Buying Land - mainland or private sim?

For private islands, read the covenant closely and ensure that it's specifically allows clubs. You should inquire with the estate owner and let them your intend to build a club and and do they have any issues with that. If they bring up concerns about lag, scripts, number of avatars, or you don't get a warm fuzzy, move on. Also, check if the Estate Owner has reduced the allowed number of avatars in the region you're looking at. Bring up the the World Menu and select Region/Estate - look at "Agent Limit" and see if it's been reduced (or increased) from the default of 40. If it's been substantially reduced, you should look elsewhere. Whether your prospective land is mainland or private, goto that land at various times during a given day and bring up the sim statistics (Ctrl-Shift-1), and than click on "Simulator". Look at the "Main Agents" value as this is the number of avatars that are currently in the region. If you consistently see more than a handful, you should probably look for a sim that is not as busy. Also, you should check "Total Frame Time" and you can view that by clicking on the "Time (ms)" at the bottom of the simulator sim stats. If it's consistently above 20ms (the lower the better), you're already in a heavy use region and you probably don't want to add a club to the mix. Last, if you buy private and the purchase price is high or is otherwise consistent with mainland prices, check the Region/Estate menu again to ensure that "Allow Land Resell" is checked. If it's not checked, you can't resell the land if you decide to get of business unless you get permission from the estate owner and get them to change the setting - caveat emptor.

ok, i'll bite... what do you mean by "zoning"?

There may be rules about what you and other residents in the same region may build, and also rules about the way the land is used, whether residential, commercial, or some mix of the 2.

This opens up a tangent.

It's perfectly possible for an estate owner to use 'rent' as the business model (i.e. a monthly fee with no upfront fee) while using 'own' as the permissions model (i.e. you're listed as the owner of the parcel in About Land). So what you're saying is certainly one possibility.

But it's also possible to rent space on a private island using a rental permissions model, similar to the way mainland rentals work. That is, the landlord remains the owner of the parcel, but you're given membership in a group that allows you to build on the parcel, and possibly some sort of security orb controlling access. It's even possible for one person to be the estate owner, a totally different person being the landlord/parcel owner, and a third person being the tenant.

So if you're going to rent on a private island, you need to be clear with the landlord about exactly what sort of permissions you will get.

I ended up buying PI because it is also a place where I "play", and I was able to get the place at a good price without having a premium account. Also, I have more prims than what you would usually get on the size of my plot.

However, I definitely suggest that you only buy PI if you know the reputation of the owner and after interviewing residents. The good thing about where I live is that we are all a part of the rp sim there, and many have been there for a while.

I bought a small bit of mainland quite some time ago and am happy with it.

I pay premier membership and a small tier.

The landlords have never given me any trouble. =)