Buying Land

(first draft of my guide. feel free to c+c)

A perenial topic in the SL forums is how landlords and land barons and landbots and landlands are ripping of YOU, the consumer. This is my attempt at a guide to help teh newbie navigate the land markets in SL.

Mainland - The advantage is that you are beholden only to Linden Lab. Your rent (i.e. tier) is paid directly to Linden Lab from your Second Life US$ balance, or else drawn from the payment method that you chose in your main SL account details. In any case, your landlord is Linden Lab, and only Linden Lab, which gives you some security. The big disadvantage is that it is totally unregulated; there is no concept of planning permission or zoning.

Renting land on the mainland (or a private island) - Whether this land is on the mainland or a private island, the issues are the same. You pay that player directly, and he lets you use the land. This generally involves joining a landgroup, so that only you (and those in that group) can build on the land. There may or may not be some kind of zoning rule enforced by the landlord, which may be good or bad, depending on how well that covenant coincides with your needs. the disadvantage with any agreement in which a player is your landlord is that you only have that player's reputation to heop you judge whether it is a safe place to rent.

Buying land on a private island

Leasehold - Even if it says "land for sale", that doesn't mean you own it outright. Regardless of what any landlord may claim, in practical terms, you only own a leasehold on the land in that private island - the freehold remains his. that means you have to pay rent to the island owner (or his designated representaives, or designated renting machines). It also means he can (and usually will) recover that land from you if you fail to pay the rent.

Currency - Be certain you know whether payment is to be made in US$. L$, Tanzanian shillings, or strips of polished bark. Most landlords will work primarily in one of these, and even if they convert teh rate to your favourite currency, with the fluctuating exchange rates, your rent may rise and fall if you work in a different currency to him. Actually, in most cases they will happily charge more when it rises, but no less when it falls. Your best way to protect yourself against currency fluctuation is to pay him in the currency he works in.

Increased Rent Fee - make sure you know how long the original quoted rent fee remains valid for. Having a good rate that is only valid for 3 months is no fun at all if it unexpecedly doubles the very next week. Get this written into your rental agreement.

For a guide to buying land, it seems to consist almost entirely of information about renting.

Thats because one of the dirty secrets about buying land is that theres no such thing. Your landlord is either LL or another avatar.

You cannot own land in real life, only rent it.

What happens if you don't pay the government real estate taxes? It takes your land away from you. You're only renting it from the government.

When I first asked her about how land works, my SL business mentor said that tier works like taxes. I think it's a good analogy.

And the government can, at any time, decide to take your land to make room for a highway or even a shopping mall that "adds value" to the municipality.

Owning land in RL or SL always involves a certain degree of risk.

This actually happened not far from me. Some 20 or 30 years ago, a municipal government grabbed a large amount of farmland in order to build an airport. They kicked families off of land they had held for generations. Then once they had all the land, something changed their minds and they decided not to build the airport after all. So they rented the farmhouses out as low rent housing and rented the farmland out to farming businesses. Now after 20 or 30 years, they were negotiating to sell it all to some overseas 'land baron' who wants to kick everyone off who's been there for the 20 or 30 years, so they can cut it up into little pieces and make it into subdivisions and apartment buildings.

-Atashi

Semantics aside, your "purchase" is probably secure on mainland, for as long as Second Life is still running. Your "purchase" on private islands is secure for as long as the island owner doesn't want to clear out of SL.

With the best will in the world, an island owner isn't going to be in SL when SL is gone, but the reverse is still quite possible.

The sale price on a private island parcel is more like a security deposit on a shorthold tenancy. You know, in case you have noisy parties and tear the land mesh or something.

Good one, Ace!
/me runs off to tear a rip in the SIM fabric!

with the performance of the last few days I'd say we were in need of stitchers rather than rippers!

Ah yes, Eminent Domain. An American Tradition that goes way back.