Private island ("estate") 101 for new players

Private island "ownership" is all the rage these days. I think it's only suitable that new players know the facts about private islands, otherwise called estates.

1- The original purchaser of a private island must continue to pay monthly tier fees to Linden Lab. I confirmed this with LL myself. AFAIK, there is only one true owner of a private island. That person must pay LL tier fees.

2- Because of fact #1, if you "buy" a part of a private island, it's imperative that you trust the true owner of that island. If the owner fails to pay tier to LL for whatever reason, you will lose your piece of that island. It doesn't matter whether you paid 3544 lindens (roughly $13.17 USD) for a month's rent or L$50,000 for "ownership".

3- There are different "ownership" arrangements these days in LL. The fact is, no one, not even Anshe Chung, truly owns any virtual real estate in Second Life. All of us rent server space from Linden Lab on a monthly basis. If someone knows that Anshe owns her own servers, please correct me.

4- You can sell or trade your private island with another person for a $100 USD transfer fee. Still, whoever "legally" owns that island must pay tier fees to Linden Lab every month.

5- A private island can be renamed at any time for $50 USD. The owner pays this fee.

If I am incorrect on any facts, I welcome the corrections, for the new players' sakes.

as ur posting island info nway, i got a question

each island costs money to buy, but do u pay the $295 a month no matter how many island u buy or is it $295 a month per island?

never got that figured out

$195 a month for the "old" islands and $295 a month for the rest of them. EACH island costs $295 a month, so yes, it adds up quickly.

And on island estates, there are covenants. Most people see this as a positive, others see it as restrictive. But on balance, I think covenants are great. They keep unwanted elements out of the estate (like laggy casinos and camp chairs for example) and help shape the estate's theme. I agree with the OP, make sure that when you find that perfect estate lot, it's on an estate with a well-established owner. Most estate owners have a vested interest in their reputations, and won't be trying to scam you.

Good luck!

thx, will keep it in mind when i`ve outgrown my lil place

I agree with you, Rockwell, about covenants. Otherwise, just buy oceanside property on the mainland and cope with whatever is around you. BTW, your World Trade Center rocked when you had it up. I enjoyed it

Thanks Steve. Didn't think anyone remembered that.

Now, residents have this new WTC monstrosity (see http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/04/gambling_on_the.html) that has so far done nothing but dilute HCL shares. As you'll see in the article, the builders were paid with 2 million shares of HCL stock. The market value of this upwards of $15,000US! Lots of controversy over this...