Who wants to be a land baron?

Not really. LOL. I just want to rent out a plot I own on a private island. How do I determine a fair price? Can someone here please give me some example rental agreements you use, in case there are things I haven't thought of that will need to be addressed? Obviously, they must conform to the original covenant, but what else beyond that should be included?

Here are a few I've thought of:
Amount / frequency of payment
method of payment accepted (which is better, Lindens or dollars?)
Payment due date (what to do if payment is late, or not paid? How much of a grace period before must be paid after receiving bill?)
Prim limit (and consequences of overage - how would this be enforced?)
Behavior (especially if neighbors are complaining)
Follow estate covenant

I'd appreciate any feedback or suggestions people can give me. I don't know much yet about being a rental agent, so I've go alot to learn!

Thanks!

I do! I do! Lol anyway, on to your answer

First of all, make sure your covenant allows you to rent out your land. If you aren't certain, make sure you contact the Estate Manager.

As for a fair price, islands aren't the same as mainland obviously. The price you're able to get will depend largely on the covenant of the Estate Owner. If tier fees are high i.e. over $15USD/2048, I would price it around 6.5L/sqm . If tier fees are lower, you can attempt to resell it for roughly 8-8.5L/sqm. Remember, the Estate Owner's reputation and Covenant will play an extremely large role in the success or failure of this venture. If you'd prefer to rent it out on a monthly basis, rather than an outright 'rent until you cease making payments', I'd recommend charging roughly 3L/sqm monthly (and/or the equivalent is USD) with nothing down.

Because you're essentially renting the land yourself, you'd be renting out your land to a renter -- which is fine! However, you don't have very much control over which rules to enforce. I'm glad you've realized this and accepted it.

As for rules, you have set very good rules. Allow payment in both Lindens and dollars to maximize your potential renters. Grace periods are usually 1-3 days. I would not recommend going longer than 3 days, whereas 1 day usually seems like you're hoping they forget to pay so you can reclaim the land. I wouldn't impose further restrictions on prims, just make sure the renter is aware of the limits imposed by the Estate Owner as well as the building code -- this is of utmost importance.

And, just so you know, many of us land barons wouldn't dare attempt what you are! It's very difficult and quite risky should you not be able to find tenants. There's software available to rent out mainland. Other than buying an entire private island, thus giving you absolute control, I'd recommend you take that approach in the future as you'll have far fewer hassles that way.

Hi Princess,

Which would you rather have, a 1024sqm plot with a 1000 prim allowance, or a 2048sqm plot with a 500prim allowance?

Land barons quickly realise that it is not land size that dictates prices, it is prims. A private island sim is 256mx256m =65,536sqm, and comes with a total of 15000 prims allocation. The current cost of a private island is US$1,695 and US$295 monthly tier. As some land is usually set aside for common use, and the size of this can vary, it is not possible to set accurate prices for land size. Instead, as a private island sim owner, I have had to set my prices according to the number of prims I am providing with each plot, in order to cover or exceed my monthly tier. I suggest you do the same.

Best wishes

Rock

I can't afford to go past the 40 usd tier if I can help it.
I just buy land and rent shops cause I addicted to prims and sharing them.

I checked with my Estate Owner, and he said it is fine as long as they follow the covenant.


Why wouldn't most land barons attempt this? I wouldn't normally buy (i.e. rent) a plot on an island estate in order to sublet it out to a renter. It's just that I just bought the plot, and then a few weeks later, bought more land from the same estate agent on a new island. I'm not ready to sell the old plot until the value has appreciated a bit, so I thought I'd rent it out since I'm not presently using it. I'd love to buy an entire island instead, but hubby keeps saying NO! What kind of software is available for renting out mainland? What does it do?


What size plot do you find most popular among rental tenants? What about skyboxes? Are those a popular rental choice?

Thanks to Reece and Rock for your helpful advice!

Hey, that's me! Glad to see that Kush residents are gettin' all entrepreneurial! Renting is not attempted by most land barons because you have to constantly be looking for tenants, getting new tenants setup, helping existing tenants, etc. This is much more time consuming than just buying and flipping mainland for a small profit margin. Good luck Princess! See you around Kush (or Kush II now)!

Hi Princess,

I rent rent fully furnished SkyHomes, each tenant has a 900 prims allowance, and I furnish to 750 prims, leaving the tenant with 150 prims to individualise their home.

As these are SkyHomes, plot sizes are irrelevant. At ground level we have no buildings whatsoever, the entire sim being beautiful islands and beaches, all for the use of the tenants.

If you contact me in-world I will give you a tour, and answer the more confidential commercial questions directly.

Regards

Rock

With Rockwell being your estate manager, I'd say go for it. I would recommend sticking to reputable people like Rockwell however. Renting out rented PI land can become a real hassle should you not be dealing with someone of such high integrity.
As for software to rent out on the mainland, I'd recommend taking a trip over to Slexchange. Type in rent and you can read up on how various different rental systems work.

Lots of people rent on the mainland; usually there are notecards available.

You can also grab a copy of private island covenants if you like; it's informative. Just go to a private island, and cut/paste the text to read offline if you want.

Ask permission before borrowing text directly though; you don't want to violate someone's copyright.

If you are doing this for money and not for the love of it, I'd strongly recommend that you decide how many hours per week you want to spend doing this, and stick to it. Were this not my passionate hobby, the many extra hours spent on my sims would put me deep into the 'not worth it' category. I would really hate to run anywhere near 'minimum necessary hours' because it simply wouldn't feel right. Something to think about.

Good luck!

Is there some SL group to join for rental/real estate agents? If I decide to rent this out, I'd feel better if I knew a group of people to bounce questions off, instead of posting it all publically in the forum (some things can be kind of confidential when you don't want everyone to know your business). There doesn't appear to be a forum here for that. I'm not interested in becoming a huge real estate agent, but renting out one small property might be all right. Basically, I just bought it, and now I've bought more property that I'm moving too, so I wanted to hold onto it and give it a chance to appreciate in value before I decided if I wanted to sell it. I just want to make sure I can rent it for enough to make my tier payment to my estate agent.

It's good to hear that Rockwell is so well-respected - makes me feel better doing business with him! I find him to be a very good landlord so far.

Awwww, thanks