Land Tier Question

Hi there, I'm new to owning land (as of five minutes ago ) and I had a question that I haven't been able to find an exact answer for. I have a vague idea but just that. My question regards tiers. I've been looking at land for about a week, but the only land that I have been able to find requires you to not only buy the land, but also pay weekly or monthly amounts to a person inworld. Why do I need to pay tier fees to someone + pay monthly sums to LL? Is most land out there going to require me to "rent" from someone even though I buy the land or can I find a piece of land that I can actually own and pay my $9.95 for. I wasn't sure if the latter was possible since all I could find were lands with extra tier requirements. Any answers or advice will be very helpful and appreciated. Thanks for your time, I'm looking forward to reading your responses.

~Sienna

it sounds like the land you are seeing is a privately owned estate sim, which means you would not be paying any tier to SL, but to the estate owner (and if you are premium yes you will be paying the premium fee to SL)

if you wish to find land that you pay tier to SL, that would be mainland

(I am not logged in, do not recall the exact filter to search mainland only when looking at land sales)

you can also use the map, tick the little box (button) that will show what land is for sale and just hunt around for a nice plot to your liking and price

If you have more questions just give me a shout

PS hope that helped

It did help, thank you very much I'll just keep searching and I'll make sure to keep an eye out for Mainland stuff from now on. Thank you again for the help

~Sienna

what you`ve been looking at are island

island in a nutshell:

resident * rents a region from LL and rents it out, living on an island, you do not have to have an SL membership, the island owner can sell off the land and charge tier or he can boot you

mainland (the large land masses on the map) are of LL, to own land there you need a membership


just 1 warning
SIM owner can do what ever they want as they are the SOLE owner of the island,
buying land and paying tiers has no real ownership unlike owning land on the mainland
living on an island (payed+tier or just high tier without pay) is PURE renting, if something happens (kicked out or owner dissapearing) and you will loose it

mainland you can only loose if you don`t pay LL membership+tier

welcome, as I said just give me a shout if you need help or have a question

AHH, that makes a lot of sense. I'm not looking to rent so I'll just stay away from the islands and keep to the mainland. I had no idea that you could lose your land at the whim of the island owner, or if they just decide to take off. The land sale sites that I've looked at made their land sound glamorous with lower lag, nicer communities, cheaper costs, ect ect. Although I'm sure they aren't horrible, I am glad that I know I know the negatives as well as the positives. Thank you Alicia

~Sienna

yeah sorry I did not mention that part of it, last time I did (not on forums) someone and I ended up debating it back and forth

I for one will not rent or purchase land on a private estate unless I know and trust the person completely, and even then there would have to be a damn good reason to do so

Also, with your 9.95 premium membership you can have 512m of mainland with out paying the monthly fee. You still have to buy the land though, but won't have to pay tier.
So you can just have the 512m for a one off charge and your monthly membership fee,
or you can buy more and have the 512m worth of tier free.
So if you bought, for example 1024m of mainland, you would pay the one off buy price, then would pay your monthly membership and a monthly charge for 512m even though you own double that (because of the free tier).

I hope that makes sense. I also hope I have got that all right and haven't just given you a load of useless and wrong information lol.

You got it right Claire.

Sienna,
In addition to that.
you can see the list of tier pricing here.

http://secondlife.com/whatis/landpricing.php

so, your first 512 m is free for signing up, and that first 512 tier charge that you see on that price list is the "additional" 512m that you might buy....so if you were to buy a 1024 plot (512 x 2 ) your tier fee per month would be at the 512m price.

another example:
1536m = 512 + 1024 .... your tier fee would be for the 1024m

when I land shop, I like to use the map and that allows me to instantly see where the land is instead of taking a blind stab at a listing in the search. I can visually look for mountainous plots or waterside plots.

The only land without extra tier requirements is mainland and the first 512 you own. You do however have to pay monthly fees to LL for that, that's your 9.95. If you own more than 512, unless you have a partner in a group, you will have to pay additional tier fees to LL.

You've probably been looking at estate land, which is where another resident asks for a tier fee. This is often cheaper than mainland but you're dealing with a landlord. You do not need to pay the 9.95 to LL if you want to live on an estate, you just need to pay tier to the landlord.

It doesn't matter actually if you selected monthly fee or annual fee for your premium account, as long as you are premium ***if you hold mainland 512 sqm or less you don't pay tier for it***.

And they don't need to be your "first" 512...you can have 1024 and sell 512 and you will not pay fee for the land you have left.

-----

Additional Land (over 512 sq meters) (In square meters) Monthly land use fee
1/128 Region 512 m2 US$5
1/64 Region 1,024 m2 US$8
1/32 Region 2,048 m2 US$15
1/16 Region 4,096 m2 US$25

-----

And so on, you can find all the tiers here: http://secondlife.com/whatis/landpricing.php

All good advice here....

But I will say this much.....I've always owned on private islands and never had a problem. Ya just have to look for places that are established and talk to other residents if ya can, get an idea of what the sim owner is like. the ladies that own the island I live on....own 6 islands and they are sooo cool and so all about making sure the residents are happy!

The benefits of going off the mainland to private sims is that they are usually zoned, residential or commercial.....so you're not going to wind up with a club next to you or some freaky build that ruins your view or is just plane weird/ugly. That can be a huge issue on mainland because there are no building restrictions as far as residence or shop/club..... This may not be a factor now as you are just getting used to all SL has to offer..... but later on down the road you may decide that privacy and a nice view are more important to you.

One thing I'd like to add. There is no true land ownership anywhere in SL. The difference between mainland and island land is that, with mainland the 'rent' is paid to LL, but with island land, the 'rent' is paid to a private individual.

LL won't take the land back unless you fail to pay the 'rent', or you break the rules really badly. Private individuals can take the land back anytime they feel like it, and there's nothing you can do about it.

'rent' = tier.

Premium account you get 300 a week or approx L$1300 a month (4 and 1/3 weeks per month) plus the ability to "own" 512 sqm of land rent free.

However, US$9.95 = L$2500 (more or less). So in a sense you are paying L$1200 a month for your 512sqm plot.

For L$100 a week, I have a cosy cabin on a beach, community area with dance floor and best of all the assurance that tommorow there will not be an ad farm next door. Ok, I got a fantastic deal but the point is, there are pros to renting as well and the smaller land you need the more renting is viable option. I would not, however, buy land on an estate for more than a token amount. There are too many places to choose from where you don't have to.

The US$9.95 is only if you do month-by-month premium. If you pay quarterly, it works out to be US$7.50 per month and if you pay yearly, it works out to US$6.00 per month.

Residents who go premium also have more options when doing support tickets and can (eventually) get to do a live chat with a Linden if they need help. I still liked the old Live Help better but the new stuff isn't horrible.

Not saying there's a clear winner in mainland vs island dwellers.. Just that there's a number of different pros & cons to each.

QFT

Anyone 'owning' SLand (including myself) should remember this. In theory, if LL chose to shut down tomorrow, they wouldn't have to compensate us a penny for our lost land.

But we sure as hell would try to get them to

The benefits of going premium for any reason other than owning land are pretty damn pointless. This will change in the future one way or another, it's on the "To Do" list.

Makes ya feel special!

'Premium'... its like we're crackers! I like crackers! mmmmm

I very carefully did not say otherwise - I thought the info being given was incomplete so I filled in some parts.

But since you're bringing it up... If having better support options is worth US$1/week, about what yearly premium minus stipend works out to, then they might want to look at the yearly premium plan, regardless of if they want to buy mainland.

Seriously, just because you pay a tier, whether to LL or to a private LO doesn't mean you are renting. The tier acts as an HOA in RL would. You pay a fee to uphold the covenant (rules) to maintain the land and help solve problems that might arise. You pay a tier regardless of private or mainland, but there are people selling that don't require Tiers, just research and you shall find!

- Storm