advice on first land

I've rounded up the $L512 necessary to get my "first land"

Is there anything I should be watching out for when i buy the first land?

If you resell to a developer do it at a 3k amoutn at least..don't let them fool you into thinking you can only get 1k...and pick a region that suits you

edit- a clarification

Land (especially the first 512m2) can be sold for good sums. Theres always a balance between getting full value or selling it quickly as with all things. Rarely will you sell for 3k within the first week, but it can happen. All depends on how long you will wait on the sale.

Take your time and choose a region you're going to like for a while.
You'll recoup a lot more on your resale if you choose a Mature sim, but the PG sims don't usually have clubs and malls and such, so they're faster and more serene.
Beware of small parcels nearby. 16, 32, or 48 meter square lots mean advertising or the dreaded Political Signage.
Established sims are better than new ones (for instance, i know of two first land plots in Aglia) since the sims full of first land quickly fill up with strange and unattractive builds as the newbies practice with the tools.
Spend some time in the sim before you buy. Lag and heavy traffic become apparent rather quickly.

Good luck!

Roadside, and even moreso - Waterfront parcels tend to carry a much higher resale price.

A parcel that borders Linden-owned land* is nice, because that means that another resident wont be building right next to you.

*Be careful - some Linden Land is land simply waiting to be parceled up as more "First Land", or to be placed up for auction. Typically, Linden Land that has the name "Maintenance" is infrastructure land, which is not usually resold. This is the best type of land to have as your neighbor.

Lastly, remember that the surroundings around you change quickly. What is serene forest land today could be jam-packed with stores next month. Keep that in mind when you purchase.

Great advice from Jonas and Moss!

I'd also recommend finding firstland in a developed sim, a new sim can grow in ways you may not like. ( the big grey monolithic skybox suddenly appearing at eye level of your lovely ridgetop view land , for instance) If you do decide you don't like your choice, talk to a neighbor before selling to a developer. You should be able to get close to market rate, or more in a popular sim, and be able to roll it into a new plot elsewhere.

Definitely be patient, look around, and get to know how land is valued. A great resource are the classes (free is good!) at NCI on Sundays: Making Money in SL II at 3:00pm, and Land Q&A at 4:00pm the presenters know their stuff, and can save you *a lot* of headaches down the road. (Kuula 56,170, 2

If you buy right , you'll probably want more

Which sim do you suggest I buy in that will have a high reslae value after a while? Or a rental value even?

I'm not sure if it's better to buy in a hugely populated sim or in an unpopulated sim.

Any suggestions for a newbie looking to upgrade?

Your highest resale will always be in stable, established sims. One thing that is always helpful is to figure out who is looking to buy and plan for that. For a 512 in a new sim, your buyers are going to be land resellers who will buy from you to mark the land up and resell it - they will try and get the lowest price possible OR your buyers are going to be other residents in the sim looking for expansion/prim land. By and large, those are the primary buyers of 512 lots.

In an established sim, your primary buyers are going to be the same: land resellers looking for a deal to mark up or current residents in the sim looking for expansion/prim land. However the prices are going to be higher because the sim has filled in and is more livable, as opposed to the mess that most new sims are until they settle. Sometimes you can get an over-market rate from sim resident who is desperate for more land, but the key word is desperate.

Things change a bit for larger parcels as you now have people who are looking for 1024 and up lots for a specific project - for them, the look and feel of the sim is going to carry a lot of weight. I've watched a fairly large parcel in an older, core sim next to mine drop from 20L sqm to now around 13L sqm - and still for sale after two months. I predict it will sell when it hits around 10L sqm, which is a more realistic rate. The reseller is going to take a big hit on it, though. They mistakenly figured that a parcel in a fully terraformable sim was going to go for top dollar, which is not always the case. Large parcels in any sim are going to be bought for a specific project and there are a limited number of people who need full terrformability to the point of paying top dollar for it. If there isn't a buyer out there looking specifically for a large, terrformable parcel, it won't sell at top dollar, it will sell when there is a buyer who thinks the price is right.

The bottom line is that things are only worth what someone else is willing to pay for them. Just because the top land rate for waterfront is 20L sqm does not mean that a landlocked parcel is going to go for that. Common wisdom in real estate (RL and SL), if it's not selling within a month..it's over priced. Don't overpay for land and don't buy out of desperation.

Edited to add: I just logged in and noticed that the parcel mentioned two paragraphs above was sold this week to another well-known land reseller (apparently unaware that the land has been on market for months already) and now back on the market at 30L sqm. Thus we begin the whole cycle again. When the land doesn't sell at top rate, the markdowns will start, until the price comes within range of realistic and then another land reseller will fly by and go "Holy plywood cubes, Batman! That's fully terraformable land at below "market rate" - profits ahoy!" And they will buy and raise the price back to unrealistic levels. Makes me wonder how many SL real estate transaction are merely resellers going back and forth attempting to push prices up beyond actual demand.....

Who created these annoying 16 meter lots?

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