Land question

With a premium membership i get 512 m of land that i haven't bought yet. Can someone give me a quick breakdown on how to own land and not pay for it every week? I don't understand the concept. Any replies wqould be appreciated.

Hi Lexy, as a premium member you're entitled to 512m of tier free MAINLAND. So basically to search for land to buy to qualify as tier free you would do a search in the classifieds and specify you only want listings from MAINLAND ie: Edit > Search> Land Sales> and from the drop down box that has All Types, select Mainland.

Private islands/estates frequently *sell* land at very low prices but you still end up paying tier to whoever the sim owner is. With mainland, whatever you buy, you own, and the only person you answer to is Linden Labs. Just be aware that with mainland there aren't any covenants, so pretty much anything goes for themes or decorating within reason. Some private regions/estates will require you to conform to their covenant which may include a certain theme and rules of behaviour.

thank you so much - what a great explanation. You made it crystal clear. Can i ask you one more?

Once i buy 512 mainland -and i feel that that size is too small -anything above that -but under 1025 will be an additional $ 5 per month fee?

There's 2 kinds of land in SL.. the kind you pay LL for directly every month (purchased mainland or a WHOLE island), or the kind you rent from another resident (can be either mainland or on an island) and that you pay for on whatever payment schedule they decide on. Premium membership gives you the right to purchase land directly from LL, without it you usually only have the option to rent from someone else.
With the 512m of free tier that a premium membership gives you, you will need to buy mainland from LL to use that free tier.. That free 512m tier doesn't apply towards any other type of land.

A premium membership comes with a tier free 512 sq m allowance.

To own land and not have to pay more each week you are looking at purchasing a piece of Mainland as opposed to private estate land.

Many new residents (me included) make their first land purchase through the LL auction site. However, there are a lot of bargains to be found just by touring around the mainland.

Don't rush out and buy the first 512 lot you see - you will almost certainly regret it. Take your time and look at a lot of parcels. You will soon get a feel for what is a bargain and what is not.

There are different types of land PG, Mature and Adult rating for starters. Read the LL web knowledgebase articles explaining each. Then there is flat land, hilly, grass, rock, sand, waterside, water...

The best way I find to see what is available is to use the in world search.

Click search then select the 'Land Sales' tab.
Next select 'For sale- mainland' in the drop down list next to the blue search button.
Next make sure the check box to the left of 'Area>' is checked then type 512 in the box for m^2
Next check PG and/or Mature and/or adult for the land type and finally click the blue search tab

By deafult the list is sorted by increasing price per sq m and I see the lowest Mature at the moment is going for a bargain L$864

Rule 1 and 2 and three! Are: Do NOT buy the first/cheapest piece of land you see.

Over on the right of the search results window you'll see a description and a teleport button.

Teleport to the parcel and check it out. Look all around and fly up a good way too, especially if you want some privacy in a sky box.

In the viewer menu select View and then check 'Property Lines' You can also check 'Land owners' to color code parcels. Regular for sale land is orange. Be sure to turn this last option off when taking a good look because you want to see if it is nice grass or bare granite - though perhaps you like bare rock

Open a new note in LL or use Real Life pen and paper and write down the name and what you think of it.

After you teleport the search results go away but click the search button again and the previous results will pop back up. Go check out the next parcel, and the next and the next...

You'll see a lot of parcels and a lot of cr*p parcels but you'll also find a few gems. Make notes of these and make a short list. Go back and give each a good look over, look at the neighbouring parcels, fly around the region.

After you do all this, you are better prepared to make a purchase.

Rime

what if I stop paying tier - you loose the land?







Thank you all for explaining it so wonderfully - i really appreciate it!!!

Auction land has very high odds of being above the low end price of for sale land.

Land these days in SL goes something like this:

A wins auction, sets for sale at 2x-10x the price won for.
A month or two passes, A gets tired of tier bill, raises price 2x-10x more...
Another month or two passes, land gets either abandoned or price drops.
Another month or two, land price drops again, or gets abandoned.

Finally the land hits market rate, about half of what the auction bid was, and it sells, 80% odds to a land flipper, and the cycle above repeats.

...

But, if you get in there at that point, you can get cheap and good land. There's actually a -lot- of that out there - the model above ends up leaving a lot of land in somebody's hands at some point, and sooner or later it gets set for market rate and stays there.

The above cycle however, means that you can easily find a lot of ver overpriced junk land. The smarter land flippers have left the business, and most of the ones left don't get the walmart model: cheap and volume = win.

Better to sell a stack of lots for a tiny profit each than one for a big cashout - you'll make more in the long run.


For the buyer... that means, look at Land search, mainland, and note the bottom 'plateau' for 512s (a few will be below, but then there will be a huge chunk in a certain range). Buy close to that, but spend time looking. Search that often, even as you explore, so you don't get duped into buying a pricey lot thinking it is cheap.

When you stop paying your tier/monthly premium your account goes into default and you can no longer login. If you decide to not pay tier anymore, go to your account page and downgrade your account to a basic membership (sell the land before you do this and before your account goes into default) and you shouldn't have any problems transitioning. If you do run into problems file a ticket immediately or phone the toll free line if it's available in your area.

Lexy,

You're getting great advice here. I'll offer my $L2...

Don't go Premium yet, and don't buy land. (I'm assuming you're a new resident based on your Forum signup date). Instead, rent some land first, either on a private estate or from another resident on the mainland.

Land is a complicated subject. Renting a parcel will teach you how many prims and square meters you want/need, how to terraform your parcel to look the way you want, how to use the land tools to set media, and give you a "home place" to rez things and have friends over.

Renting is the lowest risk way to have land. If you decide to leave, you have little money tied up (a few days' rent, at most).

Once you've rented for a couple of months, you'll know enough to be able to make a better choice in purchasing land.

Some good information can be found here:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Land_Buying_FAQ

Also, you can calculate possible mainland fees by going to your SL main page, then click on "Land Manager > Land Use Fees" on the left hand side.