Another question about purchasing land by a Newbie (sorry!)

Hello again, firstly, many thanks for all your great advice - it stopped me making any bad purchases!

I've spent hours (days!) searching for the right plot and believe I've found it (I'm a little excited!), but I'm actually interested in four plots all by the same owner so my rather cheeky question is .... is it considered OK to barter/try to get the price down a little? It's not the cheapest land available, it's sort of mid-range and I hoped if I took all four lots off the owner's hands we might agree a wee discount, but I don't want to do something considered rude!

Thanks in advance,
Twirly (a little bit happier today and maybe I can get some sleep now )

Absolutely it's fine to attempt to get the price down.

Just don't get your hopes up. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I got a neighbor to knock $1000 off a plot.

Twirly, my limited experience has been that landowner's are generally willing to listen to a reasonable offer. YMMV.

Another piece of advice, Twirly. There is no such thing as a dumb question - except for the question you don't ask.

If you have a question, folks here will either answer it to the best of their ability or direct you to a place where questions of tht sort can be answered.

So, babee, ask away. There are probably lots of people out there who willl be helped too.

The fact that you are an end user and not a land baron is a great bargaining tool as many barons like to help newbies out. Note that the base price of mainland is L$6.3 a metter when making your offer.

Heck yes its ok to barter!!! After I bought my first piece of land, I don't believe I have EVER paid the asking price for any of it.

Ray? what is current rate for water front or just plain water on mainland?

Sooz

I stopped following that when I got my sim. I'm guessing L$8 per meter for water and L$10 per meter for waterfront, but I don't know for sure.

There were 3 512 plots in front of my land that I really wanted, and they were up for sale for 2 weeks before I had the lindens to afford them. They were all owned by the same seller, so I offered him $L2000 less than the total asking price to take all 3 plots off of his hands immediately. He counter-offered for $L1500 less, and we "shook" on that. I was happy to get them at a lower price, he was happy to get rid of them. Maybe I could have bartered more, but I was satisfied. It was the result I was hoping for. I wondered the same as you before I offered, and asked the same question on here. He really didn't seem surprised or bothered that I asked, and if you don't ask, you don't get. So, good luck and happy negotiating.

Um, it's rude to barter rudely but polite to barter politely.

(Brian runs up to Harry the beard seller's stall and hurriedly grabs an
artificial beard.)
Brian: How much? Quick!
Harry: What?
Brian: It's for the wife.
Harry: Oh. Twenty shekels.
Brian: Right.
Harry: What?
Brian: (putting down 20 shekels) There you are.
Harry: Wait a moment.
Brian: What?
Harry: We're supposed to haggle.
Brian: No, no, I've got to ...
Harry: What do you mean, no?
Brian: I haven't time, I've got to get ...
Harry: Give it back then.
Brian: No, no, I paid you.
Harry: Burt!
(Burt appears. He is very big.)
Burt: Yeah?
Harry: This bloke won't haggle.
Burt: (looking around) Where are the guards?
Brian: Oh, all right ... I mean do we have to ...
Harry: Now I want twenty for that ...
Brian: I gave you twenty.
Harry: Now are you telling me that's not worth twenty shekels?
Brian: No.
Harry: Feel the quality, that's none of yer goat.
Brian: Oh ... I'll give you nineteen then.
Harry: No, no. Do it properly.
Brian: What?
Harry: Haggle properly. This isn't worth nineteen.
Brian: You just said it was worth twenty.
Harry: Burt!!
Brian: I'll give you ten.
Harry: That's more like it.
(outraged) Ten!? Are you trying to insult me? Me? With a poor dying
grandmother...Ten!?!
Brian: Eleven.
Harry: Now you're getting it. Eleven!?! Did I hear you right? Eleven? This
cost me twelve. You want to ruin me?
Brian: Seventeen.
Harry: Seventeen!
Brian: Eighteen?
Harry: No, no, no. You go to fourteen now.
Brian: Fourteen.
Harry: Fourteen, are you joking?
Brian: That's what you told me to say.
(Harry registers total despair.)
Tell me what to say. Please.
Harry: Offer me fourteen.
Brian: I'll give you fourteen.
Harry: (to onlookers) He's offering me fourteen for this!
Brian: Fifteen.
Harry: Seventeen. My last word. I won't take a penny less, or strike me
dead.
Brian: Sixteen.
Harry: Done. (He grasps Brian's hand and shakes it.) Nice to do business
with you. Tell you what, I'll throw in this as well. (He gives
Brian a gourd.)
Brian: I don't want it, but thanks.
Harry: Burt!
Burt: (reappearing rapidly) Yes?
Brian: All right! All right!! Thank you.
Harry: Where's the sixteen then?
Brian: I already gave you twenty.
Harry: Oh yes ... that's four I owe you then. (starts looking for change)
Brian: It's all right, it doesn't matter.
Harry: Hang on.
(Pause as Harry can't find change. Brian sees a pair of prowling Romans.)
Brian: It's all right, that's four for the gourd -- that's fine!
Harry: Four for the gourd. Four!!!! Look at it, that's worth ten if it's
worth a shekel.
Brian: You just gave it to me for nothing.
Harry: Yes, but it's *worth* ten.
Brian: All right, all right.
Harry: No, no, no. It's not worth ten. You're supposed to argue. "What?
Ten for that, you must be mad!"
(Brian pays ten, runs off with the gourd, and fixes the beard on his face.)
Harry: Ah, well there's one born every minute.

oh it's much lower than that accualy most of the property above 6.1,6.2 is becouse people have there bots that buy from each other there are like 8 guys still over paying for land heck i watched on piece of property sell 8 times in about 45 min one night sold twice while i was standing on it and there is nobody home they they show up to buy it, that or they are very unfreindly people and maybe they should not be in any selling type venture

The base price for land is L$6.3 per meter as far as the general market is concerned. Bots getting land cheaper than that only affects the half a dozen bot runners. None of us mere mortals ever have a shot at it. No reason for a person eager to sell to set it for much less than L$6.3 a meter. It will still sell fast, just to a human, not a bot.

The actual bot runners are a friendly lot for the most part (Except the evil L---baron M--lin who does not return mistakes). The bots are not friendly because they can't answer you. They are bots.

Thanks again for the replies - I think I shall have nightmares about Bots now!!!

I went back to the land I'm excited about to check through it again, and saw something odd about the Prim count (I could be just a very paranoid person!), is this OK to you guys:

Simulator Primitive Usage: 254 out of 351
Prim Parcel Supports: 175
Prims on Parcel: 136
Owned by Parcel Owner: 136

This is one lot of the four I was considering buying and each plot has a fairly simple beach house on it and some palm trees.

Do the above figures mean that the current owner has taken some prims off to use elsewhere or am I thoroughly mis-reading the situation?

Thanks in advance
Twirly (not quite so excited anymore... sigh!)

PS LOVED the quote from Monty Python - I remembered it so well!

The prim count looks quite odd, but the owner probably has other plots in the same region. Four no covenant plots will give you 468 prims to play with.

This is no covenant land, isn't it?

And yes it's certainly okay to haggle. A lot of people are still asking L$6000 per plot on the mainland, while right now unremarkable mainland plots are actually worth around L$4000.

good luck.

All mainland has a uniform # of prims: 117 per 512 meter plot. But if you own more than one plot on a sim, you can put extra prims on a 512 that you borrow from your full allotment. The seller has 351 prims worth of land on that sim, but that plot only will give you 175 when you buy it.

The number that matters is the number of prims the plot supports. When you buy the land you will get 117 per 512, or in the case you mentioned, 175. His 136 prims will become yours if they are included in the sale and the objects are transfer.

If you fall in love with objects on a plot, make sure they are 1) included in the sale 2) transferable items. Otherwise you will need to get the name of the creator and buy new copies of the trees etc.

If you think you will need more prims, renting is the way to go. For instance, on my rental sim, renters get 300 prims on a plot that supports less because I have a lot of open water that I borrow prims from.

Ahaaaa (my brain has finally connected!) so.... by paying over $L15.60 per square meter and not getting the full prim allowance is not such a good idea after all? Shame, it was rather pretty! Oh well.... back to hours of tireless searching then!

Thanks for input and help - I'll probably be back for more, so sorry in advance!

Twirly
(feeling a little miserable now!! )

This is mainland right? If so, you will get full prim rights to that land. No one can take that from you. It is your land. The price of land is really what you are willing to pay for it. Is it worth $L15.6 per sqm to you? If so, buy it. If not, move on. There are a lot of things that go into the price of land. Location, location, location.

Have you looked at what you get for that 6.3l/sqm? It really isn't very good land. Ads, flat featureless plains, and other land that people don't want, hence the low price.

True, but L$15 a meter is highway robbery. There are thousands and thousands of plots for L$10 a meter or lower, including waterfront. If it is that much and mainland, then yes keep looking. And if it's the trees and cabin you fell in love with, click on them and find the creators, purchase your own and find a nice cheaper plot to rez them on.

Just to be clear, from your prim report earlier, you would get the full prim allowance which is what that parcel supports: 175 prims.

EDIT: You do know about monthly land use fees for mainland, right? I didn't when I bought my first plots and it came as quite a shock to me that I had to pay LL US$75 a month for the land I had purchased.

https://secure-web4.secondlife.com/account/landfees.php

Ty for the reminder - I keep getting myself confused by working out what the cost is per square meter, then adding the land usage fee and incorporating the monthly premium member fee - all added together makes it sound like such a lot of money!

In your opinion, for a novice newbie that wants somewhere pretty (well, I am a girl!), to play with and not really to build anything spectacular or open to the public (shop/nightclub) how much land should I go for? I've been looking now at plots from 1024 to 2248 and they look very large to a novice, but it's probably not much at all to the experts!

I've just found another plot which is a waterfront location with protected land on 2 sides for $L9.68 per square meter ... price is better than the last one, but could I still improve on that, do you think?

I'd make an excellent neighbour because I won't be ruining anyones view or putting any 'lagable' (if there is such a word!) items in - but I'm not sure that a seller would take that into consideration?

Thanks again and sorry if I'm being a pain with all these questions!

Twirly

This place is for questions, so no need to apologise

The price you cite seems okay for waterfront property. This is a mainland plot with no covenant, which means you'd own it outright?

For your purposes, 1024 m2 (or 2 plots = 234 prims) should be enough, if all you want is simple home and a place to hang out. Of course, once you've been around for a while you may need more .....

So the cost would be your premium membership and US$ 5 in tier payments, as you get one plot tier-free. So about US$ 15 a month.

I should have though that any price lower than 10L/m for a Linen Protected water boundary would be generally rare to non-existent at this stage. 15L and climbing is fast becoming 'cheap'.
A month or so ago, one could buy 1 512 on Linden water in Corsica for 7000. No more.
There are a few 'bargains' going currently for 9200L+.
There are plots on the insides of sims going for more than that! How anyone can fairly describe a plot as "Oceanfront" when it's completely surrounded by other plots beats the hell out of me.
There is one person who has bought up extensive strips of 512s bordering on Linden ocean sims. He bought at about 7k-9k each. They are on sale at 12,500 and 13,500 each. People are buying at those prices because there are no comparable plots available any more.


If you've found a 512/1024 plot with a boundary on Linden water for L$9.68/m you go for it, Now, not later. That sort of plot only survives at that price as it's too expensive to be found in the usual 'from L$6.2' Search, and the people looking in targetted locations are still in bed in their time zones.

Hello again! I'm still here.... looking at the plot (little heart beating wildly!!) and still unsure whether to go for it! Every time I try to see where the borders are to the plot I seem to get an untrue view of it - i.e. it's hard to determine which actual plot I'm looking at (I'm trying to see what else is for sale around it). Is there a view option that I've not discovered yet please? Erm.... could I persuade one of you incredibly nice peops to spare 5 mins and take a look? It probably sounds incredibly daft that I'm nervous about all of this, but I've read the horror stories and don't want to be tomorrow's headline!!!

Thanks again,
Twirly

Now I don't know how much land you want or what you want to spend on it, but myself I moved from mainland to private, its prettier, and even cheaper when you find the right spot Just send me an IM if you are interested in private beachland, as an examply you pay around 1300 L$ tier for a plot with 933 prims, which beats the tier on mainland i guess.

Do you have 'property lines' switched on in View?
I'm in world right now, so send me a tp and I'll pop over.