should i buy or lease?

Hi everyone
im not that new but Im still learning and I need abit of advice.
I am concidering getting a small piece of land for my home but Im abit confused about tier. I do have a premium account and I know that i Get 512 free but everywhere I look states tier due date and how much would be due.
Do I buy the plot then my free 512 gets deduced from the amount due?
many thanks for any answers

forgot to add, is it better to buy or lease?

Your 512 must be on MAINLAND, so that you are paying Linden Labs directly. It looks like you have been looking at Estate land, which is owned by someone else and is really more like a long term rental with extra risks (assuming that your Estate owner is not one of the very many fine and ethical ones in world).

When you search for land there's a drop down box that allows you to choose between all land. mainland and estate. You want mainland to take advantage of the free 512M tier.

If you do an all search estate land will come up first as many plots are set for sale for a reserve price of L$1.

As for whether it's better to buy or lease. If you buy mainland your lease deal is with Linden Lab, they are the most trustworthy landlords here. If you lease you have a middle man, there are many fine middle men but they are not the company, if they disappear then your land will whereas if Linden Lab disappear, we all disappear.

If you're just looking for a 512M plot then I'd suggest buying will be better for you. Things can change the further up the scale you get when you want bigger plots.

Wow!!
That was a fast reply.
Thanks for the info Cherry, Ciaran

You'll see that Mainland purchase prices are much higher than private estates--for a whole bunch of reasons, but notably because you actually "own" the parcel (dealing with LL directly), rather than "buying" it from another resident (who could just disappear and the land vanish--it happens).

Incidentally, if you create a group and donate your 512 bonus tier to that group, there's a 10% tier bonus for groups, so it can own 560 sq.m. of land. (Why not 563? Because land comes in 16sq.m. chunks.) But 512 is the most common (and, per sq.m., the most expensive, on average) Mainland parcel size.

It's kind of a toss-up between buying or leasing, for one's first foray into SL land. No matter what you do, you'll almost certainly want to do something different later--which would seem to argue in favor of leasing. But if you're Premium anyway, as you know there's no monthly tier for that first Mainland 512, so that would be a big savings--and when you change your mind, you can always sell it for some price. A 512 is small, though, and needs careful management of prim count.

You can rent on Mainland or Estate, too, and there are pros and cons to this.

A couple of the pros -

You might end up (or find out that you have) horrible neighbours, and renting lets you simply move on without having the rigmarole of selling up. Likewise, if you just get bored of the area or your financial circumstances change, etc, you can move on;

You (hopefully) will have a good landlord who will handle any problems you get, whereas when you buy you're pretty much on your own;


A couple of the cons -

In the long-term, you might end up paying more of your L$ balance in rent than you ever would have spent buying the plot in the first place (depending on how much the rent is and what size/where the plot is, etc);

As mentioned above by others, you *could* fall prey to one of the less scrupulous landlords in SL. While there are some absolute gems, there are also some lowlife ones. Make sure you do your research first (find other renters and talk to them, ask on 3rd party forums, etc).

I rent a place and recently bought a place I *was* renting. I was lucky enough to find a good landlord, and both renting and buying have been good experiences for me.

One downside to buying is not knowing what the land prices are going to be when you get tired of the land. I am bored with my mainland parcel, and since the prices plunged I may have to take an almost 50% loss. Maybe more since it isn't selling.

Since I considered this part of the entertainment budget, I could just abandon the land and still not be too angry. I really enjoyed having it. But residents should get something for their land like everyone else.

On the other hand, with prices this low, maybe it's a good time to buy.

Do not abandon it. Whatever you get for it look at as a down payment on the next plot, as you noted all prices are down, waterfront holds steady but the rest is down big time so that bigger plot will be cheaper, in those terms it's all relative.

/me looks at Ciaran and thinks I should have made a bet with you about my land ... *G*

I'd have won that bet....even if I had to get my alt to buy it

Why the hell didn't I think of that

*aside* I love your signature Cherry *

To the OP, Whether you want to buy or rent land, in my opinion, should always be preceeded by where you want to live. Before you buy or rent anything, take a look around at as many different places you can find. Would you want to live in a themed sim, or a non themed, do you like to role play? Then, when you find what you want, then work out if buying or renting would suit you better. The 512 you get would have to be mainland though. From my experience, however, it is easy to outgrow a 512, so buying into it may or may not benifit you in the long run. I guess what I'm suggesting is to wait a little longer, until you know more of what kind of place you'd like to live in before you buy or rent. That way you can save your L$ up for a place you'll stay in for a longer period of time and have a more enjoyable overall experience Best of luck!

There is a lot of good info to be found at the SL Wiki Land Buying FAQ, I found it useful:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Land_Buying_FAQ

attend a few classes in Land before deciding. Take your time there is no rush Learn all you possibly can about land before buying any, or renting any AFAIK NCI still has classes on land

I've had the same experience. Over the past year I've rented mainland in two different sims and had EXCELLENT landlord experiences. Recently I purchased land in the last sim where I was renting.

(Sidenote: There are currently some nice 1024 plots for sale or rent on my sim - Warbluster. It is a "water sim" which I love because you can live "on land" as it where by putting down a prim then texturing it to suit and place your home there, live in the sky and have water below to swim or boat in or, as some have done in the sim, make an underwater home or grotto...or all three! This sim bordered on two sides by protected Linden ocean, so that is another nice feature.)

They both have their merits. Having done both, I'm strictly a renter now. When I owned, there were stretches where I wouldn't be in world, or not be at my home much, so the paying of tier just didn't make sense, plus the burden of having something to try to sell if I were to leave. I prefer now just paying a weekly rent fee, and I can pack up and go at a moment's notice.