Question Regarding Group & Land Buying

I am about to buy some mainland but want to make sure I'm correct about something. This may be obvious to some:

1. I'm only speaking of tier here. I realize that I must first purchase the land and that there is no first land (free) anymore.

2. I currently have a group with my partner and I. RL too so if we break up in SL it means we broke up in RL and I have much more to worry about than lost virtual land. I want to purchase land with that group. I have a premium account, he does not.

3. I know that if I get 512m that my tier will be free. Does having the group affect the tier if I go to 1024? That's where I'm confused. Will my tier be $8 or will it be $3.

Hi, Bradley
I think I'm correct in saying that if you go to a 1024, your tier will be $5 a month, and you'll also get 10% extra since it will be group land. So, you could purchase an additional 102 without increasing tier. If you go to a 1536 (with a "group bonus" of 153 or 154, not sure which) your tier only goes up $3 to $8/month.
Hope that helps.

Yes, that and the figuring around I've done inworld answers my question.

Thank you

You pay $5 to LL for contributing 512 m2 tier above your free 512. (a total of 1024 tier contributed)

You pay $8 to LL for contributing 1024 m2 tier above your free 512. (a total of 1536 contributed)

woops, didn't see you, Sunni

So a follow up down the road question.....let's say I bought a 1024 lot. Later I wanted more prims. Would I be able to buy any 512 lot on the same sim or do they have to be adjoining?

You can buy land anywhere in the same sim to get the benefit of extra prims.

Final question, I hope. And I have tried to find these already but search sucks as we know.

Other than the asthetic look of an area, how do I determine if it's a good area to purchase land. I want it for a store. Oceanfront would be best but I can't afford it so I guess anything will do.

What other factors should I keep in mind and how can I determine those quickly before they are gone ( a piece of land I wanted last night was gone this morning)?

I hope this doesn't sound too obvious but : a sim with a well-trafficked set of stores, or a popular mall, sounds like a good start. Other than that, a sim that is popular for other reasons, such a good visitor attraction in it. And, of course, where there is still a reasonable prim allowance for you to use.

Tbh a chat with a successful store-owner could be your best starting point if that is your main concern.

On the other hand, if selling is your secondary concern and it is also to be for your home, then location location location is everything.

If you are within sight of a popular club or another large store, that may help. Being on Linden Road helps, as some people explore by walking the roads. Ultimately, though, any store will drive its own traffic if what it sells is good, even if you are in the middle of BFE. Word of mouth is your best advertising, and no location will supersede that. Location can only help.

No, I have a home already. This is just for a small store I'd like to open up for fun. Obviously I'd like it to sell also. How do I determine the traffic on a sim? Do I have to go clicking on various parcels?

I will take the advice regarding chatting with an owner also.

You can certainly find the traffic for individual businesses by finding them in Search. Not sure how you would do that for a whole sim though unless Lindens hold this info somewhere.

I'd love to be near a road but I've noticed that cost goes up. No surprise. Since I want to do this for fun at first anyway, I'm considering just buying the cheapest piece of crap out there and putting in a skybox.