Need help! I'm being scammed!

That wasn't how I interpreted the OP's post.

I interpreted it to mean that they paid the down payment of $1L and were waiting on the rent box/group tag. (No, they didn't say that specifically, but we've seen other such threads.) Meanwhile they tried to rez their house. Before they could, they were banned and called awful names.

There does seem to be a bit missing in the middle of the story, but no one deserves to be called names and cursed at, regardless.

I find it hard to believe someone would begin a complaint thread over one Linden. It sounded to me what they were upset about was being treated so badly.

Sorry, I've seen too many posts like the OP. Just my humble opinion, but looks more to me like someone trolling. I read, "Need help! I'm being scammed!" (out of $1L, lol) more as "Need help! I desperately seek drama!"

You are too nice Melita. There's lots of folks that will start a complaint thread over a lot less than $1L.

In any event, although I am not the land lord in question, I took the liberty of having my property manager send along $1L, and appologize on behalf of the rental community.

The OP didn't say he ever intended to pay more than one linden dollar either. There is nothing in the post to support your inference to the contrary either. Incidentally this is one reason that many estate owners set the land price for estate rentals higher than 1 linden dollar. There are people in SL who know very well that the land requires separate rental payment as well but take advantage of the situation to use the land as their personal sandbox until they are ejected and banned which is also why it is imprudent to just start building on the land before paying rent.
Only because the OP edited the estate owner's name out after being told it was a forum violation. The intent was originally meant to be harmful to the estate manager.
Oh noes!
That's a very big if with only one side of the story coming from someone who explicitly cried foul for allegedly losing 1 linden dollar.
It's not a lot if the rent is by the month and the parcel is large enough which is highly probable if the parcel was large enough that the sign with the rental instructions was overlooked by the OP.

Hi Raymond.

Agreed that some of the $1L ads are misleading. Still, most of them show on search that the purchase price is to transfer land option rights, and that an additional amount will be needed for rental. I see in most ads that the amount per week/month is listed.

I prefer myself to see eatate managers set a higher fee (possibly refundable), or use the first week or two of rent as the payment.

Truth is, that estate land rentals have taken such a beating recently, that there's lots of great deals out there if you look for just a little while.

Check to see if there are other residents in the sim, and look at the purchase dates on the parcels (long term renters usually indicates a good estate manager). Check the manager and/or owners profiles as well. Steer clear of nearly empty new sims and owners with newer profiles if you want to play it relatively safe.

This is all great advice. Sadly, most people never see that or get educated in the slightest as to how to go about finding a home in SL. LL is fine with that and have never offered a good solution to educating people about all the land owning and renting options.

For instance, here's this entry from the websites land FAQ:

"How do I find land that I can buy?

There are a few ways to find land in Second Life. If you're logged in using the Second Life software, you can go into the Search menu, and click on the Land tab. This will give you a sortable price list of different areas of land. Or, you can visit the web-based Land Store to bid on land auctions, find land for sale, or have Linden Lab create a new private island that meets your specific needs."

Notice that estates are not even mentioned in that paragraph. No wonder people have no concept of them when they are searching.

I can't really applaud your logic there. So now people are being excoriated based upon what they didn't say?

I'm giving benefit of the doubt to the OP and you are giving benefit of the doubt to the landlord but the truth is, we are BOTH filling in the blanks our own way. So I am not sure why you take such exception to my interpretation. It's as much a sketch as yours is.



That's exactly my point, Dagmar. They are not saying anything all that bad, other than to quote what the landlord supposedly said to them - which in my opinion (if true), is damning no matter what happened.



Your own interpretation is every bit as big an "IF" so I am, again, not sure why you take such exception.



Just another "if." Why don't we wait for the OP to post again.

Why is it still called "buy land" and "land for sale" on private estates in the SL client?
Almost everyone who knows about land agrees leasing and renting are more correct terms when applied to private estates.
Its a legal case waiting to happen.

It's a JIRA waiting to happen at the very least. I can't believe no one's written one yet.

I totally agree. It's a huge pain in the butt if your looking to actually buy land. A "leasing/renting" search option needs to be added to eliminate rentals from actual land "sales".

Guessing that is not going to happen. Their work here is already done.

I hope they got their L$1's worth.

Raymond, they didn't lose a thing.

From my post above:

In any event, although I am not the land lord in question, I took the liberty of having my property manager send along $1L, and appologize on behalf of the rental community.

Now they can go buy a better parcel.

Of course they did ... I think 3 people sent L$1 along to the OP ... so they turned a profit. Was that a scam? *grins*

Just use the dropdown to search mainland only.

I meant I hope they got their dollar's worth from this thread.