basic account land ownership

hi there ive got a question thats been bugging me for a while now so here goes (forgive the newbie) can someone on a basic one time $9.95 account own land? or is it only premium accounts? i know that with the premium account you get a "first land" which you dont get on basic, but does that mean you cant own land at all? being the newbie i am anything i might not know about land in SL would be appreciated too

Only a premium account can own land. With that premium account you get 512 of land that you may use. If you want more, you can "tier up" which means that you can pay LL more money per month and own more land. Also check out here

If you want to stay on your basic account, though, people have land that they rent out.

You can rent land and houses and pay less money than you would if you had to purchase the land up front then pay the tier fees on it to LL.

Check out classifieds under land and properties for rent.

okay thanks a lot for the help people, appreciated

Yeah, renting has a lot of advantages over owning land.

Personally, I don't see much point in buying land anymore.

Some one must own the land. It is just like real life. You can own your house and never have to pay for it. Or you can rent you house and have to pay for it for ever. When you own your house, you still pay taxes on it, so it is no difference. If renting is so good, why do people like to own their own homes? It is also the idea of ownership.

Why would I want to be subject to the caprice of a landlord? With my land, I can build what I want and live as I like. With rented land, I have to abide by the whims of the real owner, and the constant risk of being displaced which is accordant with land rental.

There are advantages to both rental and ownership. For some people, ownership is more advantagous. For others, renting is. Besides, someone has to own the land which is being rented.

owning a whole sim is pretty cool

Well, my suggestion is to find someone you respect and like and rent from them.

Or just experiment, as well. It only costs about a weeks worth of renting to find out if the place is for you.

This is much better than having to pay a full month of tier + the full payment for the land as well.

Truly if you try renting, which a lot of people are now doing, I think you'll find that secondlife becomes a completely different experience, devoid of foolish builds and constant griefing by the w-hat type morons.

Im New here. I came after spending 4 years in runescape which while a very good game in its own right, has totally destroyed itself particulalry with service with a smile if customer support reponds to you at all. I am am intrigued about the adults only aspect of this game, not to mention the user created world with very very few restrictions and a creater encourages that the resposibility of a good society is directly in the hands of users

what a brilliant concept, i wont be playing very often for a while until i save up for my new puter, but, i am truly amazed and intend to pay my $9.95 for a lifetime of wandering around when i can in the meantime. what a world !

now sorry to drag things off topic, just wanted to introduce myself in my 1st post and 1st day in sl, but i am confused about the land policys and pricing, among other things

once i learn my way around sl (which has a steep learning curve indeed), i intend to buy land but am confused by the cost, such as

1) will i have to pay more money out of pocket real cash for 512 meters or is that icluded with the sign up?

2) Will I have to pay more then $9.95 a month to maintain the 512 meters after that, or is that covered in the monthly allotment?

3) if i got the $9.95 US plan and bought my 512 meters of land for $1L a meter at a total cost of $512L , will that be able to be purchased with my initial cash allotment so it stays at 9.95 to start out?

I am sorry I am such a noob but the prospect of my own virtual space intrigues me, and the general concept here is brilliant. clarify any mistakes if you can or explain it in a way the documentation doesnt

i really cant seem to see or grasp the overall out of pocket real cash i will be forking out for a 512 meter peice of land in the likely event that i start playing this game full time.

thank you in advance for any help

from what i understand the community here is truly something to be proud of

You can have land with only a 9,95 membership...

Ask Hiro or Anshe - maybe there are more but if so forgive me I dont know more ones.....


http://www.anshechung.com/index.php


Dont have info about Hiro - sorry Hiro.

You'll be spending just $512 of Linden dollars -- game money -- with the one-time privilege of buying first-land set aside for that purpose by the Lindens. The land will cost you $512, and since you'll have an initial amount of Lindens in your account to start, you'll be able to purchase the first land if you don't spend it on anything else.

This is a feature of the Premium Account for $9.95/month.

The 512 is a tier level, applicable to land of 512 square meters. You can then sell that land at a profit, and buy another piece of land for that free tier level of 512.

If you want a larger parcel of 1024 or more, you will have to pay additional money to Linden Labs each month for what is called tier, or maintenance fees, i.e. $5 more for that 1024, which includes the free 512, and on up the scale (look under "support" and "my account" and "land fees" on this website).

As long as you only use 512 of tier to purchase and stay on 512 of land, yes, your fee each month stays only $9.95

blaze, I think upon reflection you'll find this is a strange locution.

It belongs to that lost land of Lindenor where everyone was just in a tiny medieval village and knew everyone else, and usually traded or bartered.

As Lindenor is superceded by a land of 600 plus sims growing by leaps and bounds, I find that you do not have to even know a person to rent from them.

I rent from people I have no idea about, in game or out, at malls. I simply right-click on their rentomatic-type boxes, read their info card, and then I pay their asking price if I agree to their terms and put out my items after joining their group usually (now some owners don't require that with the new name/count tools).

By the same token, dozens -- hundreds actually -- rent from me and I would say I never even meet half of them. They come, they read the info card, they like the house and the view, the right-click on the box, they pay. Sometimes they ask me to put in a customized feature like a music URL, and I come and do that. Other times they just want their privacy and we never even talk to each other. They stay for weeks, without us ever coming to know, respect, love or like each other.

That's how a modern economy works.

It's the free exchange of goods and services on a free market basis. It's contract law of sorts -- I provide a service with a card that is a rough-and-ready lease/contract (given the absence of any other mechanism) where I provide the land, prims, etc. and the customer comes, reads the card, and clicks.

If they are unhappy, they click "refund" and leave for a small fee. If I am unhappy if they do something like grief other people with guns (not allowed), I press "return" on their prims.

It's a great system. Would you like to see some of our new lots available? We can try the like and respect thing but you're also welcome to come and go without ever, ever talking to me and I'll still keep providing that land, house, and prims for you

Contact me in game....I can give you alot of advise on owning land. That goes for all the newbies.

You could have land wiith a basic. The Lindens removed that capability with all new basic accounts created after about August of last year. Accounts which were basic before that point and which were tiered are still able to hold land. Otherwise, you need to have a premium account to own land.

I have a basic account which is part of a group which holds land. Has 100% of all LSL, UI access, etc to that land.

I think you answered my question perfectly, thank you

any chance you can explain some of the details of your next response pertaining to renting protperrty, to a noob like me? There are specific incidents that many long term residents may understand, but whose point evades me

i think either renting from someone else until i can commit to more time in game or have reason to own land is an idea i am considering and seems liek a totally reasoanble set up

thank you. i may take you up on that offer when i have specific type questions

You can contact me in game with questions, not sure what you need and where your questions were.

You can rent from many businesses that supply land and homes by either right-clicking on the scripted rental boxes they maintain on the property, or coming to a separate arrangement with the landlord.

The most basic form of renting is this type of self-service or agreement, there are also rentals on private sims and purchases of deeds which some argue are more like rentals than purchases. Any of these programs enable you to save up for the cost of purchasing land, and also avoid paying the tier on the land. In some cases, your rent will be less than the tier you would have to pay the Lindens if you had bought the land yourself.

The tier is like the maintenance fee.