Realtors in SL?

Not necessarily. They may be quite happy not to sell the land at all; they are merely putting a number on what it would take to make them move. Most people in SL would sell their land at L$100/m2; very few actually slap that price on their land.



Not exactly. If you look at all the land for sale right now in SL (and there is a lot of it), you will not that most of it is currently owned by land dealers. That means the "regular" SL residents who are not land dealers are able to get cash quick for their land. This giving cash to the original owners before an end buyer comes along is the "liquidity" service referred to above.

One could also argue that by raising prices to market level, land dealers help distribute the land more "efficiently." That is, the parcel bordered by water on two sides and Linden-owned roads on the other two sides in a sim with no clubs goes to whoever wants it the most (defined as whoever is willing to pay the most for it) rather than just some noob who stumbles across it in his wanderings.

Each of these services is, of course, a feature of the free market, not the reason the land dealers perform them. The motive for dealing in land is generally profit. So even though they do perform services, they are still self-serving. Capitalism is based on the premise that everyone--the one selling the land, the one dealing in land, and the one buying the land--are self-serving.

The one selling the land wants the most money as fast as he can get it. The one dealing in land wants the biggest profit the fastest he can get it. The one buying the land wants the most land for the least amount of money in the shortest amount of time. As these players struggle to balance the money and time parts of the equation, a "market level" emerges. Sellers and buyers who care more about time than money are the meat-and-potatoes of the land dealers; but the dealers themselves face the same constraints (they most sell for more than they paid, and they must do it before tier costs overbalance their margin).

Hmm, bummer about the first part regarding little interest.

The second part -- I would think that any individual / group of individuals willing and able to purchase multiple sims, would likely try to do it on their own, directly from LL auctions. Renting entire Sims -- doesn't seem economically wise for the long-term, and unlikely to be done in a short-term project.

I should shut up now. What do I know? I'm a noob, with 512 sq m.

Just as a note, if your going to say the word "realtor" you better be sure your a paid member of the Realtors Association in your state, myself I pay almost 2000 USD a year for the right to use the word Realtor in 4 differrent states, Florida, Nevada, Wisconsin and Minnesota. and I DO REPORT everyone who uses the name Realtor or Realty inworld and outworld to the Realtors Associations

Being a Realtor means you uphold the highest standards of ethics and competence to the point that you have become state certified and passed all criminal background checks with local, state, and federal authorities. Realtor is a title to be proud of, its a title that lets others know that you are a good person, if your using the title of realtor, you better make sure you are and be able to prove it in real life on a moments notice, if your using the title realtor, or realty and are not a member of the association, you better run and hide, because thats how states make thier money, your not battling a person, your battling a code of ethics upheld at state levels

Hmm. Here in the country in which I live, I see numerous land agents using the title "realtor" or the term "realty," and they are not members of that US organization. Are you sure noboy in the world may legally use the title "realtor" unless they're affiliated with the American organization?

There is a subtle but important flaw in your business plan.

LOL

I don't think that was business plan SS, more of his thoughts on the liquidity of the land market.

Here in the UK we have what are called "Estate Agents". What they do is to offer a valuation service and advertise your property for sale. They take very little legal or financial responsibility for the details they supply, although I accept that nowadays they are usually members of a trade organisation with certain standards.

This of course excludes those Estate Agents who arrange mortgages, they are separately authorised under the Financial Services Market Act of 2000. (a recent situation)

While accepting Estate Agents can sometimes offer a useful service they take very little financial risk, as they do not act as market makers buying and selling houses.

I think in Second Life the concept of land and associated property purchase is better than that of real life, as anyone in the UK may agree who is familiar with Sl and has been disappointed /gazumped /guzandered /caught in a chain etc/ may agree, as here (with the exception of private Island sales) we have a liquid market and almost guaranteed escrow

Realtor yes, but I am pretty sure that realty is not.

Do they have a special exam for people that wants to sell land in SL? I would love to open the first RE/MAX or Century 21 office in SL.

Well Elanthius why don't you form a group with some other mini land barons who are reluctant or unable to buy at auction but are prepared to contract with you to take set parcels of land (up to their personal financial limit) You could offer a discount on your more normal retail prices in exchange for guaranteed take up, thus enabling you to turn over land more efficiently and from the mini land barons viewpoint offer a better price to enable them to sell at a fair mark up to retail clients.

It might work and seems to me a win win situation

Not that I call myself a realtor, but i look forward to you testing this in a UK court.

They must be getting tired of you, as "realty" is word in common usage, and not a registered trademark of the National Association of Realtors.

Carl its actually called Commission and not Association atleast on state levels
Go ahead and use it. Realtor AND Realty ARE trademarks of the Association and you must be a Member to display these words. Look up Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC) V. Weirner DBA Vacation Village.

Point is , people shouldnt use the word realtor in SL or outside it if they arent a member. Its highly dishonest.. I would also go to say in most instances they are unaware of the fact they need to be qualifing paid members

Ppbbffftt!!!! I almost choked on my drink at that last paragraph!! Considering the lying scum that are trying to con people into buying homes they can't afford in the bubble areas in the US and abroad... that's pretty damn funny. NAR takes out a full page ad.... "it's a great time to buy and sell a home!" BULLSHIT. It's never a great time to buy AND sell. It's one or the other. And right now it's a buyer's market and inventory is building up - sellers have to deeply discount or give away in certain deflating markets. Give me a break about ethics and RL realtors.

http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.nsf/pages/lawoct04
and


Those both prove the proper use of the term Realtor.

After searching, I can say that the work "Realty" is not a trademark of the NAR.

re·al·ty (rē'əl-tē)
n., pl. -ties.

Real estate.

Actually, there is a time that is good for both buyers and sellers. If the market has a lot of both selling and buying then it can be good for both. If you are buying and there are a lot of houses on the market, you have a lot to pick from. If at the same time there are a lot of buyers out there, then sellers of prime property will get a premium price for their land. Good for both buyers and sellers, in general.

Fanny and Freddy have had rumours about them being in the Poo for ages, and with respect my end of day market reports from the US nearly always have broker and media comments about inflation and housing worries

Just a first life comment, do your own research

Regards

John

Under UK law, I'll call myself a Realtor if I choose to. Florida state law is, oddly enough, not applicable to me.

But that's not efficient, it's UNFAIR. The noob should have just as much chance as anyone of getting land that other people want more and have worked to be in a position to buy -- more in fact, because this isn't real life, and we shouldn't be encouraging those other people to spend their time on SL.

Or so some people would have you believe. ::rolls eyes::

Okay, that was my once-yearly-allowed descent into pettiness. I'll shut up now.

The noob does have "just as much chance as anyone of getting land that other people want more and have worked to be in a position to buy." There's no special reason any particular land agent should stumble across the parcel of land before any particular noob. Either one may (or may not) spend the time and effort to employ search methods, scripts, bots, etc. to find it. Even if a land agent does get there first, the noob can still buy it, just for a higher price.

Just as a point of fact, many of the land traders are n- *coughs* ah, are new players on the grid, relatively speaking.


Somewhere up above, someone made the comment that a group of individuals could all chip in, buy a region, and have an area generally matching their desires.

That's a dream that will never unfold well, I think.

Within sixty to ninety days, about 30% of people 'into' whatever sort of region it is will lose interest and sell their land to almost anyone. Or simply do as they like - something radically different than the original idea.

This is why the mainland looks the way it does, almost as a rule. It's destined to be patchwork. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

But you are violating not Florida law, but you are infringement on a US Trademark. If you use the term in SL (which is what these forums are about) then you would be in the wrong. It really doesn't matter where you are, but LL is in the US and US laws apply. (Sorry, I don't really know how trademarks work on the international level, but I would guess there are treaties between the US and UK that would honor the TM in the other country.

I was slightly interested in all this and I did a little googling. It looks like trademarks are not in any way handled by treaties and must be registered in every country individually. As irrefutably proved by the wikipedia article in trademarks.

It seems hard to tell if Realtor is registered in the UK since no-one here would ever choose to use that word anyway. Although I did find http://www.southebysrealty.com/, http://www.bluechiprealty.co.uk/.

Sadly it's impossible to find a simple list of every trademark in the UK because some people worked out they could keep it secret and charge 150 pounds for every request.

On the face of it I find it highly unlikely that the REALTOR(c) trademark has any weight in the UK at all.

Trademarks have to be registered in each separate country (although there is a process to register with multiple countries at the same time) in order to be valid and from what I can tell, you need to have an established business, presence or interest in the other country in order for it to be granted there.

You can still infringe on a trademark internationally, but it seems it's the country of destination that's the determining factor, not the country of origin. So (assuming realtor isn't a trademark in the UK) someone in the UK can call themselves a realtor if they remain within the UK, but they would be infringing if they were doing business with someone in the US because it is a trademark there.

(Based on my interpretation of quick glances over related pages and summaries of the Madrid Protocol)

It doesn't seem like there was too much information on how all of that applies to an online world. Someone from the UK calling themselves a "realtor" could possibly infringe when dealing with a US customer, but then again a legitimate US realtor could be infringing as well if it turns out that "realtor" is a registered trademark in their customer's country. Unless you own the trademark yourself and know where and when it is applicable, it seems best to just avoid it entirely .

You don't know. You guessed.

You didn't know. You were wrong.

I think I'll call myself a realtor just for the sake of it after this.

i didnt read this whole post but isnt "realtor" a registerd trade mark ?