First land

I'm debating whether to grab me some first land in the hills or wait until a beach sim comes up and get me a nice beach area.
There's a bit of a dilemma because i've also got my eye on some other land (non first land), but I want to get some first land so I can either keep or sell it and make me a bit of cash; you can only buy it once...
Do beach areas ever come up for first land ?
And if they do, are they gone before you know it ?
So is it worth waiting for ?

From what I've seen, first land is typically inner continent sims and not beach sims. Basically it seems like sims that are least likely to sell on the auction block get turned into first land, and any sim with a beachfront is pretty much an immediate seller. A lot of the first land sims recently have been on the new third continent way down south, and they all follow this pattern of turning the innermost sims into first land. Who knows, though, keep your eye out and you may get lucky, but you may end up waiting a long time too.

If you want that other land, I'd buy your first land in as resellable a location as possible (like in a Mature region next to protected Linden land) and sell it off to make some cash for the land you really want. Just watch for all the people trying to 'help' newbies by buying their first land for cheap. Set it for sale for a reasonable price (5-6L/m would probably be reasonable, but compare it with other non-first land for sale nearby).

If you wait too long, the other land that you want may not be available anymore.