Buying property and renting it out

I am new to this so basically trying to work my way around it but this seems to be how most people make some money that they can use in SL

Anyone have any experience of this is it quite a complex thing to do

Right now, unless you have something really special to offer to renters...there's just not a lot of money to be made.

Caledon, being the incredibleness that it is, has a waiting list. The moms and pops are struggling to rent their places out for enough to cover tiers.

Have you considered learning to build or design clothes? (Not that the market isn't already flooded with clothing, but...)

yeah i would be interested in designing clothes but not sure how to go about that

Most people spend 10 bucks a month on their credit card and dont worry about the headaches of trying to run a business.

My advise: get a paper route and use that money to buy L$. It's much less effort for more money.

As a land renter, I can tell you there is an abundance of sims, parcels, houses etc, so there is a lot of competition.

With most there is no real point of difference, so I guess if you come up with something different you might get the demand. Good luck

Hi Lucianna.

I wouldn't say it is something *most* people do to make money in SL. I would guess most people get lindens by buying them with their credit card.

It isn't complex to buy land, and then buy a scripted rental system that allows you to easily charge rent for it. It is difficult, though, to find and keep renters for that land, to help many of them learn how to rez objects and obey prim limits, and to do all of the other things you have to do to keep a renter happy and renting from you.

I am sure some more experienced landlords can give you better advice, but I would say the first thing you have to ask yourself is what can I offer a tenant that no one else can offer? Why, of all the land for rent or for sale in SL, would someone rent from me? How much am I willing to spend to get started?

Are you going to do commercial? Residential? Mixed? Bare land? Will there be a theme? Then, I would look around at others offering something similar and take note of what they are charging (and how much that pays beyond the tier obligations for that amount of land). Then, I would take a look at the rate of vacancies and run those expense numbers again.

I have great respect for people who are in the land business and do it well. If that is something you are passionate about trying, by all means give it a go! I wouldn't jump in head first thinking it will make you even a small amount of spending money, let alone pay back your initial investment, in the near future though. Just my opinion.

Hopefully people with land experience will step up to offer solid advice.

One did

Sorry, HoneyBear. I took a long time writing that (slow typist) and there weren't other responses when I started.

No offense intended to anyone.

Renting is a way to make money but it takes a lot of startup capital and a lot of energy for a very small return. You basically have to assign no value to your time, especially as you grow bigger.

Why do it? You have to enjoy the challenge of the business. You will learn a lot about marketing, market research, and the competition if you are serious about what you do, because there is vast, vast competition out there.

My advice, however, is that you learn more about SL before you decide to become a landlord, because a bad experience with a newbie landlord can make or break another person's SL experience.

Lucianna, let me be a little less flippant. There has been a recent change in policy and pricing for reduced capacity sims. Void sims, OpenSims, Homestead Sims ... it's all new or being changed and the prices have gone up 67% at a minimum. Now maybe you could snatch up a lot of these at ow prices because people are bailing left and right, but you would then have to rent them out to people who will "use tham as intended" and that may or may not happen and may or may not have various consiquences for you associated with the tennants use of the sim.

Hevy speculation going on and none of it is good. In my opinion I would stay out of any from of housing venture until the spring to see where the chips have fallen.