in the 1024m tier. Took me ages to understand that."

Still don't quite understand it. So let's say I buy from you a land that is 1024m - and pay tier for that to LL... right? or pay to you? then where do I get the 512? sheeesh... still confused. Maybe I will let my boyfriend read this.

Sucha,

The Mainland is any of the BIG BIG BIG continents on the map. These parcels can be owned directly by you. You pay Linden Lab, and ONLY Linden Lab for tier. You will actually BUY the parcel from another human being. Think of it like buying a RL piece of land; you buy it from Joe Bob, but you pay property taxes on it to the US Gov't. That's what tier is.

The "free" 512 tier means you don't have to pay "taxes" on 512 meters of land, no matter how much you own. If you own 1024, you pay for 512 of tier. If you own 1536, you pay for 1024, and so on.

If you own 512, you pay nothing. If you own 1024, you pay $5/month. If you own 1025, you pay $8/month.

Is that "free" first 512 sqm eligible for donation to a group, and therefore the 10% bonus in sqm to the group would apply to it as well?

Princess Ivory

Yes...I have 2 Premium avs, each donating her 512m to my little land group, and I have the bonus available.

And that comes out cheaper for you in the long run, rather than one premium account holding it all? Even allowing for the second annual membership fee? And are you counting the stipends of each avatar as income to deduct from the expense?

I'm just trying to figure out if it is cheaper for only one of us to be premium, but both share the group, or whether it would be cheaper for my husband's alt to upgrade to premium too. And then of course, you have to figure out what level of tier he should buy......

Sorry this conversation seems to be evolving in two different threads right now - it's just the direction the conversations took!

Princess Ivory

Given all what you all said, and me having been silly enough to buy the premium account before actually coming here and asking [I read but thought I understood something else which is why I did not ask] - now what my account says is 8,704 square meters are my allowed holdings. I had bought [or thought I bought] 1/8th of a region - so thisis what my account now says:
___
Paid Tier Level: 8192
Available Square Meters: 8704
Monthly Cost:* US$40.00
You can acquire up to 8704 square meters without additional land use fees.
_____

So what should I do with this? buy land that is 8704 meters and it would then all be tier free since I am already paying 40/month?

Is that correct?



LOL.. is that how Second Life makes its money through idiots like me?

8192 billable tier+ free 512 of tier = 8704 = $40/month. 8192 IS 1/8 of a region. Unless you want to pay less, I don't see the mistake.

How much land do you really WANT to own? how much do you want to pay a month? The $40 is your monthly tier so your tier is not free. It's going to cost you $40 a month, plus what you paid for your premium membership.

Okay... you should only be charged for as much land as you actually use. In fact if you buy more land than your current tier will accomodate, SL will ask if you want to bump up to the next tier during a land purchase attempt.

You haven't bought any land- you've just told LL that you're ready to pay up to the 1/8-sim tier if you happen to buy that much land. I know it's really confusing- it took me months to understand it, personally- but the only thing you're currently on the hook for is your premium subscription. At least you'll get your weekly L$300 stipend, regardless of what you do land-wise.

But to re-iterate- you will only get charged tier for as much land as you actually own during a given billing period.

Since my main account is a little older, I get a 400L stipend on it, plus the 300L for the alt...I buy yearly subscriptions, which means the stipends pretty much pay for the memberships. I have 3,072m in land, which should be $25 per month, but with splitting it between the two accounts and donating their tier, it's actually $16 ($8 per).

I should add that unless you've actually bought land with that tier (or donated it to a group), you won't actually be billed for it.

now I can sleep better. I won';t be charged for that!! wow!! no I bought nothing with it. I had a previous land from a private seller.

Thanks wild. You just made my night.

))) Yayy!

Go into land use fees and update your tier to the amount you want to pay next tier date so you will not be billed for land you did not buy.

https://secure-web4.secondlife.com/account/landfees.php

What Ray said; if you click that radio button for an eighth of a sim's worth of tier, YOU WILL BE CHARGED THAT MUCH unless you CHOOSE a lesser amount. Go into that Land Use Fees screen, and click the 512 button. If you do actually buy MORE land, LL will automatically bump you up to the applicable level.

BUT RAYMOND, I thought they won't bill me unless I actually buy land from them. No? I have to update that? It says Square meters owned 0 and square meters donated 0. Do I still have to update the amount under it with those option buttons and go to 0 perhaps? or what?

Ok Oryx I just readyour response too. Will do that right now.


Thanks everyone. You are allllll darlings for all the help.


Do come visit me in my current land if you want.

Just update it. It takes 10 seconds and saves you peace of mind.

Done!!
thanks again.