I am a first time land buyer and need help

[MysteryDraegan]

I would like some help on where to find good beach land for sale and also need help with how big of land would be good for a first time buyer? I was woundering if I should just buy something small? Cause I am wanting to also add homes to rent out, but not right away. Plz help! Thank you

[MysteryDraegan]

I would like some help on where to find good beach land for sale and also need help with how big of land would be good for a first time buyer? I was woundering if I should just buy something small? Cause I am wanting to also add homes to rent out, but not right away. Plz help! Thank you

[Rolig Loon]

This is a good time to do a lot of homework.  First, for background, read

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Buying-land/ta-p/700043

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Selling-and-renting-land-to-others/ta-p/700135

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Renting-land-from-other-Residents/ta-p/1420695

http://community.secondlife.com/t5/English-Knowledge-Base/Managing-your-parcel/ta-p/700113

Then, plan on attending Lindal Kidd's free class on land ownership and management that is held every Friday evening at Caledon Oxbridge.  There's a lot to learn, and you'll want to be well informed.  After all, land costs real money.

Now, for advice on the specific questions you asked ...... One of the best ways to find land for sale or rent is to start watching the Land forums here.  Then start exploring.  How much land do you need?  Only you can know the answer to that question ("How long is a piece of string?").  Here's a good starting point, though.  You get ONE unit of Land Impact for every 4.38 sq m of land in a parcel.  (Or, if you like, 0.23 units for every 1.0 sq m of land.)  When you are building houses, you need to think about the size of the structure (How big is its footprint?) and what its land impact is.  My own rule is that you shouldn't use more than about 2/5 of your parcel's allowance for a structure, because you need to leave prims for landscaping and decorating.

[Lindal Kidd]

For a first time buyer, I recommend starting small.  The smallest, and easiest, way is to get a Premium membership and a free Linden Home.  When you get tired of that, you can abandon the Linden Home, and buy land elsewhere on the Mainland.  If you keep to a 512 square meter parcel, once you buy the land, you won't have to pay any recurring monthly tier fees on it.

When you add to your Mainland holdings beyond 512 m2, you do incur a monthly charge.  See here for a table of tier levels:  https://secondlife.com/my/account/landfees.php?lang=en-US

You probably can't do rentals on less than about 8192 m2.  That would give you enough land for maybe three rental homes and one for yourself.  One incentive for buying more land is that the more mainland you own, the less tier per square meter you pay (although your total tier does increase, of course.)

Or, if you prefer a more orderly existence, forget the mainland and buy a parcel of land on a private estate.  This does not require a Premium membership.  Many estates are set up as archipelagoes of islands, so nice beach land is easier to find than on the Mainland.  However, I would not plan on doing rentals on estate land because prospective tenants could just buy land from the estate owner at a lower price than you could charge, being a middleman.  Being a landlord on private estates does not make sense until you can afford to buy and pay the upkeep on an entire region ($295 USD per month.)

I teach a free class on land buying and renting on Fridays, 5 pm SL time, at Caledon Oxbridge University.  I'll hope to see you there!