One of the first questions I had when I came into the game was "Where's the free land?" (free being available, not necessarily zero-cost).
I know that there is a good chunk of land taken up by inactive accounts and that LL is going through and de/re-allocating that land plus some previously owned Linden land.
Still, it would be nice if there were a directory listing of the available plots (maybe just for the planned/themed neighborhood areas only) with their locations, area ratings (PG, M, etc.), sizes, costs and taxes. This would help newbies who want to do it on their own and not trouble anyone to get their act together so they can figure out what they want to/can afford, the kinds of neighborhoods they can exist in, etc.
At some point, this could be a very industrious user who wants to set up as a Realtor (not to dis Ryan Linden, who does a great job in Lusk), but this could also be something just outside of the welcome area...somewhere where the new users could go or the veterans can point the newbies at that would make this process go a little faster.
For example, I have a nice little 12x24 in Lusk right now that I am just over 50% complete in building on and am already thinking of my next project, which I want to be a little more grandiose (maybe 24x24 or something even larger). Sure I can walk every square meter of every sim until I find what I am looking for, but while I am doing that, the land I may want may be getting snapped up while I am looking. Would be nice to have some kind of pointer or directory which would at least give me an idea of which sim MIGHT hold the size and type of land I am looking for, if not the full details.
Maybe a board that shows general SIM status--something like:
Sim %full Lrgst Avail Rating Deadly
Lusk 60% 12x24 PG N
Hawthorne 70% 48x24 M Y
if not a detailed listing of plots and what not.
Does anyone feel there is any merit to this idea?
(For what it's worth, I am actually looking for something 24x24 or larger for near-term purchase)