LAND.... I'm still confused! Can anyone help please?

The dull bit:
I've been looking at purchasing land for a couple of weeks now and have been searching the 4 mainland maps/forums/listed websites/auctions etc for a couple of weeks now - it's taken over my life both SL and RL! Each time I think I've got the hang of it, another terminology/expression appears that leaves me all confused again!

My Wishlist:
I'm looking for a plot that sits on a protected and/or unblockable view of around 800 sqm up to 2500 sqm on the mainland. I actually don't want to build a huge construction/run a nightclub etc., I only want to put a house in keeping with (what I hope will be!) the pretty surroundings! I see a lot of peops that have purchased wonderful views of the ocean and put up a five story brick 'thing' so that anyone behind them won't get any benefit - though I do realise that peops can do as they like!

Questions:
1) Sellers advertise 5 class server - is this a REALLY good thing worth paying more for?

2) Upon the advice of very helpful people, I've been trying to find a plot that costs up to $L10 per sqm and not get ripped off with the $L14++ prices that I always find.... am I searching for the impossible?

3) Is a 'waterplot' considered to be poor quality compared to 'true' land/beach?

4) If I do purchase somewhere with a *cough* 'unusual' building in front of it, is there somewhere to buy scenery to cover it that doesn't look too fake?

The End Bit (hooray!!):
Sorry if this thread sent you to sleep... you can wake up now and breath again!

Thanks all,
Twirly

Hi Twirly...

It's really a matter of searching.....oftem times I come across land in unexpected places while I'm exploring. Try searching with key words like 'residential' or 'rent' or 'ocean' because a lot of times land sales will pop up. Also, I've seen quite a few sims that have beautiful residential areas with either homes or plots for sale.....Mainland is tough because there are no 'rules' governing what can be done on the land....so while you may find a plot you like....you may also wind up with neighbors that build crazy stuff.

You can get things to block out ugly views.....either big trees or entire walls with scenery on them..... my advice would be to enjoy exploring SL using lots of different keywords....like Village or Town..... and just see what happens. That's how I found my land....it's always been accidental. I'm on a class 5 private island, all beach.....but I love it.....low lag and protected from ugly builds by the covenant. I've never had any luck searching in land sales...always drove me nuts. lol

Probably not. Performance will be much more determined by whether there's a busy club or store in the sim--anything that attracts a lot of avatars, especially if they're within sight of each other in a cluster. Class 5s handle many more avatars before they start really lagging. But on the other hand, the Class 5s probably will be the last to get upgraded to Class 6s, whenever that happy day arrives.Not impossible, but frankly, unlikely for water that hasn't been junked-up (yet).This really depends on the surroundings; the best is true land abutting protected Linden water that nobody can build on. That, of course, is pricey.Not really. You can landscape around it, or put up scenery panels in front of it, but... to make it not look fake, it really helps if the overall design can somehow incorporate either that "unusual building" or whatever is used to obscure it, rather than just push a scene in front of it. Sometimes it can be an interesting design challenge, if you're up for it.

Class 5 servers in adverts aren't generally mainland, that's estate so ignore those.



Cost is a matter of opinion. I don't think L$14 per square metre sounds excessive for waterfront land. That's my opinion, you need to make up your own mind on that.



Waterplot means you have no floor to your land. You can build one but this takes up more prims. You can make a evry pretty waterplot but it's the amount of prims that are the issue.



Yes you can buy scenery but buy a nice one if you have to do that, some of those sceneries are eyesores in themself!

Protected land is a lot more valuable, but remember that protected doesn't mean protected forever.

Twirly,

Pay no attention to what's "considered."

My favorite land plots in SL are steep, hilly, non-green plots, and also waterplots. I think they make for absolutely unique and creative-looking builds. Ads would lead you to believe I'm crazy, but I think the "standard" is crazy.

1) Sellers advertise 5 class server - is this a REALLY good thing worth paying more for?
From my experience moving from mainland to estates, yes.

2) Upon the advice of very helpful people, I've been trying to find a plot that costs up to $L10 per sqm and not get ripped off with the $L14++ prices that I always find.... am I searching for the impossible?
Wow, is mainland that expensive nowadays? I sell estate lands for quite a bit less. This may change, as I understand LL is putting out more land in auctions.

4) If I do purchase somewhere with a *cough* 'unusual' building in front of it, is there somewhere to buy scenery to cover it that doesn't look too fake?
Yes, but that uses more prims. Another reason why I moved to estate land.

I don't think the two can be compared, Sue, particularly when many people advise that you should not pay anything up front for estate land.

A big THANKS to all of you - that was very useful information (now if I could just find somewhere in my tiny brain to store it!!!).

I think the average prices for plots I've been looking at with Gov Linden Protected Land comes out at about $L17 per sqm... maybe I shouldn't run away quite so quickly from those now.

As for the comment about protected land not being protected forever - is this truly the case in all circumstances? I think I'd be paying a premium rate for the 'protection' and would be pretty peeved (putting it politely!) if I lost it.

How do you now get 'new' land from Gov Linden? Do you have to buy a whole island? Is there some kind of announcement please? I keep going to the unreleased areas on the off chance - but since first land disappeared, I can only assume that you need mega bucks to grab a new piece?

This could be a case of 'back to the drawing board' for me! Ho-hum - my RL isn't easy so why should my SL be?!!!

Cheers all,
Twirly

Previously unowned? Buy an island, or buy a parcel in one of the new mainland sims. (2048 for 22000 L$ I think....)

To buy directly from gov linden, its either island, the new mainland sim parcels, or from auction (Land that has been abandoned will be auctioned most likely)

Check this out Twirly....

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A comment on this:

It doesn't matter. You don't need a floor. It's one reason skyboxes are in SL. You can build your house right on top of the waves and don't need any supports for it. You'd only need to use prims if you want a "yard". Of course, I think the idea of jsut jumping off the porch into the water sounds fun ^.^

Remember to think outside the box....or even outside the torus *Grins* Think not right, not left, but sideways at a diagnal slant that zig-zags a bit, but no matter what, think as you want to think. Perceptions in SL are all a matter of the fundemental reality of our imaginations. RL physics do not apply unless you want them to. If you can think it, do it.

As for land *shrugs* I lined up the L$ I wanted to spend on land and then went looking. I shopped around for two months before buying. I'm still at the first plot I ever bought though. Outlived 5 clubs, 2 casinos, an ad-farm, and a combat RPG neighbor. I'm here to stay *plants flag in ground*. Look until you find EXACTLY what you want, then dig in and make your dreams reality (virtual that is ^.~).

~Jessy

A house right on the water is fine. You can build a dock if you like to boat. My place is floating in Raymond Figtree's sim, and honestly I don't miss the ground under the house.

Just be careful on water lots that your access to protected waters isn't compromised. if you are a sailor, make sure waters are not script restricted.

As an experiment I went map hopping yesterday, finding the yellow bits and TPing in. No wonder Twrly is confused. The prices varied from L$10 pmsq to nearly L$ 60 pmsq, the latter promising an ocean view you had to be at 200 m to enjoy. The nearer the coast the higher the price, even if a plot was completely boxed in by ugly buildings right to its boundary.
I can see why some people take months to find what they want. Just keep looking Twirly.

Aye. Ads work here in SL the same they do in RL. that is; they lie a lot.

Before all the honest advertisers light the torches for the angry mob, yes, some are honest and only advertise what they have, and ina forthright manner. And anyone that thinks that's the majority of ads, needs to stop watching Barney. It rots the brain.

The biggest problem I see with SL is that it mimics RL TOO well. People come in and see all they can do and are amazed (and should be). However, I believe they are comming in with the mis-conception that the "game" (and lets not argue this, I don't call it a game either, but people use it as a reference to other MMORPGs) is ~fair~.

Life is not fair. Second Life is not fair.

We have rules and laws and regulations in both to TRY to make it fair, but so far, the human emotion of greed has prevented it from happening in full.

It would be nice for LL to warn people of this, but, to be fair to LL, it wouldn't be very good marketing strategy to say "Come to SL. Your World. Your Imagination. Oh, and watch out for the con-artists, scammers, and thieves.".

Land (and any other commodity) should be purchased jsut as we would in RL. You don't buy a house in RL in just a few minutes. You look, and talk to people, and look some more. While SL is not RL, we can use RL experience to guide us.

And yeah, land prices are stupid. I saw a 512m plot on a beach sell for 70k. I really wish LL would step in with some ethics and put a cap on how high land can be set to sell per sqm. They won't, and I realise why, but I can still dream, heh.

~Jessy

If the land sells at that price it means the buyer is happy with the price they're paying, it's basic supply and demand. It's not LL's place to interfere there.

... What Jessica said ..... but on the last bit quoted above

Cost in excess of US$250 for a 512 does seem a tad over the top, but maybe someone really wanted that particular plot. The ongoing tier is the same as for a granite 512 completely surrounded by active ad plots.
That 70k will still buy a bigger beach lot elsewhere. The buyer chose that plot.
Maybe if the buyer had the surrounding land and if the owner of the 512 was actively giving them sub-AR grief, one might have concerns.

Anyone who wants to buy 'land' can do so at about 7/m.
There are still plots joined to linden water going at 14 or 15 per metre - sitting unsold for weeks.
Other plots nearby going for 20 and higher. Maybe not enough buyers at that level of twice the base price.


Putting a cap on land prices would not make 'high quality' land any more available.
Here's what would happen:
Any that did become available would be snapped up by a bot set to target particular areas.
The bot runner ( or indeed the original owner) would then sell at a price higher than the cap by bundling something else into the deal.
That would open up a new scam. "Buy the house for L$500,000 and I'll sell the land to you at L$10/m". Ca-ching!!!! "Sell the land now? .... nah, I've changed my mind. AR?? Good luck. What we have here is an inter-resident dispute. You have a nice day now."

that's why there is a seach page where you can sort by price or price per meter. If you start on the first page, you can find the plot you are happy with by page 10...taking about a half hour of searching.