What's the point of buying?

I'm considering taking the plunge and getting a little spot of my own. However, after a bit of looking in to it, it would seem my options are:

a) Pay around US$100 for a patch of land, then pay US$25/month or so (for a 4096 plot), or

b) Just pay the US$25/month tier, but call it rent instead, and don't pay anything to get the land.

I'm really struggling to see any advantage to actually owning the land here. The tier fee is about the same, the number of prims seems to be about the same. The only difference is that I get to pay a chunk of money out up front if I buy, with a chance of getting some or all of that money back if I choose to sell.

So why buy?

one word: control.

Good question. There are pros and cons to both.

On mainland, you would own your own, have your own right, and not have to pay another Avie, to depend on them to keep their OWN account stable so youre never kicked off your land...or have to abide by their rules...etc..

On a private sim, you're guaranteed pretty much there wont be an ad farm popping up in between log ons... You can pick a purely residential sim, or some private land comes with extra prims. (which is cool)

I own both actually. (*broadening the def of owning)

My private residence is on a private sim, and my commercial is mainland

OK. But assumming I buy off the mainland, I'm still at the mercy of the sim owner, right? If he closes the sim, I'm out of luck, so i'm still really only renting. Also, if I don't pay the tier, my land is repossessed? So still exactly like renting. Or have I totally misunderstood something?

No. Mainland is just that... you own your plot, and its yours until you sell it, give it away, abandon it or tick off LL enough to ban you and they takey it backy

No, you are quite correct. Island ownership is still only a measure of control. With reputable landlords like Desmond, Sarah, Rockwell, etc. it is usually not an issue, so long as you abide by the covenant. But ultimately, if you don't pay your tier, you lose your land - whether it be to LL or another player.

But in getting back to your original question, it all boils down to how much control you want over your plot of land.

But I can rent space on a private sim, and get all those same benefits without paying a fortune to get the land in the first place

If you are thinking of buying as an investment, think again. There is no guarantee that when you decide you are ready to sell your land value will match what you paid for it. Buying land is akin to buying your own private sandbox in SL, if you can't find any value in that then you probably aren't ready to own land. I generally tell newbies to not buy land when it is a question of "should I" and to wait until it is a question of "which continent? How large a parcel? Island or mainland? Commercial or residential?" When you are at a point of "oh, man, I gotta get my own little corner of virtual heaven" then it's time to buy.

Ah, OK. But there's still tier fees every month on mainland, right? What happens if I go away for a while, and those aren't paid?

Yes, there are tier fees. You can find it under Land pricing and use fees.

No pay, no keep

If you go away, put money in your USD balance, or link a credit card.

if you buy on mainland you be on LL land. And it wont close. YOu will encounter more lag compared to a well managed and as mentioned advertisement free sim + you most likely have a certain theme around you. On the mainland anyone can build whatever they feel like right next to you. worst case scenario is a ad-farm or laggy club.

As for the money. depending on the sims "object bonus" setting you will have different prim allowance on your peace of land. I don't have it in my head now but a sim that has it set to 2.0 rahter then 1.0 (default) would allow ~468 prims on 1024sqm or something.

So there is differences you should be aware of before you rent/buy land. In any case, if you buy a parcel you can always sell it again.

We need a sticky thread for this topic. It's been done to death. Here are two of the many estate versus mainland threads.

/327/91/160921/1.html

/327/04/196608/1.html

You've pretty much gotten the hang of it.

If you're buying off mainland, one of the things you may want to know is how long your sellers have been in business. If they have been around a while, you might have some assurance that they won't randomly screw you.

If you buy mainland, you're at the mercy of Linden Labs, and I honestly see no inherent reason to trust them more than the private sellers. They can arbitrarily ban you and seize your land back just like anyone else. (Remember, when it comes to your responsibilities in paying fees, the money is real. When it comes to them having any responsibilities to you, it's play money and play land and play ownership.)

The real trick is to not get caught up trying to apply real-world understandings of buying and renting to Second Life. Just think of things in terms of what you give and what you get. Read the convenants. They really govern what you are getting by buying or renting.

I have rented land on an island. Paypal is the method used to pay rent to the island owner in my specific case, though it does vary.

I don't need to have a premium account in order to own this land, nor do I need to pay tier.

The island owner already eats the cost of the island purchase itself, plus the tier they pay for owning the island. The cost of rent is based on their calculations (how big the parcels are, etc).

Renting land in this manner holds a few risks. It's good to ask around for advice on where to live, who is trustworthy, etc. Same as any other investment you'd make with RL $.

Also, it's a good idea to *carefully* read the covenant before entering into this sort of deal.

Every ownership/rental has its risks, so give it some thought before you commit.

Nope. You own that piece of land directly from LL. The mainland (in theory) won't go away because it's being paid for by the various owners on that land.

LL is the sim owner on the mainland.

Yes, if LL working correctly (that's a big if), it will take the money automatically until you run out of money.

OK, so, in a nutshell:

Buying on mainland gives you the security of knowing you can't be kicked off that land, unless you miss a tier payment or break the TOS. However, you have no control over your neighbours, and LL (based on the many threads I've seen) probably won't get involved if you have bad neighbours

Buying on a private sim gives you no advantage whatsoever over renting, except for the sim owner probably being less likely to evict landowners if he wants to develop. You can still lose the land to a dodgy sim owner, and all the advantages of being on a private sim (less lag, better enforced rules regarding your neighbours), still apply if you're just renting.

Did I miss anything?

Your neighbors have no control over YOU either. 'No covenants' works both ways, so if you wanted to build/install something you really liked and they didn't...oh well.

FYI, some estate owners that eliminate the threat dodginess: Sarah Nerd and Kandee Herrey. Great reputations and I've had great experiences with both.

well, I'm looking to build a home, nothing offensive. That seems to be the other advantage of renting - if I have a disagreement with the landlord, it's quick and easy to pack up and move elsewhere - no worrys about trying to sell land.

It doesn't have to be offensive, they just might not appreciate the same architecture you do.

I would modify "break the TOS" to "are suspected of breaking the TOS." From what I have read, Linden Labs sometimes uses a "suspend now, ask questions never" approach to suspicions that a resident has violated the TOS.

Also keep in mind that if you buy, then potentially that money is not lost forever, because it can be recouped by selling. But truly, to buy (really, "buy and rent" rather than just rent, you'd want some sort of advantage to putting the money up front. One of the reasons I bought land on the sim where I bought it was that I could freely subdivide the land, something that I couldn't find easily from others who were either leasing or selling.

Selling land is a rarely a problem, just price it $1L below market value and a land bot will be by in seconds flat.

That's the jist of it...you aren't restricted by "covenants" on your land so you can do what you want within the TOS. You don't have to worry about your land being re-divided like Dreamland is doing ( http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2007/08/04/dreamland-institutes-major-covenent-tier-overhaul/ ).

There is the potential of having ugly things around you, but that's why you shop around! I share a little island with my RL g/f in Gualala and it's stayed pretty nice over the last year compared to some of the other spammed up sims. It's all about location!!

Yeah, not really. This is more for the people that are pushing limits. If you're just hanging out and doing average stuff everyone else does then you shouldn't have a problem.

Hell, I've been the owner of property where some limit-pushing has gone on and haven't had any issues!