First Land - Any Hope?

I recently signed up as a premium member. I was a bit shocked at the sign up process since I was charged right away, without putting in any billing information or being asked to confirm. I guess I had put in billing information sometime ago, without actually completing the purchase - that's how they knew where to take my money from. Bah.

Anyway, I have been searching for first land for quite some time. I started to think that first land just didn't show up for basic users, hence the reason none available always was displayed. I figured once I signed up, I'd see available first land.

I was wrong.

Now from reading all the blog and forum posts, it sounds as if first land isn't often available. Gosh I wish that this were mentioned at signup.

So anyway, can someone tell me if first land actually ever becomes available? Is there any set time or timeframe that it becomes available? For instance, would it not become available on weekends or evenings since no one is in the office, or could it randomly show up at any time?

LL seems to be having problems adding land.

You might consider renting or buying (more like leasing) on a private continent (Azure islands, Dreamland, several others - look for rentals).

That way you get a home base but don't blow your First Land opportunity by buying mainland.

It should be coming more in the coming time. They have said that they will be releasing more first land soon. There was a large influx of new users while at the same time there was many new islands bought. They have now gone through the backlog of islands and they are trying to play catch up with the first land and mainland. That is part of the reason that there is a lack of first land and why the mainland prices are so high. The only thing you can do at this point is just keep looking.

I doubt it will show up on weekends or holidays just for the reasons you stated. But it could show up at any time of the day during the rest of the week. It does become available occassionally..............but never enough to meet the demand. Only thing I've heard to find first land is to just keep searching (use the filter "first land" in the search). And when you see it listed............TP right away and buy it. You hesitate you loose. Not a good way to make a healthy impression on the new premium members.......but that's the way Linden Labs works.

I feel for you..............when I became premium a year ago it wasn't this way. I found my first land within the first hour of being one of the newest premium members. But those are the good old days..............long gone.

Good luck.

I read somewhere LL was going to release a bunch more sims, I just don't know if they will be all to auction or offered as first land sims.
Article about new sims

I echo the advice Ralph gave, rent somewhere. You get good looking land often zoned for commercial or residence. Mainland can be a hodgepodge of stuff that often causes major lag for the sim it is on and adjoining sims.

I rent from Anshe. Just as an example you can rent a 1024 plot (with your premium account you only get 512 from LL) for $8.00 a month.
Dreamland rental rates
And that is just one option. You can also buy land on her sims and pay tier to her.

Cancel your premium account and use the money to rent is what I would recommend.

From the SL knowledge base...

http://secondlife.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=325

"First Land is available on a first-come, first-served basis. It's not guaranteed to be available if you have a Premium Account"

I joined a little over a week ago and it took me about 2 days to get firstland. It is possible, just keep an eye on the firstland in the search, the moment new land comes up, teleport and purchase the first parcel available. You don't have time to start inspecting if it is in a nice location, just buy it... sell it if it ends being sucky and use your profits to buy a 512m in an area you like.

It wont help the OP - but checking to see if first land is availble Before going premium is often the wise choice.

First Land gets released every so often. So its avaible then it gets bought up. It seems to be fairly often from my casual observation.

Considering how so much of SL is for sale all the time - Its easy to see why LL doesnt just churn out First Land every day.

Besides what that would do for the Virtual economy.

First Land is regularly being released. Unfortunately for First Land seekers, the amount released is never enough to satisfy the demand. Any First Land that appears typically is snatched up within minutes.

The best way to search for First Land is to select the First Land filter under the land search window, and also enter 512 for price and 512 for area. Search every few minutes for hours and possibly days until some appears. It could pop up at any time. When I was looking for my First Land, I simply ran SL in the background while I did other things. Every few minutes I would hit the search button and check again. I found some my third day of doing this, after spending literally hours near the computer to hit that search button every so often.

When some does pop up, don't waste too much time deciding which plot you want, or none of the parcels may be available when you make up your mind.

We got some for my partner. I say we because there were a few of us looking and when some came up we let her know. Even then it was hard. But it does come out and it is possible to get it.