Sick of SL land prices being too high, cannot afford higher tier.

In a world without any needs or limited resources, yes, there should be no government oversight.

Land is far over rated anyway. Your inventory is unlimited. How many prims do you really need to keep rezzed in world?

So? Land is not a limited resource.

Linden Labs will always sell you a sim. You are not locked into only being able to buy from landowners. If a full sim is too much for you, find a group of people in the same position and split it with them. Not being able to do so does not represent a deficiency in the system.

You can buy any land in your sim to add prim to your land. The land doesn't have to be connected to share prim allowance.

That's a good point. A "listing tax" wouldn't necessarily be price neutral--it would likely drive prices up some.

The seller is paying tier every month they hold the land. So there is no incentive to hold it forever, holding out for a huge profit, unless they don't want to sell it.

I don't understand why people care that some sellers price land out of reach. The alternative is they don't list it at all. That would limit your choices of land. It certainly doesn't hurt you to see an over priced land. We look at the map, click the listing button and move to the next one.

Lets look at the figures. there are something like 1200 sims (give or take 50). All of them owned. They are all owned by less then 20% of the population (this figure is based on information from the september elimination of ratings bonus) or about 28714 users. Lets say all of them pay monthly for their premium account (as it is infact what 20% represents, premium accounts, not land owners) 28714 * 10US$ * 12 = 3,445,680 US$ just shy of 3 & 1/2 million dollars yearly. Lets step back. 1200 sims = 78,643,200 meters^2. 78,643,200 / 28714 = 2739 meters^2 per premium user. Thats tier 4 US$25.00 Under the same logic, 28714 * 12 * 25US$ = 8,614,200. Or 2/7 of LL's income comes from premium acconts, 5/7 from tier. Of course we have totaly neglected private islands, which those users pay less. Which means the actual amont LL generates anualy is much less. If it's anywhere near 12 Million it isn't chump change. Complaining won't help anything, as a change would cut into profits.

50,000 is very expensive for 4096 meters. It better be on waterfront, with no bush signs, green grass, and tree hugging quiet neighbors if someone wants that much. You are much better off moving. You could get an extremely nice plot for about 70% that price. It is normally a better idea to move than expand in Second Life, unless you like paying extremely high prices.

There is not one square metre for sale in Hector.

Lewis

You seem to have neglected to read or understand the part about competition. I've got no interest in sitting on many thousands of US dollars worth of land investments trying to get L$50,000 per 4096m2 while everyone else is selling theirs happily for L$25,000. Neither does anyone else in this business.

The faster the land turns over, the more money it makes, period. Barring anything unusual (a lot with very special features), I'm always going to give you the very best price that I can in consideration of my risk factors. So is everyone else in this business.

Unless you paid cash for your house I'd say that whoever holds your mortgage is making money off of your purchase. LL made money off of the initial sale of the land. If you feel land should be free for artistic ventures, your petition should be directed at LL since they create the land and charge for it. Holding it against those who put up the money LL asked for it is like complaining to the bank about charging interest for on your loan.

You sound like someone who can afford HD cable service but not the huge widescreen HDTV to go with it. The cable service costs the same whether you use it on a 13" tv or a 50" plasma. As pointed out, there are land parcels much lower than the cost you quoted and there are people who are willing to rent to you if you do not have the initial outlay for land. There are options, you just don't like them and seem to think that land for nonprofit artistic purpose should fall into a different category. I agree that'd be nice but it's not reality.

You are not the first person wanting to utilize SL for artistic purposes and there are no grants. DI was an attempt at that but it is no more. The general advice is that you need to make something good enough for people to pay/tip you for. Most art institutes and museum irl now charge a fee to help defray the costs as government subsidies dwindle.

Btw, I hope that while you were busy working on your capitalist venture, you took some time out now and then to support the artistic endeavors of others. I know of quite a few beautiful builds and places which withered and folded for lack of notice and support.

It can be frustrating, looking for just the right place that makes it worth moving. Land is broken up into so many disconnected, useless parcels.

The initial land price will be recouped when and if you sell, of course; it's the tier that's a killer. And, as some noted above, a more gradual way to increase tier (rather than doubling at each step) would be very helpful.

I thought that was "put the land into a group with your alts, and tier them up alternately".

LL sells small islands... 16 or 32 acres. Buy one and invite your friends and those businesses you think will enhance the neighborhood without adding lag.

1. 16 acres = 696960 square feet
   
2. 696960 square feet = 64817.28 square meters
   
3. 65536 square meters = 1 sim
   

Sometimes the size of a sim written as "16 acres." It is still a sim. Something that is 32 acres is two sims.