Themed Resort Rental Question

Ok, I searched through the forum before I asked this question. And while there are some very helpful threads touching this subject, as far as I could tell, none of them really addressed this exact situation.

I own some land that borders a protected ocean. In order to offset it's ever growing tier fees, I'd like to rent out some houses. And that's where my scenario starts.

I intend for my land to be a themed beach resort, with surfable waves, diving, boat rentals, public boat launch, etc...

I also want to retain control over the theme (terraforming, landscaping, waterscaping, animals and architecture), thus I want to rent preplaced houses and not the land.

Also, to retain the open resort theme, I can't have wall to wall houses placed on the land. And further, the houses themselves are relatively small single story 10mx20m huts with a 10mx10m deck and fit within a 480sqm plot. But I can provide 100 prims, and possibly even 150 prims.

To my question. How do I determine it's rental value which is not really based on prim useage, but on the location, the theme and it's recreational amenities?

Other options that are open to me are adding commercial use on part of it, skyboxes (which I hate and I still need a price), charging access the land, charging access to the group, charging for boat rentals and surfboard rentals, etc...

But I'd rather provide a place that a renter can invite some friends over and have a good time, without a bunch of additional charges.

Any ideas?

Jethro,

Check out my beach resort mainland sim of Liome and touch the notecard box at the coordinates below for my prices.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Liome/111/158/22

At one time I was charging a premium because of the added value of having an attractive beach sim with lots of common areas, a boat launch etc. But I recently lowered prices to be more competitive. Be aware that the beach theme is one of the most common. It's a very competitive market and it's not easy finding renters. At least that has been my experience. You might want to come up with an additional angle or theme to make yourself stand out in the crowd. Allowing commercial rentals will help.

I would not charge for access to your land. There are too many free places to launch a boat. Same with charging to join the group. It will send people away.

Another thing that won't help you is your prim offerings. Most people will want more than 150. Prims are one of the first things people consider when renting and the more you can give them, the better.

Good luck with your venture!

One of the first things your renters will ask is "How many prims do I get". People like to make a place their home.

ive gotta disagree with the whole prim thing..ive been providing beach homes for approx 9 months...and skyhomes too (dont know why you hate skyhomes..make them pretty and not boxes, they rent well!) I rented myself...and found yes at first i wanted a bunch of prims but never actually used them. So when i made my resorts...i decided to try fully furnished. GOOD furnishings...not bland but...unobtrusive..i rarely give many prims if any at all...maybe 50 for personalising...10 in a skyhome..and my places are rented almost consistently. I am flexible though..and always make sure residents know if they want my stuff out, the can keep the items removed prim value- not many ever ask- so I think what i use is very acceptable. (or maybe im SO scarey no one likes to ask lol)

I went the extra mile and made these places really cool to hang out in...my smallest beach resort is ALWAYS full, and its a quiet place, i provided a good quality deck area...hot tub, landscaped it well..furnished prettily (it took me 2 attempts to get it right for gals & guys i admit) My main resort is a haven...plenty to do like jet skis, tubes to ride, bumper boats, sailboarding, all free for residents and their guests...plus plenty of space to wander about , a dance floor (made by me-doesnt have to be expensive stuff) bar...and snuggle spots- again not expensive. The big bucks for the activity items were bought when i was cash rich and wanted to improve on what id done...BUT it doesnt have to cost a lot, i hunt yard sales a LOT..and get some real bargains for my beaches I also make things myself too- saves a little cash .

As for what to charge...it all depends on if youre in it to make a profit or offset your own cost of land owning etc. My own ventures sort of mushroomed...as each bit rented and paid for itself...i went further...and eventually up into the sky. I know some landlords have an EXACT formula to work out what they need to charge and how many prims they allocate. I never have done that, i charge a fair price for what I feel i give, make sure the residents become part of a community , and sometimes do things like the xmas event & play ground just to say "thankyou", thank you's are important

I do rentals because i enjoy it...not to make loads of lindens, I try to make the homes inviting and give each person the feeling they are not only renting a home...but becoming part of our community..(vomit now if you like lol) It seems a winning formula, I do have quite a few residents who have been with me for a longggg time! Make some social areas on your beach...doesnt have to cost the earth...few dance balls whatever, seating, trees..youre right, people DO like to bring friends and hang out if its a nice area.

Rentals are a big big pond with lotsa fishes, but we have different colours and aims, seems theres a place for all of us...if you need help...or want to nose around my places, just shout AND FINALLY (because ive rambled sorry) ENJOY what you do & create... wouldnt do it if *i* didnt..
Fai x

Yeah like Raymond suggests, just look around at different places and check out the prices. Lots of regulars on this forum are mainland landlords, like Raymond, Faithless, Cristalle Karami, many others. Everyone has a slightly different approach and offering.

I think my prices are on the more expensive end that you'll find, but I do okay. Oddly enough, my most expensive apartments and homes are almost always rented, while my cheaper ones get a lot more turnaround! (sometimes because they decide to upgrade to a more expensive one, which is fine with me).

Some tenents are prim-addicts, and others aren't. If you get a tenant who wants more prims and is willing to pay for them, just charge them extra, and then demolish one of your houses to make up for the prims, and put in a few trees. That way you get 1 less tenant to manage for similar income, and you just greened up the grid.

I knew this guy who seemed to be doing quite well renting hourly hotel rooms.
So its possible to do a vacation theme short term rentals for couples on honey moons or just want romantic place to rent for few weeks or months, to entire community theme.
Although one thing I have noticed as far as rental themes community themes I have never seen any or perhaps I just haven't known where to look that is geared towards single Avatars who want fun hang out, social place with their own private spaces for socializing with new friends. Perhaps their isn't much demand for that.

Well my sim is not full so I have to take off my hat to anyone who can fill all their rentals, no matter how they do it. And I agree that offering already furnished homes usually works. But 50 prims...I sure as hell couldn't get by on that few.

if its fully furnished....what would you DO with a further 50? I give sexanimated beds...sex animated showers, couches chairs, pose stand,lamps, lighting a few pose balls, garden seating, trees, art on the walls (although a few like to change them to their own tastes thus using a few of those 50 prims lol) texture changing rug so it kinda suits all tastes...in the more expensive beach front homes they get even more! I prefer to keep a tight reign on the prims, renting furnished really helps. Some of my more budget rentals skyhomes come with NO prims and that doesnt seem to phase people, maybe it depends what you offer them inside the home and what facilities they have access to - all the residents can use the beaches and fun stuff. (currently though sky homes are down, beach based homes are UP , it comes it goes !)

No one has used up their 50 to date...so i guess, 50 works...for some

I went through a really quiet period november time and reassesed what i offered...i think thats one of the important key issues...like someone else said above...be flexible...offe r more prims for extra Lindens if they insist (they usually find they dont need them and revert anyway to save money) And yes...my more expensive homes are the most popular right "now", cheaper skyohmes were in the summer couldnt get enough up in the air to satisfy the demand and the beach homes stood empty for a few days...but thats the market i guess..you need to keep an eye on whats happening..(we ll i do anyway lol)

Sometimes i drift about to see what else is on offer...im always open to new ideas or approaches...there are some gorgeous resorts out there that make me DROOL...if only i had more time...and money...and skill ~sigh~ lol

Actually after doing some earlier research here, I found your name and I visited your rentals. I can't say I came away with anything that I hadn't already thought of (or seen elsewhere), but I do like the way you executed it. Very nice.

But our thematic vision differs greatly. In fact, my venture (if that's would it can be called) came from my interest in landscaping and I found the need to support my habit.



Ok, so based on my proposed 10mx20m house footprint, how many prims would someone expect to receive and what price would be a fair price?

I'm not really wanting to make this a business, I just want to offset the monthy costs of my desire to live in an ocean front resort.

I was also thinking of a 2048 spot for a small apartment tower (10 units?). I could offer renters a larger foot print, maybe 20mx30 (or more if it was a loft) and better views.

But I've seen mixed reviews on apartments. Thematically I know I could make it work in my vision. But from a rental point of view, would I be better off making this a commercial zone? Or how about mixed use?

I've found a few that I do like. But they aren't for me. The NYC loft with a picture of the NY skyline is a cool one. And the Space Pods, seem like the perfect type of dwelling for someone living in the sky. Maybe I should put my personal issues aside and offer them.



Great, more shopping to do! But your right, furnishing the places might be a good idea.



I think my ALT needs to visit your place.



This idea sprang from two seperate but intertwined circumstances.

I was squeezed out of my original small resort inspired land locked lagoon by rentals that spring up on all sides and ruined the ambience. And my next plot of tranquil ocean front land, was soon surrounded by for sale signs.

So I decided that rather than risk having more huge blocks of virtual concrete or floating barges ruin a perfect beach setting, I'd buy the land and carve out the best for myself. Which then led to all of the land being too good to part with and the need to offset it's tier cost!



I like your philosophy. Maybe Jethro will show up and leave the alt behind.

The media-sharing is a real pain, and some tenants can't deal with overhearing chat. As long as you are very up-front with your tenants that they need to be considerate and share, things go okay usually.

I love hi-rises and think that they are beautiful, and fun to build. Some tenants love them too, and will put up with the drawbacks to live in them. My 10-unit hi-rise at Masocado is usually full.

Why the F didn't I think of that?!!!

Oh yeah, because my wife would kill me.

I have a lot of cheap newbie friendly rentals. These are not 100% full but they stay very full - there is always a little bit of churn. These are furnished, but modestly. Sex bed, a couple of chairs, etc. They get a few prims to play with but not much. For the price, it is great value. But you would be surprised how many prims people want, even when a place is fully furnished. Certain elaborate sex toys, for example, will take up a hell of a lot of prims. And those who really need more will buy more or move on to something bigger.

After rereading this, I hope you don't take this as anything but a compliment.

I've been in SL for about a year (new to the forum), and I've owned land for about as long. During that time, I would fly or TP around SL and look at other peoples places for ideas. So I've seen quite a few beach front properties and resorts.

It was only very recently because of the above mentioned circumstances, that I found myself seeking to rent houses. And that's when I came across you here and visited your land.

And it is very well executed and very well organized, and I did learn somethings from my visit(s). It was only in the resort theme aspect, which as you say has been done over and over, that I was commenting on.

And maybe that will be my weakness here, as it's the same thing as being offered by the next guy. But then again the Lindens aren't making land with more beaches because there is no demand.

I took it as a compliment, yes, but thanks for checking. I chose beach as my theme and made Liome the way it is because that's what appeals to me personally. I see the sim as my vacation home and I happen to like areas with Heart Palm trees and Siggy pools. There is a reason beach themes are so popular and waterfront fetches more per meter than granite. People like it.

LL is not making or releasing any new sims right now, but when they were, there were a lot of beach and waterfront ones being offered, Liome being one of them.

I didn't answer your second prim question because I don't really know if there is a right answer. Up until this thread I assummed people needed a ton of prims. Now I'm finding out all they need is a bed with sexball poses.

Looking at the latest map (thanks, Carl!), you can see there is no shortage of beachfront land, especially in Nautilus. Then consider that almost every Private Estate (Island) has four sides of beach.

Of course not all of it has to be a tropical paradise or water recreation theme...

/327/07/236774/1.html

Thanks. Those are really cool maps!

And as you can see, the Lindens have progressively made their continents with more water front properties (to meet demand?). Although this has the side effect of offering more waterland, which in turn makes true unobstructed beach front property even rarer.

If you fly around those continents, as I have been doing since my arrival in SL a year ago, you will find that there is not much 'protected' beach front land for sale. And what is for sale, is being offered at a much higher price than on the greenland (where I also own a builders hideaway).

Also if you watch the recent auctions of the abandoned properties, the waterfront land tends to get more bids.

As to private estates, while there are many that I admire and take much inspiration from (Bora, Bora Isles and their adjoining sims is one of my favorite destinations), how many of them can offer the resident an empty adjoining ocean sim for watersport useage, let alone the multiple adjoining ocean sims that you find on Corsica and Nautilus?

I wish I could make a product to sell, so that I could support a chain of Islands like Bora, Bora. But my current talent lies in finding (and modifying as needed) other peoples creations to fit my vision of how a beach front resort should look. Hopefully 10 people will agree and I won't have to sell my property to a BDSM club!

A straight route by boat from my place on Nautilus to yours on Corsica, takes you through 43 SIMs, some of which are private but they either allow access or they have protected channels. But the majority are open ocean sims.

And the 43 doesn't take into account the open sims that adjoin these. So there is possibly a hundred or more open ocean sims (I'll count them all one day, and let you know. It's good for marketing! ), that a private Island could/would never offer.

So what about offering resort hopping? Find several resort owners who would set aside a dock which would be set to an inter-resort group that would allow boaters to visit without losing their boats?

Or maybe I'm getting to ahead of myself and I should start by renting my houses first...

Fun idea. Your boaters are welcome in Liome. There is already a public dock there.