Land offer too good to be true?

Hi folks, I'm just wondering if anyone can help clarify a couple of things about land ownership. I currently own a 512 patch of first land in a reasonably nice location, but last night a neighbour (who owns much of the surrounding land) offered to buy it as he seems to be delevoping the area for chalet rentals. He asked if I wanted to go up a tier or two but I declined as I don't want the additional monthly payments. He then offered me a 512 plot in the next sim along with an additional 1024 (for a total of 1536) and said that I would not have to pay the land fees but would have access to the according number of prims for the size.

Sorry if I'm being a bit dense about this, but I just need to get my head around the first land part. If I sell my first 512 plot that I have now and get another 512 plot, is that still free of monthly payments? Or does that only apply to the first ever plot that you buy. I hope this is making sense.

Before I do get back to him, what do I need to take into consideration to safeguard myself? The ones that I can think of are: whether there is more lag in the new location and the less attractive view etc that could affect resale or as he says I can just sell back to him.

Supposing I took up the offer, what's to stop him from taking back the additional 1024 plot of land if he changes his mind after the deal is complete (as he is essentially paying for it). I would be left with a 512 plot with a less attractive view and possibly more lag.

And if I don't accept his offer and stay put, there's always the chance that he might erect a load of unsightly boards and other structures on the surrounding land anyway. The offer sounds too good - an additional 1024 plot of land that he will pay for but allocated to me. In my experience, if an offer sounds too good to be true...

I said I'd think about it and get back to him as I'm not actually sure how it will work. I thought I'd post here for some advice from people wiser than I

First of all, give yourself some time. SL can be confusing; you seem pleased with where you are now and there will always be someplace to move once you have become more familiar with SL.

You have 512m^2 of tier as part of your membership; that covers your 512m whether it is first land or not. If you sold your first land and bought a second 512m there would be no additional tier fees. However, you may have to pay L$ to purchase the new plot, which could be more or less than you got for selling your first one.

You are absolutely correct that his offer to allow you use of his 1024m is only as good as his word, Linden Lab does not involve itself in player-to-player agreements or contracts. There are a lot of honorable players in-game, there are some not so. And you really can't tell which way someone leans. Even if his offer is honest, circumstances beyond his control (e.g. not being able to pay the additional tier) could cause him to have to take back the offer of the additional 1024m even though his intentions were honest.

As to your question about lag and such, even if any parcel is great today, a lag-monster could move in next-door tomorrow. There are few guarantees.

Those are good questions, and that you don't know the answers probably means that you should play a while longer before making decisions in a complex virtual world that is rather new to you.

Good luck.

Katrina, your first 512m of tier is always included in your premium membership fee, whether it's first land or not. As for the rest of it... I'd be careful... unless he's giving you ownership of the 1024m, then you have no guarantees at all, the rug could get pulled from you at any time (and how long would they want to pay tier on that 1024m for you to use? I can't see that lasting long). What did he offer you for your 512m? *If* you were to sell to him, I'd forget about the 1024m, and get him to pay a higher price outright for your land. Enough so that if you find another 512 you like, you can afford it, and throw in some for the trouble of moving . This would be better than a direct swap, you can find somewhere you like, not just what he's got with which to swap you.

If you're happy where you are... stay. It's your land. Otherwise, make it worth your while. If the person needs it that bad, they'll cough up above market, and I'd say that's fair, you weren't interested in selling your land, and you're doing them a favour.

Thanks for the great replies. Some food for thought there and I feel a bit better 'armed' to deal with him. And no, he didn't offer anything other than a straight swap.

Based on your observations, I see that I have absolutely no guarantee that he won't withdraw the offer of the additional 1024 plot.

Also, I suppose I could move to yet another plot (if he were to make a cash payment that is). But as I'm currently quite happy where I am, I might just wait a while until I get my bearings. I don't want to be greedy but I don't to get taken advantage of either.

Thanks again for the help guys

Good decision I think. Stay put.

The only way he could offer additional prims from a 1024 is to give her ownership then pay her an amount equal to the monthly tier fee to cancel it out every month. He can not allocate prims from land he owns to land she owns.

Yes, I was thinking if it was group owned, and he made her a member of the group, as if she was renting. It would need to be adjoining to be any use though, and you'd have a crap time trying to distribute the prims over the parcels, as you say, prims on land he owns can't be allocated to her land. It'd definitely be a silly arrangement.

Yes, he was planning to give me ownership (I think) and make me a member of the group. But I'm not 100% comfortable with it after what has been said here. Not that I have any real reason to doubt the integrity of the gentleman in question, but... I don't have any reason to trust him either. Better safe than sorry.

By the way ... there's another "gotcha" involved you need to be careful about when you trade land.

I'm assuming you own just 512m2 of land, you're still not paying any tier, and somebody has offered to trade you even for your 512 plot for another one.

One of you has to buy first.

If you buy first, then for several seconds or minutes you will own 1024 m2 of land, and the Lindens will charge you for that.

If you buy second, there is no way to guarantee that after you have sold your land, the purchaser will sell you the plot he/she promised to give you in exchange. He could suddenly put a L$10000 charge on it, or not sell it at all. If this happens, the Lindens may tell you they're sorry, but that's the most they will do.

The only safe approach when someone really wants something you own is to offer to sell it for such a price that it will make you happier to have the money than it does to own the land. You could even do this for an offered trade: make the offerer buy your land first for a lot of money, and then buy the piece he offers in trade for the same amount, or walk away. Let him face the risks.

Katrina:

Just in case you do not know this, you can only buy first land once--hence the name "first". Once you sell, trade, give away, or abandon your first land, you can never buy another first land parcel.

This means you will have to pay full market price for your second piece of land. Since first land currently sells for 1 L$ per square meter, it is a great deal. You will never find land that cheap again.

So, if you want to get rid of your first land parcel, make sure you sell it for the then current market price of a square meter in your area. Right now, that could be anywhere from 5-8 L$ per sqm.